Alice worked like a woman possessed, going over every inch of the site with the other officers, absorbing every piece of information she could find, and taking as many photos of the site as possible. All those years ago, the people investigating the murder and disappearance had turned up nothing. This time Alice was determined to get better results. That determination, however, began to seem fruitless as they couldn’t find any leads. As Officer Johnson had said, there was no sign of a struggle. There were no belongings that seemed out of place, no footprints around the house aside from the victim’s, nothing. Hours later, when the forensics team did a preliminary examination, they had to admit that they weren’t finding anything. There were no suspicious fingerprints, no stray strands of hair, still nothing. The lack of anything definitive started to wear on Alice, making her irritable. There had to be something here. There just had to be.

Of course, going over every aspect of a crime scene took time, usually days. And then there was the autopsy to consider. If it were as Alice Remembered, Frederick Benjamin would be entirely drained of blood through the two holes in his neck. It would be as she remembered, and they would find something this time, she was sure of it.

Finally, the day ended, the sun dipping below the trees as the light dimmed as they drove back to the station. As Alice looked out the window at the trees going by, Gary watched the road and looked at Alice out of the corner of his eye.

“Hey,” said Gary. “Are you Okay, Alice?”

“What?” she said, startled, “Why?”

“You just seemed,” he replied, searching for the right word. “Different, today. I can’t put my finger on it. Is everything alright with you?”

“I’m fine,” she said, sounding angrier than she intended to.

Gary heard her tone, “Are You sure?”

“Yeah,” said Alice, making an effort not to lash out irritably. “Yeah, I’m fine.”

“Okay,” said Gary, doubtful. Alice shook her head. She wasn’t lying. She was fine, and Gary had nothing to worry about. Nothing at all.

Back at the station, before Alice and Gary even had a chance to process things in the evidence room, Carla got her attention at the front desk.

“Alice, Gary,” the plump officer said. “Chief Dalton wants to see you, and before you ask, he does mean now.”

Calling them to the office before they had a chance to process the evidence? It must be serious, Alice thought.

Minutes later, both Alice and Gary entered the Chief’s office. Chief of Police Joseph Dalton was an older gentleman with mostly grey hair aside from a few stubborn strands that clung to their dark color. He sat at his desk looking through a file folder, his lips pursed in displeasure. Alice had seen that look before, and she wasn’t looking forward to whatever he wanted.

“Officer Hayes, Officer Frasier,” said Chief Dalton, looking up. “Please sit.” They took seats as the Chief continued. “You’ve got quite an interesting case today.”

Alice frowned, “We only just got back. How…”

“Officer Fraiser gave me a call,” said Chief Dalton. “I asked him to fill me in.”

Alice looked to her left at Gary, who looked away, a guilty look on his face.

“I didn’t notice you make a call,” she said. “Gary?”

“You seemed different today,” said Gary. “You had this wild look in your eyes, and you were more irritable than normal. I was worried.”

“And it seems he was right to be,” said Chief Dalton. “Because the case he described reminded me of another case from…oh I don’t know…about ten years ago?”

Alice felt like the floor had been ripped out from under her.

“Sir…”

Chief Dalton put his hand up.

“Three victims,” said the Chief. “The Baxter family, all of them completely drained of blood through two puncture wounds in the neck, found in a house that had the power cut. It’s a case I remember well.”

Alice looked away, unable to respond as Gary looked on incredulously.

“This has happened before?” asked Gary.

“Indeed,” said Chief Dalton. “With one slight difference. The night before they were found, another boy had gone to their house for a sleepover. After the Baxter’s were found dead, this boy was reported missing and never found. His name was Arthur. Arthur Hayes.”

Gary was rendered speechless as he stared at Alice with his mouth open. Alice cringed. She really didn’t like where this was going.

“You knew about this case?” she asked. “About me? You never said anything.”

“By the time I made the connection,” said the Chief. “You had already been working here for three years. You passed all your psych evaluations, and you were good at your job. I didn’t see a reason to bring it up. It wasn’t my business. It wasn’t, that is, until now.”

“Sir,” she said. “I assure you this won’t be a problem.”

“Oh?” the Chief replied skeptically. “That would be remarkable, considering how personal this would be for you. Our job requires us to remain objective, and if the circumstances around this murder have emotionally compromised you, then that’s a problem. Given what I know about this case, I have every reason to believe that you are.”

“It doesn’t have to be personal, sir,” Alice insisted. “I can remain objective, I promise you.”

“Alice,” said the Chief sternly. “This is a chance to bring the man who kidnapped your brother to justice, or perhaps even discover what happened to Arthur. Do you seriously expect me to believe that this hasn’t affected you at all?”

He’d accurately described why she wanted to remain on this case so badly, but she wasn’t about to say that out loud.

“I’m not emotionally compromised, sir,” said Alice, a little more aggressively than she intended.

“Honestly, I want to believe you,” said the Chief. “I really do, but I can’t just take your word for it. For goodness sake, you the one who found the bodies. A teenager, walking in on that, how could that not have affected you?”

Gary looked away.

“Gary,” said Chief Dalton. “Tell me again. Did she seem herself today?”

“No,” said Gary reluctantly. “She seemed off. She was moving faster than normal and got irritable when we couldn’t find any leads. She came off as…obsessed.”

Alice clenched her fists.

“Obsessed?” she asked him, offended.

“Come on, Alice, what do you want me to do? Lie?”

“Maybe have my back,” she snapped, making Gary wince.

“Alice,” said Chief Dalton. “All this hostility is just proving my point.”

Alice froze, realizing that he was right. She tried to relax but couldn’t stop herself from feeling tense. Then the Chief said the last thing she wanted him to say.

“I’m taking you off this one.”

“No!” she said too quickly.

“I’m taking you off this case,” he said sternly. “And ordering you to undergo a psych evaluation before you take on another.”

“You don’t need to...”

“Alice, don’t make this harder than it already is.”

“I can solve this case!”

“Alice…”

“You can’t do this!” and she slammed her fist on the table, making Chief Dalton and Gary jump.

Alice instantly knew she’d made a mistake. She pulled her fist down and tried to think of a way to diffuse the situation, but nothing came to her. Gary and the Chief did seem to calm down, but not because of anything Alice was doing. Alice stuttered a moment, words failing her.

“Alice,” said the Chief. “You rarely use your vacation days. I think you’re about due for one. How about you take a week off? You can take your psych evaluation afterward.”

She wanted to protest, but once again, she couldn’t think of anything to say. Deep down, she was beginning to realize that he was right. She was clearly emotionally compromised.

“I…thank you, sir,” said Alice.

The Chief nodded silently.

The Chief sent Alice home immediately. Gary would be able to finish processing the evidence since Alice wasn’t operating at a hundred percent. She accepted this, albeit reluctantly. When other officers realized she’d been sent home, they gave her sympathetic looks, though Alice would have preferred that they didn’t. As she got her things from her desk, Gary came up to her, wearing a guilty look.

“Alice,” he said. “I’m sorry about this. I just…”

“No,” said Alice, taking a deep breath. “No, you did the right thing. I’m sorry for how I acted back there. I was out of line.”

Gary nodded, “Listen…when I solve the case, I’ll tell you everything I find. Okay?”

“Yeah,” said Alice. “That would be great. Thanks.”

“Sure thing, Partner.”

Alice went straight to bed, not feeling up to doing anything else. That, however, didn’t translate into a good night’s sleep. Even without setting her alarm clock, she woke up feeling exhausted. She lay in bed for a while, staring at the ceiling, reflecting on what had happened yesterday. The more she thought about it, the more she realized that she wasn’t fine as she’d insisted before. She’d hyperfocused on the chance to find her brother’s abductor and maybe find her brother. Her outburst in the office had put things into perspective for her. If she was capable of that when just talking to her boss, what might she have done had she found the person responsible? Or if she merely thought she did and was wrong?

Maybe a vacation would be nice after all. She could set up that mother daughter day she’d been thinking about. However, before Alice could decide what she wanted to do, she heard a knock at the door.

Who would be looking for her at this time of the morning?

She slipped into some slippers, put on a robe, and then went to answer the door. Opening it revealed a pair of men in suits with sunglasses. One was a tall, bulky man with dark hair and pale skin as if he didn’t get enough sunlight. He reminded Alice of a wrestler for how sturdy he looked and the grim, no nonsense expression he wore on his face. The other was a slender, dark skinned man with round sunglasses and a shaved head. He also had a friendly expression on his face, even with his eyes hidden.

“Detective Hayes,” said the bulky man pulling out a wallet and revealing a badge. “I’m Special Agent Thompson, this is Special Agent Walker, and we’re with the FBI.”

Alice had a feeling she knew what this was about and sighed in exasperation.

“You’re taking over the Frederick Benjamin case, aren’t you?”

“You guess correctly,” said agent Thompson, impressed.

Alice wondered how Gary was going to feel about this.

“We’re also reopening the case you were a witness to,” said Agent Walker. “The Baxter Case. We believe both that case and this new one are connected to murders committed in other states.”

Alice frowned.

“This was a serial killer?” she asked, surprised. “Why haven’t I heard of this? A single murder in a random city is one thing, but several murders across state lines sounds like it should make national news or something, especially if it’s gone on for ten years.”

“Normally, yes,” said Agent Walker with a soft accent. “But these murders are committed years apart, and when they do go national, they tend to get relegated to supermarket tabloids due to their…ahem…more eccentric methods.”

Making them look like vampires did it, Alice thought bitterly.

“We just wanted to ask a few questions,” said Agent Thompson. “May we come in?”

Alice felt a small spark of amusement. It had been a while since she’d been on this end of witness testimony.

“Sure,” she said. “But if it’s alright with you, I’d like to get dressed first.”

The agents didn’t mind. Soon Alice wore jeans and a modest blouse while she sat in a comfortable chair and the agents sat on the couch. Alice, as law enforcement herself, knew precisely what to expect from this sort of thing. They asked her to recount the event in her own words. Covering how she found the Baxter Family’s bodies wasn’t pleasant, but it wasn’t her first time doing it, so she managed. They asked her if she ever saw the Baxter’s interacting with someone they didn’t know or if they ever saw someone suspicious in the neighborhood. All standard stuff. They did, however, have one question that Alice wasn’t expecting.

“At the time,” asked Agent Thompson, writing in a notebook. “Did you notice the Baxter family acting strange?”

“I didn’t interact with them much,” said Alice. “I just knew them as the family of Arthur’s friend.”

“And have you noticed anyone around you acting strange?”

Alice raised an eyebrow.

“Strange how?” she asked.

“Distant,” said Agent Thompson. “Withdrawn.”

“Suddenly avoiding contact with friends and family?” added Agent Walker.

“That’s…kind of specific,” said Alice, frowning.

“We suspect that the murderer gets the confidence of his victims,” said Agent Walker. “Gains their trust, and that drugs are involved.”

Alice frowned.

“What drugs?”

“Admittedly,” said Agent Thompson. “We don’t know. With all the victims’ blood drained, any direct evidence they were drugged is pretty much gone. But witness testimonies describe how the victims would inexplicably cut off contact with people. The behavior change is so consistent between cases that we suspect a drug that increases suggestibility, but again, without evidence, we can’t be sure.”

Alice slumped back in her chair, the ramifications of this dawning on her. What if something like that had been used on Arthur?

She pushed thoughts away. She’d obsessed over what might have happened to her brother in the past. It was a road she didn’t want to go down again. She considered the question and was glad to have her answer straight away.

“No,” said Alice. “I haven’t noticed anyone acting out of the ordinary.”

“Alright,” said Agent Thompson. “Thank you for your time. If you do notice anyone acting strangely, please give us a call.”

He handed her a business card with an FBI logo and his contact information, which she pocketed.

“Before we go,” agent Walker added. “Let me give you a word of advice. We suspect that whoever is behind this initially gains trust by presenting themselves as someone in need. Car broke down, phone not working, et cetera. Given that the killer is likely here in Saint Vivia, I’d recommend that you do not, under any circumstances, invite any strangers into your home, no matter how much help they seem to need.”

That was very specific advice, Alice noted. He wasn’t wrong, given the situation, but something about these questions seemed strange to her.

“I’ll keep that in mind,” she said.

The agents nodded and then let themselves out. She watched them walk down the hallway outside her apartment curiously. Something was bothering her about this, but she couldn’t place what it was. This new information had rattled her, sure, but she couldn’t shake the feeling that there was something more going on. And learning that even worse things might have happened to Arthur…

She shook her head. She needed to get this out of her mind. It was time to make good on her previous plans.

Alice texted her mother, and they agreed to meet at her mother’s house, the very place Alice had grown up. The only car Alice used was the one issued to her by the Police, and Gary was using that, so Alice used a rideshare app to get there. As she sat in the backseat, she looked out the window as houses passed her vision. Soon Alice saw the Baxter house go by, and she quickly looked away. Another family lived there now, naturally, but she still couldn’t bear to look. There were just too many bad memories associated with that place.

The driver dropped her off, and Alice walked to the front door of her old house. It was a white house with old fashioned décor. As Alice stepped onto the porch, it creaked just as she remembered. When she knocked at the door, she expected her mother to open it up with a cheery disposition.

When her mother opened the door, her disposition was the exact opposite of cheerful. The woman looked like an older version of Alice. The only differences visible were her greying hair, the wrinkled on her face, and the tear marks staining her makeup. She looked up at Alice sadly, sniffling.

“Mom?” asked Alice, astonished. “What happened?”

“A pair of FBI agents came by this morning,” said her mother, wiping her nose with a handkerchief. “There’s been a murder. One that’s just like…just like…”

And she started crying again. Alice stood there, hesitantly, uncertain of what to do. Eventually, she put her hands on her mom’s shoulders, and her mom quickly moved in for an embrace. She comforted her mother for a moment and then led her mother into the living room, where they took seats on the couch.

“Oh, I’m sorry, dear,” said Mrs. Hayes. “I’m such a mess right now. Agents Jackson and Brown were so patient with me, but that didn’t stop me from making a fool of myself.”

As Alice’s Mother wiped more tears from her Alice, Alice momentarily wondered just how many agents were working on this case. She quickly returned her attention to her mother, though. That was more important.

“Don’t apologize, Mom,” said Alice, sighing. “I’m not much better. I’m on mandatory leave because I yelled at my boss.”

Mrs. Hayes chuckled, still wiping tears from her eyes.

“I would have thought you’d want to be taken off that case.”

Alice didn’t respond. It wasn’t an unreasonable thing to assume, but it made Alice wonder if she’d been just a little too distant with her mother lately. Her mother didn’t know her very well, and Alice had no one to blame but herself.

“I don’t know,” said Alice. “When I signed up for the Police Academy, I had this naive notion that one day I’d get the chance to investigate what happened to Arthur. Deep down, I knew it was silly, and I pretty much gave up on that after a year. But then yesterday it happened. I had a chance to get answers, and I completely messed it up. Thinking back, I think I was lucky not to get suspended.”

Alice’s mother sighed.

“I think I know how you feel,” said Mrs. Hayes. “The worst part of all this is the wondering. Wondering to yourself what happened, why it happened, and where Arthur has been this whole time. I so desperately want to know, to get some answers. And yet, if I actually got answers, I’m afraid that my worst fears would be realized. That Arthur would be…would be...”

She couldn’t finish the sentence, but she didn’t need to. Alice felt exactly the same way and feared the same answer. Chief Dalton was right. She did need a vacation, and so, it seemed, did her mother.

“Alright, mom,” said Alice. “I think we need to take our minds off this. I have at least a week off, so what do you want to do?”

Alice and her Mother did a couple of things that day. They went shopping at an antique store, finding all sorts of rare and beautiful things. They had lunch at a little café styled after the ones in Paris, and finally, they took a trip to the Saint Vivia Art Museum. All in all, it was a productive mother daughter day. As they drove back through the city in Mrs. Hayes’s old station wagon, they chatted for a bit until Mrs. Hayes decided to turn on the radio. She switched channels for a bit until they both heard something from one of the local news stations.

“…another gruesome set of murders on the outskirts of the city.”

Alice, who had been smiling, slowly frowned as she drove. Mrs. Hayes froze, her hand over the channel dial as the reporter continued.

“The first Victim, Frederick Benjamin, was found a day ago by his nephew. These newest victims were found by their neighbor early this morning. Just like the first victim, all of their blood was completely drained through two pricks in the neck. What mechanism used to achieve this is unknown at this time. However…”

Mrs. Hayes turned off the radio. A few thoughts swirled in Alice’s head. The killer had struck again, which didn’t match what the FBI agents had said. It was so soon after the first death. It seemed this killer would be remaining in the city, at least for a little bit. She didn’t say anything out loud, however. Neither of them did. They didn’t have any words for it.

Over the following week, Alice took it easy. Or at least she tried to. The day after she visited her mother, she heard about two more murders, and then the next day, four more. Five days into Alice’s vacation, it became clear that there wasn’t just a single murderer behind this. Alice turned on the news that morning to see the most shocking report she’d ever heard in her life.

“And with seven more murders reported to the police this morning,” said the Newscaster, a woman with a fearful look on her face. “It brings the total number of deaths to nineteen. The FBI has given no indication that they know who is behind this, whether it’s an individual or a group effort. But one thing is certain, the City of Saint Vivia is going through dark times.”

Alice agreed as she stood in the middle of her apartment. She hugged herself, suddenly feeling very cold.