I tapped my finger against the ground.
"Do you think he orchestrated it?" I found myself saying.
"How so?" he demanded.
"I just I thought it was strange that I got the tickets on the day of the show. Everyone kept saying how they booked weeks and months in advance and I got two tickets at market price on the day of the show from a third-party seller." I looked at the letters. "He was watching us and sohow knew you were interested. Maybe he wanted to get a closer glance at you and ended up seeing . And he got interested."
"Possible. What else?"
"He thinks we have so sort of romantic connection. I just don't know how he got this idea." That freaked out the most.
"It ans that none of us are in harm," Sebastian told firmly. "Now, we have a clue on our hands. We can find him. He ca to our doorstep several tis."
I could see that he was trying to recall his face. "Do you rember how he looked?"
He nodded vaguely. "Partially. But the restaurant that he worked for they would rember," he assured.
But the world didn't stop for us to figure out the mystery. We changed and drove to the office. On the way there, I called the restaurant.
"Hi, I am one of your custors and was wondering if you could give information on one of your delivery partners," I spoke softly into the phone. I tried to sound reliable.
"Information on our delivery person? I'm sorry ma'am, I can't give you that information. Might I ask what this is about?" The other person said. "I could call the manager if you want."
I thought about it for a second. "Thank you. Can you please hand the phone to the manager? I need this information urgently." I couldn't say that this was part of the investigation because we didn't have solid proof that there was even an accomplice in the first place. Therefore, this I would have to ask about as a civilian.
I heard whispering on the other side and finally, soone cleared their throat and spoke.
"Hello?" it was a female.
"Hi, I am a regular custor of your business. I needed so information about a delivery person who has been coming to our house for so ti," I repeated.
She asked for my information and I gave her Sebastian and my na and our address. She went silent for a second.
"What seems to be the problem?" she asked, more silent than before.
"I received so weird parcels from him. My neighbor recognized who he was. I was wondering if I could talk to him or have a way to contact him."
"I apologize if he was rude or made you uncomfortable." Another pause. "But he quit the job a few days ago. He didn't even give a notice period and said he was moving away," she explained in a frantic.
"Please don't apologize on his behalf. I am not going to hold your establishnt accountable for sothing he did. I just want his information. Can you give a na, his contact information, and any address that you have on him?" I asked finally.
"I can give you his na but not the contact information," he said quietly.
"Right," I agreed. "What is his na?"
"Uh, his na is Nicholas Burton," she said finally.
I paused. "Are you sure?" I couldn't help but whisper.
"Yes. I have his information, too. It checked out, ma'am."
"Thank you. Thanks a lot. I appreciate your help." I hung up and turned to Sebastian.
"What's his na?" Sebastian asked. "But I can see that it is not his real na from your expression." He grew worried.
"Nicholas Burton," I said.
He sucked in a deep breath. "And she was absolutely sure" he trailed off. "Nicholas Burton is dead. He killed himself and we found his body. So, soone is using his identity to contact you." He tapped his finger on the steering wheel.
"I think we can do sothing about this," he said finally. "We will submit the letter to forensics, get a report signing off that it is the sa person as the McCain case and get a search done it. We can look at all the footage the restaurant has. The traffic caras. Everything. He will be caught on sothing or the other."
I highly doubted it.
We arrived at the station and made our way in. The greetings were many and everyone seed to smile at .
"How was the conference?" Nash asked when I entered.
"It was enlightening," I told him glumly.
Nash looked puzzled. "It couldn't have been more enlightening than the information I am about to give you," he prompted.
"What is it?" I asked, feeling my heart sink. No good news could co at this point.
"The phones he used were burner phones. We couldn't get a hold of any information on who he was. Nothing to track him." He paused. "Now, I know you will ask about the bank account. You won't believe who it is!" He didn't look excited though.
"Should I take a guess?" I sighed.
"You'll be wrong," Nash insisted.
"I hope so," I grumbled. "Is it soone by the na of Nicholas Burton?"
His eyes widened. "How did you know that?" he asked, confused.
"He's dead. He was the only living victim of the Elegant Butcher apart from . He killed himself recently." Nash's jaw dropped. "This accomplice has been using his identity to hover around ."
I sat down on my desk. "Wait. You are telling a dead guy's bank was used to make transactions and he is soone you know?"
"Yes, he tried to kill after I helped the rest escape. I didn't know this until Sebastian told about what happened. I have no recollection of those things," I admitted.
"Then he is definitely targeting you. All those goading clues were ant for you" he was going off into a thought process of his own. "But how did you find out about this?" he asked.
"Got a letter this morning. It had been dropped off with the elderly woman who lives across from . There was a letter inside with a picture of Sebastian and on our date," I inford him.
"And the date was where? We could know who he is, right?"
I shook my head. "We were in a location inside the forest. Off the highway. No caras. The guy hid in the forest and took pictures of us."
I felt like crying at that point.
"And he was soone who frequented your house plumber, technician, security guard what was he playing?"
"He delivered food."
Nash stopped. "The food Sebastian brought over for breakfast?" he shouted.
"Yeah. If it was poisoned, we wouldn't have survived so long. Sebastian thinks he doesn't want to physically harm any of us."
"But you don't think the sa," Nash concluded.
"I feel like he is up to sothing more sinister. His letter said sothing about going out on dates with soone else. Like he thought we were romantically compatible or would end up together."
Nash scowled. "I have seen his writing and the style of his work he is not delusional from my assessnt. And he is not trying to mislead us. Just evading us from finding out who he is. But he wants to et you."
"And he has t . Seen from up close and done nothing."
"He has seen you in the presence of others. But this implies that you have had so sort of interaction with him that would seem like a potential date to him." His analysis was astute.
"I have never dated before Sebastian. I haven't even had dinners with n." I shrugged.
"Okay I need to think about this. No one?" I shook my head.
"And what happened at the conference? What information did you get?"
I felt my throat clench once again. "I t Ross Reynolds, the detective who investigated the Elegant Butcher case after my father was killed. He said there was a huge coverup, that there were signs of an accomplice helping Alicia with the murders and cleanup. That's why it was so hard to trace."
Nash pressed his lips together. "This should be confidential information!" He shook his head. "Okay, I won't speak about this to anyone. But the accomplice we have no idea who it is."
"But the timing it grates on my nerves," I admitted.
"Brazen, has inside knowledge on working of cri-related issues, evades detection, god-complex" he was listing out things. "The accomplice would have the sa modus operandi as the one we are looking at right now. The need to inspire and help budding killers to reveal their true identity."
I blinked. "Why didn't I make the connection?" I whispered.
"Why didn't you?" he asked incredulously. "Sebastian didn't see it either?" he whispered.
"I think I think we were just too overwheld with everything."
Nash tapped his fingers down. "Let's analyze everything we have and catch this guy, Evie." He looked deeply at . "And don't be scared, as your ntor, I will not let anyone harm you."
I smiled. But both of us knew that I didn't believe that.
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