Danger Within

"Are you free tonight, Detective?" The florist asked. Major looked at him in shock then shook her head. "Would you like to eat dinner with me?" The florist asked again.

Major was speechless. He does not know what to say to the florist. His mind is filled with thoughts that he couldn't answer the florist properly. It was cut when he looks at the florist's way and found out that he was already in front of him.

"What are you thinking about, Detective?" He asked. "Is it about me or something else?" He asked again. "Am I making you uncomfortable?" He asked once again. Major shook his head and cleared his throat.

"You are not, Mr. Sage," he said stuttering. The florist chuckles and said, "Ren. You can call me Ren. Mr. Sage is too formal, "Major nodded and replied," Okay. I will call you that from now on." The florist giggles and walked away.

He looked back at Major as if inviting him to follow him. Unknowing what to do, he follows the florist and went to the back of the flower shop. As they enter the room, Major felt his back hits a wall.

He groans, then he opens his eyes when he saw the florist's eyes looking straight to his soul. He gulped then watched the florist as he goes down to his knees. Major was baffled, so he scrambles to go away from the florist.

The florist looked at him then chuckles, "I am so sorry, detective. Did I scare you?" He asked. This time, Major nods and wished for him to stop before his heart would explode from second-hand embarrassment. The florist stood up and sighs, "Maybe I read the signs wrong. I am so sorry, detective. I am so embarrassed about this," he apologizes.

Major shook his head and frantically said, "No, no. You did not read the signs wrong. It's just that the phase is too fast. If it's okay with you, can we take it slow?" The florist looked at him with wide eyes. "How about that dinner? Would like to have dinner with me?" He asked.

"It won't be tonight since we both look so tired to even go out and it is already late. How about tomorrow or the next day?" He rambles. The florist chuckles and said, "Tomorrow night will be perfect, detective," Major nods and excused himself, and went out of the shop before he loses his sanity.

The florist watches him go as he hears the welcome bell. Major fumbles with his keys and immediately sat on the driver's seat. He took a deep breath before starting the car and rode away.

Meanwhile, back to the shop, the florist grinned to himself for doing a great job of seducing the detective. He went to the front and saw that his last customer was walking towards his shop. The welcome bell clangs and he smiles at the customer.

"Tough work?" He asked. The customer nods and puts a piece of paper on the table. "A freesia?" He asked confusedly. He smiles at him and said, "Finally?" The customer nods and the florist smirked.

He went to the back to get the order and gave it to the customer afterward. The customer paid and before he even walked out, the florist grabbed his arm and kissed him then he whispers, "I did it." The customer smiles at him and in a whisper, he said, "Good boy."

The customer walked out of the shop and the florist finally closed down the shop. He switches the light off and went straight to the small room unto the back and climbed up the stairs leading to his small flat and falls down to the sheets.

He sleeps immediately the moment his body hits the bed. It has been a long day in the shop but at least he had fun before his last customer came in.

'Finally,' he thought. 'He is in my grasp.' He whispers to himself before falling asleep.

~0~0~0~0~

"Als come here," an elder woman in her 30's, Mrs. Meria, said as she grabbed her 4-year-old kid before she let her go play in the playground near Granson's Cafe. "I know you are excited to play games but darling, always remember to stay away from strangers, don't talk to them. If a stranger is bothering you, ran to me and we will call the police, okay?" She said.

"And if Mommy is not around, go the security guard over there and asked for help, okay?" she added. The kid nods his head and the woman lets him go. She sat down on a bench near the playground and watches her kid play.

She smiles in contentment as she watches her kid laugh and play. At first, she was against the decision of moving here to Emir City. Their life in Eclair is already wonderful, she feels safe and secured there. But if it wasn't for her husband's job, they won't make the difficult decision of moving to Emir City.

She sighs in frustration when she heard a horrifying scream from kids running away from an old merry-go-round near the playground. The security guard from the area immediately went to their aid and asked what happened.

He went to the source of the screams and saw a horrifying scene. He immediately calls the police and calms the kid who saw the body lying on the cold ground. Mrs. Meria frantically looks for her kid when she saw the security guard carrying her wailing child. She was so nervous that something would happen to her daughter.

She hugs her daughter as the child cries and said the words, "Mommy, I saw a boy laying there," as she wails in her mother's arms. For a mother like Mrs. Meria, those words are the things she doesn't want to hear from her child. Maybe moving to Emir City is a terrible idea.

Meanwhile, in the police station, a frantic and wailing woman went to the police station to report her missing 3-year-old baby boy after he did not come home from playing at the playground near Granson's Cafe.

Other police officers tried to calm the woman down and others filed the report to the children's division of their precinct. Lilibush and Amourphous are in the building at that time, gathering as much information about the missing kid.

When a dispatcher suddenly asks assistance for a security guard trying to calm himself down as he describes a horrifying scene. Lilibush and Amourphous immediately answer the dispatcher and the woman apparently heard the commotion at the said playground so she asked Lilibush if she could go with them. Amourphous nods and they are on their way.

Nervous breath and frantic heartbeats can be heard aloud from the car. The travel time from the police station to the playground is not that far but it took them a while to get there since both Lilibush and Amourphous are also frantic to know what could happen.

The moment they got there, the first thing they noticed is that there are a lot of kids in the playground. They immediately went to the crime scene as the other officers try to assists as many worried parents at that time.

They even tried to calm the wailing woman they brought from the police station. The forensic team went there immediately to assist the police when Lilibush asks them to find clues immediately. The forensic leader furrows his eyebrow but when he saw the body he immediately understands why.

He knelt down and checked everything from top to bottom to see any clue when he noticed a bite mark on the kid's neck. It looks nasty but it could be a potential source of DNA from the killer. He grabs the cotton buds to wipe the bite mark and put them in an evidence bag.

Then, he asked the team to put the kid in the bag when Amourphoous approached him. "A mother was with us. She wants to see if the kid is hers," he said. The forensic leader nods and placed the bag on a platform.

The mother approached the bag and opens the zipper when she saw the dead boy's face, she cries much louder and calls him her son. The other detective present tries to pry the woman away from the child and calms her down. She tries to get away from them but was apprehended by other female officers on the scene.

They brought the body to the police station for further analysis when the forensic leader told Lilibush that one of his team found a flower on the scene. He gave the flower to him so he could ask the flower shops for what it could mean. He also said that he found DNA evidence of the killer and will test them back to the lab.

The DNA evidence sent shivers down his spine. This could be the major breakthrough that they need to solve this mystery and to identify their mysterious killer who roams the streets for years now. He felt giddy and a bit jittery from the thought of capturing their killer that he asked Amorphous to immediately step on the gas so they could ride back to the police station.