1 CHAPTER 2. The end of Jane

A few hours of dead silence passed as the cemetery stillness gained its grip in the house and took refuge. Jane had already began making the new year's eve dinner. The kitchen smelt divine, whatever it was that she was cooking had Roy constantly on his feet. An open window somewhere in the house allowed a cold breeze to sweep across the room as if attracted by the smell of Jane's cooking. Kevin was still in his room. The quarrel had drained the glee that Jane and Roy had gathered earlier that night from the music they had been dancing to. The kitchen door was shut but the delightful smell was able to escape the room like a prisoner.

Despite the good food dancing joyfully in Jane's pots, the house was still overwhelmed by a gloomy atmosphere that brutalised every last hope the new year's celebrations were to bring. The family's earlier anticipations for a celebration together had been cursed by Kevin's desperate desire to celebrate with John Bolden and Jane's desire to protect him from the unknown killer on the loose or from John Bolden.

The house looked sparkling clean. The family had invited their neighbours, Jill and Peter to have the dinner with them. It was their annual tradition to celebrate with Jill and Peter Sandburn. Even after more than fifteen years of knowing each other, Roy and Jane still commiserated with Jill and Peter because they couldn't have a child of their own. They had first known each other the day Kevin was born. Shortly after that, Jill grew fond of him. The sight of him made her soul dance, it made her write poetry of happiness and also, of melancholy in her mind. The parenthood Jill and Peter craved for was so alive in their fantasies that it made them buy baby clothes and baby toys just for the sake of it. They were approaching their 50s, so they kept on talking about their ages, the phrase seemed to roast their minds every time and because they hungered for parenthood, Jane and Roy saw it in their eyes and sympathised with them.

The grave stillness on the new year's eve night was eating Roy to the core. He had a sort of fatigue that was glittering in his eyes, maybe from the restlessness he had just witnessed and had been witnessing since John Bolden showed up in the picture. Roy despised the kid too but he was not one to write it all over his face.

Roy decided to interrupt the loud silence, so he pointed a remote control to the television and shot it to life. The TV was an 80s masterpiece. It had a fairly large colour screen that was framed by an oak tree cabinet that had been manufactured maybe in Texas at Athens. It had the world famous Curtis Mathes Vacation switch on the cabinet. It belonged to a banker and a psychiatrist after all. Roy had worked on Wall Street as a well known stockbroker before moving to Edina. He had acquired a lion's share before the market crash that was to follow later.

Jane on the other hand, had been a nurse at NHS Nightingale Hospital in London before moving to Manhattan to become a psychiatrist where she then met Roy. They both always deemed Edina too low for them, therefore, they were planning to buy a house in Los Angeles County and move there within the first two months of 1983. Of course, Kevin spit on the plan, he wanted to stay in Edina. It was as though there was a force invisible to the naked eye that attracted him to the small city.

On the TV, a man with a long beard and bald shaved heard slowly rotated into view and gazed at Roy. He had small eyes that were hidden in the chunk of flesh that surrounded them. He looked intensely, of course, at the camera and took a sip from a bottle. His pink lips embedded in meagre strings of fat twitched afterwards and he said something. Roy pointed the remote to the TV again as if the man's acting wasn't impressive at all. Suddenly, there was a slim built woman with long, dark and shinny hair sitting on an exercise ball smiling. She wore exercising gear and was going on about how to workout efficiently and what to eat.

"Make it your 1983 new year's resolution to get muscles and eat healthy", she said as she grinned at the end of her sentence. Roy wasn't interested in that. He was more interested in getting rid of his prematurely grey hair. The thought of was getting old was dreadful to him, he didn't want to.

He was drinking his third glass of red wine when he suddenly perceived a stench of something burning coming from the kitchen. He tried to ignore the unpleasant smell for a moment, but it began to fly into his nostrils like birds escaping a burning sky. He stood up and starting staggering towards the kitchen. He was already tipsy from the wine.

"Jane!", he shouted.

He took two more steps before the whole house's lighting suddenly went off.

"Jane, something's burning."

"Dammit Jane!, what's going on? Are you okay in there?"

The utter darkness made it difficult for him to meander or rather, stagger his way to the kitchen. The fragments of the vast darkness hugged him and didn't want to let him go. It was at that moment that he realised that no window was supposed to be open, but still, a cold chill was getting into the house.

"The window's open", he whispered to himself.

"Kevin! Kevin!, what's going on?", he screamed.

The smoke from the kitchen started to cloud the house. It was't making Roy's life any easier. He began to cough hysterically.

"Kev....in", he struggled.

He finally managed to grab the kitchen door knob which was warm from the smoke. The smoke was starting to chock him, probably burning his lungs by the second. He hardly had any voice left.

"J....Jane", he tried, then a strong, dry cough followed.

He twisted the warm knob and jumped into the room after the door went ajar. He fell to the floor as the smoke sucked the last ounce of power he had left. There was no way he was going to find his wife, not in his state and not in that stinging darkness. Before he could attempt to further look for his wife, he was hit by a metal pan at the back of his head and his consciousness dimmed into even more darkness. He never got to know where his wife was, what had triggered the sullen smoke, who had opened the window and where his son was.

10:05 pm.

The house looked peaceful from out. The darkness it harboured made it close to impossible to see the smoke from the outside. Besides, the street was empty, only the thick winter fog was patrolling the street as if guarding it or something.

10:30 pm.

The guests, Jill and Peter Sandburn finally turned up. Peter was confused while Jill expressed disappointment after seeing the dark hole the house was far-flung. Jill knew about Jane's hatred for Edina. She knew that Jane was going to go someday soon, she never told her but she still knew. She therefore thought that they had probably left for good that night.

"Did they leave?", Peter asked his clueless wife. After not getting a response, he suggested they go in. The two slowly closed the gap between them and the house. Peter was holding a bottle of red wine and Jill held a bouquet that had lotus, dahlia and red roses with both her hands. She wore some brown stiletto heeled shoes that made a noise every time she took a step. The closer they got to the house, the further they felt from the rest of the world and from the spirit of celebration that was caressing the neighbourhood. The house was a form of abyss of darkness - immeasurable darkness, a gulf of horror and a vast chasm.

It took them three minutes until they reached the door that was shut.

"Something is not right here", whispered Peter as he looked at his wife through his stained glasses.

"They left us, that's what's wrong. They could have just called us to cancel." Jill was already in a dull mood.

"Let's just go in and see, if the door is locked, then we go home, okay?"

Jill nodded as a sign of agreement to what her husband had suggested. Peter tried the door and it was surprisingly unlocked. He looked back at his wife, maybe confused. As soon as he took the first step into the house he perceive a foul odour. It was the smoke. Most of it had escaped the house through the open window but some of it had chosen to remain behind. Peter could not see clearly as the house was still dark, so he opened the door widely to allow the curious beam from the street lights to come into the house. The light was enough for Peter to see the slightly ajar kitchen door and for Jill to walk in. Unlike Peter, the stench in the house gave Jill a nauseous hue and she frowned. She walked behind Peter, covering her nose with her white glove.

When Peter walked into the kitchen, Roy was no longer lying on the floor so Peter couldn't see him. He dashed to open the kitchen curtains to allow the beams from the streetlights into the kitchen. The light bounced off a grimy kitchen counter and noiselessly splintered into the front glass on the cupboards above. From the glass, the light bounced onto what seemed like a body. Peter knelt down to take a closer look; no, it wasn't a body, it was rather two bodies. It was Roy and Jane. Peter checked their pulses and felt the lifelessness oozing out of them. Their bodies were cold.

"They're...they're dead", said Peter with a low toned voice and without looking at Jill. She immediately let out a deafening scream that was impossible to ignore.

"Kevin!", she shouted as she ran to his room which was the first room down the passage. The door was open and the room was cold. She walked in anyway.

"Kevin?"

The window was wide open, the bed was well made. There was a pair of shoes on the floor and a red t-shirt. She approached the open window, allowing the cold winter breeze to brush her face. Tears starting trickling down her face.

"Kevin!", she shouted. Then echos.

11:46 pm.

In less than an hour, two police officers from the local police department arrived at the scene after Peter had called them. They went into the kitchen with their torches and saw the same thing Peter and Jill had seen. Roy's hands and feet were bound together and so were Jane's.

"Come and take a look at this", said one officer to the other who was now talking to Peter.

"Oh my goodness, we have to call the detective immediately, this is beyond us", he said after he had seen whatever it was. The two corpses had red roses in their mouths, their legs and feet were bound together. This looked like the works of the serial killer the detective on the radio had been talking about.

Jill was sobbing and restlessly pacing around.

05:00 am, 01.01.1983.

The scene was now flooded by journalists, more police cars and most importantly, detective Davis was there - the same man who had been talking about the serial killer on the radio. He was looking around the crime scene, not saying much. The journalists were questioning everyone about the murders, especially Jill and Peter.

"Ma'am how do you feel about the murders of Roy and Jane?", asked one journalist.

"Devastated....but the police should be out there looking for the boy right now, Kevin." She replied.

detective Davis was examining the bodies and the scene when he suddenly leaned towards the chief police officer who stood next to him.

"I think we have a copy cat here, this is not the serial killer who did this."

"What do you mean? It's clear that it's him. The roses, no blood, bound hands and feet, that's the guy, he did this." Replied the chief officer.

"Yes the roses, no blood, bound hands and feet, that's his thing, but you know what else is his thing? Taking a picture and leaving it at the scene. He has never failed on that one. Seven victims and he always leaves a picture at the scene, why not this time?", explained Davis.

"Well, maybe he didn't have his camera this time." The chief officer replied.

Before Davis could say something else, he heard a voice coming from the living room. It was belonged to a man, but since it was new, Davis was curious to see to whom it belonged. He turned his head without turning his body like an owl.

"What happened here?", asked the voice. It was Kevin's. He was panting as if he had been running. He now wore a blue leather jacket, a white beanie and Jill jumped to caress him and started giving him solace.

Davis watched from afar. He looked at the bouquet of flowers that Jill was still holding onto and to himself he whispered,

"I thing we have a new killer in town."