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one...,” I whispered, the blood leeching from my face.
    “Yes. I needed to know where you were,” he said, scratching the back of his head before pulling his hair in frustration. “Dammit! Why can't you just stay home. These holes in your alibi are making this impossible. They waste so much time focusing on your guilt that they aren't doing their jobs—then I spend all my time defending you. There are real killers out there, and they clearly have no intentions of stopping...FUCK!”
    “I'm sorry...I didn't know,” I said quietly, resting my hand lightly on his arm.
    “Well now you do.”
    Tension and awkwardness surrounded us as we stood outside my door. It was par for the course with us.
    “I'll try to do better,” I said, staring at my shoes. “I want you to catch whoever is doing this as much as you do, Sean.”
    “For your own preservation, you should,” he replied, trying to take the harshness out of his tone. “I'll see you soon.”
    He pulled away from me quickly before disappearing across the street and down an alley without another word. I took a cleansing breath and sighed heavily; I hated how we were, but didn't know how to effectively change it. I longed for lighter times of him showing up unannounced and me being obliviously taken by his charm, his wit, and his unparalleled looks. My new reality was tension filled interrogations polluted by his anger, his frustration, and his conflicted emotions.
    I opened the main entrance and locked it behind me. I still wasn't batting one thousand at that, but I'd learned over the previous months that locking that door could be the difference between life and death. After I flipped on the light, I made my way upstairs. Just as I was about to step up onto the landing, a piercing pain shot through my head. I collapsed on the stairs, falling down to the bottom in a flaccid heap.
    When I came to, Cooper was standing over me, shaking me.
    “Are you okay? Jesus, Ruby...what's going on?” he shouted, looking panicked.
    “It's happening again. We have to find her,” I said, sounding distant and detached.
    “Find who? What are you talking about?” he asked. “Did you hit your head?”
    “He's going to kill her too, Cooper. We have to stop him.”
    He stopped for a moment to really look at me. He saw that I didn't have a head injury, but that I was scared to death of something. He eventually put two and two together.
    “The man from your dream...”
    “He'll never stop, Cooper. I can feel it. He'll never stop until he gets his revenge.”
    “How do we find him?”
    Scarlet growled deep within me.
    Let me out and I'll show you the way...
    “Bad idea,” I said aloud, reflexively staring down at my naked ring finger.
    “What's a bad idea?” Cooper asked, sounding more confused than ever.
    “Scarlet. She wants me to let her out...she says she can find him.”
    “No, no, no. You know what Sean said about that. You'll be taken out with no questions asked if one of them sees you.”
    Then the girl dies...
    “I know, I know...,” I yelled, answering both of them at once. I grabbed my head in my hands and pulled at my hair in frustration. The catch twenty-two I was in had fatal consequences any way you turned. I looked out the windowed door to the street to avoid Cooper's questioning gaze. Across the road stood the answer to the conundrum. For a brief moment, standing directly under the streetlamp was my not-so-dreamy man, caked in blood. He smiled at me and mouthed “Hello, Ruby” as a red drop spilled down his chin—then he vanished.
    “It's too late,” I whispered, staring blankly out the window. “She's dead.”
    A grim and sobering reality availed itself to me that night. My visions weren't premonitions or warnings at all. They were captive audience, front row seats to watch the actions of a serial killer live and in living color.
    And I couldn't do a thing about it.

2

    The body count was rising. Three women dead, and another PC brother murdered; it