Stars - Part 6

James, Aaron's police friend, was holding the notes Aaron had been taking on the Star-Killer. Aaron, on the other hand, had his head held down in shame and was fidgeting with his fingers. The police were still going through his apartment for more notes. He had already told everything to James. He had no choice since he was caught anyway, and the only way to keep the trust the police had in him was to tell the truth without hiding anything.

James sighed and spoke, "If he wanted you to find him alone, and killed a person to keep you from getting a chance to talk to us, then why did he challenge you like this in public with his message?"

The long silence before this question, while everyone stared at Aaron in disappointment, had given him enough time to know the answer to this question. He sighed and spoke quietly.

"I changed my route that day. If I hadn't done that, I would have been the first person to find that message along with his heinous deed. He knew I would have opened his message without waiting for the police to come..."

Aaron went silent for a moment. The room was very quiet again, but the glare from his friend made that silence burdensome. He tried to distract himself by thinking of the case so he didn't have to feel even more guilt. Suddenly, a thought came to his mind.

"He's good! But he's not perfect at predicting people's reactions!"

Aaron almost yelled with excitement, but before he could continue his train of thought, James yelled at Aaron.

"Do you think it's time for that!? You have caused so much trouble! You didn't have any protection! You can fight because you had the training, but it's not good enough to take a killer! You can't keep investigating this case like this! I am taking away all—"

"Wait!" Aaron interrupted, "I'll join! I'll take the job! I will look for him officially—with all the police force." 

James tried to speak up, but Aaron didn't let him. 

"You need to understand! He wants me to find him! He hadn't made any mistakes for so long, but he made one while he tried to predict me! I can track him, and you know what he's capable of! He's insane. I have lost count of how many people he has killed already. He provoked me to try to catch him. If I stop looking for him, he might go even crazier than this."

James rubbed his temples. He was a kind, calm, and a tolerant man. Seeing him like this meant that this was really serious. "You understand that he might be trying to frame you for something or could just be playing games with you?"

A long conversation went on between them, with James trying to tell him not to join as an investigator right now. Aaron, who was now sitting behind a desk with all his notes, was wondering if he made the right decision. He had told James that he was ready, and eventually, he was gonna face such troubles anyway. Aaron firmly believed that Star-Killer didn't want to frame anyone at all for what he had been doing for so long, given that he got furious when the police took in Barney Crowley for his crimes.

Aaron sighed as James entered the room again. "Are you su—"

"Yes, I am sure. I have thought enough. Give me my badge already." Aaron snapped. He was getting impatient.

James rolled his eyes. "You know, you are still a citizen, and you should show respect to a policeman." He said as he sat down across from Aaron. 

"Barney made contact with me the same day Star-Killer first contacted me. Is there any link between that?", Aaron questioned.

"Well, he escaped the mental hospital long before Star-Killer came back. He really likes to act. He saw the news everywhere and started acting like a secret killer to everyone. The day he came to you to tell you that he's the serial killer, he had done it with a dozen other people, too. You just happened to be around and if you are wondering how he knew your name then well, you earned quite some popularity when you got qualified to become an investigator. Anyway, he's being shifted back to the hospital."

Aaron nodded and turned back towards his notes. Then, after a while, he spoke again, "You said you would assign this case to me once the documents are through and I am officially an investigator. Would I work alone, or would you give me a partner?"

"You will work alone unless you are going somewhere dangerous. Aaron, we have been close friends for so long, but I mean it, if you go into danger alone, I would be the one you would have to be afraid of. Not the Star-killer." James warned Aaron for the millionth time and left.

It took several hours to process the documents, probably because people were busy in the police station. Criminals had turned even more active because of Star-Killer, so the police didn't have any free time at all now. 

Once Aaron got the badge and was officially an investigator. The police gave a statement to the media that 'Aaron is involved in the case because we told him that it would be his first case when he would become an investigaor. He was just studying everything and caught the eye of Star-Killer.' It wasn't the truth, but it was a harmless lie. They needed to keep Aaron safe if he was going to be the queen in this game of chess. 

Now that everything was done, Aaron felt a heavy wave of responsibility. He resumed his investigation. He opened the account of Lucas Collins again. Aaron was a very reckless guy in his teenage years and had several spare fake social accounts. After a moment of hesitation, he decided to text Lucas from one of those fake accounts. That fake account was from the time he was into heavy metal. Thus, the whole account had an emo look to it. He had to use such an account for his plan. He texted Lucas with the picture of Lucas with supposedly real teeth.

"I want that collection of teeth. You gonna sell it to me or what?"

After texting, Aaron wondered if teenagers talked differently than he remembered. Would he be suspicious? Then, after a moment, he whispered to himself, "He's a kid. He would be thrilled that he can sell something and get money. Calm down, or you would make a fool out of yourself."

He went back to looking at his notes. He sighed when he had gotten to a dead end again. The few things he knew about Star-Killer were that he wouldn't let anyone else take the credit for his crimes. He couldn’t predict what a person might do. The only reason he was never caught was that he was very careful not to leave any traces, choosing people randomly and always finding a new place to leave the dead bodies. But ultimately, he could make mistakes. He wasn't an extremely smart person with a high IQ. Just a person who's very, very careful.

While thinking of all this, he received a notification. When he checked, he found that Lucas had already replied.

"One dollar each. Take it or leave it."

Aaron smiled at the message. He was gonna pay 1,000 dollars if he had to get those teeth. He was going to get them and, soon enough, have Eliot behind bars, too.

To be continued....