Sally’s was an old bar. The stools were creaky, the billiard table was worn out, and to add on to that the alcohol wasn’t even that strong. That’s what Jack liked about the place. It was lifeless. It was here where he’d spent most of his Friday nights. Sally’s was his little escape from the harsh reality that he was a single 27-year-old with a lot of potential, but nowhere to show it off. Jobless and lonely, Jack resorted to drinking to ease his stress. Sure, he had his best friend, but he was foolish and made mistakes that constantly got him in trouble.   

This Friday night was just like any other. Jack walked into the bar, he went behind the counter, and poured himself some whiskey on ice. The bartenders had all quit their jobs after a woman was brutally stabbed to death on the billiard table. The police were still investigating the murder, but they didn’t have a suspect, yet. The woman was the Coraline Killer’s fourteenth victim. Her corpse helped the public create a name for this crazy monster. On her, a button was discovered which led detectives to discover more about the previous victims. Near her lifeless pale body, was a glass filled to the brim with whiskey. Detectives swabbed the glass over and over again in hopes to find D.N.A, but the only one they found was of the victims.   

As Jack sipped on his alcoholic beverage and relished in the warm air, the door opened and a breeze of cold wind swooshed in. To his surprise, a lady had walked in. Her face was pale and her lips were a burgundy red. It looked like blood was seeping out of them. She had bright green eyes that penetrated through Jack’s empty soul, and her luscious long thick curls complimented her bone structure. She was petite, just the right size, Jack thought to himself. She was the most beautiful thing he had ever laid his eyes on. “Hi, is the bar open?” the strange woman asked.  

“Depends on who is asking, but for a pretty lady like you, always,” Jack responded with a somewhat charming tone. He was excited that he had the chance to speak with a woman, it had been a while. She had an interesting aura to her that made her appealing, something Jack had never felt in a human, let alone a woman.    

“Ahaha, go flatter someone else,” she replied as she was approaching the bar stools. She faced Jack and continued to speak, “Do you work here?”  

“Uh actually I don’t. All the bartenders quit after that… uh… murder, you know the one with the woman who was stabbed to death and had a button on her, let me see, what was his name....ah yes the Coraline Killer.” he replied, a smile creeping up on him.   

“Oh, that makes sense. But, I mean, why would they quit? It happened months ago.”   

“Well, how would you feel if you walked into a bloody corpse lying down on top of your billiard table with her face staring at the ceiling and blood dripping from her mouth?” Jack blurted out while he offered to pour whiskey in an empty cup. She refused his offer. The detail in his description sparked a curiosity in Olivia. Something wasn’t right, she had to find out more about this strange man.   

“How do you know she was lying down with her face staring at the ceiling? That was never released to the media...” Jack felt his muscles tense up. Sweat droplets ran down his spine. He could not allow her to be suspicious of him, but why should he worry? It’s not like she was a police officer of some sort.   

He replied with, “I mean, I don’t. I’m just guessing.” The thought of being finally caught was exciting yet scary to him. Being in the spotlight for fooling police over the course of 9 months was intoxicating to him. The fact that a commoner like him could be able to accomplish a thing such as that was thrilling in his eyes. Yet on the other hand, being caught meant serving time, something Jack didn’t want to do.   

“Hm, I see, it’s a good guess you know." Her response surprised him as he forgot she was there.  There was a long pause. The tension in the air grew. “I wonder how long she had to deal with that much pain before the killer decided to show her some mercy and just get it over with. I don’t even want to think about it, what a monster” She couldn’t wrap her head around it. Why would someone ever want to viciously kill people. What were they trying to gain? The more she thought about the killings, the more she wanted to catch this idiot. Only a coward creeps up on people and decides to end their lives. “What do you think about the murders?”  

Taken aback by her question Jack responded in a calm manner, “I mean, I don’t think people give him undeserved praise. Yeah, he killed a bunch of people, but he never left a single clue that could be traced back to him. The police don’t have anything on this guy. I mean it’s ridiculous. We live in the day and age of cameras and top-notch security. Our city used to have the best police in the country. But once this man came around, he really stumped them. Ever since the first killing, our so-called justice system has given people like him a playground to roam in and do whatever their heart desire.” She was shocked. The gears started turning in her head. How did she let it slide? How could she be so ignorant, all this time? He was right in front of her. The whiskey, the weird obsession, the somewhat charming attitude, it all clicked.   

“Wow, you seem to know a lot about this case,” Olivia replied in shock. Suppressing a laugh Jack responded,   

“I mean, it’s the most interesting thing going on-” as Jack was about to continue he was cut off by Olivia,  

“Sorry, I have to go,” She frantically said and as she was about to walk out the door she asked Jack a very important question, “Hey Jack, where do you work?”  

“Oh yea about that, I don’t work, I just like to roam around at night. What about you?”   

“I-I’m a police detective, I go by Detective Trudeau.” Olivia replied while walking out into the cool breeze. Jack’s muscles started to tense up. Sweat trickled down his spine. He cancelled out all of the noise and all he could hear was his inner voice telling him, “It’s going to be okay, she has no proof, go on about your business, nothing can stop you.”   

Running away from the bar Olivia hopped in her car and sped away. Once she arrived in her house she went straight to bed, not wanting to think about the case anymore. She was brutally awoken to her phone ringing in her ear. It was the chief of police, she picked up the phone, “Hello.”  

“Olivia we need you right now!” The chief yelled.  

“What happened?”  

“There’s been a 19th murder and a suspect has been apprehended,” Now she was awake. 19 murders. How could that have happened? She had to put an end to this.