A String of Secrets

Chapter 8

Hey, loves! Thanks for reading so far! I hope you like it. I should be consistent with updates like my other stories. Thanks again, and don't forget to vote. Love you. -Rae <3

-----

I was certain that my heart rate didn't slow down until I was fully away from the Trail and back in my car. I had to remind myself to not speed on the highway.

If Alex's keychain was in the space between Silver Meadows' Trail and Phantom's Campsite, then maybe he lost it while running. It had been a week since the murder, and Eli did say that he saw Alex the day of and he looked shaken and terrified.

There was still so much missing. Did the masked killer use the campsite as a place to kill their victims? Was Alex trying to escape either the day he was murdered or while he was missing and lost his keychain in the process?

More answers were at that campsite, and I wasn't going back without someone else.

Once I was back on familiar streets, I parked in one of the parking lots of the university, unsure of what to do next. I pulled the keychain out of my pocket, and I used some napkins and a bit of water I had in my car to clean off any remaining dirt. There was a key to his house, a key to his car, a laser pointer/ flashlight that was the size of probably a finger, and a few more trinkets that came from various events at the university.

It's a big, big risk keeping the keychain with me. If the wrong person discovered I have it, I would immediately become suspect number one. I have to be careful. I thought as I stashed it into my bag. In the process, I pulled out my laptop, opened it up, reclined my seat so I was a little more comfortable and used my phone's data as a hotspot for internet connection.

Eli said that two more of the masked killer's victims were found in the river. That had to mean that they were also in the woods at one point if we stuck to our theory about the cliffs, but what about the others? Before I started making more theories, I needed to get an idea of why some of the victims ended up in different spots.

According to an article published about a month before Alex's murder, thirty-two year-old Emmett Daniels was found with his throat slit in the alleyway near a bar. His body was found one morning when the owner of the bar took out the garbage.

I searched up the location of the bar. It was more than an hour from Silver Meadows' University, and almost two hours away from the Trail. Whoever the killer was must have had tons of money for gas.

In my ongoing document, I pasted a map of the city of Silver Meadows and noted that Emmett Daniels was found in the alley near the bar, then started searching more about the other victims.

Another article revealed that thirty-three year-old Eva Freeman was found in the shed of a highschool with her throat slit. Redstar High was about forty-five minutes from the university, so I wouldn't be too surprised about the killer going there. I couldn't imagine how insane it was for someone to discover a dead body where kids go to school.

I found the two names of the other victims that were also found in the river with their throats slit. More articles confirmed that they were all found within a five mile radius of the steak restaurant where Alex was found. I was sure that it was safe to assume that both Ace Hemmings and Derek Stevens, both students who graduated from the university, were killed in the campsite and tossed off of the cliffs if I stuck to mine and Eli's theory.

When I came across those two names, I stopped and thought for a moment. Alex had a ton of friends, the popular guy he was, so it was hard to keep up with all of them. Derek Stevens, I knew, was a friend of his. Though he graduated way before, sometimes he came and visited for sports events.