Scream 4

Chapter 15

Danny Johnson was a patient man. His profession required it. Being a freelance investigative journalist, required patience. But right now, said patience was being pushed to its limits, and he had to tell himself not to succumb to shoving the head of the woman talking his ears off through a wood chipper.

8 PM was the time, proclaimed by the clock on the wall. The only sound emanating from the plastic frame was the soft tick-tick-tick of the second hand as it lazily made its patrol around its circular path.

It had been disappointingly easy to get Jed's date to talk about herself. Mariette Sacchez, younger sister of Melinda Sacchez, whom Danny had turned into one of his greatest works yet. It was solely because of her uncanny resemblance to one of the latest Ghost Face's victims that he'd changed his mind and accepted her proposal.

Having her leave you alone was only a bonus, nothing more than that. And not because seeing you miserable irked him (it didn't), but because it presented him with an opportunity. And when an opportunity to earn your trust and gratitude came by, who was he to let it pass? It was only going to work in his favor in the grand scheme of things.

... "You're not listening to me."

Letting his pen rest on his thigh, Danny's dark eyes studied his supposed date's expression carefully, noting the annoyance flashing almost wildly in her gaze.

He let his alias smile at her disarmingly. "Hey, I have been listening." His answer was automatic, yet airy and playful. Convincing enough for just about anyone. "You have my attention."

In truth, she was right because Danny hadn't been listening to a word she was saying. His mind had wondered off, back to her sister's death at his hands, back to you and back to everything he had gathered seven days ago when you and him last sat together.

He was exceptionally good in acting and playing the part of innocent Jed Olsen, if he had to say so himself. A wolf in sheep's clothing. It was thanks to his acting that he could figure a person out in mere minutes, which wasn't at all a challenge with the bimbo who had taken him to her house and lead him straight in. Her house that, unbeknownst to her, he had already visited frequently, when she wasn't there. Her older sibling hadn't been nearly as dumb, but easy enough to manipulate into making sure that no one was around when she invited him over.

Brightness definitely wasn't running in this family because several months after Sacchez's death, they let their guard down by leaving their doors unlocked one night, then another. And another, until keeping them locked was all but forgotten. Clearly they hadn't bothered to follow the Sheriff's weekly updates on the news because the old geezer not once didn't start off his speeches by urging Roseville's residents to have their doors locked at night, until the culprit was caught and brought to justice.

An advisable thing to do, really, because these idiots were almost asking to get strangled. Fuck, they'd deserve to follow the rest of his victims to the grave when they were being so awfully careless.

But as it were, Danny had nothing to gain out of carrying out his most demented and twisted desires, besides sparing himself an upcoming head ache. He'd already sown fear throughout every corner of Roseville, where not a single person hadn't heard about the Ghost Face murders. He was far from finished, but it would do him well to lay low, for now.

The barista's bitchy exterior crumbled after Jed successfully reassured her that he had been paying attention to her complaining, quoting her exact words without needing to give them much thought (he had trained his memory to come close to that of an elephant's). They were only on their first date and the only thing she'd really been doing was ramble on and on about how she hated working in a coffee shop in this shitty town that wasn't worthy of her time, until Jed calmly interjected her.