RoseBlood

The Ending

The end of Hayley Lore.

The end of the Cold Case of Daniel Tyrel.

The end of the Case of the RoseBlood Killer.

The end of it all.

Her body is still and cold on the floor, the life bleeding out from her in oozing red strings. We all watch the scene for a long, silent moment, breaths held, then let them out all at once.

Brunsley is the first to snap out of it. His face is set, determined and professional, though a glimmer of upset and anger is readable in his eyes as he glares, muscles tensed, at the dead young woman bunched up on the ground.

"Right. Let's get the body moved, and the place cleaned up. Holly, are you alright?"

The armed police put their guns away, flooding into my basement and encircling Hayley, one getting out a walkie-talkie for a coroner. I watch it all happen wordlessly, and the Tyrels look back at me in concern, Emerson rushing up to me with searching eyes.

"Holly?"

He tilts my head up to meet his eyes, fingers hooked gently under my chin, and I blink at the proximity, looking up at him in uncertainty.

"Okay?"

I nod, staring at Emerson for another moment before I look back at Hayley, just as lifeless as she was a second ago.

"She's dead," Elias says, glancing over at her too, though he keeps his distance. He nods at her body, and looks away, going over to his sister and putting a comforting arm around her. "Good riddance."

"That was close," Brunsley says, giving Elias a stern look. "Too close, Elias Tyrel. You should not have run in here without backup, do you understand me?"

"I should have," Elias argues. "Holly could have died if I didn't. That killer wasn't wasting her time. Once she'd said her bit, all that was left to do was to get rid of Holly."

I step forward, handing Brunsley his recorder back.

"Thanks for letting me borrow it," I say with a slight smile, one that he returns.

"Thank you, Holly," Brunsley says, patting my shoulder and hanging onto it, examining my face for blood or injuries. "And you're sure you're okay?"

"Yes," I respond, as the coroners rush down the stairs in a flurry, going for Hayley with gloves and masks, ready to lift her onto their trolley. "I'm not hurt. But..."

"This isn't how you wanted it to end, is it?" Emerson concludes, and I shake my head.

"No. It's not how I thought it would be."

"She's gone, though, Holls," Elias points out. "And she knew that there was nothing she could do about anything. Probably why she killed herself. She'd rather live in some delusional-fantasy-denial world than face the fact that she's a murderer. She couldn't kill you, and she can't kill anyone else ever again. We caught her. You caught her."

"I didn't even think it was her," I say in thought. "She was on holiday. Everyone knew it. She wasn't a suspect."

I think of all the times Hayley looked after me, smiling at my parents, her poisonous hazel eyes lingering on my dad, and me not suspecting a thing.

"We wouldn't have known," Edith says. "Elias was out in the car, Emerson had called you and was on his way to join him. I stayed at home, and then Brunsley came."

"We were watching the cameras together," Brunsley nods. "And then we saw the camera in the basement get shadowy. Two people lingering around it. It was the only odd movement we'd picked up, and so I drove here with her, and alerted everyone."