Through The Eyes Of The Lion

9.

Back at the scene of the crime, Saunders had read the note for the umpteenth time.

Nowhere to be found is number 8,

Unless of course, you check the grate

The grate...the grate...the grate.

He'd been racking his brain to find out what that meant.

"The grate....the grate." He mumbled. And then, as if a lightbulb had gone off in his head. "The sewer grate?"

—-

August was the first to pull away from the kiss, his head shaking as he backed away from Angela.

"No..no. Not again. You have to leave." He mumbled these words with wide eyes. "You have to go."

"Chresanto..."

"Angie, leave!" He raised his voice and she hopped down from his desk, walking over to him.

He continued to take small steps back until his back pressed against the wall behind him.

"Chresanto, it's not that I never wanted to marry you." She spoke softly as she continued to take steps toward him. "I didn't think I was worthy of you. I didn't think I was good enough for you."

He didn't respond at first. He just stared at her. But when he did speak, his voice was angry. "It wasn't about what you thought!" He told her harshly. "It wasn't about whether or not you felt good enough! I loved you Ang!" He took a step closer to her. "That's what mattered! I loved you and I wanted to marry you!" He continued, making her step back as he took more steps to close the space between them. "I wanted you! I didn't care about anything or anybody else! I just wanted to be with you!"

"And I still want to be with you." She spoke quietly. Yet another lie.

He let out a bitter chuckle and shook his head. "No you don't! You didn't then, and you don't now!"

She took a step closer to him and reached out to touch his arm. "Santo...I do still want to be with you."

Chresanto stared at her in silence and after a moment, he reached a hand out, and took the file back.

"You don't have to lie to me." He mumbled, seating himself once more. "But I am gonna regret helping you."

Officer Holmes' eyebrows furrowed in confusion, but Chresanto motioned for her to be seated and she claimed the chair across from him.

"You have a notepad?" He asked.

She nodded and reached to pull it out. "Yeah."

"Alright start here...he's a lefty." August told her as he stared down at the file.

"How did you know that?" Holmes asked.

"Well, I caught it the first time through, but when he cuts his victims to tag his 'name' his hand rests in the previous letter and he leaves these little spots of blood." He pointed to a picture to show her what he meant.

"And that means he's a lefty?" Holmes asked.

Chresanto rolled his eyes. "Yes. Think about it. When you write.." He motioned to her hand as she held her pen after writing what he'd told her to write. "You go left to right...right handed people land on a clean section of the paper...leftys...not so much. They sort of smear their writing unintentionally. It looks like he tries to get it cleaned up, but it's not too effective."