Reborn In a Murderer’s Embrace

“Officer Robin, you think this is where it all started?” his partner queried with a raised brow.

Robin nodded without a word.

Colin’s eyes were glued to a particular door; he turned and began searching the room.

The old orphanage was gigantic, abandoned for many years, and although the police had scoped it out before, they’d never found anything of substance.

Colin picked up a stick and prodded through the debris.

I trailed behind Robin, my nerves on edge.

Was the truth about to surface? The long arm of the law misses nothing; if the cops were diligent, they’d find the original crime scene for sure.

Dexter’s complexion was ashen, and he followed the police, silent as the grave.

“Dexter…” Hank’s voice quivered, choked with words he hesitated to speak.

“Spit it out,” Dexter snapped, eyes narrowing in warning.

“I… in my garage, there’s a surveillance gear… I checked it yesterday, and there’s an audio file from the night of the 15th,” Hank stammered, legs trembling.

He had been wrestling with whether to disclose this information.

Seeing Dexter ditch his own wedding plans today to look for me had thrown Hank into panic.

It was clear as day: Hank was scared out of his wits, terrified the cops would knock on his door

next.

“I’m sorry… I swear I didn’t know. I was clueless…” Hank thrust a USB drive into Dexter’s hand

and retreated in a panic.

Dexter’s face was a storm cloud, and he turned to look at Robin.

The cops continued their search through the orphanage, everyone holding their breath. Even the police dogs were on the scene.

“What the hell happened that night on the 15th?” Robin murmured, plugging the USB into a laptop.

“Dexter… Dexter, where are you? I’m scared…”

“Dexter, Dexter… I’m afraid of the dark. Can’t you say something, please?”

“Dexter, if they catch the killer this time, can I go? Let me leave.”

“Dexter, when will I have paid off my debt to you? Give me a figure; I’ll pay you back. I promise.”

“Dexter, please, just say something.”

The recording was a chilling monologue of my terrified whispers in the alley, begging for Dexter to speak, to give me some sense of security.

Dexter’s face turned ghostly pale, his breath shaky.

Stella’s eyes reddened with fury as she glared at Dexter. “You’re a complete bastard! You let Phoebe go to Tangle Lane alone! You sent her to her death, Dexter!”

“I… didn’t,” he protested weakly, hands shaking.

I laughed through my tears. You see, Dexter, it’s painful to be powerless, isn’t it?

“Dexter, I’m scared… I want to leave…”

The recording captured my plea to Dexter to let me go, but as I turned to leave, a over my mouth and nose.

“Mmm… help… help…”

“Dexter…”

“Save me…”

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I struggled, cried out, my voice fading, the chaos in the recording dissolving into silence.

Everyone was on edge, including me.

The truth was clear in that recording; I had been killed.

Dexter’s hands trembled, his eyes welling with tears. He spun around to confront Hank, his eyes bloodshot.

“When did you find this recording, damn it, tell me when!”

Hank was petrified, his legs weak. “Yesterday… It was yesterday…”

“Tell the damn truth!” Dexter roared like a wild animal at Hank.

Hank collapsed to the ground, his face ashen. “The cops… the day they came asking about the 15th, when they said Phoebe was on Tangle Lane, I checked it. I’m so, so sorry, bro. I was too

scared.”

Hank sobbed, admitting his fear had kept him from going to the police.

I watched these people powerlessly, the conspirators in my demise. None of them were innocent.

“Bastard! If anything happens to Phoebe, I’ll kill you!” Dexter lunged at Hank, fists flying.

I smiled numbly, sitting on the sidelines.

“What are you playing at, Dexter? Pretending to be the good guy? It was you who killed me. Dexter, what will your face look like when you see my body?”

The cops pulled Dexter away as he hammered his fist into the wall. “The 15th… was she an

15-03

idiot? I didn’t send her there, so why did she go alone?”

I looked up at Dexter and slapped him, a futile gesture but I did it anyway.

“Weren’t you the one who sent me? Melody said you wanted me there!”

But Dexter, of course, couldn’t hear me.

“Officer Robin! Over here, we’ve got something!”

Robin dashed over, alert and focused.

I stood still, waiting for the moment my body would be discovered. Perhaps then I would be free.