The chief shook his head. “No, Tara, we need to do it the way I decided. I am pulling rank on you; remember you are just a hired civilian!” His face was red with anger.
“You don’t get it, damn it!” I shouted back. “You are stubborn, just the same as the lycan leader, Risi. By forcing this on her you are insulting her and undermining her leadership, her alpha status amongst the lycans, and if you do that you may be pushing her to help Xrobzix.” I found his arrogance and stubbornness revolting.
He glared at me. “If that bitch gives him shelter we will raid their territory and pull both him and her out on the street and arrest them, simple and clean,” he replied.
Petra stood up and shook her head. “You really need to get your fat ass out of this office and see what you may be starting if you do that. The lycans will tear each other apart as their leader is taken away; they will never accept that,” she shouted.
“Fine, let those filthy wolves kill each other, see if I care,” he raged. “Now sit down and do as you’re told or I will have your badge and gun and kick you out of the police force faster than you can say tibletoe.”
Petra took out her badge and slammed it on the desk. “If you are going ahead with this shit I no longer want to be part of this sham of a justice system. Have your citywide search, but do not lock down the territories after you have done that. Beg them to help you bring this person in for justice, but make sure you accept their ways. Listen to someone else for just once in your pitiful life. Remember why we hired Tara? She knows them, she knows how the city works, and if she is certain that locking them in will create a clusterfuck, then believe her.” She spoke slowly and calmly, but she was ablaze underneath her exterior.
The chief glowered at her and shook his head. “You turned in your badge,” he said. “You are no longer working for this police force and I must ask you to leave my office at once.” There was a knock on the door. “In a minute!” the chief shouted at the door, but the person who had knocked paid no attention. The door opened and a man in a security uniform walked in followed by the Lexi, New Billingham’s Mayor. Lexi was a short blonde woman with a normally friendly face. “You wished to speak with me, Chief Berringer?” she asked as she walked to the desk and stood there.
The Chief looked at her and smiled. “Yes, indeed I did, Mayor Lexi. I want to issue a citywide search, and to lock down each territory after ensuring the suspect is not being harbored there.”
Mayor Lexi just stared at him.
Petra cleared her throat. “Miss Mayor, Tara Duluc and I think it’s a bad idea to lock down the territories, especially the lycan quarter. They will see this as nothing less than an act of war.” “Shut up, civilian,” the Chief scowled at her. “I already told you I do not care about the lycans or whether they tear each other to shreds. We need to find James Xrobzix no matter the cost. Now get out of my sight before I have you arrested for obstruction of justice.”
Mayor Lexi looked at Petra and then back to the Chief. “No matter the cost, Chief Berringer?” she asked him.
The Chief nodded. “Indeed, Mayor Lexi. No matter the cost.” His voice was sugary sweet.
“So if the city burns after you are done with your plan, it will have been worth it, because you caught the person you were looking for?” She looked angry.
He nodded again, adamant. “If that is what it takes to bring him to justice.”
The Mayor glanced over at Petra. “And how come a civilian, as you put it, has access to that sort of information?” she asked.
Petra pointed to her badge on the desk. “I was with the police force until a few moments ago,” she replied, “but the kind of justice the Chief seems intent on pursuing is not the justice I believe in, so I resigned. If he wants to pursue justice and set this city alight, I do not wish to be part of it.”
The Chief looked ready to arrest Petra right then and there. “It seems that this officer of the law, your law, has a better grasp of it than you ever will,” said the Mayor. “Consider yourself fired from service to this city, Chief Berringer.” He tried to say something back but stuttered until Mayor Lexi lifted one finger, urging him to shut up. She turned to Petra. “Officer, how would you feel about leading the police force with your visions of justice?” she asked.
Petra looked at her in amazement. “You mean you are making me the Chief of Police?”
The Mayor nodded. “If you want the job, that is,” she replied. Berringer stood up and slammed his fists on the table. “This is a disgrace! I am the Chief of Police, not her!”
“No, Berringer, you are a disgrace,” the Mayor said. “If you are so single-minded that you are determined to pursue this man to the point where my city lies burning, then you are not the man for this job, and probably never were. Even if you do not agree with me, you simple-minded piece of crap, I don’t care. You worked for the city, you worked for me and therefore I am your boss; and I am firing your sorry ass. Now get out of my sight before I decide to have you arrested. I don’t know for what yet, but I am sure I can come up with some to put you away for a long, long time.” Any hint of kindness had left her face as she shouted at him

Berringer stood up and went to the door. “Fuck you, Mayor,” he hissed at her as he walked out.
“Only in your dreams, you fat bastard,” she replied, before turning to Petra. “So, Chief, what do you suggest we do?” ***

I was happy that Petra, now the new Chief of Police, had seen reason in my argument. She had agreed with the Mayor to organize a citywide search, but to allow the territories to arrange the searches themselves. It would keep the peace in the city and nobody would feel like they were being victimized. To my relief, the Mayor had accepted the proposals and left. Still in the Chief’s office, I looked at Petra. “So, Chief Petra, what are we going to do?” I asked her.
From the look on her face she still seemed unable to believe she had become the Chief of Police. “I have no real idea what to do next,” she replied. “I have gotten so used to being told what to do by the Chief that I have no real idea what to do now that I am the Chief.” She looked at me hopefully. “Do you by any chance want to become a police officer again? I could sure use your expertise.”
I shook my head. “I’m sorry, Petra, I’d rather stay a private investigator; but don’t worry, I will always help you,” I told her. She sighed. “I am so sorry for suspecting you of involvement in this investigation,” she said.
I shrugged. “The same here. Like the humans say, water under the bridge, so no big deal really. All of us have been taken for a ride by James Xrobzix. I wonder how long he has been planning this, and most of all … why?”
“Yes, I keep asking myself why go all through all this, and for what reason? What does he hope to achieve with by it?” I smiled and lit my smoker. “When we find him, we’ll find out soon enough. I just hope we can catch him before he kills another victim. Have there been any girls reported missing?” There was a knock on the door, and as it opened Andreaa popped her head through.
“Chief, the people are waiting for your orders,” Andreaa said before disappearing back round the door again.
Petra looked at me and sighed. “Why can’t they just keep doing what they always did?” she asked, with a desperate tone in her voice.
I chuckled. “Why don’t you just tell them to do that then?” She nodded, stood up and walked out of her office into the police station. The eyes of every police officer turned to her as she stood there; it had not gone unnoticed that the former Chief had been fired by the Mayor and that Petra had been promoted on the spot. They had seemingly accepted it, as a round of applause spread across the office.
As soon as the clapping had stopped, Petra straightened her back. “I understand you are waiting for me to change things around, but I am not going to do so, not yet at least. So for now just do what you always did and do it well. Let’s catch James Xrobzix, let’s get him today so we can be sure to get back to business as usual tomorrow.”
It was a lousy excuse for a speech, but who could blame her for that? Victor sat in the back sipping coffee from a paper cup. As soon as the station went back to what they had been doing he got up and walked over to me and Petra.
“Does the new Chief of Police mind if Miss Duluc and I go out and try to catch this James Xrobzix too?” he asked. She shook her head. “No, lion boy, you two go ahead and catch this son of a bitch.” She went back into her new office. Victor looked at me and nodded. “That settles it, Tara. Let’s go,” he said.
As I looked over at the chalkboard Petra had used to write down the names of the six victims, I saw an officer take an eraser and start to wipe it clean.
“No wait, stop!” I shouted as I saw something that filled me with more fear than ever. He had started at the right-hand of the board and had erased most of the writing, leaving just the first part of each name.
I yelled for Petra to come look. She walked out of her office and looked at me, concerned. “What’s wrong, Tara?” she asked.
I simply pointed at the chalk board and said to the officer, “Erase all but the first letter of each.” He did, and there it was, now clear as day on the chalkboard. James Xrobzix had not just kidnapped girls with gemstones for names; he had selected them for their first initial. Now that only the first letter of each name remained, the chalkboard spelled out:

Y O U A R E
You are. Petra and Victor looked at me, and it all fell into place. I was to become the seventh victim. By punching Xrobzix in the face I had stopped him from getting me. He had even called me the gem of New Billingham. And just as the previous six girls had all been named after gem stones, he had told us indirectly that he wanted to kill me.
I had to become the seventh victim; I was to be the last gem. “That son of a bitch,” Petra said, as Victor walked over to a city map on the station wall.
“Get me a detailed map of the Favored territory,” he said. “Place numbers on them of where you found the dead girls, in the order you found them.” He looked at me. “Tara, I think I might have an idea what the hourglass is all about.” I still had no idea what he meant, but as an officer laid down a map in front of him and placed numbers on it showing where the girls had been found, I saw Victor nodding. When the officer was done, Victor called us both over.
“Just as I expected,” he said. “The hourglass we should have been looking for isn’t an actual hourglass with another riddle on it; it is an hourglass shape.” he said as he took a pen and started to connect the six numbers. It did indeed form an hourglass-shaped pattern. He wrote the number seven in the middle where two lines crossed. “Can anyone tell me what the building at number seven is?” he asked.
I turned white and felt like vomiting as I saw where the lines crossed. I took two steps back and looked at Petra and Victor in horror. “That’s my apartment.”

Next Chapter: Staying save