Page 20 of For Rage

Was it a fake name? Or was the source lying to her?

There were too many unanswered questions, too many loose ends. And her gut was telling her that Eric Domino was the key to unlocking the truth. But how was she going to find him? There were many apartment buildings around here. Morgan supposed she could start at one and work her way through them.

Still, Morgan knew that she had to play this smart. She couldn't just show up at his doorstep and demand answers. She needed a plan, a way to get close to him and gain his trust.Or maybe doing it the old-fashioned way—with intimidation—could work better. Skunk was a good ally, after all ...

He barked happily as she glanced back at him, and she smiled. At the very least, she could go check out some of the buildings, see where he was living, get eyes on him.

She turned the keys in the ignition, her headlights cutting into the darkness of the unkempt street, ready to take off, just as her phone started ringing. It was nearly six a.m.—who would be calling her now?

She answered it, and her stomach sank.

Derik.

Morgan's hands shook as she answered the phone. "Derik?"

"Hey, Morgan." He sounded exhausted. "Glad you're up."

She couldn't take the anxiety. "I'm sorry about last night," she said.

"I'm not calling about that," Derik said. "I wanted you to come in early, so we can head to Mia Jones's house together. We know Mia was seen at Grace's house, so there might be some evidence at her house too. The police still have her place blocked off, so we can go in any time."

Morgan's stomach twisted with nerves. All Derik wanted to talk about was work. She didn't blame him.

"Sure, Greene," she said, trying to keep things professional. "Let's do that."

"Good. See you soon."

He hung up before she could get another word in.

Morgan sighed, looking back at Skunk. This was going to be a long day.

Quickly, Morgan checked the GPS on her phone. Mia Jones's address wasn't far from here—it was before Morgan's house, where she needed to drop Skunk off anyway. She could make a quick pitstop and get that over with, so she and Derik could work on other things first. Part of her knew better and knew she should run it by him, but in all honesty, she was dreading facing him. Maybe it was better to just do it alone.

Skunk whined from the back seat, sensing Morgan's tension. She reached back and patted his head. "Don't worry, boy. We'll get through this."

Morgan made a snap decision and put the car in drive. She would swing by Mia Jones's house and check it out real quick, then drop Skunk off and head into work. She couldn't help but feel like she was running away from her problems, but she didn't know how else to deal with them right now.

As she pulled up to Mia's house, she saw that it was still surrounded by police tape. She parked and got out, leaving Skunk in the car. She didn't want to risk him getting caught up in any evidence or police investigation.

Morgan slipped under the tape and started to examine the area. It was eerily quiet, and the only sounds were the chirping of crickets and the hum of distant traffic. The neighbors must have still been sleeping. Morgan walked toward the front door of the house, and she could already see signs of forced entry, likely from when the police had gone in. The door was slightly ajar, and she could see a darkened interior through the crack.

Morgan reached for her gun, feeling the familiar weight in her hand, just in case any squatters had made their way in during the investigation. Eyes were off Mia's house now, but it was still here. She stepped gingerly through the door, her eyes scanning the room for any signs of movement. There was nothing. It was just the shell of Mia Jones's life.

She wondered what had brought Mia to Grace and Jim's that day, how she even knew them. Maybe her affiliation to them was what got her killed, assuming Jim was the one who had done it. It was possible they were just friends, she supposed; they didn’t live far from each other, and stranger things had happened.

It all made her sick, and Morgan made her way to the back yard. Like at Grace and Jim's, Mia's garden was pristine. Morgan stepped into the back yard as the sun began to rise, casting a cool blue hue as the sky slowly lightened.

She took a closer look at the garden. On the surface, it seemed completely normal. But then she looked closer. There was a smell in the air, like freshly cut grass. Mia had died days ago, and the police had taken over her house, and yet the work on this garden looked fresh.

She took a closer look at one of the leaves, then ran her finger along it.

A fresh cut.

Morgan's heart began to race as she realized what this meant. Someone had been here, tending to the garden, after Mia's death. But who? And why? Morgan's heart started to race. This was a significant detail, one that could lead to something. Someone had been tending to this garden recently, and it wasn't Mia. She looked around, trying to find any other signs of activity, but nothing seemed out of the ordinary.

She made her way back into the house, her mind racing with possibilities. There had to be a reason why someone was tending to Mia's garden.Maybe it was the killer, and he'd returned to the scene of one of his victims. He did seem to have an obsession with nature, after all—the mazes, for one, and the way he “planted” the bodies in the ground as if they were flowers. Maybe it was routine for him to revisit the homes of his dead, to trim their gardens as if they were still coming back to them, his own twisted way of paying homage.

Maybe he was even still in the neighborhood.

---