CHAPTER 2

First of all I want to apologize for leaving this story hanging just right after the first chapter. I just didn't feel like writing and my muse totally betrayed me by going on vacation without me. Recently though, I've been feeling the need to write and little by little my muse has come back to me… I don't know how often I'll be able to post but I can promise that my head is in the game again.

I know it's been too long but I hope you guys still remember and like my stories about this world I created for 5.0!

Thank the heavens for Chin's naturally calm demeanor.

If it hadn't been for him, the mother of the victim would have had to be taken to the hospital. He and Annabeth had been trying to talk to the parents outside the house to ask exactly what had happened but neither the mother nor the father could handle the fact that their daughter had been murdered in their own house while they were sleeping. Honestly, no one could blame them; what they were going through right now was every parent's nightmare.

Eventually Chin was able to work his magic and they had learned that the only reason the father had woken up at a little past midnight is because he had heard a noise downstairs. He had debated in his sleep whether to go down and check it out, deciding it was better to be safe than sorry and finally getting out of bed to do it.

While checking the house, he had run into the kitchen door to find it partially open. He had immediately gotten suspicious because they never left any door open; he himself always checked before going to sleep.

Since nothing had been out of order apart from the door, he had gone upstairs to check her daughter's room. She was never one to sneak out at night, but there was always a first time for everything, he thought.

Going into her room he wasn't sure if he had been hoping to find her sleeping in her bed or not because, if she was, then the open kitchen door would become a more serious incident. When he had stepped inside the room, he was never prepared for what he found out and that was an image he would never, ever, be able to forget.

Unfortunately that was all they could get out of the father before he, too, broke down crying while hugging his wife. Chin's expression was solemn and Annabeth was left feeling a deep sorrow inside of her. Sorrow and anger; so they better found whoever was doing this and put an end to so much misery.

Not even a hour later, the whole team had gathered as much information as they could about what had happened, and since there was nothing else they could do at the scene, they decided to head to the office. The first rays of sunshine were starting to show on the horizon and there was no point in pretending the day hadn't already started.

The ride to the palace was actually peaceful since Danny and Steve had gone each with their own vehicles, so the usual morning bickering wouldn't start at least until they were inside the building. Sharing some theories inside Steve's blue truck, he and Annabeth tried to come up with an explanation as to why someone had decided to kill people from one particular college and they both agreed that, to do that, they needed to discover the pattern or at least something that could link all three victims together, apart from going to the same college.

- But, what if there isn't any connection between the victims. What if this is actually a random hit? – asked Kono once they had all gathered around the smart table to study the three cases together. They were also sporting various types of drinks in their hands after having shared the food Chin had bought for all on their way to work.

- There's gotta be something. Even when a serial killer attacks at random, there is always a way to connect the cases. If it's not the victims, then it's the M.O; if it's not the M.O then it's gotta be something else – said Annabeth.

- Woah Woah, hold up a sec – interrupted Danny – why are we already treating this as a serial killer?

- There's been three murders already – Chin said, as if that statement had been obvious.

- Yeah, three murders that we can't really connect. I'm not saying it's not strange, but maybe we should be cautious as to how we use the word serial killer here. We don't want to start a panic – Danny concluded to which Steve actually agreed – I'm sorry, what was that again? – Danny asked his partner.

- I said I think you're right – Steve answered while rolling his eyes at Danny's disbelieving face that soon broke into a grin – let's not jump to conclusions here. I think that, for now, let's take back the first two cases HPD was working on and study them as possibly related to the new one. We should dig deeper into the victimology, considering the M.O is completely different in all the scenarios. So what do we know about the victims? – Kono typed something on the smart table and then began to surmise the most important details so that they could all get a picture of who their victims were while they were alive.

- The first victim was 22-year-old Charlie Robins, he was studying economics and was killed with a kitchen knife drove straight to the heart. He was found by his parents when they were coming home from work. They both work at the same law firm and came home around six in the afternoon. There were sings of struggle all over the livingroom and the kitchen but no DNA was found that could potentially belong to the killer. The second vic was a girl: Leia Kahani, 19 years old. She was studying biology and was a pretty good student. She was found strangled with an unknown object in the bathroom of her house. Unlike the previous one, there was no struggle in the house, only some stuff in the bathroom knocked over, presumably from when she fought unsuccessfully to get away from her attacker. Both parents had been away at the time of the murder, the mother had been working and the father had gone to their younger son's soccer game at school that day. Finally, another girl, 20-year-old Amy Stark; she was coursing her second year in psychology and was suffocated with a pillow on top of her head while their parents were asleep at the end of the hall. You know the rest: no struggle, no witnesses.

- They are just so different – Chin said.

- Were there any suspect in the first two murders? – Steve asked.

- They interviewed a lot of people: friends, professors, family members. No one stood out. It says here that there was a special interest at first in one of the second vic's friends, Keoki Aikasu. He's 23 years old and was the last person to see Leia alive. According to him they had met at Leia's to study for a test the next day and the guy actually didn't have an alibi for when the crime was committed. He insisted that he had left Leia safe and sound at three o'clock sharp and then went straight to his apartment. He lives with his mother but she never gets home earlier that eight so no one could corroborate his story. Other than that, though, there was no evidence that connected him to the murder as well as no motive. Eventually HPD had to move on.

- We should look into him again. If we can't tie him to the murder, maybe he could give us more information about his friend's life so we can point some arrows to other suspects – commented Annabeth.

- You know what? – Steve suddenly exclaimed – I think I have an idea.

- Oh boy! – Danny blew out some air – does it involve guns and grenades? – the team smirked at the comment because, for all they knew, he could be right.

- No Daniel. For once, I'm gonna play it smart like you're always reminding me I should do more often.

- Then I'm all ears…

Well, there's that! I know these first few chapter aren't as action filled as I normally like my stories to be, but I first need to set the grounds of the new case they're gonna be working on so that later I can play out the most important part of this story… the one where Steve finally tells Annabeth the truth about being brother and sister! I can't wait to get to that part… anyone wants to try and guess how it will be? I would love to see how you guys think it'll happen!

With nothing left to say for now… until next chapter!