Ethan and Shaun went to the mall which was very quiet at that time. The boy insisted on having lunch in some fast food and his father was very relieved to have him back so the pampering was always constant. Ethan wanted to make Shaun happy like never before and put away his problems in the best possible way so that he could grow up happy and without any deep trauma, no matter the effort.
The decoration was beautiful, garlands and trees at the doors of the shops and a space reserved for Santa Claus, and some children running through the aisles holding their gifts.
"Stay near me, okay?" Ethan touched his son's shoulder.
"It's okay, dad! Don't worry!" The boy replied promptly and pointed to a fast food "Can we eat there?!"
"Hm, it seems good... Let's take a look!"
To his surprise, Madison was there working over lunch and he quickly approached her, scaring her by poking her right shoulder.
"Jesus, why do you do this every time?!" She put her hands on her chest and smiled at the sight of the two, opening her arms to receive a hug from Shaun who soon jumped into her lap.
"We are buying gifts! Do you want one?"
"Sha-" Ethan quickly fell silent and folded his arms, looking at Madison. "That's not how it works, Shaun…"
"Everything is fine... Shaun, I would love to but they have a lot more gifts for children at Christmas, and besides, I already have you here! It's the best gift I could have!" She said, tickling the boy and smiling.
"Madison! Stop!" Shaun said laughing and pulling her hands away from him.
"I didn't expect to see you here, I thought you were having lunch at Rocker's." Ethan sat facing her, crossing his legs.
"Oh, they were closed today, they are in reform... Besides, Christmas decorations inspire me to take photos."
"Does the Christmas spirit inspire photographers? One more piece of information about Ms. Madison that I didn't know!"
"It's not a big secret, but you can write it down..." she replied with a chuckle.
"I was talking to Shaun before I came here, I wanted to invite you and one more person to the Christmas supper."
Madison blinked twice and smiled meekly, nodding.
"Sure! That would be wonderful! I would love to participate! "She put her hand over Ethan's hand, who looked into her eyes. "Thank you, I will provide new clothes for the occasion."
"Oh, you don't have to dress up so fancy, it's just something between family and friends... I wanted to thank you somehow for the help."
"Aw, Ethan... This is lovely... Who else will be at the supper? Grace?"
Ethan raised his eyebrows and shook his head, his expression quickly changed to worry.
"Er, she doesn't want to talk about anything other than our son... She created some anger, or just wants to avoid me…"
"Oh, hm... Sorry, I didn't want to spoil the conversation! I thought things were all right between you two." Madison withdrew her hand slowly, sighing. "We're going to have fun anyway, aren't we, Shaun?"
"Yes! The FBI agent will be there!"
She opened her mouth and looked at Ethan; she did not expect the father to contact Norman Jayden so early simply because they had spoken so little to each other. She knew that the profiler had helped him escape and save him from Shelby's hands, but she thought things had just stopped there, no more and no less.
"I didn't imagine you would invite him!"
"Not even me... "He said jokingly. "... I want to take this opportunity to thank him in the best way possible."
"Well, I hope he accepts the invitation... I mean - he barely appeared in interviews."
Madison was right. Norman didn't seem the kind of person who liked to party and to be the center of attention so probably the offer would be refused... Of course, it wasn't hard to try, but Ethan was 99% sure he wouldn't come.
"It is... You're right... But I'll go to the department anyway, after buying the gifts."
"I didn't want to look negative, it's just that... He seems to be a very reserved man."
Ethan nodded, signaling for Shaun to get off Madison's lap.
"Well, I'm on my way… we'll talk later on the phone. It was good to see you today!"
"Same to you, thanks for the invitation!" She smiled and ruffled Shaun's hair.
"Have fun and choose your gift well, you hear?"
"Hmhm!" He approached her and whispered. "I'll convince my dad to give you some too!" Madison laughed and waved at him, giving him a slight wink. The boy went to his father and waved his right hand, saying goodbye to the photographer.
Norman was immersed in the archives room, opening drawer by drawer. Sliding his fingers through the sheets and folders behind any information about the case of the Origami Killer, any file whatsoever. His hands were trembling, the fear went up to his back like a snake crawling over the trees, and deep down he knew something was not right. How could a simple ticket make him so stressed...? It could be some kind of stupid joke, it could be something else... Isn't it?
After a few long minutes without success in his search, he stood up and passed his hand over his hair, sighing. Norman left the room going after Charlene's desk to find out where the hell the files on the case were.
"Charlene, do you know where the Origami Killer files are?"
She stopped typing briefly and looked at him. "They're in the archives room."
"I've already looked there, I haven't found a single page."
Charlene seemed thoughtful, so she got up from the chair and signaled for him to go with her. She entered the room and went straight to one of the drawers and saw that Norman was correct: they were no longer there. With a frustrated sigh, the man put his hand on his face and went out to pick a chair and returned in a few minutes with one, placing it near the cupboards and going up to check if it was not on top of one.
Nothing.
"They must have taken it to court, perhaps?"
"But why? Blake and perry have already been sentenced!"
"...I'll talk to the person responsible for the organization here, we'll talk later!" Charlene didn't seem very interested in helping but decided to do it anyway. She didn't want Jayden to make any complaints to her superiors.
"Right... Thanks." He got out of the chair and looked around the room, approaching the drawer that Charlene had opened, looking in. "Shit..."
Jayden closed the drawer slowly, when he saw on the edge of the drawer, just below it, a little piece of white tape. He bent down slowly and saw that he had something written.
"There is always a pot at the end of the rainbow. Just follow until the end of it and you will find a beautiful treasure."
He took the note that was in his pocket. It was the same calligraphy: round and well-carved letters. He rubbed his finger at the edge of the tape and pulled it out, running into his room and closing the door.
"... rainbow? What the fuck is this person talking about...? We are in the middle of winter... " Jayden took off his coat and left it on the table, looking at the map he had next to his bookshelf.
Despite the surprise to find another message, he wanted to understand what the mysterious person meant and searched for shops and locations related to the text. "Pot or treasure... There are no names like this around here. Rainbow, can it be related to childhood, perhaps?" His thoughts ran together before his eyes on the map and he found at least 15 different children's stores, but none related to the name "rainbow".
"... What the hell... What does this person want from me? I don't remember getting into a fight except with Blake... And he's in prison." Jayden kept the two messages in his drawer and locked it only in case someone disappeared with his stuff as well.
Charlene knocked on the door and entered immediately, causing a slight fright at the profiler.
"They said they put the files there a week later, they were all organized and stored there."
"... fuck... Ask the officers to meet in the conference room, I'll ask one by one if they saw someone strange show up here."
"Do you really think it's necessary, Mr. Jayden?"
"Just tell them, please! No files disappear from that room without first informing me, all the material there is necessary for me to work!"
Charlene just nodded and closed the door, without questioning him.
"... "
Norman leaned on the table and felt his head spin, it had been a long time since he felt so much stress. He was convinced that this was no longer a terrible joke and he would run after the person who left him that strange message in the restaurant, whatever it takes.