Silas looked out of his bungalow window and saw a young woman flirting with two men out on the street. He scowled in disgust. She was showing herself off in broad daylight for the world to see. Nico came into the room.
"What is it?" she said. Silas gestured out of the window and Nico joined him.
"Look at her," Silas spat, "Look at how she teases them. Look at the way she shows off her body. She reminds me of what Mercedes used to be like."
Nico looked at the pretty woman as she walked away from the men with a wave and a wink. She felt a pang of jealousy as she took note of the woman's beautiful skin. Then she looked at Silas.
"Where does she live?" Nico asked.
"Just down the street." Silas replied and looked at Nico out of the corner of his eye, "I think it's time for me to show you my method of murder."
Linda sat on her father's sofa, flicking through channels on the TV. Her parents had gone out for dinner. Someone knocked on the door. Linda went to the door and opened it to find an old man whom she had seen around the village. Beside him was a teenaged girl with a scarred face. Linda could tell that the girl used to be pretty, but whatever had happened to her had stripped her of most of her beauty, though hints of it were still there.
"You're Edward, right?" Linda said, "Is this your granddaughter?"
"Yes," Silas said, "She had a nasty accident so she's staying with me for a while."
"I wish I had skin like yours," Nico said, staring enviously at the older girl's beautiful skin.
"Are your parents in?" Silas asked.
"No," Linda said, "They went out to dinner."
"Good," Silas said, then struck with the speed of a snake. Nico had witnessed how gracefully the old man could move, but this was the first time she had seen how fast he could be. Linda tried to scream but Silas hand was covering her mouth, "Nico, the door." Nico hastily closed the open door. "Now watch and learn, my dear."
"What are you…?" Linda began as Silas uncovered her mouth. Silas slapped her.
"Be quiet, you whore," he snarled, "I've got a lesson to teach." Both hands went around Linda's throat. It dawned on Linda that the old man was trying to kill her. Frantically, she started struggling. She tried to beg for her life but Silas' grip on her neck was so tight that she could only let out choking gasps. She stared pleadingly at Nico but the younger girl just leaned on the now closed door and watched silently.
Silas glanced at Nico, who was watching with a fascinated expression as if this was the most engaging thing she'd seen in ages. Linda stamped on Silas' foot. Silas grunted and his grip loosened. Linda pushed him away and tried to flee but Nico grabbed a lamp and slammed it on her head. Linda collapsed, stunned, giving Silas the chance to finish her off.
Silas watched the life leave the young woman's terrified eyes with a satisfied smirk. When the body stopped twitching, he stood up, slightly worn out from the struggle. He looked at Nico, who was still holding the lamp and smiled approvingly.
"You're like a snake," Nico said as she put the lamp back, even putting it in the exact same place as if she'd never picked it up at all.
"Well, the Boa Constrictor is my favourite animal," Silas said, "Come, let's go home." He checked that the coast was clear and left the house. Nico looked at the corpse on the floor. Then she followed Silas.
"Damn it!" Silas roared as he picked up his gloves from his sitting room table. He had been so eager to show Nico how he killed people that he had forgotten to put them on.
"Silas?" asked Nico nervously. When Silas was angry, even she felt intimidated by him.
"I've been doing this for more than three decades," Silas snarled, "How could I forget?"
"Forget what?"
"To put on my gloves," Silas said, holding up said gloves, "Fingerprints, Nico. That's the first thing the police look for. A couple of years ago, I would never have made such an amateur mistake!"
"Well, you're old," Nico said, "Maybe your memory is going."
"Perhaps," Silas agreed, "But I've never forgotten my gloves before." He sat down and sighed, "I really am getting too old for this. This is the kind of oversight an inexperienced killer would make."
"I never used gloves," Nico admitted.
"You should," Silas said, "Leaving traces of DNA is a huge mistake." He chuckled bitterly, "God, that sounds hypocritical." He stood up rapidly, "We need to leave."
"What?"
"It won't be long before the police identify those as my fingerprints," Silas said, "Besides, one should never stay in the same place for too long. Help me pack."
"Sienna!" Warren called, "Come and look at this!" Sienna joined him and he showed her a newspaper article about a young woman who had been murdered, "The murder took place in a village not far from here."
"Any suspects?" Sienna asked. Warren scanned the page quickly.
"The police found the DNA of an old man called Edward on the body," he said, "Apparently, his granddaughter was visiting at the time. She was a shut in and never interacted with anyone apart from him."
"We should check out the scene," Sienna said.
"I agree but we should wait until after the police are gone," Warren said, "When this sort of thing happens, people get paranoid. It would be a bad idea for two complete strangers to turn up at a crime scene."
Sienna ignored Warren's advice. She arrived at the crime scene while the police were examining Linda's house.
"Excuse me," Sienna said, going to the nearest police officer who looked at her suspiciously.
"We're a bit busy here," he said, "Can't this wait?"
"Not really," Sienna said, "I'm looking for my daughter. She went missing a couple of months, ago."
"I'm sorry to hear that," the policeman said, "But right now we've got a murderer to catch."
"I heard his granddaughter was visiting," Sienna said as the policeman started to leave, "Did you ever see her?"
"No," said the officer, "Apparently, she rarely left the house. I doubt she was even that madman's granddaughter in the first place."
"Why did she rarely leave the house?" Sienna asked. If the "granddaughter" was Nico, she didn't want to think about what the murderer might have done to her.
"Apparently, she suffered from horrible burns," the officer said, "But she's disappeared along with the killer."
Sienna felt as though someone had punched her in the stomach. Nico had been in a fire. The murderer's "granddaughter" was burned. It was possible that it was just a coincidence but Sienna's gut was telling her that it wasn't. She prayed that this was one of those rare occasions where her gut was wrong. On top of that, both the killer and the girl had vanished.
"Thank you for your time," she said shakily.
"Do you know anything about this?" the officer asked.
"Only what's been in the news and what you've told me," Sienna said truthfully. She got back into her car and headed back towards Hollyoaks.
"You ignored me, didn't you?" Warren said when Sienna entered the flat.
"They're gone," Sienna said, "The killer and the girl. The police told me the girl had horrible burns." Warren's annoyed expression turned into one of concern. He stood up and approached her. Sienna tensed slightly but allowed him to hug her.
"It could be a coincidence," he said. He knew Sienna had never fully forgiven him for leaving Nico in that fire and even if they found her, Nico would probably be scarred for life. Warren feared that if Sienna saw her daughter like that, she might grow to hate him.
"You're right," Sienna replied, "It could be a coincidence but it would be one hell of a big one. Nico was there, I'm certain of it. She's with a murderer. What if he hurts her or…?" Her shoulders shook. Warren couldn't see her face but he could tell that Sienna had started to cry. He rubbed her back gently and gave her a moment to calm down before speaking.
"He might use her as a weapon," Warren said quietly, "Teenage girls are impressionable and Nico was already messed up. Spending time with a madman could make her even more dangerous."
Does anyone apart from Bonnie Sveen Fan even read this story? Anyway, Happy New Year.