Alright here's the next chapter. Mostly talking and ideas are goin to be thrown out, but there will be more hints as to who the killer is!!!

Enjoy

Disclaimer- I do not own the Outsiders-S. E. Hinton does!

One Week Later

"Hey Johnny," Pony said as him and Johnny walked out of the movies.

"Yeah, Pony,"

"Do you remember the letter I got a few days ago?" Johnny huffed; Pony would not stop talking about that letter. Yeah it's a little upsetting to get a note from someone who killed your friends, and had the same intentions of killing you. Johnny was his best friend though and he knew he had to help him if he had a problem. Because he knew Pony might be next, but why was the killer waiting? Last time someone found a note they went down for the dirt nap within the next few hours.

"Yeah, what about it; you didn't get another one did you?"

"No, it's just…why is he waiting? All the murderer is doing is making me go insane," Johnny glanced at him to see the confused look on his friend's face.

"I don't know Pone, I'm not an expert at these things," they had turned the corner; the sun was just about setting behind the thick, gray covering of clouds, "Maybe the detectives found something out. They asked us to stop by later tonight, they'll be able to help us."

They entered the station and sat down in the waiting room. The station was older than their parents. The walls were off-white and the brick it was made of has seen better days. The big bulletin board next to the front desk contained random papers about missing children and wanted posters with smug faces staring back at you.

"Oh, Ponyboy, Johnny, thank you for stopping by. If you would follow me we can get started," Perry had come through a thick, wooden door that had her name on it. She had a sincere smile on her face, her hair was in a loose ponytail, and she looked really tired.

"So, has anything new come up?" we shook our heads, "Alright, so we have gone over the few pieces of evidence that we have and…"

The door behind us had opened, Darry, Soda, and Two-bit walked in, "Sorry we're late detective Perry."

"It's alright we were just getting started, so like I was saying the evidence isn't helping us really so…"

"Wait, you guys haven't found anything? What did we come down here for, for you to tell us 'sorry but it looks like you'll have to fend for yourselves here on out'," Soda had sat up straight in his chair and addressed his question. He hasn't been his usual self since Steve and all; the childish gleam in his eyes had vanished. The dark circles under his eyes were now more noticeable; Soda hadn't been able to sleep, he was too worried something would happen to Pony while they slept.

"No, but I would like to talk with you individually to get to know you all a little better. What we are looking for might not exactly be out in the open. So, if you don't mind I would like to talk to you first Soda," Everyone left the room and Soda took the seat that Pony had been occupying seconds before.

"How are you this evening Soda?"

"Just peachy keen detective Perry," the hardness of his voice took away from the playfulness of his response.

"So, tell me about your friendship with Steve. How long have you known each other?"

He paused and stared at Perry before answering, "I've known Steve my whole life; we shared everything and did everything together. Things got tighter between us after he told us about how his dad would kick him out of the house. We would give him a place to stay, we always leave our door open for our friends, and we never know who might not have a place to stay…"

"So, Steve and his father weren't close to each other. Has he ever threatened him or anyone else about anything?"

"No, his father wasn't like that, he just never gave a damn about Steve when he was drunk. When he was sober he offered him money to make up for his poor parenting," Soda took a deep breath; this was getting nowhere fast.

Fifteen Minutes Later

"Good evening Pony how are you?"

"Good, I guess,"

"So were you close with Steve like your brother?" Pony stopped to think for a second, the gang was all close, but he and Steve weren't.

"Not really, Soda was Steve's buddy, they did everything together. Whenever they went out with their girlfriends we, we meaning me and Johnny, always stayed behind, Steve didn't like hanging out with "little" kids."

"What about Dally, he's from New York right?"

"Yeah he came here about three years ago, Dals cool and all. Johnny's the one who admires him the most," Pony had started playing with the end of his jacket; it was uncomfortable talking about his dead friends.

"Well thank you Pony, that's all…send in…Johnny for me please, oh and you can tell the others they can leave if they like, I think I'll be finished after I'm done with Johnny," Weird. Why didn't she want the others, oh well, I never understood how detectives think.

Pony left and Johnny entered closing the door behind him. He gave her a weak smile then sat down in the creaky, old chair.

"Well Johnny, according to your friends, Dally was really close to you, how so?" she leaned back in the chair, twisting her pen in her hands.

"Um, well yeah we were close, I guess," he looked up into her eyes then quickly looked away. Those green eyes were mesmerizing. They were piercing and very distracting, he felt like all his secrets would be coerced out of him.

"Well, how did you guys meet?"

He was afraid she would ask this, he wasn't too keen in sharing this story, "Well, it's kind of a long story…"

"I've got plenty of time," she smiled and set her pen down on her notes.

"Us greasers don't have a great home life. Me especially, my parents aren't…happy with me for some reason, and well my dad kicked me out of the house, literally, and well Dal happened to be walking by. He helped me up and introduced himself…" feeling like he shared enough he snapped his mouth shut and stared at the floor. He didn't like the cops, and he sure didn't like sharing his story with them.

"So your parents beat you," she said this so casually it would seem like we were old friends.

"Y...yeah," he looked down, so Perry wouldn't see his blushing face. Why does he always get stuck tellin' the girls his story, why?

"How long as this been going on? Why haven't you told the police anything, you do know they can help, right?" she leaned in curious for more.

"Um…since I was six…" he tried pushing the memory out of his head, "I didn't…I can't tell anyone because…because…I don't want to be taken away from the only friends I have," his voice cracked when he said the last word. He didn't want to think about that right now.

"Well, I think that's it for now. Be careful, and don't worry, we'll find this guy," he stood up and shook her hand, then left without another word.

Later…

"Alright I'm calling this a night, what about you?" Perry and Steinwick had been working on the murder case, with little success.

"I think I'll stay for a little longer, drive safe."

"Yeah, you too," Steinwick left leaving Perry alone to think about those boys who were being stalked. All the other lights were turned off and everyone had left, leaving the rest of the station empty.

Empty.

That was the perfect word for this cases file. How hard could this possibly be? In a little town like this it should be a breeze to figure this one out. This is the first case that had stumped Perry, and she wasn't taking it easy.

Two dead teenagers, and the only evidence they had was three notes with undecipherable sayings.

The first letter, "When the Jews return to Zion / And a comet rips the sky / And the Holy Roman Empire rises / Then You and I must die / From the eternal sea he rises / Creating armies on either shore / Turning man against his brother / 'Til man exists no more."

Well obviously, "Then you and I must die", "Turning man against his brother", and "'Til man exist no more", are the easiest. The, turning man against his brother is the key part; one of their friends was part of it, or a family member. Why would they put that part if they weren't? These boys are closer then they think, in a bad way of course. The other parts stumped her, she wasn't big in the church going thing, so she had no idea what the Jews returning to Zion meant, or when the Holy Roman Empire rises. No of the boys seemed to be big church goers either. She knew Pony and Johnny went to church every so often only a few years ago, but would they have been old enough to understand?

Then the second letter, "Whatever you do, don't fall asleep."

Simple, easy, and once again bland and unexplainable. Obviously, they aren't safe anywhere or anytime. But, when weren't they safe, where was he going to strike next? These damn letters are keys to doors that lead nowhere.

Then Pony gets another letter, but it's taking this guy longer to strike. "Where you gonna go, where you gonna run, where you gonna hide? Nowhere... 'Cause there's no one like you left."

What does he mean by, "there's no one like you left"? What is so special about Ponyboy that he gets this letter? Or…maybe the letters are a diversion. Maybe…just maybe…

Yeah, I know it's a lot of talk, kinda boring, but just making sure you guys remember little facts and take in new ones.

I don't own those quotes, read earlier chapters to see where they are from! R&R please!!