II:
Bright sunlight was streaming through the windows as the morning dawned beautiful. Fields had stiffly arisen from his desk and went to his room to wash and change his clothes. He half wondered if the events the night before were not but some dream brought on by the storm and the dull case he did not finish.

But upon returning to the front room, he encountered Vivian waiting for him.

"I wish to thank you for allowing me to intrude last night." She said as he greeted her.

"It was no trouble, I insisted," Fields returned. "And I must insist again on you having breakfast, if you'd like."

"I am afraid not." Vivian said. "I really must leave. I've intruded on your hospitality long enough and now shall leave. But thank you for all that you have done for me."

"I haven't done much."

"You have helped more than you know, goodbye." She gently pressed his hand and was gone.

Such a phantom! One moment she was standing before him and the next she had vanished!

For years Emmett Fields had live quietly. Being the head inspector for the Baltimore police had made him see many horrors, but mostly they were left behind him in the morgue and a publishing account in the papers. Never had he really had his own home intruded upon by anyone, especially that of a pretty girl. Emmett had never had a lover, never thought to marry. He had an important profession and it required too much time and energy to give him time to think of anything else. A strange feeling came over him as the thought of a female presence under his roof came to him.

The bell rang and an officer arrived informing him of another case that needed his aid and the matter was put from his mind.

The case took Fields to the Baltimore slums where the body of a man lay in a deserted ally way.

"Cause of death?" he asked.

"Drowning, obviously, sir." The CP replied.

"Drowning, obviously." Fields repeated methodically.

"But sir, the water in the man's lungs is seawater… it doesn't make any sense."

"Illogicality is the only thing that makes sense when speaking of a murderer." Fields bent over the body and began to examine it. "The docks are all the way on the other side of the city and yet this man has water in his lungs-salt water. Why would someone drowned a man and then carry his body all this way only to dump it in an ally way where someone would be certain to locate it, unless he wanted to make a point of something!"

"Sir?"

"His body was bloated from water, obviously drowned, and yet looks here! Puncture holes were upon his neck."

"Bite marks?"

"Obviously." Fields straightened up. "Take him to the morgue and publish his description the press to see if anyone could identify him."

The men obeyed and Fields stood contemplatively in the ally thinking to himself, wondering what he was going to put on his report for this case. He immediately decided not to make a report until a few days had passed and they had more information on the dead man.

He had a few other matters to attend to which carried him through the day, trying to occupy his mind with other matters to mull quietly on the strange ones which insisted on pestering him. He needed a holiday, there was no doubt of that.

Around one o'clock that afternoon, he was rounding a corner at the park and main street when bumped harshly into a woman.

"I am sorry, miss." Fields exclaimed. He touched his hat and went on his way.

The woman laughed merrily. "That's perfectly alright."

"Miss Summers?"

"Are you surprised?" Vivian said and then laughed. "In fact, I am so happy to see you. I was hoping

to have an opportunity to thank you again for last night-it was very kind. "

"It was an honor," Fields answered, meeting her eyes. She nodded but turned embarrassedly from him. "What of your family? Have you heard any from them?"

"Not a word. All's well, I guess." Vivian said. "I must go now, I hope we meet again."

She departed Fields stood at the park gates watching her make her way down the main street. Suddenly his eye noted the shadow of a dark figure peering at him from behind a hedge. Curious, he strode towards the hedge and it disappeared behind it. He put his hand to his pistol, reading to draw it in a second and with his other hand, quickly parted the hedges.

It was a cat.

Fields sighed and departed from the park, feeling no appetite to take supper.

Six o'clock that night-Inspector Fields was summoned to another murder. The location was a shoddy flat located near the waterfront. A woman had been strangled in her room with a piece of rope tied to her bedstead and both her wrists were slashed violently.

"Another strange case," Fields said. "Unrelated though."

"I wouldn't say that, sir," the CP said and he lifted the woman's collar. "Look at this."

"Another set of puncture wounds." Fields commented thoughtfully. "Twice in one day, how strange. Have you any leads on the first man? Any missing person that fits his description? "

"No, sir."

"Well, hopefully we'll have more information on both of these people tomorrow." Fields said. "Have her taken to the morgue as well. What is all this about?" Fields said. He was lost in thought as the wheels in his brain were spinning uncontrollably. He strode to the window. "Is this where the killer escaped?"

"No, sir. The neighbors say that after they had heard the screams, they heard running footsteps on the stairway."

"So someone commits a horrendous crime in the late afternoon and escapes down the main stairs where anyone could notice him?" Fields said to himself as he looked out the window. In the gathering twilight, he noticed a shadowy figure leaning hiding behind a lamppost. He raised his eyes to Fields and Fields thought he saw pure evil glinting from them.

"How strange." Fields whispered before letting the curtain fall into place again.