Chapter 13

"Because eventually you're going to fall in love with me. And if you tell me you love me, I'm going to say it back. And that means that I lose."

"Then I guess you lose."

"Tobias," Tris said, "no. No. You aren't allowed to do that. You… no. No!" She hopped down from the fire escape and rushed in the opposite direction.

"Tris!" he yelled.

She heard his feet hit the ground and come after her,

"Prior, c'mon, just wait."

She felt his arm touch his arm to stop her, but she tried to keep going.

He grabbed her hand, entwined them, and stood in front of her.

"Tris," he breathed.

"No, Tobias, I can't do this. I have tried, and tried, and tried, and tried to make you hate me, and you still won't. I myself have tried to hate you. But you— you aren't allowed to love me. You're not allowed."

"Well recently you haven't been doin' very good. You seem to be giving in a lot more."

"Exactly. You won't stop. And by saying you love me… It won't end well. I'm sorry, you can't say that."

"Tris, what is so bad about love? You may end up getting hurt, but you need to take damn chance! Do what you feel is right in the moment."

She ran her hand through her hair and sighed. "Tobias… I don't… I don't know what to do."

"If you just give me a small chance, I will prove to you that I will be one of the best decisions you'll ever make."

"I… I don't know that I can make any decisions right now."

"Tris, please. Just give me a chance. Let me be with you. Let me call you beautiful every single day. Let me be your dream guy. Let me… Just let me love you, Tris."

"Tobias, don't say it."

"I love—"

"Tobias."

"I love you, Tris."

She had tears in her eyes and simply didn't know what to do. She knew that she loved him though. She knew that much. Admitting it was another story. Admitting something like that was life changing. It was… too much of a commitment.

"Tobias. I don't… I can't deal with you right now."

"Tris. Please don't freak out over this. I know you feel the same way. Stop being so afraid. You can't run away from these words forever."

She stepped closer. After work and then this, she was exhausted. She was drained of energy.

"I'm tired. I need to go home." She stood on her tiptoes and softly kissed him while her hand laid on his cheek.

She slightly pulled back. "I think I love you too. But no guarantees," she whispered.

He kissed her again. "I think I can live with that."

"Bye, Tobias." Tris tiredly smiled at him and started walking home.

She was so tired she couldn't even think. She plopped right on her bed and didn't move for the next ten hours.

When she woke, she stretched and yawned.

She walked into the kitchen in her pajamas, which consisted of a giant dark red t-shirt and underwear.

And she about screamed when she saw what was in her kitchen. More so, who was standing in her kitchen.

"Tobias? What on Earth are you doing in my kitchen?"

"You really should lock your door. It's very unsafe."

"I'll start locking it now, jeez. But why are you in my kitchen?"

"Because we are going to have a fun-filled day today."

"Why?" she groaned.

"Well since you are my girlfriend, I figured that I should be able to take you places. Like, you know, do cute romantic stuff with you," he chuckled.

"I'm your girlfriend?"

"Yes. I've decided that you are indeed my girlfriend," he told her with a nod.

She laughed. "And what if I disagree with this girlfriend thing?"

"You won't." He shrugged.

"You're right."

He smirked. "Alright, now go get your cute butt dressed. We've gotta get going."

She smiled at him and went into her bedroom.

"How should I dress?" she yelled.

"Warm," he replied.

She grabbed a sweatshirt and jeans along with Vans. Simple but cute. She crossed the hallway to her bathroom. She put on minimal makeup and left her hair down. Then she did her normal routine, except she felt like wearing her glasses that day.

"All right, I'm ready," she said.

"And we're out of here," he said, opening the door.

They were walking down the hallway when Tris asked, "What if someone from work sees us?"

"We'll be fine. One of us could hide or something. Don't worry about it, okay?"

"Okay, I won't. What's on the agenda today?"

He shrugged. "I've got a few things in mind."

"Like what?"

"You'll see."

They exited her apartment complex and stepped into the freezing December winds.

And then she felt her phone buzz. "Dammit," she said. "Can't I get one free day?"

She answered. "This is Prior."

"Get down to the station. Now. And I'm not asking," Chief Max ordered, then hung up.

Tris ended the call, confused. "Tobias, I have to go to work. Max sounded really serious. I'm sorry. Rain check?"

He nodded with a sad smile. "I get it."

"Thanks. I don't know how long I'll be, so I'll give you a call, okay?"

He nodded, still disappointed.

She stood on her tiptoes and kissed his cheek. "Don't be disappointed," she told him when she pulled back. "Tomorrow is Sunday. I should be all yours tomorrow."

He smiled. "Okay, okay. Lock your door tonight," Tobias told her.

She started walking away, smile on her face. She would rip Max's head off for whatever they needed her for.

She entered the station, and it was madness.

"Hey, what's going on?"

Nobody answered.

"Somebody tell me what the hell is going on!" she yelled so loud, everyone stopped what they were doing.

"Detective!" someone yelled. "Come with me!"

It was Max.

"Chief, could you maybe tell me what hell is going on here?"

"Conference room. Now."

Tris entered the room to see Uriah in there, alone.

"What is happening?"

"Tris, take a look at this. Careful."

Tris handled the paper in her hands cautiously. It looked like a ransom note with the cut out magazine letters. And she knew exactly who it was.

The killer. The red killer. Every time he killed, he put a smiley face on the cheek of the victim with their own blood.

He always picked one special detective every few years when there was a new one. It was Tris this time. They could never find the red killer though.

"Oh my god," she whispered.

The note read: "Fire escape. You think it's a safe place to meet… It's not. I know your secret."

Tris looked up. "We have to go there. There should be a timer there. I've done a lifetime of research on this guy. The timer should represent how much time we have left to save the next victim. All the clues most likely relate to me directly. The killer couldn't have picked a better person to deal with this."

"Tris, are you sure you can do this? People that fail—"

"I don't fail," she said adamantly. "Let's go."

They arrived at the alley with the fire escape in record time. Everything was rushed. She couldn't even think. All she could do was… move. Everything was so discombobulated and out of order and just… Tris couldn't think whatsoever. She just took action.

The timer rested up there. She climbed up and grabbed it. 24 minutes left. 24 minutes to save a life. She found a piece of paper lying next to it.

"You think you're so clever. Abraham Lincoln."

"Abraham Lincoln?" she mumbled, then hopped down from the escape.

She showed it to her colleagues.

She paced back and forth, mumbling to herself. "Lincoln. Lincoln logs. Cabin. Is she in a cabin? No. Lincoln. Linkin Park? Impossible. Lincoln. Ford's Theater. John Wilkes Booth. Booth!" she yelled. "Get in the car!"

They arrived at Buffalo Wild Wings. She ran to the booth where she and her friends sat every time. And there laid the timer and a piece of paper.

55 minutes.

"Not bad. Not bad timing at all. I have the one you love most. Well, the second maybe. I know who your first is though. Meet at the place where you found your first true love."

Tobias, she thought. She knew her mom was the one he'd taken though.

"Dammit," she mumbled. "Why on Earth would this guy go into a police station?" she yelled. "Everybody, in the car!"

Tris turned on the sirens to the cop car and drove as fast as she possibly could. No thinking. If she thought about the possibilities, she would go into overload and freak out and possibly bawl her eyes out. She wouldn't let herself think. Not today.

When they reached the station, there was a circle around something. Someone. Tris barged her way through, only to see her mother. She had duct tape on her mouth and a necklace with a timer around her neck.

The thing she couldn't take her eyes off of was the blood red smiley face on her cheek.

"Mom," she whispered.

Tris went to take the take off her mouth, but on the tape it read, "Touch the tape, both of you die."

Tris closed her eyes. The words were written in Sharpie marker, which means it's the killer's handwriting.

Tris slowly leaned in and whispered to her mother's ear, "Trust me. Blink once if you do."

There was a singular blink.

She steadily ripped the duct tape of her mother's mouth. "It's okay, Mom. It's okay."

Natalie collapsed into Tris's arms.

"Mom, are you okay? Did he hurt you?"

She shook her head. "No. He didn't. I'm fine. I just want you to catch the sick son of a bitch."

"I will. I promise. Did he give you a note or anything?"

She nodded and dug for it in her pocket. "Here's the timer, too." She took off from around her head and handed it to her daughter.

Tris observed the time left. 39 minutes.

"Lady running down to the riptide, taken away to the dark side."

Riptide, Tris thought. The song? Vance Joy? No… The beach? Possibly. A body at the beach?

"Mom," she said, "will you please wait in the interrogation room until I get back? I have to finish this game."

"Of course. I love you."

"I love you too, Mom."

"Tris," her mom said.

"Yeah?" Tris answered.

"How'd you know he wouldn't shoot?" asked Natalie.

"I didn't."

Tris ended up at the beach. Uriah and Max waited in the car with binoculars. She knew she had to do this alone, and she knew that they would be safer in the car.

She saw two bodies lying side by side. Tris ran to them, sand flying up behind her. Luckily there was no one on the beach since it was December because they would've witnessed two dead bodies.

One man, one woman.

She heard a timer beeping. She took a closer look and saw flashing numbers that looked like this: 0:00.

She was out of time, and they were dead because of her.

Tris found a note lying beside the man.

Dearest Tris,

Please forgive me for the sins I have committed. I have killed many, and one of those many was myself. I loved killing, but I couldn't do it forever. So I did what any good person would: I killed one last person, and then myself. I did the world a favor, even though I loved what I did. It gave me satisfaction. You could say that I'm sick on the inside, but I bet you didn't know I liked it that way.

Truly Yours,

The Red Killer and your biggest fan

Tris teared up as she read the note. She wasn't sad he was dead, but sad because of this poor girl. She was too late to save her. If she'd been quicker… If she hadn't wasted so much time… So many "If"s.

"Tris, we've lost sight. Radio back," her radio sounded.

"I'm here," she whispered hoarsely. "Come in the direction I went."

She started walking towards the car and met them in the middle.

"Tris, what happened?" Uriah asked.

She walked past him and toward the car.

They didn't follow.

"Calling for coroner at Montrose beach along with backup," she reported into her radio to the station.

"You got it," someone reported back.

Tris started the engine, and drove the car away. She couldn't stay there any longer. She knew they needed her at the station for processing and stuff, but she didn't care. She just needed to get away.

She didn't know where she was going until she arrived. Tobias's house. She'd been there once before. She opened the door of the car, got out, and walked to Tobias's front step. Then hesitantly knocked on the door.

She never cried, but she had tears in her eyes when he answered.

"Tris," he said in a happy mood. That was, until her saw her face. "Hey, hey, what's wrong?" he asked, enveloping her in his strong arms. She simply sobbed into his shoulder without saying anything. It made her feel safe, loved, and protected.

So there they stood, on the porch of his house, hugging, in the midst of her tears dropping.