It was about 3am when Sam came wandering back out into the, now, dimly lit living room to find Seth sitting up on the couch with the TV already on.
"Hey" He yawned when he looked over, at the sound of her footsteps. "Can't sleep?"
"Not well, anyway." She scoffed. "Whatcha watchin?"
"Saw III is on. Just started a little while ago, apparently."
Sam's eyes shot to the TV then back to him.
"You're watching my wife without me?!" She blurted out just a little louder than she'd intended
He jumped, startled by the outburst. "AH! Hey, easy! Jesus, how was I supposed to know you were awake? Besides, I think it just barely started. Alright? They haven't even taken the hot doctor yet."
Sam looked back at the TV to see that, as it was, the movie had just barely gotten to the scene where Lynn Denlon was returning to the hospital locker room where she would be kidnapped from.
"Lucky boy." She chuckled, moving to sit down on the couch. "Now, scoot."
"Pushy." Seth teased, scooting over, anyway.
He glanced over, shifting his attention between her and the TV, as she leaned back and made herself comfortable.
"...So, does Kinsey know about this little wife of yours?" He teased, once she was settled.
"Oh, please." Sam chuckled. "She knows that Shawnee is only my if I ran into her in a coffee shop…..and, you know, became the luckiest woman in the world."
"Right, my bad." Seth chuckled.
"And, my god, besides, could you really blame me? I mean, look at her!"
He looked to the TV just as Amanda was entering the scene, wearing that red top of hers with the swooping neckline that Sam was, to quote her own words, absolutely obsessed with.
"Hey, you don't have to sell me on her, you know?" He assured with a smirk.
"...Just stick to your hot doctor, alright?"
"Yes, ma'am." He chuckled.
It eventually grew quiet again, with the exception of Sam's continued, scattered, suggestive remarks about Amanda Young, and they would even get another ten to fifteen minutes or so into the movie before Seth eventually decided to raise what had been on his mind since before he even knew Sam was awake.
"...Look, Sam, I'm..sorry about earlier." He finally said. "...you know that's not really all I think of you, right?"
Sam looked away from the TV at him.
"I mean….you know, the..thing with your dads earlier.." He continued. "It was just a fun thought that I had, figured it was worth a shot. I was mostly kidding."
"Mostly?" Sam chuckled.
"...Well, I mean, unless you said yes." Seth laughed. "I mean, who would I be to turn down the chance to pick the brain of a serial killer?"
Sam rolled her eyes. "Two serial killers, you know."
"My point, exactly. I mean, how often do you get that chance?"
"Too often, if you know me, apparently." She chuckled. "But….thank you."
She sighed, her tone growing more serious when she continued. "...yeah, I don't know, I guess between what happened to Kinsey and Asami, and just…..everything, I've just been feeling that a lot more lately, you know?"
"I get it…" He answered, a little more gently. "..I mean…I don't get it, get it. But...I can imagine. You don't have to explain yourself to me."
She nodded.
"But...can I ask you one thing though?" He asked.
She looked at him again, more curiously.
"Before…..you know, when we were talking about Colton being involved and who he might've…..you know…and with everything going around online….how come you never suspected me?" He chuckled nervously. "I mean, you haven't known me for much longer."
She sighed. "I don't know, I guess….considering how Nat, one of the two who actually were involved in what happened three years ago, almost killed you, I figured that you weren't actually in on that…..and that you probably weren't the one who came in here and attacked your best friend's sister and her girlfriend's dog."
"Well…..I mean, how do you know I'm not….pulling a Nat though?"
Sam raised an eyebrow at this. "...Okay, are you actually wondering why I don't suspect you? Or are you wanting me to suspect you?"
"Wondering." He chuckled. "Although, I'm guessing that you probably do now, and my whole question's become moot."
"No." She chuckled. "...and I don't know, just call it a hunch, I guess."
"Fair enough." He chuckled.
He watched as Sam looked back over at the TV, when it became quiet again, before he spoke again.
"...So, not to keep pulling you away from the movie or anything…..but, I do have one other thing I came up with…...if- "
"Let's hear it." She glanced at the TV. "Pretty sure they're not gonna show the naked freezer room woman on TV, anyway."
"Alright…" He chuckled. .."well this isn't so much a question, but it is something." He pulled out his phone, opening up a browser tab he had saved for this purpose."Remember how you started asking about that girl that Colton does his podcast with?"
"Yeah, Jess?"
"Right…" he confirmed. "..well, I did some digging and her full name is Jessica Moore…..and according to this, her aunt was Gale Weathers."
"...Am I supposed to know who that is?"
"Well, she was this reporter back in the nineties.." He explained. "...but, more importantly she was also, as we now know, one of your dads' victims. Apparently she was like hyper sure that they were also responsible for the murder of Maureen Prescott, the year prior to the murders, and spent the rest of her life trying to prove it."
"..of course." Sam sighed.
"...So, yeah. I hate to even ask, after…."
"Theeeyy admitted to the murders in '96, after what happened with Nat and Leslie." She explained, before he could finish. "...nothing else…...but...I also didn't ask, you know?"
"Yeah."
She nodded. "I'll ask about it, next time I talk to them. I wouldn't exactly put anything past them at this point either." She sighed. "..most importantly, though, this means we have a new suspect and a probable motive."
Seth nodded.
She half smiled back at him. "Thanks."
"Of course."
Later that morning, after having gotten in at least a few hours of sleep after the movie ended, Sam was taking Asami out for her morning walk before work, when she heard someone shuffling around in the alley beside the apartment.
She put a hand to the pocket she kept her knife in, as she turned to look, shaking her head to herself when she saw that it was only Colton, trying…..and failing once again at trying to slink out of Mandy's apartment unseen.
He smirked as he saw her and started to walk towards her
"So, should I have brought protection?" He called out, referring to the pocket knife she still had a grip on.
"Only if you mean for Mandy's sake!" She retorted back.
"Very funny." He chuckled.
"So, why're you sneaking around out the back..." She looked up. "...froooom the fire escape, from the looks of it?"
"Beats me." He shrugged. "...you are such a joy in the mornings, this has been such a lovely conversation."
"Jackass." She retorted. "Just go find your car, before you give me another reason to sic Asami on you."
"OoooH!" He mocked. "You got me shakin in my boots, over here!" He shot her another smirk before turning to continue on his way. "Later!"
"MUCH!" She shouted back after him.
When she got back to take Asami back up to the apartment before work, Mandy was coming back, toward the same direction, from getting her mail.
She took one look at the Join The Cult Colton T-shirt Mandy was wearing, underneath the jacket that she recognized to be Colton's that she was wearing over it and faked like she was gagging.
Mandy looked down at the shirt and jacket, herself, and chuckled.
"I take it you don't approve."
"I take it you've lost your mind, now!" Sam laughed in disbelief.
"Wh- okay, the jacket, he forgot when he left, what was I supposed to do?!" She laughed, as if Sam was kidding.
"Give it back to him!" She took Mandy by the shoulders and started teasingly shaking her, as if it might shake some sense into her. "Come on, you're better than this!"
"Hey, you're the one who sent him to me, if I recall!" She reminded her with another laugh.
"Because I was trying to get rid of him!" Sam sounded like she was whining now. "He needed WiFi, we needed him gone, and you…" She gestured her hands up and down to gesture towards the outfit. "Have this weird thing, so I thought you would humor him! Clearly, I've just over indulged you!"
"...and none of that is my fault! You knew I had a thing for him, this is like if I sent Shawnee Smith to your door!" She gestured her hand toward the Amanda Young shirt Sam was wearing.
Sam was trying desperately to keep a straight face.
"Mandy…." she trailed off
"...Foster?" Mandy finished for her.
Sam pointed her finger at her. "Mandy Foster, so help me, if you ever compare my queen to Colton Sear again."
"...okay, fine. Fair." Mandy chuckled. "..but, come on! Let me have this! I really like him! He's coming over again tonight."
"Hey, nobody's stoppin ya, I'm just sayin!" Sam chuckled, reaching down to pet Asami. "...I know you're gonna think I'm leaving because of that, but I really do have to get Asami back up to the apartment so I can leave for work."
"Who's stoppin ya?" Mandy teased, as she started to turn back to head for her own apartment.
"Bite me!" Sam teased back with a snicker, following shortly behind her.
-—
—
Once the evening finally came around, and Mandy's meet up with Colton neared, Mandy decided to go out and get in another smoke outside beforehand.
"Hey, I'm going out for a smoke!" She announced. "If Colton gets here before I do, would you let him in?"
"Uhh, only if he gets here after my shower, I was just about to jump in!" Jax called from the other room.
"Jaaax!" She whined.
"Mandyyy!" He teased back.
The look she gave him for it was clearly telling him that she was not having it.
"Oh, come on! I'll be in and out, probably even before you get out there, if you start having it out with your little girlfriend in the hall again!"
"Still not my girlfriend, Smartass!" She retorted, trying not to laugh. "Whatever, I'll just leave it under the mat for him.
"You do that!" Jax laughed.
Mandy just shook her head to herself and headed outside.
Aaand, just as Jax had predicted, there was a knock at the door right after he had just stepped into the shower and turned it on.
"Key's under the mat!" He shouted out while the water's temperature was gradually beginning to heat up around him. "I don't know if Mandy mentioned that!"
He poked his head out, briefly, to listen for a response, but pulled it back in when he got none.
The short silence was quickly replaced with the sound of the door opening, which Jax barely noticed over the sound of the pouring water.
The…...costumed figure who emerged through the doorway, inadvertently welcomed in on Jax's temporary misjudgment, wasted no time in taking advantage of the…..very clearly mostly empty apartment.
The killer, very cautiously, began to make their way to the kitchen, constantly scouring the immediate vicinity to make sure no one could sneak up on them as they walked.
Upon reaching the kitchen, they quickly began searching the countertops til they found a nicely sized knife block to select their weapon of choice from, promptly heading toward the bathroom as soon as they'd made their selection.
Meanwhile, in said bathroom, Jax was just lifting his head up from rinsing the last of shampoo from his short, curly hair when he heard the knob start to jiggle.
"It's locked!" He called out. "I'll be out in a few!"
The knob stopped shaking, just long enough for Jax to relax again and even take his usual extra few moments of leaning his head back under the hot water, just for the sake of enjoying the feeling of the nice, hot water coursing through his hair one last time before getting out..
Unfortunately, it was right in the middle of those few minutes that the killer decided to try their hand at quietly picking the lock in front of them…...and succeeded.
The lock clicked, allowing the killer to crack the door open and carefully step their way through it….remarkably unnoticed, still.
….Unnoticed, until it was finally too late, and Jax was looking the killer right in the eye when he finally lifted his head back up…..or, at least as much as he could see of the killer's eye through the black eye covers of the infamous Ghostface mask.
He screamed in terror, lunging forward to try and grab something, anything, off the sink that he might be able to defend himself with, but to no avail as the killer quickly grabbed him by the throat and slammed him back against the shower's wall.
He yelled again, in pain, and reached up to place a hand to his aching head, just before the killer used the knife they'd taken from the kitchen and began stabbing him repeatedly in the stomach.
Jax groaned in agony, as the killer finally yanked the knife up into his torso, killing him almost immediately when their blade reached the heart, just before letting his now lifeless body thud to the flooded shower floor beneath him.
The killer ripped the knife out of his chest and rammed it right through his skull, as if it were purely for display, and left it there, just before poking their head out of the bathroom to ensure the area was still clear before making their swift exit.
