With Sally out of school for the summer, the only option Mark had was to drop her off at a babysitter's house while he was at work. He couldn't just leave her alone in the apartment all day by herself like a lonely pet, even though he knew his niece would be safe there and not burn the place down by the time he got back home. Thankfully, a black woman named Chloe Glover, whose daughter was around the same age as Sally, offered to watch her for him. The detective paid her for her troubles, even though Chloe told him she would do it for free, but Mark was not a man who accepted charity. She was well aware of his background, being an old friend of his late sister's, and knew better than to mention it in front of him. Nevertheless, they came to an arrangement that she would watch Sally until five o'clock, then drop her off at the apartment before Mark got done at the police station. Chloe and her daughter lived much closer to the building, anyway. Sally didn't mind the new situation either way, though she did like spending time with her best friend, Bailey, preferring company rather than being left all alone.

Three days later, Detective Hoffman was sitting in his office when a colleague of his named Detective Fisk told him another possible Jigsaw victim was found in an abandoned warehouse. Once they arrived at the crime scene, Mark immediately identified the victim, showing hardly any emotion on his face or in his voice that he cared while examining the corpse.

"I know him. His name is Seth Baxter. He was Angelina's ex-boyfriend."

"This is the guy who murdered your sister?" Fisk questioned.

"He was sentenced to twenty-five years in prison", Hoffman explained. "Got it reduced to five years on a technicality."

Looking at the dead body again, Fisk said to his friend, "Well, I'd say that justice has been served."

"Yeah", was all Hoffman could say, as he looked at the missing piece of flesh in the shape of a jigsaw puzzle piece in Seth's torso. While forensics and photographers continued gathering clues, Mark left the crime scene with Fisk, and when both of them returned back to the police station, Hoffman told Fisk to hand over the investigation to Detective Kerry, but to keep him posted on any new information. Mark was in the clear for right now, and while he still feared that his identity would be revealed one day, the detective maintained an air of confidence, unaware that someone already knew the truth about him.

Two days later, on the morning of June 11th, the newspapers released a story on the latest Jigsaw killing, publicly known as "The Pendulum Murder". Detective Hoffman read the article, feeling relieved when the press mentioned the death of Seth Baxter was attributed to the aforementioned criminal, to which Mark took out his cell and tried calling Chloe's phone number to inform her that he would be picking his niece up early that evening, but there was no answer. While finishing up some work in his office, the detective opened a file to look over some paperwork on an unidentified Jigsaw victim, finding there was an envelope with his name on it. Furrowing his eyebrows, curiosity struck Detective Hoffman, who thought this to be a prank from one of his colleagues, but upon opening the envelope, he found it was neither a prank or a joke. There was a simple message written on a piece of paper that read: I know who you are.

Mark felt a twinge of fear upon reading this. Someone found out what he had done to Seth Baxter, but who was it? The handwriting on the note was not recognized by the detective, and he knew it couldn't have been sent by any of his colleagues, unless one of them had followed him and knew something he didn't. Nevertheless, Mark kept calm and decided to head home right away. Before he walked out of his office, Mark tried calling Chloe's phone number again and said he was on his way to pick up Sally, but Chloe informed him that she had already dropped her off at the apartment a moment ago. The detective thanked her, then hung up and walked out of the police station and drove back home before it got dark.

Walking into the apartment building, Mark checked the mail before heading over to the elevator, briefly colliding with a teenage girl who glared up at him as he went over and saw there was an "Out of Order" sign on the first elevator. He decided to take the other one, and while pushing the button and waiting patiently, Mark looked to his left and heard what sounded like a woman in distress. Drawing his gun out, the detective slowly approached a door, ready to take action in case he needed to, and as he placed his hand on the handle, Mark opened the door and found himself aiming his gun at a dog, who barked aggressively while a large black woman tugged on the leash, trying to gain control of her untamed pet.

Once the black woman and her dog were gone, Mark holstered his gun and quietly cursed under his breath, thinking to himself, Get ahold of yourself, Mark Hoffman. You're losing it. He heard the elevator ding just then and went back over to get inside, but was prevented from doing so when a rude, middle-aged woman stepped off first, along with a few other tenants. Once the path was cleared, Mark stepped inside, acknowledging an unfamiliar man with glasses who still stayed in the elevator for some reason.

"Going up?" Mark guessed.

"Yes, thank you", the man answered, politely.

Next, Mark pushed a button and laced his fingers together in front of himself as the doors closed. While riding in the elevator, he scanned his surroundings with his eyes, looking down at the floor, then up at the ceiling. Then his eyes looked over at the elevator buttons, and that's when the detective noticed that only his floor had been selected and no other buttons were lit up. Keeping calm, Mark turned his head to the right and looked down at the other man's hand, which was covered by a black glove, clenched tightly into a fist as though he were holding a knife or a weapon of some kind. Mark couldn't see what it was, but he wasn't about to take any chances. Slowly, he reached into his suit jacket for his Glock 17.

"What floor are you going to?" Mark asked, but before he could draw his weapon, the man behind him got the drop on the detective, shoving him into a corner before jabbing a syringe into his neck. Mark grunted when he felt the sting from the needle, feeling himself fade off into a world of empty darkness.

….

Meanwhile, Sally was back at the apartment dealing with her own problem. For one long minute, the little girl stared at the telephone, as though she were waiting for someone to call just so she could pick up the phone and talk to them. She sat down on the couch and waited another minute, listening to the silent apartment before she made a ringing noise and picked up the phone, pretending to answer it.

"Hello, this is Detective Hoffman here", the child spoke into the phone, using a deep voice to imitate her uncle. "What's the emergency?...Yes, Mayor. I'm on my way over there right now."

Sally put the telephone back down, pretending to hang up that time, before she stood up and turned around to face the couch, placing her hands on her hips before she addressed her imaginary team of police officers, using her regular voice this time. "Ladies and gentlemen, the mayor just informed me that Jigsaw has been spotted in his secret hideout just outside the city. It's up to us to locate the man responsible for all these killings and put an end to his evil, once and for all. I want each and every one of you to watch your backs and keep each other safe. Is that understood?"

The people she was speaking to were non-existent, unless you counted the three stuffed animals and the porcelain doll that were sitting on the couch.

"All right, let's move out", Sally announced to her companions, turning around to grab her black squirt gun from off the coffee table before she went to hide behind the couch, looking over her left shoulder before aiming her toy weapon and making a "bang, bang" noise as she pretended to fire a bullet, making sure not to squirt water at anything and make the floor all wet. Uncle Mark wouldn't like that one bit.

Hiding behind the couch again, Sally turned her head to the right, shouting orders to her legion, "Sing, tell Rigg to send in the SWAT team! I need backup now! Eric Matthews, stop beating that guy up with a flashlight! We're in a serious situation here! We don't have time for you to mess up your pathetic life right now!"

Just then, the doorbell rang, causing Sally to jump from the announcement of someone's unexpected arrival. With the squirt gun still in her hand, she stood up and went over to the door, putting her back to it while she still pretended to be a cop. Her uncle gave her specific rules about what to do when he wasn't home and she was there all by herself. Rule One was always keep the door locked, especially when she came home after school. Rule Two was never answer the telephone or the door for anyone, unless Uncle Mark was home with her and he told his niece to answer either one for him.

"Mr. Hoffman, it's Christine", said the voice of the young woman, which put the child in a dilemma of sorts. On the one hand, Sally liked Christine and thought she could be trusted, but being that her uncle wasn't home, she thought of answering for the both of them, doing it just this once, even if he got mad at her later for breaking his rules.

"How do I know this isn't a trick?" Sally announced, asking her neighbor through the door. "I'm a cop, you know."

"If you like, I could show you my ID. Would that suffice?"

Not knowing what that last word meant, Sally tucked the toy gun down into the waistline of her pants and decided to unlock the door and open it, seeing Christine was standing there, along with her dog, whose collar was connected to a leash. Besides that, the young woman held an envelope in one hand.

"Hi", said Sally, smiling up at her neighbor.

"Hello, Sally", Christine greeted her. "I haven't seen you in forever. How have you been?"

"I'm fine", the child answered. "I'm out of school now, but I get to visit my best friend, Bailey, almost everyday and play at her house while my uncle is busy at work."

"Oh, that's nice", said Christine. "Anyway, I just wanted to drop this off for your uncle. I went to check the mail earlier today and this was left in my box by accident. Is your uncle available right now?"

"Not yet, but I can take his mail for him."

Christine handed the envelope over to Sally, who looked at it to see if it had her uncle's name on it, which it did, then she looked up at her neighbor again, asking, "Did my uncle call you to check on me?"

"No, I don't have his number", Christine answered, honestly. "Why do you ask?"

Sally shrugged. "No reason", she said. "I was just curious."

"Did you try calling him at the police station?"

"I tried calling his cellphone a minute ago, but he didn't answer. He's probably hanging out with his friends over at The Grill."

"What's The Grill?" Christine asked.

"It's a bar he goes to on Wednesday nights", Sally answered. "Detective Tapp, Detective Matthews and Detective Sing go there all the time when they're off duty."

"Well, that doesn't sound very responsible of your uncle, leaving you alone by yourself while he's out there trying to destroy his liver."

"He hasn't had a drink for a few days now", Sally mentioned. "He brought home a bottle of snake spit last month, but he poured it down the sink so he could teach me that alcohol is bad for kids. If I know my Uncle Mark, he won't stay gone all night. He's a homo-cide detective, which means he solves a lot of murders, so unless he gets held up with work or shot, I don't worry too much about him."

"Well, did you want me to stay with you until your uncle comes homes?"

Sally thought it over a minute, then said to her neighbor, "No, that's okay. He should be home soon."

"Are you sure?"

The child nodded.

Christine didn't think it wise to leave the little girl all alone by herself without an adult to watch over her, but just then, a whimpering noise from the small, white dog that pawed at her right leg reminded her of another reason why she left her apartment to begin with, not just to drop off her neighbor's mail.

"Well, I gotta take Bella out before she floods the hallway", Christine mentioned. "I'll talk to you later, okay?"

"Okay. Bye, Christine."

"Bye, Sally."

Once she closed the door, Sally locked it up again and turned around to lean her back against the door, blowing out a heavy breath. Her right hand reached up to place itself over her chest, feeling her heart beat at such a fast pace, not sure why it was doing that. Perhaps she was out of breath from saying too much, or maybe she was scared that Christine had mentioned not seeing Uncle Mark, who she started to worry about. If he didn't call her back soon or show up by morning, then Sally would have no other choice but to dial 911 and report her uncle was missing.

Walking back over to the couch, Sally threw her uncle's mail onto the coffee table, then she picked up her toys and went to put them back in her room, including her squirt gun, before returning back to the living room. She sat down on the couch and decided to watch TV, picking up the remote from off the coffee table and pushing a button to bring the screen to life, switching the channels to see what was on, passing by the weather channel, a black and white comedy movie, a soccer game on the sports channel, a cartoon show about a talking pink dog, then finally stumbled across the local news. The little girl knew her uncle didn't like her watching the news because of all the bad stuff that was reported on there, but Sally thought it was important for her to know about what went on in the city. After all, it was her uncle's job to know about everything that went on in the crime world, and she wanted to help him solve his cases in any way that she could, even though she was only a child and didn't have to do that.

Once it started getting dark outside, Sally went to turn on the main light to brighten up the living room so that it wasn't so scary in the apartment, then she went to the window and closed the curtains before she went into the kitchen to look for something to eat. There wasn't much for her to find that didn't require using the stove or the microwave, so she settled on making herself a ham and cheese sandwich, eating alone at the dining table and drinking a glass of milk to help wash down her pitiful dinner, and because she was hungry, she hoped her uncle wouldn't mind if she ate without him. She would have taken her dinner to the living room and sat in there so she could watch the television while she ate, but Uncle Mark wouldn't have allowed it. The only food they ate in front of the television set was popcorn.

When her uncle didn't come home by the time the clock on the wall read seven-thirty, Sally started to get scared. If he were working late, he would have called her by now to let her know he would be home at a much later time. Maybe Uncle Mark really did go to the bar tonight, she thought to herself, deciding to go with that, then switched the news channel and decided to watch something else.

By the time nine o'clock rolled around, Sally decided she had enough of waiting up for her uncle and went to turn the TV off before she finally went to bed. She had hoped to catch up with Uncle Mark and ask him how his day went, but apparently, he was busy somewhere else, doing God only knew what. What she didn't know, however, was that her uncle had decided to come home hours ago and was on his way up to the apartment when somebody stole him and took him away to an undisclosed location.