Ryan sat across from the perpetrator, not letting his fixating glare get to him, he had everything to lose, but the man in front of him didn't know that. It was like a game of poker, Ryan was figuring out which card to play, to seal the deal. He opened the file, it was a wrap sheet, on the crook sitting in front of him. Ryan sighed, "You already know how this whole thing works, I'm gonna ask you questions and you're going to answer them. If you lie, that adds onto your other offenses."

Joaquin Phoenix as Felix Barnes

The guy grinned, "Do your worst Detective, I'm not scared of a man who thinks he's doing the right thing. When in reality he's only just causing more damage." Ryan tilted his head, pretending to nod as if he was saying touché. He then began reading the guy's wrap sheet. "Felix Barnes, Age: 46, your offenses include: countless robberies with a deadly weapon, sexual harassment, and the latest, murder."

"Murder? Good joke Detective, but I'm no killer."

"Right, so you didn't murder a young woman two months ago? We found your shoe print, I know this because you're wearing the exact same shoes. So if we took them to process as evidence, we'd find blood, so either you're really stupid, or you screwed up."

Felix shifted in his seat, Ryan knew he was uncomfortable, this was working, all he had to do was keep talking. "The woman's name was Maddison Vera, she was 26 years old, she had her whole life ahead of her. I'm assuming she was in the wrong place at the wrong time, and you killed her."

"What other proof do you have? All you have is a shoe print." Felix questioned.
"Your prints were found at the crime scene, we ran them in our system and found you. The only reason you didn't start another killing spree, was because you knew you messed up."

"At this point, you're guilty until proven innocent, and even then, you're going to be seen as guilty anyway." Ryan smirked, Felix played right into his hands. The expression on his face faded, and the color from his skin drained. He had been caught.

Ryan put the other file aside and opened the other one he had. It was Alice's entire case, every note that Ryan and Michelle wrote, every photo that was taken at the scene, the bullet that Scott gave him hours before this went down. "So, you might as well give up and tell me how you murdered Alice Blair. Actually, I'll tell you how you did the job."

He pushed a photo of Alice's corpse, as she was laying on the ground, after being placed out of the barrel. "You knew that Alice just finished her swim meet and was supposed to be picked up by a friend and taken home. We have your blue truck on surveillance luring her into the car and driving off."

"I don't own a truck." Ryan then went back to Felix's file and took out the picture of the truck in Felix's driveway.

"Want to lie to me some more, or do you want to confess? It'll make it easier for the both of us." Felix glared at Ryan, Ryan kept giving him evidence after evidence, waiting for Felix to crack under pressure and break. He was stubborn, he'll give you that, but when it came to this particular case, Ryan would walk to the end's of the earth to get answers.

"Fine, there's an abandoned warehouse between Rural Street and Maxwell Drive. You'll know when you see it, all of your answers are there." Felix cracked, finally after three hours of interrogation he finally gave up some information.
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Meanwhile with Scott he was heading to his appointment with Dr. Hendricks, surprisingly he wasn't necessarily hating this session like the other times he's gone. His parents sat in the waiting room while he went back with Dr. Hendricks, he walked into her office and sat down across from her. She smiled at him, "Hello Scott, how've you been?" She asked.

"I've been okay, life is just boring." Scott replied.

Dr. Hendricks folded her hands, "Your mother and father told me you've been cutting yourself? How long has that been going on?"

Scott sighed, "It's been on and off for a few months, it only happens when... when I get this low feeling. I... I can't describe it, but on some days I'm okay, and other days I'm so sad I physically cannot get out of bed."

"I'd have to talk to your parents about prescribing you medicine, and I'm not going to lie to you, these feelings aren't going to go away. All you can do is let yourself feel them, then maybe, just maybe they won't effect you as much as they did." Scott listened, maybe she was right, the more he suppressed his feelings the worse he'd get.

They talked some more and then the session was over, Michael and Laura knew it would be best if Scott went to see Alice. When he brought it up to them, they were hesitant but ultimately agreed. So they drove to the cemetery and let Scott talk to Alice alone, along the way they picked up flowers for her.

Scott kneeled down, setting the flowers by Alice's name, and touching the top of her tombstone. "Hey Alice in Wonderland, I'm sorry I haven't visited in a while. Life has been crazy since you've been gone, I miss you every day, I wish you were to tell me what to do."

"I bet if you were here life would be more meaningful, but I gotta accept that I'll never see you again, not until I die. And I promise when I meet you in heaven, we'll have all the tea parties you want. I gotta go, but just know that I love you Alice, and I really really miss you."

Scott touched her tombstone one last time, before he went back to his parents, leaving the cemetery and going home. While Ryan and Michelle entered the abandoned house, guns raised, an eerie feeling shook Ryan's spine. Was this really happening? Were they really going to catch Alice's killer?

A dark figure emerges from the shadows. In a raspy voice, they taunt the hero, having once again bested him. Stepping into the light, the figure thrusts back their hood, revealing the face of...
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The End of Chapter 17