The next couple days passed in a blur to Sam. His days were spent at class and Caffeinated, his nights following leads. The Grim Reaper was able to definitively eliminate Professor Anderson as a suspect, leaving the boys with only the emo club.

Only problem was, it turned out ULD didn't actually have an emo club.

When Sam attempted to search the club on the school's website, he found nothing. The emo club was not an official ULD club, which meant that it was just a group of kids who met in the basement of the student union to listen to music, which on its own sounded creepy. There was no way to find out who was in the club.

Cate had tracked down the group of kids Sam had run into at Black Coffee Café and had gotten their names, but that, also, had brought nothing. All of them had intact records and had never been to the other three campuses where Slit-Gag had struck, meaning that Jake's murder was the only one they could be involved with.

The picture of Matthew Richardson still haunted Sam. He knew he'd seen that kid somewhere but he just couldn't place where. It was probably at Caffeinated, or from one of his classes, but his brain kept insisting it was important to figure out exactly where he knew him from.

As the sun began to rise Wednesday morning, the day before Halloween, Sam yawned as he leaned against the back of the couch. He was beginning to miss the luxury of sleep, since the past couple days he'd had to work through the night, surviving on Cate's black coffee as he, Raj, and Marcus tried to find anything that could identify Slit-Gag. The stuff worked, managing to refresh his body and provide him with energy, but still. Sam was sore and stiff and wanted to actually sleep.

Marcus and Raj had also been doing their part. Marcus had asked around at other clubs that met in the basement of the student union around the same time as the emo club did and had staked out their meeting room, but no one showed up, not even on Tuesday evening at seven. Raj had theorized that they had found a new meeting place, since their old one had been compromised by Jake's murder. "And if they are involved," he'd added. "That would definitely be a priority."

Now, as Sam stretched, he heard low murmurs behind him. Twisting in his seat, he saw Cate and the Grim Reaper standing in the kitchen, having an intense discussion.

"This isn't good," the Grim Reaper was saying. "With Richardson dead, they're giving her more victims."

"It won't end with him," Cate agreed. "Especially if they do draw her out, for real. We have to make sure he can't offer the sacrifice tomorrow night, when she can draw on more power. Her shadows are growing more and more restless."

"Who are you talking about?" Sam asked, causing both siblings to jump.

"No one," the Grim Reaper said quickly.

Sam stood up, setting his laptop aside. "I know you're talking about a 'she.' Care to explain?"

"Sam," Cate said quietly. "There are some things you need to know, and others that it won't help you to know. This is one of the latter. Trust us to handle it."

Sam glanced from Cate to the Grim Reaper. "Does this have anything to do with that group you mentioned earlier? The one you heard was monitoring me?"

The look the siblings exchanged said enough.

"Who is this group?" Sam asked, crossing his arms. "Perhaps they can give us a lead."

"Trust me, we already thought of that," the Grim Reaper said. "What we can get out of them, we already have."

"But we've made progress with the DBI," Cate chipped in, clearly changing the subject. "If we're lucky, we'll have Selena out by this afternoon."

"How'd you manage that?" Sam asked. "Last you said, the DBI were still pretty convinced Selena was their killer."

"Do you remember us mentioning the imprints?" Cate inquired. "The ones we can compare to records? Well, Pete and I finally convinced them to actually, well, use the imprints and compare them with Selena's."

Sam frowned. "Wait. Those imprints showed that Slit-Gag didn't have current records, right?"

"Yes and no," the Grim Reaper said. "I lied earlier. They're a little less accurate than fingerprints in our world. If you only have a partial imprint, you may not get an exact idea of the state of his records. But that's beside the point. The DBI didn't think the evidence was relevant because, uh, well...they thought it was tampered with."

"By who?" Sam asked, confused.

The Grim Reaper looked down.

"By you?" Sam demanded. "Why would they think you tampered with it?"

"Because I did it before?" the Grim Reaper answered, lifting an eyebrow. "And before you ask, no, I did not frame an innocent person. I got the DBI their guilty one. They just didn't like that I went behind their backs to plant the imprints."

"How did you know they were guilty?" Sam inquired. The Grim Reaper had planted evidence before? No wonder the DBI had decided not to take his advice on this case.

"It was Elias Gates," Cate said quietly, watching her brother. "It's a long story that we don't have time for, but we knew it was him. The DBI just didn't have enough evidence. So Pete got it for them, in a way. They were miffed when they found out, but we haven't had a problem with them until...now."

"But I've convinced them to see reason," the Grim Reaper continued. "They should be able to release Selena by the end of the day."

"And what's this about Matthew Richardson?" Sam asked, recalling the earlier part of the Reapers' conversation. "Is he dead?"

Cate nodded. "Unfortunately, yes." She gestured to the kitchen table, where a photo of Richardson sat. A gag was in his mouth, his throat and wrists slit. Just like Jake. "We found him in the bushes between the library and the student union. The police will be finding him in a couple minutes."

"I called in a tip," the Grim Reaper remarked. "Any leads on your end?"

Sam shook his head. "We really need Selena."

"I know," the Grim Reaper said, sighing. "We don't have much time left. If Slit-Gag is free tomorrow – all hell will break lose." He looked at Sam. "No pressure."

"What's so bad about Halloween, anyway?" Sam asked, furrowing his brow.

"It's just a bad day for those of us in the death community," Cate answered vaguely. "We also like to make sure our records are in order before then. Like your April 15 for taxes."

Sam could tell she wasn't saying something but just rolled his eyes. "Need to know, huh?"

"Yep," the Grim Reaper replied briskly. "And we need to go."

Cate gave Sam a strained smile. "See you later then."

[----]

When Sam returned to his apartment after class, he started to see Selena sitting on the couch, regarding the Grim Reaper with a wary look. Everyone else was standing around awkwardly.

"Hey, Sam," Cate greeted, breaking the tense silence. "We caught Selena up on the case."

"I was about to say," Sam observed, setting his backpack down, glancing at Selena. "Glad you're out."

"Same," Selena said.

"So," the Grim Reaper began, frowning at Selena. "I decided to investigate your claim, Sam, that she could see death. I had a scan done on her at the GRS. We discovered why Selena can see people die. She's not completely human."

"I could have told you that," Raj muttered.

The Grim Reaper glared for a moment at Raj. "Her father is human, but her mother is not. Turns out her mother is a Norn, a former CDA."

Selena registered surprise. "What?"

It took a while to explain to Selena who the Norns and CDAs were. When they finally finished, Cate added, "That's why you can see death, Selena. It's because of your mother's abilities."

"That's one of the reasons Norns and humans are forbidden to intermarry," the Grim Reaper said dryly. "We just want to prevent stuff like this from happening."

"So Selena's mother is a Norn," Sam said slowly.

The Grim Reaper nodded. "Yes. Because of that, her brain is wired differently from yours, which allows her to see every death that ever happens."

"Is there a way to stop it?" Selena demanded.

"That's not the immediate problem," the Grim Reaper told her. "Who was your mother?"

"Her name was Gabrielle," Selena said. "But she's dead."

The Grim Reaper and Cate exchanged a look, one Sam was beginning to know quite well. "Did you see the moment she died?" Cate asked gently. "In one of your flashes?"

Selena shook her head. "No."

"Then she's not dead," Cate said heavily. "If she had died, you'd have seen it. The flashes you get are most of the time random, but you will see every death connected to you and the people around you in more clarity than you would otherwise."

"So where is my mother?" Selena asked. Confusion filled her eyes, taking the place of her typical boredom. "If she's not in the cemetery, where is she?"

Understanding dawned in the Grim Reaper's eyes. "Of course," he breathed. "Your father's a professor, who just happened to be on every campus during the time Slit-Gag was. But it was neither you nor your father who committed the murders. The locations matched up because your mother was the one cooperating with Slit-Gag, making sure he stayed concealed from us and preventing his records from going through. It makes so much more sense now, considering just how well he's been hidden."

Selena looked from one Reaper to the other. "You think my mother's a serial killer's accomplice?" she asked skeptically.

"It does make sense," Cate admitted. "Serial killers can hide themselves pretty well and take out their CDA without outside help, but it would have been even easier with your mother to help cover his tracks. Besides, the more help one has, the easier it is...to screw with us."

Selena shook her head incredulously.

"So Selena's mom is helping Slit-Gag?" Sam checked. When Cate nodded, he sighed. "Okay, Selena, I have a favor. Are you able to open yourself up to seeing death and look for the next victim?"

Selena looked at Sam for a long moment, her expression unreadable. The silence grew so long, he began to be afraid she was going to say no.

"What am I looking for?" she said finally.

A collective sigh was released. "Anything with a similar MO to Jake," Cate replied.

"Okay, but I'll need a lot of sketchbooks," Selena warned. "I need to draw to process all I see."

"I've got one," Marcus volunteered. "And Cate can get more."

"And black pens," Selena added. "I prefer black pens."

"All right," Raj said. "Let's do this."