"When was Lenny taken?" Blake asked, sitting on the couch and writing down everything on his little notepad.

Mrs. Grande invited us and shared the devastating news with us. Blake had his detective mode on and asked her questions that could help us find Lenny.

I sat quietly next to Blake, consumed by my own thoughts. We all hadn't seen Lenny for a few days. More specifically since the day we went to Picasso.

Valerie was suspicious of him being the killer and unfortunately it made a lot of sense. It was the closest we had been to the murderer.

Even if it was a hypothesis and nothing was confirmed, it was good to see hope again.

"Four days ago. He said he had some important work and left. We haven't seen him since," Mrs G replied.

"So, how are you sure he has been kidnapped?" Blake questioned.

"We received a note saying that he was taken. At first we thought it was a cruel joke, but when he wouldn't pick up his phone or reply to our texts, we started getting worried."

"Why didn't you go to the sheriff?" I interrupted them.

"We were asked not to contact the cops," Mrs. Grande sniffed and broke into tears.

Blake shifted next to me, uncomfortable with the sudden breakdown. I rushed over to Lenny's mom and patted her back, saying words to comfort her.

"We'll get him back home. Safe and sound. Blake will help us. You are in good hands. Please get some rest Mrs. G, you haven't slept in a while," I whispered.

"How can I sleep knowing that my baby is out there unsafe? I don't even know if he is alive!"

"I'm pretty sure he is. Lenny is fine, I assure you. Please don't take any more stress. It's not good for your health," I insisted. "I promise we will get him back. You just have to give us some time."

"Yes. You should listen to Brianna. I will do everything in my power. Can you please just give us a note?" Blake spoke.

"Sure," the worries mum got up and walked over to the drawer beneath the television set and pulled out the crumpled piece of paper.

She handed the note to Blake and we both excused ourselves out of the house.

We didn't waste any further time and got into the car. As soon as were inside, I locked the doors and let out en exasperated such, resting my head on the steering wheel.

"I can't believe this. We were finally getting on tracks and now there is some other problem we have to deal with first! It's like the killer doesn't want us to solve the main problem," I yelled.

"Because that's been the plan all along," Blake whispered in realisation.

"What?"

"Think about it. We took a daring move and asked the killer to meet us face to face. For us, it was a huge deal, but for the killer, it meant the end of these sadistic games. So, he first took care of Jordan, putting him behind the bars and then took care of you sending you back to the city and whoever the killer is knows you guys pretty well, which means he knew that Valerie would do something stupid and got rid of her too," Blake said and I couldn't be more proud of that guy.

Every word made sense.

"But how does that confirm the suspicion of Lenny being the killer?"

"It doesn't. But, it's not that difficult to kidnap oneself. All he'll have to go is hide and send notes. Plus, when his mom told you, didn't you forget for a second that he is on our list of suspects?"

"It did. I totally forgot we are pegging him for being the killer," I confessed. "Well, we found a reason for Kelly to stay. This shit just got too real."

The entire drive back, we were quiet. I was happy that Blake was invested in this as much as we were. When Kelly and Blake first came to town, I was afraid that this won't be as important to them as it is to us.

What made me happier was that Kelly would now stay because this was a very dire situation and we needed all the help we could get. I even got Blake to text Derek to meet us at Valerie's house.

He replied right away and said that he'll be there but a little late since we was working.

Once we reached our destination, I rushed inside and knocked on Kelly's door. She opened it within seconds and we told her everything that happened.

"But it doesn't make sense," Kelly replied after reading the note. "The handwriting matches all the notes we have been receiving, so one thing's for sure that Lenny is abducted by the killer or as Blake suggested, he kidnapped himself, but something doesn't fit."

"What doesn't fit is that why would Lenny or the killer wants to throw us off the game." I said, hoping to make some sense.

"Because the killer is planning something. Something big. They are buying themselves some time," Valerie's voice spoke.

We all turned around to see her standing there, her hand on her wound. Blake rushed to hold her and helped her on the bed.

"What are you doing here? Aren't you supposed to be resting?" I asked.

"You're aggressive knocking woke me up. Plus, we are a team guys, I want to feel included too!"

"But you promised you'll stay out of all this," Kelly reminded her. "I've got Brianna as witness."

"I'm not asking to go investigate stuff. I am just asking to be kept on the loop. That's all," she innocently answered.

"Yeah. I don't see why you can't be kept updated," I sighed and sat next to her, resting my eyes for a second.

"Are you okay?" Valerie whispered while Blake shared his investigation with Kelly in the background.

"I'm just tired. I feel like I haven't slept in days, plus the stress is burning all the calories, making me lost weight in an unhealthy way," I said.

"Do you wanna talk about it?"

"No. I just want to know how you handle it? I mean you're so optimistic all the time, how do you not lose hope?"

"Honestly, I lost hope many times. The only difference is I never shared it with anybody."

"We are losing Val. It's humiliating.

"No, we are not," she gave me a gentle smile and placed her warm hands on mine. "We won't because I think I know where to look for Lenny."

Even though the detectives were busy chatting, Valerie was able to turn their heads in our direction.

She gave us all a cheeky smile and I couldn't help but chuckle because she was slowly returning back to her old self. Maybe she needed time to heal and not share her traumatic experience.

"I have a guess too," Kelly replied.

"Why don't you go ahead and say it. Because I know you're thinking what I'm thinking," Val smirked.

"He is held captive at the abandoned place we were going to meet our killer."

"That makes so much sense," I replied in realisation. "We're going there."

"Tomorrow," Blake said.

"What?"

"We are going there tomorrow."

"Well, why not today?" I popped up an eyebrow.

"Because Jordan comes home tonight and I am sure he'd wanna join us," he informed and looked at Valerie who got up fast in excitement and immediately regretted her decision, but it didn't stop her from throwing her arms around Blake's neck and give him a bear hug.

Blake stumbled a few steps behind at the sudden embrace but eventually balanced and wrapped his arms around her waist.

Kelly and I both looked at them in awe with our head slightly tilted. We both glanced at each other and she gestured to give them some time alone.

After giving them the space, Kelly and I moved to the living room, plopping down on the couch.

"So, does this mean you're staying?" I asked her.

"I am. Valerie called me up here to close the case and I know you guys have been doing most of the job whereas I just sit down and fill up the white board with names and pictures, but I've been doing my own investigation. I was going to tell you guys once I was done, but I guess there is no point in hiding it anymore," she smiled and I turned my attention to her and nodded with curiosity.

"What did you discover?"

"That Lenny is not our killer. He has an alibi the day Rosalind was killer. I looked into it the day Val got suspicious of him. He was at Picasso, decorating," she said.

"Decorating? Wasn't it late at night when Rose was killed?"

"He was planning to propose to her."

After the words left Kelly's mouth, my eyes widened in shock. All this time when we suspected him to have murdered his lover, he was actually planning a proposal.

So, when the thought that he was abducted and his life was actually in danger came to my mind, a chill ran thought my spine. I couldn't lose another friend.

"Why didn't you tell us this before? All this time Blake and I were thinking that he kidnapped himself to get us off of his back," I whined, my tone clearly scared for his life.

"Valerie finally had some hope, I didn't want to take it away," she shrugged.

"Alright. Do you have anything else to share?"

"It doesn't give us a new suspect, but I ran a background check on Rosalind and found out that before she got murdered, she used to see a therapist. Now, it could be to talk about the trauma of getting raped and then being pregnant. So I went down there to chat and the therapist didn't even fight for keeping the client's information confidential."

"Oh yeah, the town doesn't take all this seriously. That's why Valerie wanted to go to the city," I explained.

"But anyway, it wasn't just that. She also said that Rosalind was going to change Jordan up on his advice and change for the better. She was planning to buy a new house and move out."

"Well, her parents must have been devastated with the news."

"They weren't aware about that."

Hello Angels!

I honestly haven't written much about Kelly. So, I am going to change that detail a little.

Rosalind was going to take a big step in her life!

And we also had a cute Blarie moment.

Let me know your thoughts on this chapter.

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