The Killer Among Us

Chapter 29

Six days left

Jacob

The moon was at its high point, illuminating the small stuffy cellar I somehow found myself in. Another day had come to an end, and unlike most people I didn't end it in the comfort of my own bed. Instead. I stood fearfully at the bottom of a ladder that led me into the dark world of a predator, expecting glowing eyes to appear in the shadows at any given moment.

My eyes took a long while to adjust, burning from exhaustion and fear. With trembling hands I held the flashlight of my phone and pointed my gun into the darkness with the other hand. I could see my warm breath before me, exhaling in unsteady gusts of steam.

I listened for any signs of life around me but it was dead silent. Not even the chirping of insects or rustling of leaves was audible anymore.

The concrete ground was covered in dust and dirt, yet there were rows of shelves neatly stacked and reaching to the uneven ceiling of the cellar. Miscellaneous items, such as books, boxes, jars and tools were carefully placed on them. But, to my dismay, I found less innocent items towards the end of the rows.

With an uneasy feeling in my gut, I picked up one of the jars and almost immediately dropped it when I realized that inside weren't innocent tools but female jewelry with odd specks of blood or loose strands of hair clinging to them. The sudden smash of the glass jar shattering on the ground bounced off the concrete walls and startled me. The jewelry was now scattered across the ground and I almost didn't dare examine them in fear that I might recognize some pieces of them to be Aria's.

Similar jars like that stared back at me and some contained more sinister things than others.

A box of different IDs confirmed my piercing suspicion that this was the hiding place of The Solemn Serpent. A lot of the names sounded familiar to me and I could quickly connect them to the case files. I let out a muttered curse at the thought that I might have been tainting all sorts of forensic evidence just by having been down there and surprisingly, I got slightly worried that I might leave clues tying me to the investigation.

With slow and careful steps, I walked further into the cellar, looking for any sign of Aria. It was unusually big, so much so that it made me wonder how the police could have possibly overlooked it. If they didn't, however, it wasn't in any of the files.

Towards the end of the room, just when the rows of shelves ended, I saw a made up camping cot, right next to the left hand wall. I pointed my flashlight at it, careful to not make any sound, but it didn't look like anyone had slept in it recently.

A painting of a window, looking out into a beautiful seaside scenery, hung innocently above it and it sickened me. How much time did he spend down here if he needed to create the illusion of this being a pleasant place?

My posture immediately relaxed when I determined that there was no immediate danger awaiting me down there. Still, the gut wrenching disappointment of not finding Aria in the forest ate me up inside.

For some reason though, I couldn't shake off the feeling that I was being watched, like there were eyes glued to my back, watching my every move.

To my right I suddenly saw a faint red glow and when I approached it, my flashlight illuminated a massive tool bench with a multitude of various equipment. It seemed to be in a good condition, the silver material reflecting the unnatural gleam of my flashlight.

My eyes wandered around until I finally found the source of the red light, a rustic old radio rested in the corner of the tool bench, one that was quite similar to the one my Dad used to own. It looked quite vintage to me, with the occasional dent or scratch in the dark green paint.