Chapter 4

Stella Meyers was going to be late for her date. She couldn’t believe that her boss at BCT Enterprise had been unavailable yet again today. As the secretary for a bigwig she expected the job to be demanding but this past week, things were heading into the ridiculous category.

First he went on vacation which he then extended. Now he was telling her that he was taking a leave of absence. Could bosses even do that? Stella cursed him under her breath as she quickly got into her car and looked in her rearview mirror. She touched up her red lipstick and headed to the café that she was supposed to meet her blind date at. She had answered an ad on a local singles site. She normally wouldn’t do such a thing but desperate times called for desperate measures. It had been weeks since she had been out with anyone.  A friend recommended the site to her and presto…she had a date.

It was too hot to drink coffee but she could always order a peach tea. Stella looked around and waited. She wondered if she was too early. She checked the time on her phone and saw that she was only a few minutes early. She wore a short black dress and red pumps. She chose the outfit because it would be passable for work and for her date. Her red hair was up in a messy bun and she was fidgeting with her straw’s paper wrapper.

Across the café, a man was watching her behind his newspaper. “So this was her,” he thought as an old eighties song playing in the coffee shop drowned out the din of the other customers.

He focused on her red hair. He hated red hair. She looked anxious. He smirked as he thought of her waiting for her date that would never come. Slowly, he folded his newspaper and got up. He made his way to the exit, making a point to pass her table. She was checking her phone for any missed messages and didn’t notice him. He walked out the door and into the dry night air. He looked up and smiled in anticipation as he thought of the next step in his plan.

~AT THE LUDWIG NEWS BUILDING~

Eva Lewis was panicking. She could’ve sworn someone had been watching her and now she was holding a crown of flowers in her hand. The Demon King always placed flowers on the heads of his victims. She quickly looked around and through her backseat windows. She didn’t realize she was holding her breath and quickly exhaled deeply. No scary monster was hiding in her car. She hurriedly entered her vehicle, locked her doors, and dialed the number of her least favorite detective, Jerry Gonzales.

He didn’t answer. Before she began reporting on the Demon King case, he used to take her calls. Now he ignored her. Eva didn’t quite understand what she did to capture his ire but now she seemed to be his least favorite person. She wouldn’t have bothered calling him if he wasn’t in charge of the Demon King case. Eva found herself driving to the police station before second thoughts could take over.

Was this a prank? Was this a message from the Demon King? Eva didn’t know but she sure as hell wanted to find out. When she arrived at the police station, she asked to see Detective Gonzales. She was told that he wasn’t in. Eva was about to start making demands to see the captain when Detective David Wilson showed up.

“Hey there Eva. What’s going on?” David looked concerned and he noticed the circle of white flowers in Eva’s right hand. Eva was relieved to see him. She liked David and they had been friends for years. He was always sweet and helpful. He had a reputation for being a ladies’ man but Eva never had a problem with him.

Before Eva could respond, another detective came up to David laughing, “Wilson, I saw you with that blonde last night at the bar. Nice work bro!”

Eva could see David’s eyes widen, “What the hell are you talking about Smith? I wasn’t with anyone yesterday.”

Detective James Smith gave David a strange look, “I could’ve sworn it was you. Are you sure you-“

“James don’t you have some reports to file or something?” David asked in a low tone.

James Smith looked at Eva and finally understood. He gave a crooked smile and answered, “Right. It wasn’t you. You were probably at home…reading or something.”

After David’s fellow detective awkwardly left, he turned back to Eva, “I’m sorry about that Eva. I think he was dropped on his head as a baby too many times. I wasn’t with a blonde last night. I don’t even like blondes. I prefer brunettes.” Eva didn’t seem to notice that he was clearly complimenting her dark hair.

“David, someone broke into my car! I don’t know who did it but they left this behind,” Eva held up her crown of white flowers. David quickly stopped thinking of blondes versus brunettes and looked around as he grabbed her arm, asking her to follow him. He took her to his desk and asked her to repeat what had happened. Eva shared what had happened from the time she left her place of work until she saw him and asked, “It’s him, isn’t it? It’s the Demon King?”

“Eva, calm down. It could’ve just been a prank,” he said as he tried to reassure her that she had nothing to be worried about.

“Just a prank? Why would anyone do this as a prank? What kind of sick person would do this?”

“I know you’re worried but as far as we know, he hasn’t done this with the other victims. Also, look at this,” he held up the crown of flowers. “These are roses Eva. The Demon King has been using peonies.”

“What? Peonies? Are you sure?” Eva grabbed the ring of flowers and her shoulders slumped in relief. Maybe it was just a prank.

David asked, “Is your cousin Joelynn still staying with you?” When Eva nodded, he told her to go home and relax, “If anything else happens, call me on my cell. I’ll come running Eva.”

Eva smiled as she looked at him. “Thanks David.” Eva hugged him but he hugged her for a longer time than what was necessary and Eva laughed, “David, you can let go now.”

David smiled at her, “Just making sure you’re okay, Eva.”

She gave him a weak smile and walked out of the police station, bumping into Detective Gonzales.

“Are you still trying to get information on the murder outside of town? Lewis, you need to call it a day already,” Jerry said angrily and tried to get past her when she stopped him.

“I thought he was after me…but it was just a prank.” Eva held up the flowers.

Detective Gonzales didn’t show a response but after a long moment of silence, he gruffly asked, “Are you okay?”

Eva shrugged, “I’m fine. Thanks for asking.”

Jerry cleared his throat, “I’m sorry to hear that you were scared, but I’m glad it happened. You need to know how dumb it is to glorify this killer by calling him a king.”

Eva nodded in agreement. She didn’t want to argue with him. She just wanted to forget the entire incident. “I better get home.”

Jerry took the crown of flowers from her before she left. He walked to his partner’s desk. David saw the flowers in Jerry’s hand and spoke before being asked, “Her flowers were roses but I convinced her it was a prank. I told her he only used peonies. The crowns are different but I think we should still send a few officers over to drive by her home.”

“Why didn’t you tell her the truth?” Jerry asked.

David sighed, “Because I didn’t want to scare her when it’s probably just a prank. Remember last year when she wrote a story about outlawing guns? She ended up finding dead animals on her porch. She writes a lot of controversial stuff and it sometimes causes readers to do stupid things. This guy hasn’t been leaving crowns. He just strikes and besides, the flowers are different.”

Jerry began to head back to his desk when David said, “Hey Gonzales, what’s that in the cuff of your pants?”

Jerry was about to ask him what he was talking about, when David bent over and picked it out. It was a single white rose petal. Jerry took the petal from David and shrugged. He walked back to his desk. He looked at the crown of white roses that he had taken from Eva and then looked at the crown of white flowers from the murder scene that were now on his desk in an evidence bag.

It’s a good thing Eva didn’t see them or she would know that David hadn’t told her the truth. He didn’t lie exactly but it wasn’t the truth either. Jerry really didn’t see how the two crowns were all that different. The flowers in the evidence bag were plain white roses and the flowers that Eva had were also plain white roses. Eva’s flowers were only different because of the baby’s breath that had been woven into the crown…as though hers were special. Jerry smiled and held up the single petal that had been caught in the cuff of his pants. He let it go and chuckled as it drifted into his trashcan.