Chapter Text
I was in my study, looking at an old photo album filled about halfway with photos from Ember, Annalise, and I’s adventures. Photos from vacations and girls nights, sleepovers, dating as far back as elementary school. I felt melancholy looking at the old photos when my work phone started ringing. I hadn’t used it in a while, after Annalise was found dead in her apartment four years Ember and I had taken time off to grieve and process the loss of our best friend. We eventually both got back into the field but with smaller cases. The Lieutenant wanted to ease us back into work and we just never moved back up to bigger cases. Ember said she just couldn’t handle the pressure after Annalise’s death, and me? I’d poured all my free time into trying to solve her murder. The station had long since given up after they could find no evidence, the case going cold after a year and half.
When I looked down at my phone the message I saw made my blood run cold.
The Twilight Killer is back, you’re needed at the station immediately.
I rushed to get ready and was out the door fifteen minutes later. Ember had been sent the same text, she picked me up and we drove to the station
“There’s no way that they’re actually back right?” I asked Ember in disbelief
“I don’t know, but I doubt they’d call us in if they weren’t sure.” Ember stated, looking shocked and angry. I don’t blame her, I’m angry too.
The Twilight Killer is the last big case that Ember, Annalise, and I worked on before Anna’s death. The Twilight Killer is a ruthless and hedonistic serial killer who enjoys making their victims suffer and relishes in their terror. The Twilight Killer is organized, their crime scenes are near spotless of anything that gives away their identity. There is never any foot prints, finger prints, signs of forced entry, nothing that could tell us who they are or even that the kills are connected except what they want to be found.
Each victim had similar injuries; ligature marks from bound wrists, strangulation, and a multitude of cuts that are strategically placed to cause pain but not kill until the killer wants them dead. All the victims have been men and occasionally women in their mid-twenties to early thirties. None of the victims show signs of sexual assault which made us believe that perhaps the killer was female but we didn’t have enough evidence to confirm this. A total of twelve people were killed, at least that we know of, alternating between genders and ages in no particular order. The main signature however is how we know that they were all killed by the same person.
Each victim not only was murdered in their homes but they were all found in the basement. Most disturbingly on the wall behind each victim, drawn in their own blood, was a crescent moon with 3 diamond shaped stars. This symbol is often used to show the time of twilight, hence the killer's name “The Twilight Killer.”
When Annalise was murdered we had been getting closer to breaking the case, Anna had been working non-stop even after hours to figure it out. Of course the kill count being so high the FBI had also been a part of the case but after Annalise died the murders had suddenly stopped and having no other option the case had been dropped. People say that maybe Annalise had been the killer all along and that her killer was the family of one of her victims. I never believed that Annalise had been the most involved in the case. Anna had been so determined to find the monster behind all those lost lives it didn’t make sense for her to be the killer.
I believed that it had been “The Twilight Killer” that murdered Annalise, but the symbol hadn't been there and neither had the usual torture signs. The FBI and the rest of the department brushed off my concerns and insisted I needed to take a break instead of chasing coincidences. I never stopped though, the past four years I’d been doing what Annalise had done, working from home and after I’d finished my other cases I’d go into my study and scour all the evidence I could get my hands on. I had large theory boards; pictures of crime scenes, newspaper articles, coroners reports and more red string than a conspiracy theorist. No one knew about this, not even Ember, I knew if they did they would put a stop to it. They would tell me I needed to stop chasing ghosts and focus on myself, but I just couldn’t stop. Not when I was so sure that I was right. I just had to prove it.
When we got to the station I could see people staring. Other officers and detectives alike watched Ember and I as we walked down the hall towards the chief's office.
“Sir?” I spoke, stepping into the room alongside Ember. Inside the office was Chief Adams, Lieutenant Waters, and Special Agent Summers from the FBI.
“Miss Mavis, Miss Stone please take a seat.” Chief Adams said, and we did.
“Sir I don’t understand, The Twilight Killer has been gone for four years? How and why are they coming back now?” Ember asked, trying to make sense of this new information as I was. It didn’t make sense, a killer like The Twilight Killer who usually attacked on a weekly basis going dormant for four years just to suddenly pop up again? It made no sense and it didn’t align with the profile that the FBI made all those years ago.
“We think that something must have triggered the unsub to start killing again.” Agent Summers stepped in, handing us both case files of what appeared to be the unsubs most recent kill. A man named Carter Harvey age 28 was found dead in his basement. Ligature marks showed he’d been restrained and strangulation marks on his neck among other more gruesome, and the ever so jarring twilight symbol drawn on the wall using the victims blood. \
“It's them alright..” I muttered, my voice dim from shock and anger that more people were getting hurt.
“Do we have any new information?” Ember questioned, I wanted to know as well. While I’d been researching on my own it's not like we had any updated information.
“We do actually, we found a piece of clothing that we believe belongs to our unsub, from what we gathered it seemed to be part of a dress.” Agent Summers answered and Ember’s eyes widened in shock, mine too.
“Are we sure? How can we be sure it was from a dress?” Ember questioned, sitting on the edge of her seat. I could understand her desire to know.
We hadn’t been able to make a definite decision on our killer's gender. We knew it was a possibility of them being a woman due to the lack of sexual assault on any of the victims and the fact that all the victims didn’t seem to have any indication of forced entry. The killer had to be someone that didn’t come off as threatening, someone that could easily talk their way into someone's home and make the victims let their guard down enough to be killed.
“The fabric we found had a distinct edge that we confirmed was a design on an unfortunately popular dress. However this does confirm that our unsub is most definitely a woman.” Agent Summers stated and Ember and I both had to take a minute to process. Ember looked upset, like the information scared her. The fear was warranted. If The Twilight Killer was indeed a woman that made it make sense why it had been so hard to catch her. Female serial killers aren’t that well known since they generally tend to be more sneaky about it, female serial killers usually kill for passion, money, or revenge and they aren’t as barbaric about it as their male counterparts. Not often if ever do they leave a signature because the reason for the kill typically isn't the kill itself and they don’t often want anyone to ever see. For The Twilight Killer to be leaving such a distinct mark whenever she kills? She wants to be seen, she wants to be noticed.
“What can we do?” I asked and Lieutenant Waters looked at me.
“You both know this case better than anyone. It went cold after the killings suddenly stopped. We were hoping with you both here you’d be able to help the rest of the team understand this psychopath.” LT Waters spoke, his voice getting a bit more gravely with age.
“We understand if you’re both reluctant to agree given that the last time you worked on this case there were three of you..but we hope you’ll understand the severity of the situation.” The Chief said, a solemness in his voice as he spoke of Annalise.
“Of course we’ll do anything to help!” Ember stated firmly, flipping through more of the file. I agreed, I still thought that The Twilight Killer was behind Annalise’s death.
As sad as I am that more people have and will probably die now that she’s seemingly come out of retirement, this is a chance for us to catch her and make her pay for her crimes. And maybe, just maybe prove to everyone that I was right. That my mind wasn’t clouded by grief and that I wasn’t some obsessed broken woman who couldn’t accept the mystery of her best friend's death.