The M Of The Hour

The people in the church slowly rose from their seats in panic.

Davenport, furious, grabbed the man.

"Is this some kind of joke!?" he yelled.

"Who sent this? Who told you to bring it?!"

"I-I don't know."

"YOU DON'T KNOW?! That's it. Tell me your name so I can arrest you for-"

"No! Geez, Bruce!" Giovani stood between him and the now-frightened delivery man.

"Sir, who sent this? Do you have anything in your shop's records? Name? Phone number?"

"N-No, sir." replied the man. "I found this in front of my shop and received an anonymous call telling me to deliver it here. I tried to search the number and found out the call had been made from a public telephone."

"The voice. Was it a man or woman?"

"Neither. It was a computerized voice."

Davenport groaned. He kicked the flower arrangement away.

Giovani talked with the priest and the family and they agreed to bury David earlier than scheduled. David's family left with the coffin to the cemetery.

Before the others left, the detectives got the same message in their phone.

M's life comes to an end in an hour.

Frightened, they agreed to tell them.

"You may be wondering who this 'M' is. Well, 'M' is the killer's next victim. Three of you might be in danger. Mia, Macy and Martha."

Silence.

Giovani sighed.

"We believe the killer plans to attack in one hour."

Macy gasped.

"What?! An hour? Oh my God, we need to hide or get out of town or something."

Davenport shook his head.

"No, that's a terrible idea, the killer might be trying to draw you out. That's why you'll be surrounded here by policemen until we know you're safe. I think it will be better if you stay with us. The rest of you, please, go to the restaurant. We'll meet you there."

Alex shook his head

"No, I'm staying."

Davenport sighed but didn't bother trying to convince him otherwise.

Alex' resolved expression told the detective he wasn't taking no for an answer.

Macy reached for Larry. "Listen." she said. "I don't want you to risk your life for us."

"But I want to be here!" he protested.

"We'll be fine. Go with Paul and Camila. We'll be there soon, I promise."

He quietly nodded and, after sparing one last glance at them, left with the others.

Sara asked Izzy if she wanted to go too. The youngest Stark responded by handing her the keys to the restaurant.

"I'm not leaving without my family."

The doctor collected the keys and left with the others.

"Don't worry, guys. We're gonna be here the entire time. Nobody's going to touch you."

STARK'S

Paul, Camila, Larry and Sara came into the restaurant. Camila turned on the TV. They had breaking news.

"It seems like the serial killer recently named The DreVille Slayer may be planning another attack. At Detective David Cress' funeral, a flower arrangement was left with the first letter of the next victim's name..."

"I need to call Giovani, see if he has any new information." Sara pulled out her phone and went outside.

"...the police have already identified the possible victims, who are currently under police protection."

Larry coughed and held his chest feeling a little pain. He was so nervous he couldn't hold his glass of water in his trembling hands.

Paul hugged Camila from behind, and gently kissed her cheek.

"Everything's going to be okay."

"God, I hope so."

CHURCH

"Alright." said Giovani, as he walked into the hall again. "The entire street is under surveillance, if the so-called Slayer tries something, we'll get him."

Macy chuckled.

"How are you so sure it's a guy? I mean it could be a girl."

Giovani rolled his eyes at her.

"It can't be a girl."

Davenport nodded. "Yeah, I'm not ruling out the possibility that it's a girl, but it's just not likely. I mean Silko was killed with a sledgehammer, and it must have taken a few swings to squish his head like that. The upper body strength required to do that? You can't find it in most girls."

"Well, that doesn't exactly prove it's not a girl, but yeah, you're probably right."

Further behind them, Alex had Mia's head resting on his lap as he caressed her blonde curls.

"Alex, if I die today, I-"

"Yeah, yeah, you want me to move on and be happy, blah blah blah, now shut up."

She frowned.

"No . I was gonna say that if I die, I'm gonna haunt your future girlfriends till they dump you."

Alex chortled.

"Well, I dont have to worry about that because you're not gonna die. We're all going to leave this church safe and sound."

He leaned down to kiss her.

Two pews behind them, Isabela cuddled with her mom.

"Mom, I'm scared. What if Macy or Mia die? What if you die?"

Martha tried to sound optimistic, but all she could do was give her daughter a sad smile.

"You're very strong sweetheart. But if I have to go, promise me you and your brother will be strong and move on, ok?"

"Mom please don't say that. I just don't get it, why? why is The Slayer coming after us?"

"I don't have the answer to that. But if I don't make it, I don't want you and your brother to live in resentment. When the killer's captured, they will be punished by the law. But I want you to forgive them, if you don't, your heart will never be at peace. Forgiveness gives us freedom to let things go, it helps us move on."

"You're so smart, mommy."

Martha put her feet up and laid her head on her daughter's thighs smiling.

******************************

Giovani walked in after making a few calls. "Nobody's seen anything suspicions. We've got five minutes left. Looks like The Slayer got cold feet."

"Oh, my God, I'm so nervous!" said Mia hugging Alex.

Davenport shook his head, deep in his thoughts.

Cold feet? The Slayer must have anticipated that there'd be police protection. Maybe this whole thing is just to scare us.

STARK'S

A very distraught Larry was pacing across the pub. The thought of his friends' lives in danger made him sick.

He was trying to distract himself reading the newspaper, but it was difficult with David's case all over the front page and covering four pages.

"Larry, sweetie?" Sara said. "Why don't you join me? We can talk about something else to distract ourselves from this nightmare."

Larry appreciated that Sara was trying to make him feel better. Still, he refused.

Camila rolled her eyes.

"Larry, please settle down."

"Don't tell me what to do, Glavas."

Camila sighed as Paul held her tight.

"I didn't get a chance to talk to your mom at the funeral. How is she?"

It was Paul's turn to sigh.

"The same, her driver takes her everywhere now. William's murder really hit her.

Camila shrugged. "Well, yeah. I mean, he turned out to be an ass, but she did love him."

At another table, Larry finally gave in and was sitting with Sara, staring at the cozy couple.

"They're so cute." he said, smiling. "You know I think they're-"

Larry started coughing again.

Sara frowned. "Larry, that's the fourth time I've seen you cough today. Are you alright?"

"Yeah, I'm fine, I guess my chest isn't taking the thought of my friends and girlfriend getting murdered too well. A little water and I'll be fine."

Sara scrutinized him but let it go. "Ok, but if this gets worse, you have to come to the hospital."

"I won't need to, I'll be fine once I know my friends are safe."

CHURCH

"Time's up." said Davenport. "And everyone's safe and well!"

Everyone cheered.

Izzy gently placed her mom's head on the pew so she could sleep better.

As soon as Izzy got up, Alex swooped her up into a hug, let her go and went to his mom.

"Mom? Mom, It's over, we can go home now."

He shook her.

"Mom?"

Izzy noticed and came to help wake her.

"Mom, let's go. Mom."

Alex placed a hand on her chest and felt his heart stop when he realized that hers wasn't beating.

"Oh my God, mom!"