Chapter 5: A Lone Wolf in the Dark

Chapter 5: A Lone Wolf in the Dark

??? POV:

The victim was identified as Emory Livell. He suffered five bullet wounds. It was such a rare occurrence of a miracle that all the bullets missed his vital parts. Either that or the perpetrator decided to torture him to made him suffer. It was a mystery as to why the culprit did not kill him.

The main suspect was Caron Dvail. Her whereabouts were unknown at the moment. The last sighting of her was when she used the public phone to make a call. The police traced her call record and found out that she was contacting a hospital which later they put Emory in. It raised various questions as to why Caron did it after attempted to kill Emory. 

The neighbors theorized the possibility of banter that escalated into a fight. Some Neighbours heard that the victim and the culprit screaming at each other before the sound of gunshots followed. Voices sounded vague through the wall, so nobody could tell what the topic of their conversation was. Another detail included was 'There was no sign of struggle on the site.'

I planned to hear the truth from Emory, the victim himself. But for now, he was in a state of coma. I couldn't wait for him to wake up, so I should continue this investigation through another means.

My name was Lersne Vinnless, a private detective. I worked on this case. But 'working' might not be a correct term as I received no pay for solving it. For me, this case was something much more personal.

I had suspicions that some other cases might be related to this one. The death of Griffin Rondo, Silva Linseen, Mikhail Linseen, and Theodore Fischer happened in one of the abandoned houses some days before this. They were all from the same organization and killed just recently.

Griffin Rondo, known as 'Leader', was my longtime friend. We had known each other for over 20 years. Due to some past circumstances, Griffin had decided to hid his name. We still kept in touch as I often bought information from him.

Oh right, the murder case of Sergey Slovia might also be related to this. I had gotten senile recently, missed one fact, and the truth might be lost forever. 

Caron Dvail was spotted wandering around Sergey's house around 12 hours after his death. Her visit was one of the many reasons why I had suspicions that those murders might be connected.

I knew most of Griffin's underling. Caron, in particular, was the less violent one. She wouldn't attack you unless you started it. So I had difficulty believing that Caron murdered so many people in cold blood.

DING DONG

A guest? At this hour?

I was immersed in my personal investigation, but I shouldn't abandon my job. The desk looked messy with all these investigation files, but it didn't take long for me to clean it. After that, I proceeded to invite my guest.

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"Hello, sorry that I took so long..."

When I opened the door, my guest seemed to be feeding some wild dogs. I should apologize for being so late. The guest finally noticed my presence.

"Good evening, Miss Vinless."

Wait...

"I'm here to deliver you a message from a friend."

Why...

"Miss...?"

BANG

Without thinking, I shot her. She fell on her back on the ground, unmoving. The sound of a gunshot rang through the neighborhood, making the dog ran away in fear.

That was very stupid of me...

I shouldn't react like that...

Now I would be charged with murder...

Or so that's what I thought.

"That reaction was something else, Miss..."

"How...?! I'm sure I did shot you..."

Then I noticed that she wore some sort of anti-bullet armor under her shirt. The bullet failed to pierce her due to that.

"Hide your gun, hurry!" 

She said in quite a whispered tone. Still dazed by the situation, I unconsciously hid the gun behind my back.

"What was that gunshot?! Are you two ok?!"

Some people gathered around us after they heard the gunshot.

This was bad...

They would know what I did and...

"We're okay. I wonder where was the gunshot came from?"

Huh...?

"It's dangerous if it's nearby. Let's all go back inside our own house."

The people agreed and went home after making sure we were alright. She hid the gunshot hole with her coat when we talked to those people.

Did she just cover me?

"Let's go inside, miss."

I ended up letting her went inside my house.

This was bad...

What did I do...

I let a mass murderer went inside my house.

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- Lersne House -

"Why did you protect me?"

"Sorry?"

"I shot you! Why didn't you tell them?!"

"I'm in hurry, no time for minor conflict."

"Minor?! Getting shot was a minor problem?!"

"I survived with no wounds, so it was."

She was insane.

"Besides, you knew that I'm a wanted criminal right now, didn't you? Your reaction told me everything."

She changed.

It felt like I talked to a stranger.

"What are you up to?! Caron Dvail?!"

"I'm here to deliver Leader's will for you. He told us to give this to you after his death."

Caron pulled out an envelope from her coat. The envelope had 'to Lersne Vinless' written in on it with black ink.

"First, let me say sorry, for I did check it quite a bit. I guessed that he might include his real name inside, and guess what? he did."

"STEP BACK!"

Caron Froze.

"How would you take it from me if I shouldn't approach you? I'm no magician, I can't throw this piece of paper straight to you."

How dare she even tried to crack a joke at this moment?!

"Put it on my desk!"

"Sure, sure, no need to shout..."

Caron placed the letter on my desk.

"Then I shall take my leave..."

Caron proceeded to go to the door. Just when she was about to open the door, Caron looked at me like she had something else to say.

"If you have something else to say, just spill it!"

"...."

Caron looked sideways for a moment as if she tried to decide whether to say it or not.

"You were Leader's friend, so I thought that maybe you would listen to my explanation..."

I was not sure how I should respond to that. I wanted to respond, but my words wouldn't come out.

"It was stupid of me to even think of that... Of course, Leader's friend would suspect me more than anyone else."

For a moment, Caron looked sad, not even tried to hide her disappointment. As if she wanted to let me know how she felt.

"I wish you a good evening, miss." 

With that, Caron proceeded to open the door.

"Wait a moment!"

Caron froze at my word and then looked back at me.

"I'll listen to what you have to say!"

What the hell did I say?!

"Not today, miss, you're too frightened to listen to anything I say."

"You can stay here for the night!"

Again what did I just said?!

"Thanks, but I refuse. You might kill me in my sleep. We'll continue this tomorrow, okay?"

"Besides, you might want to read that thing right now."

Caron looked at the envelope on my desk. I almost forgot about that.

"Call me if you need me."

Caron threw a piece of paper to the floor. I could only assume it was her contact address or an address of a secret meeting place.

"If the police show up at that place, I'll assume that you decided that I'm not worth your time."

"Isn't that a bit too risky for you?"

"It is. Please understand that I'm risking my life to gain your trust."

And with that, Caron closed the door.

Sometime later, after making a cup of coffee, I decided to open the envelope.

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Lone wolf

Wolf was a social animal. They had a pack that they considered as family and friends. The term Lone wolf was used to refer to a wolf who had no pack to return to. It could be because the wolf was exiled, or the entire pack had died. Being a lone wolf meant you had no home nor people to return to.

That was what Caron thought that was what it meant when she was younger. People called her a lone wolf. She thought they made fun of how she had no family anymore. It turned out what they were trying to say was that she had no friends. It just made Caron realized that she had neither family nor friends.

Leader changed her world. After being saved by him, Carin was not a lone wolf anymore. She had a pack, a new family, and friends to return to. But, ever since the organization had fallen, Caron had once again become a lone wolf.

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"It's dark..."

Caron said to herself as she walked alone in the night.

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"I didn't know the street at night could be so dark..."

Caron kept walking, the streets strangely empty.

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"I can't see what's in front of me."

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"Someone..."

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Caron had fallen on her knees.

"Help me..."

Caron was unable to walk anymore.

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It was not until later that Caron realized that she was dreaming. A dream of a long dark path nobody knew what was ahead nor how it ended.