Finally a clue!

The upper room was very small in size and had a kind of sloppy roof. Heats from the sun could be felt since the metal roof absorbed most of the rays. The little rays that entered through some tiny holes from the ceilings and windows brightened the room.

It wasn't that different from the main floor except that it was more colorful, well decorated and off course a little bit dusty.

"This is amazing. looks like a hideout. it's so colorful!" She exclaimed almost dancing in happiness.

"There a just so many boxes" Nath grumbled. He was already tired of searching.

"Then we unpack them" she replied sitting on the floor with a brown box on her lap.

Scout sniffed a dusty flower. He sneezed severally and his nose almost turned red. "Sorry, I think I have some dust in here." He wiped his nose.

"what were you thinking? trying to perceive an artificial flower." Claire scolded him. "it's not like it has a scent anyway".

They all sat in circles and started unpacking the boxes. They found books, Cameras, video clips, pictures etc.

They spent time watching recorded videos and studying books . It was fun but led them to nothing. It was mostly about business, parties, graduations, childhood memories, music and other related stuffs. These women were really close to each other.

Scout discovered a half burnt carton. It's contents were all ready damaged. Gold jewelries were soiled in ash from burns and even the photos weren't clear enough.

"why would they keep something so disgusting? The contents aren't even visible" Nath frowned.

"They are still memories, remember?" Claire glared at him and smiled at the way he nodded.

"These are all materials from a fire. But then this studio doesn't have a fire mark or burns even... wonder where this fire occured."

Scout cleared the dusty ashes and found a half burnt diary as well. Disposing the burnt carton, he read out from the book.

"we might probably be dead for you to be reading this...this have been bad lately and we're in deep shit! one of us is in trouble, we decided to help and got our asses into trouble too... There's a man, way older than us...he threatened to kill us all and our families..." He paused and flipped the pages in disappointment.

"why? what happened?" Nath asked curiously as he stopped reading.

"The pages are gone...consumed by fire" He dropped the book angrily.

"Damn it!" Claire shouted "we were so close."

"At least we have a clue. The killer is an older man" Nath reasoned.

"but the CCTV footage says it's a lady" Scout reminded him.

"That's right. Maybe they are working together? a contracted killer?" Nath asked.

"we can't be too sure but my instincts tells me the killer and the man are connected. Could be the boss Sampson spoke about..." Claire reasoned.

"All the same, there's one way to find out. We have to get to these remaining women first" Nath pointed out in a serious tone.

"Yeah...at least we have photos of them. it would be easier to locate them. I would ask the research department for help" Scout spoke calmly as he gathered their photos in a different box.

"we still need detailed information about them. Like location, family friends and age. If not, this photos are rather useless cause I'm sure it's been years they were taken." Claire adviced standing up from her position.

She walked towards the windows and using her finger tip, she drew on the dusty glass. Smiling at her own silly sketch to ease her boredom.

"I think Dane mentioned his mom's age. He said she's 43" Nathan spoke after a long silence of deliberations within himself.

"Since the calendars says it's 15 years ago...then the women were probably like 27 or 28 when they separated?" Claire calculated by drawing some illustrations on the glass.

Nath and Scout nodded.

"that's many long years ago...I still can't understand why they didn't report to the cops since the man threatened them." Claire pouted her lips as she stood arms akimbo.

"He was probably dreadful. Maybe he had some sort of connections that backed his immunity" Scout reasoned too.

"Come to think of it, he even threatened to kill their families. He must have some sort of power or influence over them." Nathan added.

"we still have hope of catching him. once we get him, we would definitely find this mystery serial killer. We have to find the other 3 women before she kills them too. Nath, remember to jot down their names. I think I saw it at the movie album over there" She pointed towards a huge book were movies were stored which was on top a cupboard.

Nath nodded and Collected the album. "Things would be easier. We have their last names too."

"Joy Cutty, Megan Smith and Talon Bay" he recited.

"I think we're done here. Let's wrap up" Scout said standing up too. He was already tired and they had spent more than three hours there already.

"We can grab launch after this" Claire replied touching her tummy. "I'm starving already..."

"Let's arrange this mess first" Nath grumbled on realizing how disorganized the room looked.

~~~~

Outside the studio, Scout handed the key over to Dane.

"we will get going. Thanks for the cooperation." He shook hands with him.

"yeah....I hope you find the murderer soon." He feigned a smile and turned to leave.

"Dane?" Scout called out as he walked towards the door.

Dane turned with an anxious look. "need something else?"

"Actually, about what you said earlier. I think it's a wonderful idea to stay with your grandma. you were very wrong when you said you were alone. you have her and yourself too. Try to live a happy life and give yourself a chance to explore the beautiful cities of china. Don't keep dwelling in the past, okay?" Scout advised. He really meant it.

Dane blinked in embarrassment. "I'm not a child!" He laughed.

"Good bye then" Scout waved. Dane smiled at him and they both chuckled.

'Scout wasn't an annoying Cop after all' Dane thought.

"what do you think is going on there?" Claire asked Nath from a distance as they watched the two boys laughing at each other.

"I don't know. Scout can be weird" Nath smiled.

"I wonder. Gosh he's kept us waiting for sometime now..." She complained as she bent on her knees.

She was already tired and needed food.

"I think we should just wait in the car. Let's go" Nath pulled her up.

They walked towards the car until Scout caught up with them.

"you just had to hand over a key, yet it took ages..." Claire frowned.

"what did you say to him?" Nath asked turning on the engine.

"Nothing important. Let's move" He chuckled.