White paused for a beat, then went on, slower now.
“All he has to do is plant the surgical knife with Mark’s blood on it inside her place.
Once her alibi starts looking shaky and the murder weapon turns up right there in her house, Andrea’s got almost nowhere left to run.”
Mariana’s voice came out tight.
“You’re sure Steven Harmus is tied to those twelve killings?”
White didn’t answer right away.
She blinked once, then spoke slowly, each word dropping onto the table.
“I’m sure.
And the connection starts with… a kind of empathy.”
Thomas frowned, impatience clear on his face.
“What kind of empathy?
Just say it straight.”
Jay jumped in right after, like he’d already half-guessed it.
“Don’t tell me… he felt for the yaoi guys like himself the ones who kept getting rejected by the straight boys they liked and that’s what pushed him to start killing those boys.”
White nodded once, then spoke.
“That’s right.
Somewhere a school campus, a street corner… yaoi guys getting rejected by straight boys.
Turned away with cruel words and cold, unforgiving stares.”
She lowered her eyes.
Her voice grew quieter, but every word carried a heavy weight.
“He empathized with them.
A twisted kind of empathy.
He understood the pain of being rejected… and from there, he came to believe that the ones who rejected them deserved to die.”
White delivered the last part.
Her voice didn’t shake, but it moved so slowly that every word landed clear.
“I don’t think Steven did this alone.
He pulled in a few others guys who were also yaoi, also broken-hearted, also rejected right around the time they met him.
He acted like he understood, like he shared the pain… then he told them his own story to draw them in.
You know how it is.
Plenty of cases out there start with nothing more than a rejection.
Someone already hurting, just needs the right push in the right place… and they can turn into a killer pretty damn easy.”
She paused a second, then went on, her voice lower.
“From there he and that first accomplice started pulling more people in.
Two became three, then five… and it just kept growing.
That’s why their methods are so different.
Different ways of killing, evidence wiped out layer by layer.
That’s how the police still haven’t connected the whole chain.”
Thomas folded his arms, a slight shiver running through him.
“That’s creepy as hell… You got anything to back this up?”
White gave a small nod, no hesitation.
“I do.
The first three Mark’s and the two right after those were Steven himself.
From the ones that followed, a new mark starts showing up on the bodies: a heart with a slash through it.
If you think he just wanted to leave some personal signature, that’s too simple.
If that was the point, he would’ve done it from the second kill on.”
She tilted her head, her eyes going a shade colder.
“I think that’s the logo of the group he put together.
A heart with a slash through it… doesn’t that spell out ‘rejected love’ pretty clearly?”
White tapped her phone screen.
She spoke quietly.
“I already asked a friend to dig up Andrea’s address.
She’s at the Camepot apartments, Tesla district.”
White looked straight at everyone.
“Based on everything we’ve pieced together so far, we need to search Andrea’s place first.
We need to find more evidence there something we can use against him.”
Going straight to Steven’s house right now would just tip off an organization like this.
His place will be cleaned out.
There won’t be anything left.”
Mariana checked her watch.
“It’s 12:20.
I’ll get Chief Modric to issue an emergency search warrant for Andrea’s apartment.”
Mariana’s voice dropped.
Her eyes moved over each of them.
“All right.
We split up.”
White raised an eyebrow slightly, her tone even.
“I’ll stay and go through the CCTV.
Everyone else hits Andrea’s.
Just report back to me.”
Thomas folded his arms and looked at White.
“You’re coming to the scene, kid.
That tricky head of yours is the one that’ll figure out how to trap Steven.
I’ll handle the CCTV.”
Knight locked eyes with her, voice low.
“I know Ryan was your old partner.
Emotion’s gonna make you miss details.
You asked me to join this case because I was the first person in the world to beat the second-hardest hostage-rescue detective game, right?
Ryan is an excellent student.
He wouldn’t die that easily.”
Jay cut in, voice quiet but firm.
“That sharp head of yours needs to be at Andrea’s.
That’s where you’ll find the way to trap Steven.
And from Steven we get the info to save Ryan.
What if the CCTV turns up nothing?
By the time we try to flip Steven it’ll be too late.”
Mariana nodded and added,
“We need to trace Steven’s network as quickly as possible.
People only perform at their best when they’re focused on one thing.
You need to trust the rest of us, kiddo.
We’re a team.”
White was silent for a long second, eyes lowered.
Then she stood.
Her white coat shifted slightly.
“All right.
I’ll go to Andrea’s.”
Mariana crossed her arms, eyes sweeping the group.
“Team One: Jay, White, me we hit Andrea’s.
Team Two: Knight, Thomas.”
The whole team answered as one: “Go it!”