The bustling of the agents and police officers coming in and out of the home of Tom McDaniels had brought his neighbors out of their homes to see what was going on. A line of gawkers had formed alongside his street. They were gossiping amongst themselves as the officers worked.

 “I think I found something!” an agent yelled so that everyone could hear him. He had been looking through the trunk of one of Tom’s cars. Stashed in a dark plastic bag were what appeared to be some human bones.

“Somebody call Roux. Let her know what we found. Get those bones to the lab ASAP! We need to find out who they belong to,” Sally’s partner, Agent Ferguson, ordered. Things weren’t look good for Tom McDaniels.

~LUDWIG NEWS BUILDING~

Eva was typing up her latest article, “Demon King Claims Secretary of Top Businessman.”

“Excuse me, are you Eva Lewis?”

Eva turned around to a detective’s badge being shoved in her face, “I’m Detective James Smith and this is my partner Detective Randy Ellis” He gestured to a man standing beside him.

Eva slightly recognized Detective Smith. Instead of asking if they knew one another, she asked, “Is this about my car being vandalized? Did you find out who did it?”

James looked at Randy and then back to Eva, “No ma’am. I’m actually here to ask you some questions about the incident that occurred a few nights ago at your home. One of the lead FBI agents asked that we interview you since he’s a little tied up right now.”

Eva looked confused, “Incident?”

“You reported a possible intruder. A police officer was sent to your home to investigate but you asked him to leave and said you were mistaken and then identified the intruder as Tom McDaniels. Is that correct?” Detective Smith asked.

Eva didn’t understand why she was being asked about this but she answered, “Yes. It was about nine in the evening and he left around forty minutes later. I told the officer it was a mistake. What is this about?”

The detective named Randy was taking notes, “Are you sure he left before ten, ma’am?”

Eva nodded, “I’m pretty sure. It was no later than that. I was in bed before ten.”

Detective Smith chewed the inside of his mouth as he eyed her for a moment. He then continued, “Tom McDaniels was the first person you saw the night your car was vandalized. Is that also correct?”

“Yes,” she answered. “Was he the one that vandalized my car? He swore he didn’t.”

Detective Smith shook his head, “We aren’t sure about that yet Ms. Lewis. You and Mr. McDaniels…do you have any special relationship?”

“Special relationship? I don’t understand what you mean,” Eva replied.

“How are you two related to one another? Friends? Lovers?”

Eva felt her cheeks heat, “I barely know him. He wanted me to write a story for him. That’s all. Can’t you tell me anything about my car being vandalized?”

“We’re still investigating the situation. Well, for now that’s all we needed to know. Thank you for your time Ms. Lewis.”

“What? That’s it? You’re not going to tell me what this is all about?” Eva stood up.

Detective Randy Ellis continued to walk away but Detective James Smith turned around. He looked Eva up and down and asked, “I’ll tell you what Ms. Lewis. I’ll tell you what you want to know if you agree to go out on a date with me.”

Eva frowned, “Is this some kind of joke?”

Detective Smith’s lips curled upward in a wry grin, “Oh I never joke about asking a pretty woman out on a date.”

A slight wave of annoyance washed over her. Eva had been asked out quite a bit by police officers and she always flirted right back with them for the sake of a possible lead on a story. To her, flirting had always seemed harmless but now that she was seeing David; the idea of even joking with another officer about going out on a date wasn’t appealing, “Sorry. I’m not available.”

He looked to his right and his left then back at her. In a whisper he said, “Well there’s always a chance you may change your mind so I’ll let you in on a big secret. That big businessman Tom McDaniels is being questioned at the police station as we speak.”

Eva was surprised, “What for?”

Detective James Smith smiled, “They think he might be the Demon King.”

~AT THE IMMACULATE CONCEPTION CHURCH~

“Dear Lord, I pray that we find my daughter Nessa. It’s been two years and we haven’t heard from her. I pray that she’s safe and protected. Please watch over her. Thank you. Amen.” Lupita Torres crossed herself and stood up.

“Mom, you’re still here?” Jacob Torres, her son, walked up to her. As he stood in line with the giant crucifix which was above the altar, he quickly made the sign of the cross.

“Jacob? What are you doing here? I thought you were going on a date with your girlfriend, Joelynn.”

Jacob smiled. His mother, a devout Catholic, still didn’t know that he was gay. She thought Joelynn was his girlfriend and Joelynn thought it was funny, so she always played the role of a doting lover in front of his mother.

Jacob answered, “She’s coming over later. I was wondering where you were at.” Jacob looked over at his mother who seemed worn out. She worked as a maid which was hard work. Ever since his sister had disappeared, she seemed to have aged twenty years.

Jacob thought of his sister Nessa. In his heart, he knew she was no longer of this Earth. There was no way that she would have not made contact with her family for two years.

Two years ago, she left for work as she normally did. She had left a message on her mother’s phone saying she was going to have a drink with some co-workers but never came home that night. It was the last time anyone in their family had heard her voice. When the police went out to question her co-workers, none of them had made plans to go out drinking that night. It remained an unsolved mystery. Jacob still prayed that his sister would be found but he wasn’t holding his breath.

At first, he too prayed that his sister would come home. After six months had gone by and nobody had heard from her, his prayers changed. Now he prayed that her body would be found. Jacob put his arm around his mother. “Let’s go home. Joelynn said she’s bringing Chinese food.”

“Chinese?” Lupita asked.

 Jacob laughed at his Mexican mother’s excitement. Lupita licked her lips, “Do you think she’ll bring me extra egg rolls?”

Jacob laughed again, “Yes, she’ll get you extra egg rolls. She always does.”

As they left the church he looked up and said a silent prayer. This time it was to his sister. “Nessa, I hope you’re okay wherever you’re at. Please look out for mom.”

~HOME OF KEVIN AND SAMANTHA LANDERS~

Samantha was crying again and Kevin didn’t know what to do. As soon as they had come back from their honeymoon, they had received tons of calls asking if they had heard about Paula Masterson.

Samantha felt partly responsible since Paula was last seen at their wedding reception.

“If only I had asked her to stay longer. She wouldn’t have been out in the parking lot.” Samantha murmured. She was watching their wedding video and was playing the parts that Paula had appeared in.

Kevin shook his head in dismay, thinking, “What a way to remember our wedding day.”

When Kevin had found out that Paula had been killed by the Demon King, he didn’t think there was anything either he or Samantha could’ve done to save Paula. The Demon King was becoming so notorious that there were online forums of other psychos that called themselves his disciples. They were infatuated with him for remaining uncaught. Women were being warned not to go anywhere alone and to be leery of strangers.

Kevin thought of Paula at his wedding reception. She had been flirting with his best man Tom McDaniels.

Poor Tom

Kevin knew Tom had a huge crush on Paula. Now it would never come to fruition. Kevin looked at his crying wife and frowned. Maybe Tom was actually lucky. Kevin wondered how long Samantha would expect him to console her.

 A knock on the door interrupted Kevin’s thoughts. He opened it to see two men wearing FBI jackets.

An agent wearing Aviator sunglasses asked, “Are you Kevin Landers?”

Kevin nodded, “Yes, that’s me.”

The agent asked him, “May we come in Mr. Landers?”

Kevin opened the door a bit wider to allow them entry. “May I ask what this is about?”

“Mr. Landers, I’ll get straight to the point. Have you ever registered with a dating site called Love Match?”

Samantha came into the room, “What did you just ask?” Her face was blotchy from crying.

Kevin didn’t know what the FBI agent was talking about, “I’m married and have been dating the same woman for years. I would’ve never signed up for a dating site.”

“I have information telling me that you made an account under the name of one Tom McDaniels. Is that true?”

Samantha seemed confused as well, “Kevin, what’s this all about?”

Kevin didn’t remember the Love Match account until Tom’s name was mentioned. “That’s right. I had made an account for Tom McDaniels as a joke. He needed to start dating so as a joke…I made a fake account and told him to get a girlfriend.”

The agent was writing down what Kevin had said, “I’m going to need the username and password to the account sir.”

Kevin shrugged, “That was a long time ago. I don’t remember it.”

The agent looked up and repeated, “I’m going to need the username and password on the account sir. We’d rather you give it to us instead of having to contact the site directly.”

Kevin was about to ask him to get the hell out when he suddenly remembered, “Wait a minute, I had sent that information to Tom in an e-mail. Let me see if I can find it.” He walked over to his laptop and pulled up his e-mails. When he found what he was looking for he told the agent, “The password is Kevinrocks99.”

The agent wrote the password down, “And the username?”

Kevin looked back at his e-mail and said, “King27.”