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After what she had just witnessed, that little girl's death, Effie Hawkins ran as fast as she could until she made it back to the Hotel Cortez.

Making her way to the front desk she looks at Liz, "Where is he?"

"Where's who?" The confused woman asks.

"That monster you've all been protecting. The Ten Commandments killer, he's here! Wren told me." The agent says, a dissatisfied look on her face.

"Wren? That girl is full of lies." Liz Taylor says with a sigh.

"She's dead. She killed herself trying to protect him!" Effie yells.

"Well... she was old enough to make her own choices." Liz says, turning away from the agent.

"Where is he!" Effie pleads.

"I don't know!" Liz yells, "I'm sorry!"

Suddenly the voice of James Patrick March speaks up from behind her, "Effie! What the hell are you doing?"

"The man I've been hunting is in this hotel, she knows it, you know it! I'm tired of being lied to!" Effie yells, a tear rolling down her face as she looks between them.

"Fine, dear girl. You want to know where the Ten Commandments killer has been hiding? I'll take you there." James March says as he eyes the girl before him.

Reluctantly Effie follows behind James, up the grand stairs and through the many, many, halls in the Hotel Cortez stopping right outside of her door.

"Is this a joke?" Effie says with a scoff, "You're telling me he's in this room?"

"I'm telling you there are answers on the other side of this door, dear Effie." James says before unlocking the door.

Walking in the room Effie holds her gun up, searching around the room a bit before James speaks up, "This used to be where his office was, did you know that? James Patrick March. Many years ago."

"But... you're James March. So you've been the killer this entire time?" Effie asks furiously.

"Not exactly dear, this room is also where I died. February twenty-fifth at two-twenty-five in the morning." James says to her.

"But... you can't be dead, can you...?" Effie asks in disbelief.

"That I am, dear. Once you die in this hotel you can never leave." James explains.

"Then how... did you kill all those men outside of the hotel?" Effie asks him, sitting near him on her bed.

"What you seek is behind the armoire. That is where you'll find what you're looking for." James answers her.

Slowly she stands from the bed and walks towards the armoire before James helps her move it out from the wall it was pushed up against.

When she notices the door hidden behind it she stares at it in shock for a minute before walking up to it and cracking it open to reveal a room full of body parts from the victims.

"Jesus..." Effie mutters quietly, "How long has this been here?"

"Since the beginning." James starts before walking closer and pointing to each glass jar as he speaks, "The hand of a thief. 'Thou shalt not steal.' That was the first one, in nineteen-forty-six. 'Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy.' Teeth, harvested from a field of migrant workers. 'Thou shalt not worship false idols.' What was left of Martin Gamboa's brain after his skull was bashed open."

"But how..." Effie asks confusedly, "How did you kill the others? And why the ninety years in between killings?"

"It's taken me this long to find a successor. After I died I watched each and every person who came into this hotel, but none were right to finish my task. Until someone special came along to finally finish my work." James explains to her.

"Thou shalt not commit adultery.' James Briggs tongue and eyes taken while he was still alive." James continues, pointing at the tongue and eyes in the jar.

"That's bullshit... the parts cut out of James Briggs are in the lab... I catalogued them myself." Effie says in disbelief.

"Honor thy mother and thy father.' The hearts of two ungrateful children. They murdered both of their parents in order to inherit the family fortune." James continues.

"The Rylance twins." Effie says as she looks at the two hearts behind the glass.

"Thou shalt not bear false witness.' Gossip mongers. After he nailed their slanderous tongues to their desks, he ripped out their vocal cords. 'Thou shalt not take the Lord's name in vain.' A false prophet who would go on television and vent his spleen. So the killer took it." James continues telling her.

Effie looks down at her feet before mumbling, "He would have had to have been bringing these things back while I was still here... with my son... who let him in?"

"Dear Effie, nobody let him in. He had a key." James tells her, a hand on her back softly.

"What...?" She whispers quietly.

"Take my hand." James tells her.

"What?" Effie questions again.

"Effie, take my hand." James repeats.

Suddenly she takes his hand before the memories of it all come flooding back to her, of her killing the twins, along with Martin Gamboa and James Briggs and the rest of them.

With a tear streaking down her face she falls to the floor, James bends down beside her and places his hands gently on her cheeks, "It's all okay, Effie, my dear. Now you know the truth."

"It's not possible... it's not... it can't be..." Effie mutters.

"You have lived in my hotel long enough to know that the impossible becomes very possible here. You kept yourself from the truth because of your job, you started living a second life here at the Cortez, with me." James tells her calmly as he pets her hair.

"I... did all this...? That's why it felt so... satisfying looking at the crime scenes?" She asks him, doe eyes full of unshed tears.

"Yes, dear, that is why. It's you, Effie, It's always been you. When you first walked into this hotel I couldn't take my eyes off of you, and I saw the darkness inside of you aching to come out, so I helped you become better, I taught you how to kill and not get caught." James explains to her.

Effie takes a deep breath in before she blinks the tears away, a small sliver of a smirk pulling onto her lips as she looks at James, "I... did this."

The woman then stands up, walking to the glass jars before brushing her fingers over the one containing the hearts, a slightly insane giggle leaving her lips as James watches her proudly.

"Yes my dear, you did. I'm glad you finally know the truth, now I no longer have to keep it from you." James says as he wraps an arm around her waist.

Effie giggles a bit before turning around in his arms planting a soft kiss to his lips, the taste of her blueberry chapstick making him kiss her deeper, savoring the taste of it, the taste of her.

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Finally she knows!

Now I think things will get
a bit more interesting!

I hope you enjoyed. xx