Spencer leads us back across the street to the War Memorial, where the box is still lying there, untouched. As soon as we come up to it, sirens wail as three cruisers peel down the road and skid to a halt at the curbside.

We all spin around and put our hands up, instinctively.

One of the officers gets out, gun drawn and yells out, "You the one who called this in?"

Tyler steps forward, nodding his head.

The officer lowers his gun and announces over his radio for the others to get out and join him. They jump out and head over to the box, while the lead officer motions for the five young men to come over to talk to him.

"You guys know about Hannibal Hacker, Syracuse's deadly serial killer that's roaming the streets?" he asks us.

"We do now, after Googling him," Tyler responds.

"He doesn't scare me!" Jonni boasts, putting his hands on his hips. "Right, Radimiekins?"

I mock bravery and nod my head up and down in agreement.

The officer glares at him. "You should be scared, young man. I don't think you've looked thoroughly into this madman. He's a deranged psychotic that's for sure. He has no type. In fact, his first victim was a sixteen year old girl. Plucked her from the streets late one night, raped her in an alleyway and cut her bra and clothes. Then he cut her nether regions, spilled her insides out on the ground and sliced her head clean off. All with no trace of seman found at the scene or any evidence."

I gulp, glancing at Spencer, who is mortified. A hand is hovered before his mouth.

"How--how do you know the kill belonged to him?" Jonni inquires. "Sounds more like Jack the Ripper being reincarnated--"

The officer grabs Jonni by the collar and snaps at him, "You think messing around with ANY serial killer is a joke, boy?"

Jonni shoves at him. "Hey, let go!"

The officer does so with a snort of derision. "The next victim was a little boy...no more than seven years old. Dragged him into a car, notified the already dead parents that he'd slaughtered, asking for a handsome ransom. Then he slit the child's throat, removed the head and all the belongings and dumped his body in a field near a patch of woods. Mind you, these woods, we discovered his third victim as well, another young man, barely into his college life. Again, his head was decapitated from him."

Fabien puts his hands around his throat, gasping with horrified shock. "Not the beautiful face!"

The officer turns to stare at him, smirking. "Oh yes. The more you play around with him, the more that pretty face of yours becomes vulnerable to being apart of his collection. And yes, I do believe he keeps the heads of his victims as trophies from his kills...which I'm sure he'll fancy some luscious brunette curls to keep."

Fabien screams and dives behind Tyler. "NO! I'm too pretty to die!!!"

"God, Cedric, quit scaring them!" another officer barks.

Cedric chuckles. "Just trying to get the point driven home here. What's up with the box?"

I whirl around to find the officers and detectives exploring the box contents.

"Looks like they found us items that connect to the second murder, sir!" the officer shouts back. "We can let detectives handle it from here. What about the kids?"

Cedric straightens his tie up, clearing his throat in the process.

A detective, a straight blond woman with narrow yellow-rimmed glasses walks over. "Either send them home or have them come to the station. But they're clearly not involved. I'd send them on their way."

Cedric nods. "I think I've put the fear of God in them too, so they'll be a lot more careful roaming about the streets. Right?"

"Absolutely, Officer," Spencer remarks. "We'll be on our way and let you analyze the evidence here." He turns to me and whispers, "Let's head to a public place and research this website..."

I nod at him. "Thanks for coming and informing us about this serial killer, even if it was in a completely unorthodox fashion. We will take the advice given and remain out of sight." I then bow to the officer named Cedric.

With that, we bid farewell to the cops and detectives and head for the local Syracuse library. Thankfully our next place was just a few blocks away down the street, opposite the payphone.