Meanwhile...

After a somewhat long day at the station, Maxis was on her way home. As she drove, she thought back on the day, being happy about the fact that John managed to pull some strings and get her involved in the investigations around the recent deaths, especially considering she either knew or was related to the three victims.

Pulling into Shannon's driveway, Maxis shut off her car and sat there for a few moments. After making sure she had everything, Maxis climbed out of the car and entered her temporary house.

When she opened the door, she was greeted by a familiar sight. It was Shannon and she was making dinner. That was the typical routine, ever since Maxis and Kyle had to come stay at Shannon's house. However, that wasn't the only thing that Maxis was greeted with.

Pausing for a moment, Maxis stared at the kitchen table, seeing that there was someone already seated. It was her brother, Kyle. Having to do a double take, Maxis eventually realized that her eyes weren't playing tricks on her and that her brother was really sitting at the table, scrolling through his phone.

A small smile crept onto Maxis' face as she walked past the kitchen and went to her temporary bedroom. It was clear that she was happy at the fact that her brother was no longer locked away in the other bedroom.

Only taking a few moments to get changed, Maxis came back to the kitchen and sat down at the table. She took a seat in her usual chair and watched as Shannon set out their dinner for the night.

Even though everyone ate in silence, you could tell that both Maxis and Shannon were happy about Kyle joining them, even if he didn't say anything.

"I'm glad you're here." Maxis finally said, looking at her brother.

Kyle nodded, he paused for a moment before speaking, "I figured I should, since I have to face the real world and go back to work tomorrow." He said.

"Already?" Shannon asked.

Kyle nodded again, "Jaren would kill me if he had to cover for me any more than he has."

After the somewhat brief conversation, the group of three fell silent again as they finished their dinner. When Maxis got done with setting her plate in the sink, she felt her phone vibrating.

Pulling out her phone, Maxis saw that it was John. She left the kitchen and went to answer the call. John told her about the recent murder and attack at Blackwood's hotel and asked her to come investigate with him.

"I'll be right there." Maxis stated before heading back to her room to change into more suitable clothing and then she left the house, heading towards the hotel.

***

Upon getting to her destination, Maxis parked her car on the side of the street. That was as close as she could get to the hotel and it's parking garage, due to the fact that there was a crowd of people, including news crews and police officers, surrounding the hotel and the parking garage.

Shutting her car off, Maxis got out and began to push her way towards the parking garage. As she got to it's entrance, she noticed that it was being blocked off by officers and those wooden police barricades.

"Sorry Miss, you can't come back here." An Officer said, not recognizing that Maxis was a fellow officer, because they were a state trooper.

Luckily, detective John Keyes had been nearby. He came over to Maxis and the officer, "It's okay, she's with me." He explained, before bringing Maxis behind the police barriers.

Walking through the parking garage, Johm would explain to Maxis what he had found, "a deceased person, who was shoved in the trunk of a car, and one person who suffered serious stab wounds."

As they were walking, the two would see some paramedics carrying a stretcher. Maxis glanced at the person being taken to the ambulance and her eyes widened, realizing that it was Shannon's cousin, Brian.

Having seen Maxis' reaction and hearing a little gasp escape her mouth, John turned towards her.

"You know them?" He asked.

Maxis nodded, "that's Brian Hanby, Shannon Cipher's cousin."

"Cipher?" John asked, "the chick that your brother's going to be marrying?" He added on, while watching her nod, "do you want to go call her and tell her?"

Maxis shook her head, "It's too late now, plus I'd rather do it in person." She said.

John nodded understandingly, as the two of them continued to walk. When they finally reached the correct level of the parking garage, John pointed out where they found Brian's body.

"Hanby was found over there." John said, pointing at an area where the ground was stained red with blood.

Maxis nodded as both her and John approached the semi-dried blood. There really wasn't much for them to examine at that spot, however they still snapped a picture of it for the files.

"And the second body was found over there, in that car trunk." John pointed.

Maxis' eyes followed John's finger and soon her eyes widened, immediately recognizing the body, which had been removed from the trunk and laid out.

"You know this one, too?" John asked as he watched Maxis hum and nod.

The two of them approached the car and the body, beginning to examine both. John shook his head as he looked at both.

"You ever see anything this messed up?" He asked.

Maxis nodded again, "Yes." She stated, "You know the shit I've been through." She added, not taking her attention off of what she was currently investigating.

It might have seemed like a blunt response but it was the truth. John did in fact know what Maxis (and the others) had gone through in the past.

Having taken, at least, a good thirty minutes to examine everything, both Maxis and John decided that it would be best to head back to the station, where they could discuss what they observed and exchange any notes.

***

After a brief drive, Maxis and John ended up back at the police station. When they got there, the two of them split up and headed in different directions.

Maxis went into John's office, where she'd set her notebook down on his desk and then, would grab the files relating to the other recent murders, just in case there wete any similarities between them.

As Maxis did that, John had gone off to the break room, where he was getting a cup of coffee for himself and also Maxis. A few minutes later and John was entering his office. He'd hand Maxis one of the coffee cups, "It's probably going to be a long night for us." He stated.

Maxis nodded as she took the hot cup, before looking back over everything. After taking a sip, she began to speak, "I honestly think these attacks have to be related. There's even a chance that they involve Ghostface." She theorized.

John raised a brow, not seeming to be convinced of her theory. However, he decided to let her explain.

"Think about it." Maxis said, "all of these victims were alone. Ghostface always managed to catch people when they were alone." She added, "Evan, Kaiden, my brother Tyler, and even Brock and Brian were all alone when they were attacked."

John's brow was still raised. It was clear that he still wasn't convinced and now he let his opinion known. "We have no way of knowing if this is someone looking to repeat the Ghostface sprees from a couple of years ago." He explained, "besides, didn't those past Ghostfaces typically call whoever they were targetting?" He asked.

"Well, according to these files, both Evan and Kaiden received phone calls prior to their deaths." Maxis said, "plus, there's always a chance that this Ghostface might want to change things up, and not call every person they go after."

John sighed, "there's no other possibility that this isn't the work of a new Ghostface to you, is there?"

Maxis shook her head, "Evan's death could've been a coincidence, so could've Kaiden's or Tyler's, but the fact that these are all people that I've been around within the last couple of weeks, it's just not a coincidence, not to me."

John sighed again but nodded, "I just don't want to be the one responsible for bringing Ghostface back into the news, especially since it's not 100% confirmed."

"Then we don't have to." Maxis stated, "it can just be between the two of us." She added, knowing that it wouldn't, as she was going to have to tell Shannon and Kyle to warn them.

For the remainder of the night, Maxis and John worked away at finding any connections between the recent events and those events from the past Ghostface sprees.

***

The Next Morning

Having pulled an all-nighter with John at the station, Maxis was finally heading to Shannon's house. When she got there, she parked her car in the driveway and took a deep breath, knowing she was going to have to tell her about Brian's attack but also her theory about Ghostface being back.

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Well this has been an interesting chapter I wonder what is gonna happen next? I hope you enjoyed this chapter and see you in the next one :3