ILARIA HADN'T RECOGNIZED ANY OF THE NAMES ON THE LIST. She tried thinking back, to find a slip up that Kenna might have made. Something for them to move faster than what they were going.

Her eyes scanned over the names, a feint headache was starting to form

PRIVATE :
James Abraham's
Benjamin Fisher
George Walter's
Joe West
Michael Kingston

GOVERNMENT :
Henry Simmons
Lester Addams
Peter Van Woodsen
Franklin Crawford
Nate Martin

All of them were in their early twenties and had juvi records for Drugs or assault.

Kai sat at his desk - scrawled the names down from his laptop and chewed on his pen "okay" he said "how can we narrow this list down further?"

"Is there a way you can find out who had alibis for the day Kenna was taken?" Ilaria asked from behind Kai, her hands on the back of his seat.

"can I?" Kai paused "well..." he began typing, Ilaria didn't know what the hell he was doing so she just stood there waiting, once he stopped he tilted his head back to get a look at her face and grinned "I just set up a program that will give out who was on campus that day and who wasn't"

Ilaria still in shock that they literally hacked the FBI grinned "is there a chance you can also find me a few of my celebrity crush numbers?"

Kai chuckled "I'm pretty sure I could give you the prince of England's number but I am wounded Ilaria, truly. Aren't I enough?"

Ilaria clicked her tounge and rolled her eyes "Ofcourse you are" and she said it in a joking manner but hoped Kai knew that he really was. He stared at her for a beat too long before turning back to his computer.

"this should be done in say 30 minutes? An hour?" he informed her.

Ilaria just opened her mouth to suggest they grab ice cream or something when the door bell rang.

Kai looked to her, his face contoured in confusion "I don't have any deliveries."

"maybe it's someone coming to visit" Ilaria replied wearily, her gut twisted.

"maybe" Kai muttered and went down with Ilaria behind him.

They found a delivery man outside which only made Ilarias stomach knot even more.

Kai told him he hadn't been expecting anything but it was delivered to his address, the package had his name on it so he signed and took it anyway.

Once inside Kai set the box down on the kitchen counter and cut down the plastic with a knife, Ilaria moved next to him as he opened it up.

They found a lipstick and a pair of headphones in it. Bile rose in Ilarias throat "the headphones" she said, picking them up and examining them, the familiar stickers on it "Kenna wore these everyday, she never left home without them."

And the lipstick must have been Ammarahs, Kai opened the tube to check the color and then informed Ilaria that it was the only color his cousin ever wore.

They put the items back and went back upstairs, eager to put some distance between themselves and what, Ilaria knew, were the killers trophies.

"If those are his trophies" Kai began "why give them up?"

Ilaria ran a finger over her lip, deep in thought.

Kai stared at her "I'm maticulous. I plan before I kill. I get rid of forensic evidence. I skip 3 years between every double homicide... So I keep trophies to relive these murders. That's what keeps me in check, what keeps me from killing for so long."

Ilaria sat down, immediately realizing that Kai was showing her exactly how his parents taught him. They were profilers.

When she spoke, she thought of herself addressing the killer "you can't relive these kills without the trophies... But you gave them to Kai and I." she paused "what are you trying to tell us?"

It was like something clicked in Kai's brain, when he spoke again, there was a kind of fear in his voice Ilaria hadn't heard before "I'm telling you, that I'm ready to kill some more. That if you don't stop, there'll be more this time. Without my trophies... I won't be able to control myself the way I had before" Kai shook his head and snapped out of it. The two of them sat staring at each other.

There was a cold feeling, one that sent shivers up and down Ilarias spine and a voice in the back of her head telling her that something was going to go horribly wrong.

She wrapped her arms around herself and trampled that feeling, ignored it. It was the paranoia talking, their UnSub hadn't built himself up in the image he currently had just to lose control and break.

It was fine. They were going to be fine. Ilaria said it out loud and Kai didn't reply, she suspected he had the same thought she just did but they knew that something bigger was at stake.

That if they didn't go on, three years from now there would be another two girls and they couldn't afford that, not when they were so close to unraveling the darkness in their small town.

♠︎♠︎♠︎♠︎♠︎♠︎♠︎♠︎♠︎♠︎♠︎♠︎♠︎♠︎♠︎♠︎♠︎♠︎♠︎♠︎♠︎♠︎♠︎♠︎♠︎

Kai's program had refined their list down to two. Both of which went to private colleges.

Michael Kingston
And
Joe West

Ilaria felt so much relief at that she could jump around all night but she needed to go home.

"we need to figure out how to talk to them." she informed Kai once they parked oustide her house "in the mean time... Tomorrow I have a thing with Rose." Ilaria paused, now that she knew the killer was actively after her and Kai she wasn't sure it was a good idea to go out.

But she couldn't turn Rose down, how would she explain without setting off alarms. There is the idea that they could just go to the police but they never listened to her, why would they start now?

"so you're free of all my complains and all my frowns" she told him "try not to wallow in your own loneliness without me."

Kai chuckled "I'll try"

They'd both gotten so used to seeing each other almost everyday that when they went too long without talking it felt wrong.

She greeted him and when she got inside, she found her brother sitting in the lounge, books were laying everywhere and he was on the floor sitting at the low table, his poor neck Ilaria thought to herself before speaking up"what are you still doing up?"

"studying" he said, gesturing at his books without looking up.

Ilaria grimaced and left her brother downstairs, ready to go collapse on her bed although she knew she would get no sleep.

♠︎♠︎♠︎♠︎♠︎♠︎♠︎♠︎♠︎♠︎♠︎♠︎♠︎♠︎♠︎♠︎♠︎♠︎♠︎♠︎♠︎♠︎♠︎♠︎♠︎

The following day, Ilaria had about 12 bags weighing her arms down. She and Rose had ended up in the only mall just oustide of town, Rose with a buzz about her that she always had, a energy that Ilaria admired.

Ilaria dropped her bags on the floor and leaned against the back of a wall, they were in what Ilaria thought was the 100th shop for the day.

"That's definitely your color" Ilaria told Rose as her friend stepped out of the changing room, she had on a sage green dress that had a corset like top.

"you think?" Rose asked while tilting her head, her eyes were intently fixed on the mirror infront of her. Her eyes, Ilaria noticed, were slowly filling with tears "sometimes I look so much like Kenna" she choked out "it makes me want to dye my hair."

"your hair is beautiful" Ilaria told her softly "but if you really want to?" she told her, eyeing her friends short fiery hair "we could go now"

"I don't have money for that I blew it all on..." Rose laughed at the amount of bags on the floor "God, I have no self control when it comes to clothing"

Ilaria laughed with her, it was so familiar. She felt a pang of guilt for delaying spending time with Rose, Rose was her friend too and she shouldn't have abandoned her for so long knowing both of them were grieving Kenna. They needed each other. That much was clear by how light Ilaria felt, like she could spend all the time in the world with her friend and be perfectly content"I'll pay for it. You game?"

"Seriously!?" Rose lit up instantly.

Ilaria nodded with a small smile it was the least she could do... That and finally give Rose the insight she deserves on the things Ilaria had recently found out about Kenna.

She wanted to mention it, had tried bringing up the drugs, the abusive boyfriend but she could never get the right moment. 

Rose ended up going for black dye, it was a good choice that brought out the light green of her eyes and sharpened her features just enough. The two girls had ventured in and out of so many places that by the time they got home Ilaria felt like her feet were bleeding.

Rose, rather dramatically, through herself on the couch and exhaled "now, that's how you do a girl's day out."

Ilaria yawned "I think I need to sleep for the next 100 days"

Rose, full of energy no matter how much they did sprung up and pulled Ilaria up too "now, let's go try on these clothes"

After tripping in heels Ilaria wasn't even sure why they bought and turning Ilarias room into an absolute mess to the point where her desk was covered in clothing the two girls collapsed on the floor, Ilaria still in a black silk dress she didn't know when she'd need and Rose in a similar one but in a deep red.

Rose let out a giggle "God, I really missed this."

"me too" Ilaria replied, her eyes closed, she was so tired she could barely open them at all.

After a beat of silence Rose spoke again "I brought..." she trailed off and Ilaria could hear her getting up followed by some rustling and when the noises finally stopped she came to stand infront of Ilaria who had lifted herself up on to her elbows.

"This." she finished and thrust out, what Ilaria after shaking the fog out of her brain - realized was a phone. Kennas phone.

"they gave it to you?" Ilaria had hoped they would but she wasn't sure Rose would manage to get the phone.

Rose nodded with a smirk "act like you're about to have a mental breakdown on the verge of tears and a man will literally jump to do anything to make it stop. No one likes a overly emotional women"

Ilaria rolled her eyes at the truth of that and pried the phone out of Rose's hands, she stared at it, overcome with so many different emotion she wasn't even sure what exactly she was feeling.

She flipped it around, there was a picture of the three of them at the back of it, Ilaria in the middle - sticking out her tongue, Kenna on the right side of Ilaria laughing with her hand covering her mouth, her eyes  sparkling and Rose on the left, her head rested on Ilarias shoulder with a soft smile on her face.

It felt so distant, so long ago, Ilaria couldn't help but think that, over time... Her and Rose would change, they'd grow old, they'd achieve their dreams but Kenna would always be stuck. The way she is in the photo, young, with her whole life ahead of her, who would have known how fast that life would be snuffed out.

Ilaria looked up at Rose a grateful smile on her face "thank you."

"anything for you" Rose answered and lowered herself back down to the floor "how far have you and the boy genius got?"

Ilaria smiled at the thought of Kai, he'd called twice for the day, the first time to ramble about some book he'd been reading aswell as to check up on her - although, he wouldn't admit that and the second to tell her that she was utterly cruel for leaving him all alone.

She swallowed and stared at Rose" I'm not going to tell you everything we found out" she told her friend because if she could, she would erase everything she knew and go back to mourning her friend in an utterly clueless way. She wouldn't do that to Rose, wouldn't put the image of Kenna, tortured, fragile in her brain... The image would never leave her.

"but theres things I've found out... About Kenna that you deserve to know." Ilaria squeezed Rose's hand "but I need you to promise me that you won't stop viewing her the way you always have, okay?"

Rose's eyebrows lowered in confusion but she squeezed Ilarias hand back and nodded "okay."

Ilaria withdrew her hand and let out a deep breath before meeting Rose's eyes.

She only told Rose about the drugs and Kenna's secret boyfriend.

Rose hadn't said anything, she was clearly in shock but when she did speak she sounded angry, not sad, not confused, just angry.

"you find the son of a bitch who killed my sister." she told Ilaria, keeping her eyes locked on Ilarias brown ones "and when you find her ex? You kick him so hard in the balls he won't be able to have children one day."

Ilaria smiled and let out a laugh, it was so unlike Rose to show anger but when she did she was possibly the scariest and the funniest person alive.

"I'll find them both." Ilaria answered "i promise."

_____________________

Hey heyyy

I quite literally almost sobbed out of relief when I finished up this chapter, it's so utterly depressing staring at an outline but not being able to actually write 😭

I'm so glad I got it done😭I haven't edited this chapter so if you noticed some mistakes please let me know so I can fix them.

Also, Kai and Ilaria are so chaotic I love them. My two silly little geniuses.

Thank you for reading! <3

if you enjoyed don't forget to vote!

Until next time 🤍