Steven Blazing acted with the agility of a cheetah. He rushed downstairs, hoping to catch a glimpse of the Vandal, even though he was already too late, being distracted by the shock and the message.

He came up a few minutes later, with a grave expression on his face.

'I should have rushed downstairs at once.', he said.

I glanced over the sheet of paper. It had no signature, exactly like in the case of Jacob Quinn. I wondered if it was the same person.

'What do you make of this?', I asked Blazing, holding up the sheet of paper, after we had seated down.

'It suggests that whoever wrote it is now feeling intimidated. Maybe they remembered about their handkerchief, went to retrieve it, found it missing, and guessed that we had taken it.'

'Or maybe we have already interrogated the killer, and they must have felt that their lies were spotted, and hence are now trying to stop us.', I suggested.

'OR MAYBE all of these are just our imaginations running wild, and in reality, the killer is none of them. He just came to know about two men investigating the murder, and wasn't so sure of himself.', smiled Blazing.

'You can't possibly mean that?'

Blazing was about to reply, when our landlord burst into the room.

'What in God's name... OH MY GOD! WHAT HAVE YOU DONE TO MY WINDOW?!'

'Calm down, Mr.Fields. We didn't do anything. But still, we'll pay for the damage, won't we, Bolt?'

'Come again?!', I said.

Money doesn't grow on trees. There, I agreed with you. Are you proud now, Mom?

'You two better watch yourselves. I don't know what business you have got yourself into, but you watch yourselves.', grumbled Mr.Fields, and left.

'This day keeps getting worse and worse. I wonder if Walker will call again?'

And he DID, 5 minutes later.

'Did you talk to Ann Haley?', demanded Walker.

'Yes, a few hours ago.'

'Anything suspicious?'

'Yes, she says her car WASN'T confiscated, and that she sold it. Is it true?'

'Well, I don't really know anything about that. But I can make some calls, if you wish.'

'No need. It doesn't affect the case. What she did with whom and what, is a personal profile. It isn't relevant to the murder.'

'As you wish.'

'So, why did you call, Walker? Not to have a little chat, I hope?'

'Oh gosh! I almost forgot! Some new developments.'

'Well?'

'Well, I have some good news and some bad news.'

'I prefer to be optimistic.', said Blazing, promptly, ' I'll have the good news first.'

'Well, we tracked down Harry Tyler. What's more, unlike the previous suspects, we haven't even informed him that you are coming. He is completely unaware that we're on his trail.'

'That's good, very good. Well done. What else?'

'That's it.'

'And the bad news?'

'Well, you might not be able to interrogate the college exes right now, as in, in the near foreseeable future.'

'Why not?'

'Well, we tried contacting both of them. Miss Hayden said that she wasn't in New York at the moment, but that she would be arriving in a week for some business, and would be happy to assist and answer any questions you might have. But...'

'But what?'

'But Cassie's ex... Mr.Hood... We can't find him, or even contact him. No one knows where he is, all his numbers are now invalid. He's totally off the grid, a GHOST.'

'Interesting.'

'Well, that's all. I'll text you Mr.Tyler's address. Hopefully he'll be home now, if you want to go so late in the evening.'

'Yes of course, not a moment's delay.'

'Well, good luck. I'll keep trying for Mr.Hood, but I don't think it will yield anything useful.'

'Don't worry. If NYPD can't find him, Steven Blazing can.'

'What?'

'Nothing. Thank you for your assistance Detective Walker. This was very helpful.', said Blazing and hung up the call.

We sat for a moment in silence before Blazing's phone chimed with Walker's text.

'Let's roll.', said Blazing.

Harry Tyler seemed to live in a desolate part of the city. I hadn't expected such a neighborhood in a city like NYC. Even the streetlights were out, or maybe they were broken by vandals deliberately. All together, it gave the neighborhood a very grim outlook, where no doubt robberies and murder were a very big problem.

Steven Blazing wasn't worried about all that, though. Not once did he care about his surroundings. All that mattered to him was his suspect. His extreme focus is both admirable and dangerous.

We walked up to Mr.Tyler's door. The lights, assuming they existed, were out. Nevertheless, we knocked on the door, hoping he was inside.

There was no answer. We waited, then knocked again. No answer again.

I was just about to suggest that we come back the next day when, out of the corner of my eye, I noticed a fast moving object closing in on Blazing's right cheek.

A fist.

What do you think will happen next?! Will Blazing take a hit? Will the attacker stop?! WHO IS THE ATTACKER in the first place?

Read the next chapter to find out(it drops tomorrow, promise)!

Please consider voting and commenting if you liked the chapter!

I'll see you guys tomorrow with a new chapter. Till then, HAPPY UNSCRAMBLING!

-S. B.