ALYVIA and Bjorgvin came running towards their friends, hugging them as a greeting.

"Oh my God, what happened?" Alyvia asked, letting go of Mal and taking a look at the man, who was being seated in the back seat of the police car.

"I'll tell you guys everything, but first we have to go somewhere quiet."

The group later went to Mal's family restaurant. Nawal and Ahlam were still there, going over some of their plans of the new restaurant and serving some customers.

They all greeted the two mothers and sat on a nearby table, which was right by one of the windows. Teo sat next to Mal and gave her a quick, grateful hug before Mal began explaining.

"At first we all thought that Teo was probably making things up..." the girl started, "However, he kept hearing that strange noise coming from the basement. Babe, you said it sounded like something heavy being hit against something metal."

Teo nodded.

"At first I didn't understand, but then I was talking to my friends from Egypt and we all agreed that it was something worth investigating. Although I lived pretty far away, I wanted to come over and run a little investigation, and my best guess was a wild raccoon or something stupid like that."

"But then I knew that a wild raccoon wouldn't make that very specific sound."

Mal took a sip of the glass of water before her, then took a deep breath.

"I was on the phone with Teo earlier that day and he told me what the noise sounded like. You guys were out shopping, so he could probably hear the noise more often, or more precisely, could focus on it more. When he hung up with me, I was surprised to hear the sound of yet another speaker setting back in its place."

The girl's face started to change into a darker expression as she remembered her thoughts from earlier that day.

"And then I remembered that I saw another landline in the basement while Teo was giving me the tour. That's when I knew that Teo was right all along." they all guiltily frowned, "There was someone listening to our conversations this whole time."

Mal squeezed Teo's hand as she noticed the sad expression on his face.

"The intruder was making that noise because he was trying to lure you guys down into the basement. Since he was spying on you all, he knew that you two went shopping. If Teo got curious to find out what the noise was and went down to the basement to investigate, he would've..."

She stopped talking for a moment. She didn't want to imagine the thought, but her friends understood her nonetheless.

"If you guys came back then and noticed that Teo wasn't there, one of you would probably search the basement for him, and that's where he strikes again. Until he made sure that he murdered every resident of the house before he moves on to the nearest house."

They all frowned at her words. She took a deep breath before turning to her boyfriend yet again.

"I'm sorry I didn't believe you, Teo. I should've known better."

He gave her another hug. "It's okay, babe. I wouldn't have believed me either."

"We're sorry too, Teo." Alyvia apologized sadly.

"Yeah. We promise to believe you from now on."

Teo smiled. "It's okay, really. But now we have to find another house, hopefully, one that's closer to the public this time?"

"Yeah. I didn't think about that."

"Actually, I have a place in mind!" Nawal jumped towards them, Ahlam slowly trailing behind her. They all looked up at the two women curiously.

"There's a small empty house just down the street! I spoke with the owner just now, maybe you guys can check it out sometimes. It would be great to have you guys in our region!"

Mal smiled sincerely at the thought.

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