Luna Winslow

"Are you sure about this?" Freya asks me as I add more coffee powder to the cake we're making.

"It's going to be alright. She's a coffee addict. I saw her getting like five cups a day. A mocha cake is just the thing she needs" I say being confident of my observation.

         We're baking a cake for one of our guest. Her boyfriend has asked us last night to bake a cake for her as it's her birthday. They have been here for last four days. Young couple in their early 20s, probably visiting during their college breaks. For some reason it makes me happy. City people visiting our Wisteria Vale while there're so many better options and not to mention they're staying at this guesthouse. My guesthouse.

         "Wisteria Whispers" is the only thing my parents left me in this world. I grew up in it, this is all I've ever known and I wouldn't change it for anything. I saw my parents managing it while being the happiest ever. Somehow watching them made me dream of that too. Running the guesthouse with my family. And that's exactly what I'm doing right now. Although there were some change of plans thanks to my asshole ex.

"Now what's that serious look for?" Freya asks.

"Oh nothing, just wondering if Daisy has woken up yet"

           Freya Green is my best friend and the main chef of the guesthouse. I occasionally help her with the cooking.

"I saw June going into your room earlier, she's probably gonna wake her up" she says.

"June? I told her my room doesn't need cleaning and I'd do it myself if needed. That girl never listens." I snort.

            June is the girl I picked up. Crazy how that sounds. Specially when I wasn't in any position to take anyone in that time. She was all alone in the world five years ago, just like I was after my divorce. And we found each other. She was also the first person to know about my pregnancy with Daisy.  God knows how I would've survived if it weren't for her. Till this day I call her Daisy's fairy godmother although she's only 21.

"Mommy!" Daisy rushes into the kitchen and hugs my legs. "June won't let me sleep" she whines.

"Good morning, honey." I say without turning as my hands are still busy. "Well as much as I'd like to scold to June, you know what? I'm baking cakes. You better get breakfast real soon if you want some."

She backs way and makes a thinking posture as if she's making a life changing decision. My daughter is adorable.

"I think you're right. I should go get breakfast. Good girls have their breakfasts early anyways" she runs away.

"She's got a sweet tooth" Freya says.

"Nah, she just loves your cooking"

            After I met June and she bringing me back to life, we both started the guesthouse together. It was struggle for first few months, specially me being pregnant. A pregnant lady and a teenager isn't actually the greatest combo for managing a guesthouse out there. Also not to mention the small town people and their forced concerns. Fortunately, soon enough like the soul sisters we are Freya broke up with her city boyfriend and moved back to Wisteria Vale and we started working together.

             For the first year, it was mostly Freya handling everything major, as I was busy with Daisy and June still being too young for everything. But now, everything's perfect. Freya being the chef, June being in charge of cleaning, me being a helping hand for Freya and the manager of the guesthouse. And Daisy being the apple of our eyes.

         Not only us though, Daisy is the apple of eyes of another person, her grandfather, William Blandon. My ex father-in-law, whom I wasn't that close to while I was married to his son, but got close to him after the divorce.

        Jaxon, my infamous ex-husband, wasn't really close to his father. He never talked openly about his father but from what I know their relationship fell apart after his mother died. His father being the town mayor, engulfed himself in work while Jaxon moved out of his parents house right after that. 

        I don't know if Jaxon told him about our divorce, but when we first met in the orphanage with one year old Daisy in my arms, he broke down into tears at the first sight of her. At that moment I realized, It wasn't just me whom Jaxon  abandoned when he left the town. This old man was all alone too. Now he often visits my guesthouse to see his granddaughter. My little girl was already deprived of father's love because of me, I couldn't take her grandfather's love from her too.

"It's done" Rae says as she puts the cake pan inside the oven. "Have you seen Jake yet? What time did he say he needs the cake?"

"After breakfast I guess" I say while leaving the kitchen to her.

        I come back to the join dining room to prepare the breakfast table for the guests. Some of them are already here. Daisy is also eating her breakfast with June's help.

"Where have you been last night?" I ask June.

"What?" She's taken aback.

"I went to your room after dinner to talk to about the clogged pipe of the second floor room but couldn't find you"

"Oh that. I'll look for it after I'm done here"

"You sure you can take care of it? Or should I call the plumber guy?"

"No, I'll handle it" she says dismissing me. I swear to god sometimes I feel like she's the oldest one amongst us.

"Okay" l say as I switch my focus to my daughter "Are you done with your breakfast?"

"No. But when I'm done can I go play outside with Mia?"

"Only if her parents allow it" She's one of the guests daughter around Daisy's age.

        After Daisy goes to play and June starts to clean up the table I notice how June never actually answered my question. Well wherever she goes is not my business, as long as she wasn't in one of the guest's room having a fling. Why am I pretty sure that's exactly what happened? But I decide not to question her further.

"Quite a few people missed breakfast today" I say noticing how most of the breakfast are still on counter.

"Yeah, the friends group was drinking till late they are probably passed out right now and the college couple hasn't come out yet"

"It's the girl's birthday today they're probably sleeping too" I say without needing to explain further.

"Good for her after the shit she pulled on Freya that day" She scoffs. Leave it to June to hold the grudges for all of us.

            Around the same time Jake comes downstairs and starts looking around.

"Good morning. Are you looking for me? Your cake is ready."

"Oh...good morning. Thank you" he says distractedly.

"Are you looking for something?"

"I..I messed up" he sighs looking so defeated.

"What happened?" I ask.

"I forgot to wish Natalie last night. It is her birthday. You already know right? I remember her birthday." He says desperately.

"Is she angry?"

"It's not that. I just.. can't find her. I think she got angry that I fell asleep without wishing her and left." He looks like he's about to cry.

"Have you tried calling her?"

"Yes multiple times. But it won't connect. I think she blocked me."

"Oh.." poor guy I don't know what to tell him.

"When did she leave? Did you see her leave?" June steps in.

"No. I just woke up and she wasn't there. Maybe she left in the morning."

"Morning? But you're the first one to come out of that room since dawn" June says as she usually wakes up the earliest.

"Then maybe she left at night...? Oh god that means I can't find her even if we go out to look for her now. She may already be in city." He panics.

"Maybe you're just overthinking. She may have gone out for a walk before June woke up"

"And still haven't got back?" June looks at me like my statement made no sense.

            There goes my attempt of being positive.

"You calm down. And give me her number. I'll call her." June says.

              After multiple failed phone calls and a few frustrated groans from Jake, we decide to file a missing person report if she doesn't return by noon. Well by we, it's just me and June cause for some reason Jake doesn't want to go to police. Even though he also agrees Natalie disappearing over a late birthday wish seems weird. She could've been angry but switching her phone off and not returning is not normal. Unless she's a complete drama queen.

"Maybe she's lost in the town" he says trying to be hopeful.

"I hope so" I murmur while thinking the places she can go. Before I could come up with something Daisy and Mia comes back from playing around.

             Daisy, missing the tension in the room runs straight to me climbing the seat so she can land herself on my lap.

"Mommy you know there're lots of people around the lake"

"Lake? Why?"

"They said there's something weird in the lake"

"Weird? How so?"

"I don't know. I don't get what those grown ups were talking about. But they send us home saying we shouldn't be around the lake anymore" she pouts as she complians about the unfairness she faced.

"What?"

              The lake is ten minutes walking distance from the guesthouse. It's always been the most beautiful place for tourists to see, specially the ones staying at my guesthouse as it's the nearest place to take a good walk.

"Why would there be a crowd..." before I could take Daisy's words completely in Jake is already gone from his seat.

Fuck

             I immediately stand up. "Baby stay home, okay? No matter what don't go out. Rae!" Freya comes running. "Stay with Daisy, okay? I'll be back soon." I say as I run outside.

It can't be, right?

             Through my whole run, I could see all those known faces murmuring, judging me. I could hear the whispers that already confirmed my worst fear. But still I had to see for myself. This has to be a nightmare.

             I push aside the crowd gathered around the lake and find Jake on his knees, tears streaming down his face while his body frozen on the bank. And then I follow his eyes...

Ezra Norwood

"Are you kidding me?" I rise my voice at my superior without even realising it.

"I need you to calm down and listen what I have to say first" Mr. West says, voice calm as ever.

"I think I'm already aware of what you're trying to say. You are trying to assign me to a new case while my current case is incomplete." Getting no denial from him I continue "Look I get it it's an important case involving an important figure but you can't tell me to ditch a case that I've been working on for last seven months. We're so close to catching the culprit!" my voice rises again, filled frustration more than anger.

"It was director's order" his tone filled with condescension.

"Of course" I stomp out of the room. "Fuck everything" I curse under my breath.

                   I feel like a child throwing tantrums right now. But I can't help it. There's a serial killing case, me and my team has been working on for last seven months. We're so close to the end game but now they want to pull me away to work on a new case.

                A case that involves the murder of a girl in a unknown small town. And that girl happens to be the sole heiress to a tech empire, raised in a world full of luxury and privilege. Her father is the CEO of Montague Enterprise that's been dominating the global market for past few decades.

"Have you calmed down yet?" Wyatt asks me taking the seat next to me.

"I don't know. I don't want to leave this case unfinished."

"They said they're gonna assign a new unit chief for us" he says with a sigh.

"So they're going to pull me back from my case, from my team and send me to a small town all alone with no clues whatsoever?"

"There are some clues though. It's most likely her boyfriend, with whom she went there"

"I wish it was that easy"  I mutter while typing about the case on internet for data."That place looks creepy" I say staring at the pictures that popped up.

"That place is pretty famous for it's beauty you know. The name is pretty as well 'Wisteria Vale', has beautiful ring to it. Don't you think so?" He says as if it's going to comfort me.

"I was talking about the guesthouse. Wisteria whispers sounds creepy as hell" I say accepting my fate, I know there's no turning back once that old man has made his decision. Wyatt smiles. "What's so funny?"

"It's the fact you're angry about all these but still doing research on the case you don't want to take."

"That's life when you're in this field" I sigh.  

                 Me and Wyatt joined the forces around the same time. I got promoted after a few years and became a unit chief. If they're going to remove me from my unit, I hope instead of giving them a new chief they would promote Wyatt and let him take the lead. A new unit chief means starting the research from scratch again, who knows how many victim will be there in the meantime. I make a mental note to myself to talk to Mr. West about it later.

                                      *****

                After doing hours of research, I feel like I've found almost nothing about Wisteria Vale. It is a small town far north from the city, about seven hours drive from here. If it wasn't for the Montague daughter no one would've cared if there was a murder there. Perhaps that's why the killer chose such a place to kill her, so no one would have any clue.

                  I wonder why grandpa wants me to go there. As if my thoughts summoned him, my phone buzzes. It says 'the director' because he only ever calls me when he needs to talk about any case. I pick it up.

"Hello" I say trying to not sound pissed.

"I assume you heard about the case already" he says in his usual tone.

"What happened to saying hi, hello my cute grandson?" I joke knowing none of us finds it funny.

"I see you're angry with me"

"Wouldn't you be if you were in my place? You're removing me from my case to work on another case simply because a person with more social standing asked for it" I hiss.

"It's not about social standing. Mr. Montague is a close acquaintance. He's currently in a very bad shape losing his only daughter. He specially requested me to do everything in my power to catch the culprit. And there is no one I trust more than you."

"Now that's foul" I grumble. There's no way I can say no to that, not that he'll accept my rejection anyways. "So is there any way to meet Mr. Montague before I leave for the town?"

"Yes. I already talked with him that you'll be meeting him tomorrow and as for your trip to Wisteria vale, Mr. West will let you know the rest."

           Of course he had everything planned. He knows I can't say no to him, specially not when he pulls the "you're the only one I trust" card. Works every time. I don't know if he's manipulative or I'm just a pushover.

           He cuts the line after saying his piece and I drown myself in research. Suddenly letting go of what I've been working on past few months isn't easy. Leaving this case leaves me a ominous feeling that I can't just brush off. 

            So I decide to leave a mail for Mr. West about the case and Wyatt. I also suggested that if he doesn't consider my proposal, he should at least allow me to speak with the new unit chief who will be joining my team.

             Mr. West replies a few minutes later. But instead of saying anything relating the mail I sent, he has written about entirely different things. His email includes some documents about the rival companies of Montague Enterprise, some important information about Natalie Montague and her friends.

"So they already have suspension that it's done by someone close or someone from rival company" I mutter as I look for the information about his boyfriend.

              Mr. West has already provided me Jack Balkov's residential address. He's at home right now but he's under surveillance as the prime suspect of the case. I make another mental note to meet him before making my journey to Wisteria Vale.

               The mail also includes the information about every visitors present at Wisteria whispers during the time of incident.

Hmm looks like they already looked from every angle for this case yet found nothing. That explains why they entrusted me with it, does wonder to my ego indeed.

                I check every visitors info and none of them are from the same city as Natalie. Also none of them has anything to do with any tech companies and whatsoever so no rivalry there.

                 From what I've gathered the officers have already talked with all of them and has their statements written. I read the statements until my eyes catch something interesting.

                 One of the woman mentioned that Natalie didn't get along with the chef of the guesthouse. On the first day she arrived, they had a huge argument. The woman said she didn't know the whole contents of the argument but from her point of view it has Natalie falsely accusing the chef about something which involved Jack.

Interesting

                   I try to look for the information I had about the people from the guesthouse. It was managed by three women. Two of them in their thirties and one in her early twenties. One of the older one is probably the chef. I look into her details. Her name is Freya Green. She has no family in the town just like the other two. How did three solitary women in a small town like that come together and establish a guesthouse? It's pretty inspiring yet suspicious.

                                     *****

"Are you sure about this?" I ask Wyatt on my to Jack Balkov's house.

"Yes, it's okay. The new chief isn't that bad just because he's new in the city. He said he's been keeping an eye on this case for a while. He was excited when he heard it was assigned to him"

            The fact someone felt excited about getting a case which involved a psychopath killer that targets only women and brutally murders them made me feel nauseous. I still feel rage about the whole thing, that fucker was mine to finish.

"Okay" I cut the line as I park my car in front yard.

            I've already let Jack Balkov know that I'll be coming. From what I've heard he's staying at his parents house right now because he isn't doing well. I knock the door.

            A woman in her fifties,I suppose, opens the door.

"Hello, ma'am. I'm officer Ezra Norwood"

"Yeah, I've heard about you. Come in. I'm Jack's mother" she says as holds the door for me to enter.

             I look around as I enter the house. The house is adequate. The room she leads me in is empty.

"My husband is outside right now. You sit, I'll bring Jack" she says uncomfortably. I guess they've been dealing with lots of officers since the incident.

"Thank you" she leaves and comes back soon enough. "He's coming"

"Are you okay?" I ask seeing her fidgeting around.

"I am. But Jack isn't. Can you please go easy on him? Last few weeks has been so hard on him. I'm..." She almost shakes as says the last words. "I'm scared he might kill himself" and she breaks down into tears.

"Look if he's innocent there's nothing to be worried about" I say not entirely sure what else to say.

"It's not about that. I know my son is innocent so that's the least of my worries. It's just he lost the love of his life and he blames himself for it. He's been so hard on himself" she continues as she weeps. "Poor Natalie, my poor girl. She didn't deserve this."

"Did you know Natalie?" I ask.

"Yes, of course! She would visit us sometimes. She was such a sweet girl. Despite being filthy rich she never looked down on us or Jack. She loved him so much. She used to say she would leave everything behind and live with us in future."

"Here?" I say surprised.

"Yes, she used to feel trapped in those big mansions. She felt suffocated. She's the one suggested they visit a small town. She used to-"

"Mom" her words are cut short as Jack enters the room. "Please go to the other room. I would like to talk to him alone" he says sitting down.

             His mother gives me one pleading look before she exists the room.

"I'm sorry about my mom. She's too emotional right now" he says in a calm voice but the dark circles under his eyes, the unshaved stubble on his face, and his disheveled, unwashed hair tell a different story.

"Hello. Mr. Jack Balkov. I'm Ezra Norwood" I say extending my arm and he takes it. "I was the one who called you"

"Yes. What did you want to ask me? I believe I've already told the cops everything."

"So about that..."