[img]https://images-ext-2.discordapp.net/external/aUD-aGXBOM5ciXbEkD676oZTs6a7lOrq6wSvswooGTQ/https/fontmeme.com/permalink/230120/b5f6c053a7259a531cd7747b93730b33.png[/img]
[color=a8a8a8][hr][/color]

[color=AE9999]"I'm gonna be working late tonight. Two of the editors quit last week so we're getting swamped."[/color] The voice over the phone said.

[color=a8a8a8]"That's okay. I don't know when I'll be home, either."[/color] Marie held the phone in one hand, and loaded bullets into an empty magazine with the other.

[color=AE9999]"Today's the day, huh?"[/color]

[color=a8a8a8]"Yeah. I've got to do this, it's personal."[/color]

[color=AE9999]"I know. It's okay, really. As long as you come home to me safe, I trust."[/color]

She smiled on her end of the call. [color=a8a8a8]"I know I never talk about him, but he was important. The closest thing to a father I had."[/color]

[color=AE9999]"That's really sweet, Marie. I hope you'll tell me more when we both get home. He sounds like he was nice."[/color]

[color=a8a8a8]"He was..."[/color] There was a loud clicking noise as Marie slid the magazine into a pistol. [color=a8a8a8]"I need to go, I'll see you in the morning, Nat."[/color]

[color=AE9999]"Be careful for me, okay?"[/color] Natalie asked in her usual worrying tone.

[color=a8a8a8]"Always."[/color]

[hr]

Conveniently enough, Marie's office wasn't far from the police station. It was only 5 minutes away by car, and Marie quickly made her way inside. In her pocket was the note she somehow received at her door recently. Fraud cases were a common thing she dealt with, but this just didn't add up. Situations that escalated far enough for these accusations to be true tended to result in actual police officers arriving on the scene. Marie believed she would be able to remember something like that happening, especially if she was [i]there.[/i] And yet, despite going through all of her records dating back to the start of her career, she found nothing. Either it was fake, or something else was in play here. The odds of her crossing paths with the Morse Code Killer, years before their appearances, and allegedly knew their father? They were slim odds, and the safer bet was that this was just a trick to fool her and her new coworkers. 

But still, if it was true... Why was he there unarmed?

Marie eventually found her way to the place she needed to go. The room wasn't exactly inviting, but nothing showed on her face when she took a seat. She crossed her arms and waited for others to arrive.