Chapter 18

Tyler's pov
I returned to Ally's home, where Ally was worryingly pacing in front of the window.
　　She clutched her skirt anxiously, then let out an intermittent sigh.
　　"Ally, I'm home." I say to her.
　　Ally stops being anxious and then looks at me with expectant eyes. "Great! You're finally back!"
　　Ally trots towards me and I reassure her, "It's okay, Wind Pack's Beta won't put an arrest on us."
"What?"
　　Ally's surprised look was a little comical as she raised the pitch of her voice to me in a surprised voice. "Who exactly did you go to see?"
　　I took Ally's hand and sat down together and slowly said to her, "Are you not expecting us to get free?"
　　"Of course not!" Ally argued hastily.
　　"I know the executives of Wind Pack, and my family has always had a relationship with them. For my family's sake, they won't arrest me either."
　　An easy smile spread across Ally's face, and her shoulders, which had been stiff, finally relaxed. "That's just great."
　　Ally forced a smile and said to me, "But that Beta's hand..."
　　I reassured her gently, "It's okay, he asked for it. I think he should be able to learn a lesson. That is, don't offend a lady at random!"
　　I looked at Ally's smile and considered whether I should tell her the rest of the conditions together.
　　But Ally herself was a lot smarter than I thought. She had sensed that I was hiding something from her, so she looked at me with probing eyes.
　　"Is that all you want to say? There's nothing else to tell me?"
　　I let out a deep sigh, I think I still can't hide it from Ally.
　　"Actually, we only have a week at most to solve the case. If we still can't find Amy and John's murderer beyond that period, maybe..."
　　"Might what? We'll be arrested won't we?" Ally said quickly.
　　"Yes. But there is an upside to that, and that is, we won't be restricted in our freedom of movement. That will help us investigate the truth."
　　I tried to keep my tone as light as possible, I wanted Ally to be less worried.
　　Ally lowered her head and was silent. By the time she looked up at me again, she had a determined smile on her face. "Let's go investigate as soon as possible."
　　"Okay."
　　Ally and I had been running around Amy's neighborhood for the past three days, and I had asked all the neighbors on the block where Amy lived.
　　They all said that no one had entered Amy's house since we left that day.
　　"Half an hour after you guys left, the lights went out at Amy's house. We all thought she was resting."
　A bell ringer on the midnight shift said this to me.
　　For two days in a row, Ally and I didn't find any new, useful clues. Today was Tuesday. Ally and I sat at the table and ate breakfast in silence.
　　"We have four days left to search for the truth." Ally said to me with some anxiety.
　　I nodded my head. "I guess we'll get somewhere, right?"
　　At that moment there was a sudden knock on the door of the house , Ally and I both froze together. "Why would someone come to visit at this time?" Ally asked. Her face looked a little ruffled.
　　"Could it be Beta from Wind Pack?"
　　"It's possible it's not what we think, maybe it's just the milkman."
　　I walked to the door and alertly opened it a crack. A girl with short hair was crying. And beside her a little boy, probably six years old, was sucking his fingers in confusion.
　　"Excuse me, is this Miss Ally's house?" She asked in a small voice.
　　I nodded and turned for Ally to come over. "Ally, there's a little girl here to visit you."
　　Ally knew the girl, she trotted over and bent down to hug the girl tenderly.
　　"Lily? What's wrong? Honey, why are you crying?"
"She and her mother are my patients, and I once helped her heal her stomach." Ally explained to me.
"Is your mother's condition continuing again?" Ally asked Lily worriedly.
　　The short-haired girl couldn't hold back any longer at this point; she covered her face with her hands and her shoulders kept shaking. "My mom and sister were killed!"
　After I heard that, the anxious emotion inside me grew. Another strange homicide had happened.
Ally froze for a moment, then she frowned and locked eyes with me.
　　"I think we should go to her house now and check it out. Maybe we can find some clues." Ally said.
　I nodded my head, agreeing with her strongly. I said to Ally: "Good. I always thought this was closely related to Amy's death."
　　Ally pulled out a yellow metal box with a red cross painted on the wooden lid.
　　"What are you taking?" I asked Ally.
　　"I need to prepare the utensils that I need to use, and I may need them later."
　　Lily led us to her house, which was only two blocks from Amy's. Her house was now surrounded by a yellow perimeter, and a couple of Betas were crouched on the ground taking measurements for evidence.
　　Lily pulled her brother with her and sat with us in a nearby flower bed, crying.
　　The noise coming from the four of us caught the Beta's attention, and a female Beta approached us.
　　"Hello, sir as well as madam." She asked politely to us.
　　Ally shook the case in her hand and then took out her identification and handed it to the female Beta.
　　"I'm here to check out the scene and to take evidence." Amy said. But I knew she was lying.
　　"Is this gentleman with you, too?" Beta said, stopping me.
　　Ally shoved the yellow box into my arms and said to Beta, "This is my assistant, and it would be difficult for me to check the scene without him."
　　To my surprise, Ally was able to be allowed in.
　　Beta pulled up the cordon and let us in. "Okay, you're cleared for entry."
　　Ally gave me a gentle push with her finger on my rear end and then whispered to me, "Hurry up and get in."
　　"Aha." I didn't dare to say too much and followed Ally's lead, holding the yellow box.
　　Entering the interior of Lily's house, a dark red puddle of blood appeared in my view. A white haired woman fell in a weird and horrible position in the blood.
　　"She is Lily's mother." Beta, who was surveying the scene, and I explained.
　　"Oh my God, what the hell happened here?" Ally looked at her surroundings and frowned as some tears began to drip from her eyes.
　　Ally quietly dried her tears and then handed me a pair of rubber gloves, "I'll start the inspection, and you take care of documenting the scene."
　　"Okay." I saw the look of determination on Ally's face, and I realized that she would not be easily defeated by difficulties.
　　My eyes followed Ally's back as she began her inspection throughout the room.
　　Ally crouched in front of Lily's mother's body and examined it carefully.
　　"There are signs of a heavy blow received to the head, bleeding to death. There are signs of a struggle."
　　"Good." I grabbed a pen and recorded Ally's words on paper.
　　"The killer was smart enough not to leave any evidence indicating its identity."
　　"That sounds like a tough call."
　　"It is."
　　"Lily's sister is missing and her mother was murdered. I don't think this is a simple home invasion." Ally explained.
　　I said to Ally, "I just went to ask a Beta and he told me that people in the neighborhood didn't find anyone suspicious at the time of the crime."
　　"Even if the killer was trying to kidnap Lily's family, it's only right that the killer should have told us about the ransom by now."
　　Ally and I looked at each other, and we tacitly agreed on a conclusion.
　　"Unless the killer doesn't care about the money! They care about the people!"
　　Ally's eyes flashed with excitement, and I saw her face flush a little from the excitement. My heart felt like it was exploding with joy.
　　"You're great." I smiled and encouraged Ally.
　　Ally and I pretended to be professionals finishing up our inspection and getting ready to walk out of the room.
　　"Tyler, come look!" She told me as she stood in front of a bouquet of blue perpetual flowers.
　　"I remember putting a bouquet of blue perpetual flowers at Amy and John's house that night, too." Ally recalled.
　　"That's right." I nodded.
　　Ally looked at me and shook her head again in denial, "Maybe it's just a coincidence."
　　We returned home in silence, by which time the sky had become as dark as the deepest pool of water.
　　It was about 9:40 p.m. Ally was sitting on her bed, sorting through the notes she had taken during the day.
　　She propped her head on her arm and looked at me like a lost deer.
　　"What's wrong?" I handed him a glass of lemonade, knowing she hadn't had a good night's rest the last few days.
　　"Thank you, Tyler," Ally took the glass of water, but she didn't drink it.
　　"You're still worried about what happened at Lily's house, aren't you?" I asked Ally.
　　Ally didn't deny it. She shivered a little, and I thought she was hit by the cold night air. So I hurriedly helped her close the window.
　　"I'm fine. No need to close it." Ally gently stopped me.
　　"It's been so many days and we don't have a bit more insight into the death case. We don't even know if the killer is a man or a woman."
　　Ally rolled her eyes as she shrunk herself into a ball. The back of her neck was bare, and the smooth skin felt like it kept tempting me to take a bite.
　　I tried to refrain from thinking about licking Ally's neck with my tongue. There was always the thought in my mind of taking Ally for repeat possession.
　　"I was just thinking about that bouquet of blue perpetual flowers."
　　"How can there be so many coincidences in the world?" Ally uttered unconsciously.
　　"Blue perpetual flowers? As far as I know, there's only one florist in Wind Pack that has those blue perpetual flowers."
　　I skillfully retrieved the map of Wind Pack from my bag and circled the mark with a red pen at a tiny origin point.
　　Ally took the map and looked at me with surprise in her eyes.
　　Ally thought for a minute, then slowly said, "First thing in the morning, we'll go there!"