1% chance

Ava looked at Elaya, who was fiddling with her fingers. Maheen held Elaya’s hands in hers.

“Relax,” she said. “It’s been years—we’ve solved every criminal case. You forgot our title?”

Ava laughed, and Elaya closed her eyes, mumbling in laughter.

“Which one do you mean, potato girlie?” Elaya laughed softly.

“Yeah, because in that case we caught the criminal while wearing that potato suit.”

Ava stood up, sat on the chair, and looked at Elaya’s laptop.

“Φθορεύς (Phthoreús) — Destroyer / Corrupter… and Blood Sucker.”

Ava raised one eyebrow and looked at Elaya while twisting the chair. Elaya was already looking at her.

“Yes. Both are headlines from the past five years. As I’ve studied, one kills the innocent—that’s the Blood Sucker—and the other kills those who help the Blood Sucker.”

Elaya stood up and pointed at the laptop.

“So it’s understandable that the case we’re going to solve has male psychopaths, not females.”

Elaya rested her hand on the chair while ava stayed focused on the laptop.

“And how is that?” ava poked her tongue inside her cheek and crossed one leg over the other.

Elaya smiled and slipped her hands into the pockets of her nightwear.

“Some people have seen their shadows at night—yes, some who witnessed their shadows after the crimes. Some people, lucky enough to survive, have spoken to me.”

Elaya moved and rested against the window sill, half-facing ava

Ava stood up.

“The woman who was crying—are you talking about her?”

Ava  leaned against the wall, and Elaya nodded.

“She showed me families whose daughters were murdered, and that’s how I got to know that 90% chance it’s a man.”

Elaya sighed and pressed her lips together.

“How about the other 10%?” ava blinked twice and sighed too.

“We never know, right?”

Ava added, looking at Elaya, who nodded twice.

Emris lay in his room, lighting up a joint, his bare body stretched on the bed, eyes fixed on the ceiling.

“Oh, Dad, you might be dead, I guess,” Emris chuckled.

“Now the organ dealer will directly contact me when Mr. Kang doesn’t reply… so let’s throw this phone.”

Emris took out the SIM and hid it in his pocket while fixing a new SIM into his phone.

“Your meat will fulfill the hunger of dogs, at least,” Emris smirked, his eyes darting to the window.

“You think I didn’t know you would catch Mr. Kang, hm? Czar.”

Emris laughed softly and closed his eyes.

“You will never know… how would you? Because of you, I have undergone face surgery.”

Two days later, Elaya, as always, was at the roadside stand, pretending to sell flowers when ava came, and Elaya looked at her.

“Young lady, come with me for a second.”

Ava said and smiled, gesturing for Elaya to come with her. Elaya nodded and went with her into a lane beside them. It was around 4 p.m.

“Elaya, that guy is a police officer—the one you saw on your first day at this job.”

Ava facepalmed, and Elaya’s eyes widened.

“I’ve seen on the cameras that he has been continuously roaming around this lane for two days.”

Elaya wrote a text:

“Someone is watching us.”

Elaya looked at ava, who was standing at some distance in frustration as Elaya leaned against the wall.

They both parted ways as soon as ava saw that text. Elaya hadn’t spoken a word since ava arrived, even when they were alone in the lane. The lane was extremely long and had two exits.

Elaya moved back to her flower shop, and yes—someone just passed at the corner of the road. It seemed like he was running, and he was there.

“Okay, we gotta charge up,” Elaya smirked and thought to herself before running as fast as she could.

The man kept running and running, but Elaya took several shortcuts, and yes—she saw him right in front of her. She dodged him by holding his arm and twisting it behind his back, forcing him onto his knees.

Ava came, and now the guy was facing both of them. Elaya bowed and left.

As people started gathering—

“Who are you?”

The guy was blonde with dark brown eyes. He smirked, stood up, adjusted his clothes, and brushed off the dirt.

“Don’t make me repeat,” ava said, glaring sharply at him.

The guy sighed. “That girl—you should catch her for holding me like that without consent. And who are you, huh?”

The guy growled, and ava smirked.

“I will see what she did, but I’m from the police, and here is my ID.”

She showed a fake ID.

“You were spying, mister, while I was talking to that lady.”

Ava clenched her fist and slowly stepped closer to the guy.

“Pardon, do you have any evidence?” the guy smirked.

Ava clenched her teeth, and the guy slowly drifted away without further conversation because, truly, they didn’t have any proof.

“Freak,” ava murmured.

Night fell, and it was around 7 p.m. when Elaya and ava reached home. Elaya was already sitting on the bed when ava knocked and came inside, her expression worried.

“Elaya… are you okay?”

Ava rushed forward, holding Elaya and hugging her on the spot.

“Alhamdulillah—and you surely sent me 100 texts asking if I’m alright.”

Elaya laughed, parted from the hug, and looked at ava.

“How about the guy?” Elaya asked while sitting on the chair in front of the laptop.

“I tried to gather information from random people. They don’t know. They say he’s a farmer’s son, and I surely don’t believe that.”

Elaya sighed, and ava sat on the bed.