Chapter 3

Detective Michael Burns called his partner, Detective Phil Barnes. He told him they were needed at two murder scenes. Detective Burns told Det. Barnes to go to the lake and investigate and he would go to 5th and Washington and investigate the murder in a downtown apartment. Two hours later, Dets. Burns and Barnes met at the police station to discuss notes. They combed the evidence for both crime scene to determine if the two murders were related. It was going to be a long morning going over evidence for these two murders. Barnes and Burns were stymied. The city had been having a rash of sudden murders, almost two every night. It looked as if there was a serial killer, but the killer left no visible clues at the murder scenes. The only connection they could relate to was that the killer seemed to target lovers who had been separated for a while. Burns and Barnes decided to go over the evidence for the other murders and determine if the other murders could be tied to these last two murders.

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Anna Cummings, the girlfriend to Michael Burns, had just received a text from her boyfriend telling her how much he missed her and was glad to see her coming back tomorrow. She text him back and said she missed him too and wanted to see him when she got back into town. She got a text back within seconds of sending her text. Which was strange because Michael never text her back right away. But Anna shrugged it off as Michael missing her. The text told her to meet him at Jake's Diner when she got back into town. Anna text back that she would. She got a happy face back as a reply. Anna then turned out her light in her motel room and fell fast asleep, exhausted from all the business meetings her company sent her to.

Anna woke to a text coming in on her cell. It said, “Meet me now. I need u. Our fave pizzeria.” Anna jumped out of bed and slid open her closet doors. She picked out her sexiest blue plaid mini-skirt, the one that drove Michael absolutely wild and a light blue velour blouse and slipped it on. Then she grabbed her stiletto heels and went to the bathroom to brush her teeth and apply a little make-up. She tied her long brown hair into a messy bun and went down the hall to the kitchen and made some coffee to drink before she left to meet Michael at their favorite pizzeria�"Jake's Pizzeria, where they met for the first time.

Anna locked her apartment and hopped into her Nissan Altima and drove to Jake's Pizzeria. Pulling into the parking lot, Michael's classic Chevy 57 was no where in the parking lot. Anna waited for 30 minutes for Michael to arrive but no sign of him. She text him “Where r u? I'm here.” She got a text back immediately: “I've been here for 30 minutes waiting for u to come inside.” After receiving the text, Anna got out of her Altima and started inside Jake's. Before she took one step. . .a clothed hand with chloroformed-napkin covered her face, and before she knew what was happening, she went limp and passed out in the intruder's arms.