"We've become professionals now, let's crack it in under an hour." Leon rolled back his sleeves and cracked his neck with his arms as he stretched. I have no clue how he cracks his neck like that. It's so loud you'd think he broke or fractured one of his cervical vertebrae.

I was about to rip a paper out of my notebook so he can work on it but he stops me and picks up the printed papers from before. He waves it in the air, "This is enough."' smiles a little and he begins to write the alphabet in order as a starting point for cracking the code on the back of the paper. I do the same then I inspected the code to try and find any clues that would give out how many letters he skipped.

The O'oo is most likely to be I'll and if so then the letters were displaced only three places up. It only took ten minutes to crack it this time. Hopefully we are able to stop him or her before someone gets killed.

"Little screams that scatter glass. When you knew of the dark secrets of a predator, why did you stall while he got more prey? I'll protect the children in your stead."

My hands clenched into fists and before I noticed my heart was pumping in fiery madness. "Honestly how about we not look for him this time? Let him finish this bastard off first." I muttered. My finger nails was digging into my palms so I loosened my grip.

Leon was also tense with two fists on the table. "Noted. He should give him the most amount of pain possible before killing him off. But at least we can try it figure out his identity for now." He bangs the table with his fist which started to turn read. His hands turned red as blood pooled into them. I flinched a little out of surprise. I wasn't expecting him to do that.

He clenched his jaw and a little vein appear on his temple. "Damn it why are we chasing around a good guy who's taking out the bad guys? This guy is literally doing our jobs for us because we suck. Even if he's just killing them he still managed to find them. We should be helping him instead."

The way Leon controls his emotions is complicated. He doesn't get mad in a burst like most people do but he'll slowly build up the anger inside of him and suddenly lash out in unpredictable ways. I should move everything from his reach when he's anger or he might throw something dangerous that could potentially hurt someone.

You've been contradicting ourselves so much that I truly do not know what is right. Gladiolus or whoever this person is has placed us it the weirdest moral dilemma. An advanced trolly problem where we either let him run over the monsters whom we want to get rid of so bad but inadvertently perpetuate acts of anarchy or we maintain law and order but these monsters continue to thrive.

Leon released a long breath and managed to calm himself down. "Anyway back to the code, what does he mean by in your stead? I mean it's not your responsibility to protect children but the law enforcements'." He pondered.

"Exactly. I think it's a hint instead. Like whoever he's talking about was able to escape the police or the police know it's him but can't do anything about him yet. Or maybe he knows the police will take these codes seriously now so he directed the message at them." I reasoned.

Leon cocked his head to the side, crossed his arms and leaned back on the chair. "Oh maybe, but I doubt they'll take it seriously. I told Cain about it and even showed him the codes and the fact that it was correct last time but he didn't even bother thinking about it because he's so fixated on you being the culprit." He said with a tight lip.

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"What did I even do for him to be so eager to make me out into the criminal?"

It makes no sense. I mean it feels like even if they find the real culprit he'll try to frame me.

Leon shook his head, "Apparently this happened to him before when he was a junior. Instead of someone copying a novel though it was someone who detailed the tiniest details that only the killer would know in his book after he'd committed the crime. Cain brushed it of as a coincidence. The killer then went on to kill a little girl before he was caught. Cain is probably recalling the memories from then and lashing out his rage and the mixture of grief and anger at that time which is crowding his judgement. It's not something personal against you."

Okay now that makes more sense. I feel bad for him. He probably blames himself for the death of that little girl. "That must have been so tough I can't image." I paused for a moment. There's been something I've been so curious about but haven't found the right opportunity to ask. "How did he get that thing on his face?" I asked. The word was at the tip of my tongue but I forgot. I''m becoming very forgetful these days.

"You mean the scar?" I nodded and Leon took a sip of his drink."He's always had it. I asked around to but no one was willing to tell me from the superiors and the juniors are as clueless as I am." he explained as he shrugged his shoulders.

"It must have hurt." I muttered.

Leon leaned forward to look at the code one more time, "But the real question is how does this guy know about him? I mean if the police can't do anything about him then it's very likely that his profile wasn't released to the public."

I zoned out like usual and was confused as to home exactly Leon was talking about. "The predator right?" I rubbed my chin in thought. "Do you think he's someone close to the police? Or maybe a policeman himself?"

"I have no idea but I think gladiolus maybe that huge fan I just told you about. Viola found out all the information about him. I have some wiretaps and trackers. Let's use it on him to confirm our suspicion then we can lead the police towards him." He nodded at me with raised eyebrows waiting for my agreement.

"Alright then let's meet tomorrow at your house this time." I suggested and shoved my pen and notebook into my pocket.

Leon paused for a second with his eyes shifted around with and he blinked excessively. "N-no. No not in my house." He quaked with a worried look dancing on his features.

"Why?"

He stood up and pointed towards the door. "Let's just meet in your house." A little stutter but he managed to cover it up nicely.

I frowned and narrowed my eyes at him, "Okay then see you." I turned around on my heel and headed home without questioning him further.

Leon, despite what most would think, is a terrible liar and can't hide secrets for long. He's hiding something from me and whatever it is, it's in his house. Why is he so scared that I found out? Doubts start to cloud my head and a I shake them out.

Leon is not just my best friend, he's my brother. Since I've never had a brother or a friend he means so much to me. I used to get bullied in high school for being an adopted kid but he'd always stand up for me even if it meant he get beat up.

One time some kid kept following us home and calling me names and throwing rocks at me. Leon tackled him to the ground then walked with me home. The next day the kid brought a bunch of his friends and they ganged up on him. He has a scar from his left elbow to half the back of his forearm from that time. He needed so many stitches it was horrifying. But he didn't blame me. He smiled when I visited him in the hospital, his face dirtied with mud and blood, and said "I almost had them! They outnumbered me four to one! If you were there Cameron then we could've handled all of them together easy." I still can't forget that because it was the coolest thing I've ever seen. Leon is too softhearted despite seeming indifferent.

Leon would never do something like that. Leon could never be gladiolus.