Voicemail From the Killer

Detective Elise Monroe’s phone buzzed on the desk beside her. The precinct was quiet—too quiet for midnight—but the glow of the screen made her stomach twist.

1 New Voicemail.

The number froze her where she sat.

Her sister’s.

Ava Monroe.

But Ava had been dead for two days.

Elise’s hand trembled as she pressed play.

“Eli… it’s me. I don’t know how much time I have. I’m sorry. God, I’m so sorry. He—he said you’d come for me, that you’d try to find me, but you’re too late, Eli. He made sure. He’s listening. Always listening…”

Ava’s voice cracked, each breath frantic and uneven, as if she was being hunted even while speaking.

“He wants you to know… this is a game. He calls it the Silent Hour. I think— I think you’re his next player. Eli, don’t trust the time. Don’t trust anything.”

A sharp crash. A muffled scream. Then static.

And silence.

Elise sat frozen, her pulse slamming in her throat. Her sister’s body had been pulled from the riverbed two nights ago—bloated, jaw shattered, wrists bound with piano wire. She had seen it herself. She had signed the damn report.

So how was Ava calling her now?

Her instincts screamed this wasn’t a prank. Whoever had killed Ava wasn’t finished.

The Clues in the Static

Elise bolted for the lab. “Trace it,” she demanded, thrusting the phone toward Shane, the tech analyst.

Shane frowned. “Elise, you look like you haven’t slept in a week—”

“Trace it. Now.”

Minutes crawled by as Shane typed furiously. Finally, his eyes widened.

“The call pinged from a tower near Wicker Hollow. Ten miles from the riverbed.” He hesitated, then added, “And Elise… it’s her. The system shows a 97.3% voice match.”

Elise gripped the desk. “That’s impossible.”

Shane swallowed. “There’s more. Background noise. Listen.”

He isolated the audio: a faint drip of water, a ticking clock… and then a sound that made Elise’s blood run cold.

A lullaby.

Not just any lullaby. Their lullaby. The music box her mother used to wind when they were scared at night. The same one Elise and Ava had found years ago in the ruins of an abandoned amusement park.

Wicker Hollow.

The killer wasn’t just taunting her. He was reaching into her childhood, twisting memories only Ava could have shared.

The Lullaby’s Path

The rusted gates of Wicker Hollow groaned as Elise pushed them open. The moon hung low, spilling pale light over broken rides and collapsed beams. Every step felt like trespassing into a graveyard of forgotten screams.

She followed the sound—soft at first, then clearer, winding its way through the ruins until it led her into a shattered funhouse.

There, on the dusty floor, sat the music box. Spinning. Playing. Waiting.

Beside it, a burner phone lit up.

1 New Message.

Elise pressed play.

“Still chasing ghosts, Detective?” The voice was distorted, theatrical, dripping with mockery. “She screamed your name until the end. Quite touching, really. I gave her a choice: her life… or yours. She chose you. Sisterly love is so delicious.”

Her stomach knotted, bile rising in her throat.

“But here’s the twist, Elise. She’s not the only one. Others are waiting—the ones you’ve arrested, the cases you thought were closed. They’re all part of the game. Solve it before midnight Friday, or someone else dies. I’ll send the next piece soon.”

The message ended with laughter—slow, warped, like a record spinning backwards.

Elise stood rooted to the spot.

This wasn’t a random killer. This wasn’t even about Ava anymore.

It was someone who knew her cases. Her history. Her secrets.

This wasn’t a murderer. This was a puppeteer.

And Elise was tangled in his strings.

To be continued…