Fading fast, and now feeling nauseous and dizzy, she went back into the bathroom and knelt down in front of the toilet. Lifting the lid, she stared down at the water in the bowl. Come on, you remember what to do. Painful memories of her teenaged eating disorder flooded back as she took two fingers, stuck them down her throat and gagged a few times. Nothing came up but she tried again. Finally, there was that old familiar feeling as her body responded and brown liquid spewed into the white porcelain.

She tried a few more times but nothing more came up. Pushing herself up from the tiled bathroom floor, she used the walls for balance to get to her iPhone on the bed. Panicking, and not thinking straight but convinced she might overdose, she grabbed her phone and lay back on her pillows as she punched Sean’s name into her phone. Unable to focus her eyes, she managed to type six words.

I know who the killer is

She hit send and then called him but it went straight to voicemail. Losing consciousness before she could leave a voice message, her phone dropped from her hand onto the floor.

Sean turned off his shower and dried off in his steamy bathroom. Tucking a towel around his waist, he got a bottle of water from the fridge and checked his phone for messages. That’s when he saw Zoe’s strange text and missed call. Alarmed after reading the text, he called her back but there was no answer. He left a message and waited a minute and then called and texted a second and a third time. He tried FaceTime, no answer.

Fearing something was terribly wrong, he put on his clothes, grabbed a mask and bolted out of his building, sprinting the seven blocks to Zoe’s apartment in minutes. While he ran he called Detective Williams and told him about the text message he had received.

“Zoe left me a message about half an hour ago,” said Sean breathing hard as he ran. “She sounded loopy but said she knew who tried to kill her. I called and texted but she didn’t respond. I’m really worried. I’m on my way to her place now.”

“Where’s her husband?” said Daryl getting up from his desk.

“Zoe told me earlier that he had to go to work. I don’t have his number anyway,” said Sean. “He never wanted Zoe to give it out. FBI stuff I guess.”

“We’ll meet you at her apartment,” said Daryl as he signaled to Heather that they were leaving. Without asking any questions, she grabbed her things and followed her partner out the door.

“What’s going on?” said Heather as she got into the passenger side of their car.

“It’s Zoe Brandt,” said Daryl, putting the car in drive.

“Now what?” said Heather.