So the task force kept eliminating possibilities until, finally, someone raised a new angle.
Could this be a crime of passion? Someone with a grudge against me?
Chief Finch turned to me. "Deborah, think carefully. Is there someone like that in your life?"
"Someone who pursued you and was rejected—someone who might be operating in the shadows, killing each of your boyfriends one by one. It's a real possibility."
I racked my brain, thinking hard for what felt like forever. Then my head snapped up.
"Actually... there might be."
Everyone's eyes settled on me, their expressions unreadable.
I had no choice but to lay it all out.
"There was a colleague I knew from work. His name was Oscar Parsons. He pursued me for a while, but he was a heavy smoker, and I just wasn't interested, so I turned him down."
"After that, he threatened me several times—sometimes to my face, sometimes behind my back."
"He said that when he set his sights on a woman, he'd have her no matter the cost."
"I told him I had a boyfriend. He just looked at me and said we wouldn't last."
The further I went, the more goosebumps crawled across my skin.
I was on the verge of tears. I looked up at Chief Finch, desperate.