Waiting outside with her hands on the gate stood Jackie looking out for Jason’s signal. She could see the animal in the distance and hear it barking. She wondered why Jason doesn’t just shoot the damn thing and get it over with. Then again, she knows that it’s against the law to shoot an animal especially when you’ve broken into someone’s property. Jason knew what he was doing, and she trusted him on doing it the right way.
Across the garden, she saw the front door of the house slowly open, then saw Jason as he stepped out from the safety of the house. He looked across the lawn at Jackie, who was about fifty yards away ready to enter the garden. She pointed to where the dog was. He cautiously walked out onto the front porch in the direction Jackie showed him. Jason was now just twenty yards away from the vicious animal, ready to turn and sprint as soon as it spotted him. A light breeze was blowing from behind Jason towards the animal, which was enough for it to pick up his scent. The size of the Rottweiler made Jason nervous. He was now having second thoughts whether to shoot it there and then. But instead he took a deep breath while the animal slowly turned its head towards him baring its teeth, saliva drooling from its mouth as it stood still sizing Jason up like a predator would its prey.
Beads of sweat ran down Jason’s forehead as the dog took a step towards him. Jason just stood where he was, not moving an inch.
“Jason! Jason! Run for Christ’s sake!” Shouted out Jackie.
Jackie’s loud screams caused him to turn and run as fast as he could to the front door. She entered the garden, but was waiting for a safe enough distance between herself and the dog to close the door once it entered the house. Jason was just ten yards from the door, but to his disbelief, the door was closed somehow. The dog was catching up to him pretty fast. He reached for the door handle trying to open it, but it wouldn’t open. Jason could hear the animals paws crunching over the loose gravel, expecting any moment now for it to bite into him. Suddenly the dog stopped and ran towards the gate after Jackie, who was jumping and shouting trying to attract the animals attention. To Jason’s relief it was working. Then it stopped again, looking back at Jason and then over to Jackie. The damn thing seemed to be calculating distance, choosing between Jason and Jackie. It chose Jackie and paced after her. Jackie was not taking any chances; she fled to the open gate and bolted it shut behind her. Blood was seeping through her bandaged ankle with every step she took. She sat down on the pavement peering through the fence over at Jason, who managed to open the front door. The dog stopped short of the chase as it saw Jackie behind the closed gate. It then went for Jason again, who was now inside the house. He made sure the door didn’t close on its own again, and then opened the door leading to the basement. Jason looked back as the dog entered the house, expecting Jackie to close the front door once the animal was inside, but the door remained open. Their plan had failed and were back to where they started.
Suddenly he heard Kate shouting, “Jason! Close the basement door behind you!”
She then shut the front door, trapping the animal inside.
Kate ran towards Jackie, who was sitting on the pavement holding her ankle.
Jackie said, “god! That was close. I couldn’t make it to the door. I’m sorry.”
“It’s okay Jackie. I saw what happened, now lets patch your ankle up again,” said Kate.
Kate dressed clean bandages over Jackie’s wound. “Do you think you can make it inside?” She asked her.
“Yes, I think so with your help.”
Jackie stood up and limped with Kate’s help over to the basement window.
“Hey, Jason we made it!”
“Yes, we did, but are you alright?” He asked looking at her ankle.
“I’m alright now. Kate changed my bandage, and the pain is residing.”
Jackie sat down, taking the weight off her feet. Jason was ready to turn the lights off once she was seated.
“Here it goes,” said Jason.
All three of them looked up at the ceiling as it sparkled to life.
“Jesus! This is awesome! Just like a planetarium!” Said Jackie smiling.
Jason impatiently glanced at his watch.
“Can you make anything out of it Jackie? Is it a star chart? Or some navigational map?” He asked.
She studied it for a minute or so before replying, “well, I think it’s a bit of both!” She said with excitement.
“We know ancient civilizations used the stars to navigate from one place to another, from old maps and weird navigational tools that were discovered.”
Jason and Kate listened with interest.
“Yes, I know,” said Jason, eager for her to get to the point.
Kate asked, “tools! What kind of tools?”
“It’s hard to explain. Some used strings and shells, even sticks to construct maps, but most ancient civilizations used the stars,” explained Jackie.
She pointed to a cluster of stars on the ceiling.
“Look! There’s Orions belt, and that’s the big dipper. The brightest star is the north star, and it’s that star the ancient sailors used the most.”
Jason asked her, “okay, but can this sky map help us in any way?”
Jackie looked up at the ceiling, knowing something was missing, but couldn’t quite get hold of it. She fumbled in her jacket pocket for a smoke to help calm her nerves. Her fingers touched a small item she had in her pocket. Jackie took it out, holding a small notebook she had found earlier while looking through Tony’s drawers and cabinet shelves.
Jason saw the notebook and asked, “what is that?"
She opened it turning the first few pages.
“It’s a notebook that I found earlier on when I came here alone.”
Kate came over to take a look.
“It has some names written down. All girls names,” she said.
After reading out a few of the names, she noticed next to each name was some form of dots, and each of the names had a different pattern of dots.
“My god!” Said Kate, “look! These patterns of dots next to the names are just like some of the patterns of stars on the ceiling.”
Jason quickly came to see.
“You’re right! They are the same. Jackie can you match the stars on the ceiling with the ones here in the book?”
Kate gave the book to Jackie.
She read out the first name, “Claire has the star sign of Gemini, and Ruth has the star sign of Taurus.”
Jackie then searched for the signs on the ceiling. She found them both and pointed out to Jason where they were. Jackie matched a few more, then confirmed the book and the star chart on the ceiling correspond with each other, having a clue of some sort.
The chart slowly began to lose its charge of light, so Jason turned the light on again and waited a few minutes before turning them off. He then took the book from Jackie and looked up at the star chart then at the book again. He continued doing this for a few times when suddenly he stopped.
“That’s it! I think I’ve solved it.” He said.
He looked at Jackie and Kate.
“What if the signs next to each of the names correspond to the location where Tony held his ritual for each one of these girls!”
Kate said, “so what you’re saying is, the star map is actually a chart showing where Tony has previously killed before?”
Jason placed the book on the table and showed them what he meant.
“Look, if we cross off each girls name and the star sign next to that name, we will be left with a few unmarked signs on the ceiling chart. The remaining star signs could be the location where he is taking Sally!”
They started crossing off names until they were left with five star signs, meaning there are five different places left where Tony could be.