Sinners -Sweet Pea-

9. Snake bites over dog fleas

"They don't fit the profile", I said. "Right. Unlike most serial killers our guy wears a mask. Well a hood when he kills", Toni told me. 

"Someone consumed with self-loathing", Jughead suggested. "Conversely, he sends letters and cryptos to the press", Toni muttered while showing Jughead the Register. 

"Think he's narcissistic or a Batman villain?", Jug asked almost in a flirty tone. We all chuckled before we turned serious again, "I'm a true crime junkie", Toni smiled. 

"True crime is mine well our crack", Jughead answered sending me a wink. "I figured, that's why I'm seeking you two out. The Register didn't bash Southside to post the Black Hood cipher. You two wanna help me crack it?", Toni asked my brother and I. 

"Of course", I smiled excitedly. 

*

The next morning while I was making coffee and Jug walking out of his room a knock came from our door. I looked at him confused, who would come over at that time?

"Betty?", of course, it would be Betty, "What time is it?".

"Seven-fifteen. I wanted to catch you before school", she muttered before giving him a kiss. "I'm sorry, I have morning breath", Jughead apologized. 

"You want coffee or something?", I asked my brother's girlfriend turning around with my cup of my beloved coffee in it. "No, I'm actually on my way to the library, I asked Miss Paroo to set aside all the books she has about cryptograms and ciphers. I thought it might help us crack the code, which I'm hoping we could do together, Jug", Betty said. 

Well, that is awkward, Toni, Jug and I actually worked almost the entire night on cracking that code. 

"Uhm, Actually, Toni, Lou and I, we started working on that yesterday at the Red and Black. I can show you what we've got so far", Jughead suggested. 

"Toni, because let me guess, she loves serial killers", "She does have an affinity for the darker side of things", 

"Mhm, In that case, why don't we all work on it together? You, Lou, me, Toni, Kevin", Betty asked. "Kevin?", "Yeah, it'll be like a little code-cracking party. You two can play host", Betty smiled at me. 

"Fun", I sarcastically remarked. 

*

For some reason, I was sitting on the floor beside Toni while we tried cracking the damn cipher. I actually wanted to give Fangs a revenge on the pool game he lost with Sweet Pea but now I'm just going later. 

"These symbols look so familiar to me. I've seen them before, it's driving me crazy. I can't figure out where", Betty whined staring at the cipher. 

"Maybe if you'd loosen your ponytail", Toni remarked and I had to stop myself from bursting out laughing. 

The two boys just looked shocked as well as Betty, "What? That was a joke, guys", Toni added. 

"Betty's ponytail is iconic and beyond reproach", Queen Kevin stated. "Kev, it's fine. At this point, I'm willing to try anything", Betty mumbled as she really loosened her ponytail. 

"Per Miss Paroo's books, I've been looking for common-letter associations, like T-H, A-N, I-N-G", Jughead told us while sitting up on teh couch he's been laying on. "I'm looking for doubles. Double L, four-letter words like 'kill'", Toni explained. 

"That is morbid", Kevin and I said at the same time, we both send each other a well knowing smirk. 

"We don't know if it's in English, could be an anagram", Jughead said. "Like, literally on the top of my brain", Betty whined again and it started to even make me nervous that she couldn't remember.