At the police station, Alex frantically ran up to Marie and told her that Cathy has disappeared. He tried everything to find her, but it seems like she just vanished. Alex then started to tear up and Saadi, "I'm sure it's because of the chief cause I saw her storm off and she looked so angry! What she's gone and gotten into trouble?"
Jones started to tell Alex that Cathy can't be too far, when his phone started to ring. Thinking it could be Cathy calling, Jones answered it and when he did, he said on the other end, "What are you playing at Cathy? We're all worried sick about you!"
Unbeknownst to them, Cathy was dressed in her @rtist attire and said, "There's no Cathy here cause some people think that she can't handle the heat. You're talking to the @rtist. I've got a clue for Marie. Dean Walker's officehides a lot more than meets the eye. If I were you, I'd go and have a look."
Just as Cathy was about to hang up, Jones protested for her not to hang up and Chief King won't know about it. He then told the girl that they have to talk to her and they'll call her back soon. After Jones was done talking to Cathy, the two officers headed to the Dean's office to look at it. Once they got there, Marie started to look around until she found tablet and she started to type in the password. After a few seconds, Marie unlocked the tablet and when she looked at it closely, she saw that it holds the files of every student in the university.
Both Jones and Marie looked and saw the last file that was accessed was Madison's and it had a ton of data on it. Marie suggested that should send the tablet to Alex and Jones agreed. After they sent the tablet to Alex, Jones looked at Marie and said, "Okay Marie, let's call Cathy back and see what she wanted to tell us. However, can you can keep a look out for King so he doesn't see us?"
Marie agreed to keep an eye out for the chief and once she did, Jones dialed Cathy's number into his phone and after a few rings, she answered. After she answered, Jones said to her, "Are you there Cathy? This war with your grandfather doesn't concern us. But if talking to you can help our investigation progress, then that's what we'll do! Now tell me, what info do you have on the Rorschach Reaper?"
Cathy sighed and said, "It's really uncanny, isn't it? One serial killer, but three different murderers, each one incriminated by the evidence. I figured that you might learn something from them, so I had a look at the prison's surveillance feed."
Shocked and surprised, Jones asked, "Cathy, are you breaching into classified information?!"
"That's what a hacker does, remember? It never seemed to trouble you before. I'd even say that you were mighty glad to have me break the law in your place! Anyway, I managed to access some of the surveillance cameras, but time is pressing and I don't have sufficient resources to crack the video's encryption myself. But don't fret cause I'm sure Alex will be more than capable of deciphering it. The video is on Marie's desk," Cathy explained and then she hung up.
After Cathy hung up the phone, Jones looked at Marie with fear in his eyes and said, "Is it just me or is Cathy getting a little scary? She sounded so cold."
"Well, I thought she became "the @rtist" to avoid worrying her grandfather, but after their fight it's starting to sound like she did all of it to impress him and it failed horribly," Marie said.
Jones began to think curiously when he looked down at the video disk on Marie's desk. He then said, "She's always been on top of things during our previous investigations; like, she was always one step ahead of us. And how did she even manage to leave this CD on your desk without us even seeing her?!"
Marie told Jones that they don't have time to brood over any this and she suggested that they send the video to Alex so he can see what it's all about. While Alex was examining the tablet and the surveillance video, Marie got a call from her adoptive father Paul. Once she answered it, Paul said to her on the other end, "Marie, are you all right? I was finishing up my paperwork when I heard it on the news. That poor girl and she was so young too."
Marie told Paul that she was all right, aside from the part that she was almost run over by some shoes, but Jones protected her from that. Marie then said, "Jones and I are doing our best to solve this murder just like all the others."
"Well if it gets too dangerous, I want you to come home immediately. Scott's also getting worried and he saw the same story in his room," Paul said and Marie agreed to do that, but she knows she can't cause she has to arrest the Rorschach Reaper and mend her grandfather and Cathy's relationship.
After Marie was done talking to Paul, Alex was done analyzing the tablet and the surveillance video and he called Jones and Marie to the tech lab to tell them what he found. The first thing Alex told them about was the tablet and he explained to the two officers, "It looks like Madison's file was an interesting read cause she's got more notices for sneaking out after nightfall than there are days in the year! But honestly, it seems really unfair. Cause there's barely any day without her getting into trouble for the most trivial things!"
After she heard that, Marie suggested, "Then maybe we should have a chat with Donna Walker about that. Cause she always seems to harbor a resentment toward the "popular" kids." And Jones agreed.
Alex then told them that Madison was always caught in the football stadium with Chad after hours. Jones then elbowed Marie and said to her with a wink, "Well I guess anyone can guess what they were doing after those hours, right Marie?!"
Marie rolled her eyes and said to her partner, "Don't joke around about that David! It's our job to make sure that there was nothing more, got it?" And Jones nodded his head quickly.
Before they could talk to either Dean Walker or Chad, Marie asked Alex what he found from the surveillance video. Alex then explained to them with a loving look on his face, "It seems that Cathy really outdid herself this time! Even though those video feeds are highly secured, I don't even know how she even managed to retrieve them! It's a surveillance camera footage of the Grimsbourough Detention Center and it shows the cell of a prisoner you just arrested Marie; Penelope Rivera!"
Confused and curious, Marie remembered how Penelope disguised her friend's murder as a suicide. She then recalled something and said, "I just remembered that there was a Rorschach test at that crime scene that day! So that means that that murder was orchestrated by our serial killer too!"
Alex agreed and said, "Unfortunately, there's no audio on those video feeds. But as you can see, Penelope seems to have become obsessed with those Rorschach tests."
After they heard that, Jones and Marie both had the same idea; they were going to the detention center to talk to Penelope. As soon as they got there and approached Penelope's cell, she instantly noticed Marie and ran up to her and said to her through the bars of her paper littered cell, "Major! I didn't think I would ever see you again! I kept in trying to contact you about the Rorschach Reaper, but they wouldn't let me!"
Jones then gave Penelope a look and thought, so she knew about the serial killer too, huh? He was about to tell the girl that it doesn't change anything, but Penelope interrupted and said, "Believe me, I'm not trying to escape my sentence! I know I killed Lisa, but I'm not gonna let other people die because of that freak! Look, I know none of this makes sense. One second I'm really angry at Lisa and the next thing I knew, I was dead set on committing murder! Even I can feel there's something wrong here! The last thing I remember before my change of heart was being accosted was at the football field and that damn pendulum swinging back and forth in front of me!"
"And after that, that was it, my mind was set. Even after Lisa was dead, I still knew I did the right thing; even though I couldn't explain it even to myself. But when you're in prison, you have a lot of time to think. And I know now that I was hypnotized to kill my friend! Please, you have to believe me Major Holmes! That pendulum is the key!"
After their talk with Penelope, Jones and Marie were driving back to the university when Jones said, "That hypnotism story sounds a bit far-fetched. I mean, we have enough evidence against three different people and yet further evidence proves that it's the work of a single serial killer."
"Unless we're dealing with a cult, everything seems to point out that Misha, Penelope and Taylor were manipulated. I guess Penelope's story could be true after all. Penelope also said that the "pendulum is the key." So, if my hunch serves me right, then it might still be on the football field," Marie said and Jones agreed to check out the football field after they were done talking to Dean Walker and Chad.
The first one they met with was Dean Walker and when Marie asked her about Madison's sneaking out at night, she responded, "Now's not a good time for me to answer that Major. I still have to notice Madison's family about her passing, but it seems that the info she left me is false! That Madison was nothing but a web of lies and smugness, like every other member of Psi Sigma Gamma! I should've had that sorority disbanded at the first occasion! They've done so much hurt to this university and to the students. Poor Rani was just one of those collateral victims and I myself almost died because of them!
"Those sororities are just a playground for people with narcissistic personalities like Madison and they crush everyone in their path and get they congratulated for it! I hate those kinds of people and nowadays the corridors seem to be filled with them! Damn opportunist without a care in the world!"
Jones grabbed the Dean's shoulders and said to her, "Get a grip on yourself Donna! Is that why you were so hard in Madison? Cause her file seemed to be abnormally full."
Dean Walker brushed Jones' hands off and told the officers that Madison only ever got what was coming to her and she excused herself to deal with some grieving people. After their talk with Dean Walker, Marie looked at Jones and he let out a low sigh and said, "Alright Marie, I know what you're thinking. Yes, Donna was a victim of hazing at the hands of Madison's sorority, but I can't believe she still hasn't let it go yet!"
"We'll remember when we first started in the university? The first murder of the Rorschach Reaper involved that sorority. But I don't think Dean Walker is our serial killer," Marie pointed out and Jones gig to thinking and he thought deeply, or could she?!
As soon as they got back to the station, Jones and Marie approached Chad who was sitting at one of the desks with a blanket wrapped around him and he was clutching a cup of coffee that went cold a while ago. Jones looked at the boy and asked in a consoling voice, "How are you holding up Chad? Are you feeling a little better?"
Chad shook his head and said, "But it doesn't matter if I am. In fact, nothing matters now that she's gone."
Marie then looked down at the boy and asked, "Chad, my partner and I have learned that you trespassed after curfew in Madison's company a few times the past few days. Now we gotta know, were you two fooling around?"
Chad shook his head told the two officers that he and Madison were only talking about their relationship and Chad wanted to two of them to move in together after college. Chad then told them that it would've helped if Madison admitted that they were together. She was always acting like she was ashamed of Chad and Chad tried everything to be up to her level. He then worked twice as hard and he even took evening classes, but the only class that he could get into was one with an electronics course and that didn't seem to impress Madison much.
After Chad was done talking to them, Jones and Marie left him alone to recuperate and they headed towards the football field to find the pendulum. As soon as they got there, Marie and Jones started to look around for anything that would corroborate Penelope's hypnotism story. Just then, Marie found a trash bag and Jones thought, oh no! We'll ruin our dress clothes! Marie then slipped on a pair if gloves and she started to dig in not worrying that her dress will get a little dirty.
After a while, Marie found the pendulum without getting one speck of trash on her. When Jones saw it he thought how it ended up in the trash. The two officers looked at the pendulum closely and wondered if it was the same one Penelope told them about and if she was hypnotized by staring at it. Marie then saw that there was a number in it, but it was too faded to read so Marie brushed her powder over so it'll be darker. After she did that, both Marie and Jones saw that it was a phone number.
Wondering how the phone number got on the pendulum, Marie suggested that the best way was to call the number themselves. After Jones dialed the number it rang a few times before it went to a recorded message. Jones placed it on speaker so Marie could hear and the message said, "Hello Major Marie, this is the Rorschach Reaper. I see that you finally found my pendulum? You certainly took your sweet time to find it. I hope you're enjoying our little game cause I'm looking forward to having a proper talk with you very soon." And after that the message ended.
After they were done listening to the message, Marie stood there wide-eyed and she exclaimed, "I can't believe this! Penelope was telling the truth! The Rorschach Reaper did use this pendulum which means that they did hypnotize her!"
"So that also means that all those girls were both guilty and innocent! The Reaper found a way to kill without actually touching a weapon," Jones also exclaimed.
Marie then started to worry cause even though they now know the killer knows hypnotism, she and Jones worried that the killer might use it on one of them. Jones then suggested that they should talk to Tess and see if she could be if any help since she studies criminal psychology. Once they arrived back at the auditorium and Tess saw them approaching, she said to Marie with a smirk, "You again Major? I already told you everything I know!"
Marie squinted her eyes at the girl and said, "You're really taking these murders lightly, aren't you Tess. How can they not move you?"
"Well you know, after all those psychological profiles of murderers I have studied this year, nothing really phases me anymore. But once you've seen a head explode, then you've seen them all," Tess said with an almost happy tone.
Jones then squinted his eyes at the girl and said, "We would actually like to talk to you about those psychological profiles with you. Have there been any cases of murder by proxy?"
After he mentioned that, Tess got super excited that they found a new lead and she asked Marie what they discovered. Marie shook her head and told the girl that that info is classified, but she then asked, "But Tess, what do you know about, say, hypnotism?"
Tess then explained to the two officers, "Hypnotism is a fascinating science. We studied it last year and we learned how to use to make criminals talk! Most people think it's nothing but a bunch of hocus pocus, but it's actually been scientifically verified. However, you need to be really skilled, but with a little practice you can get very interesting results."
Jones kept on squinting at Tess and thought, interesting results indeed. He then thanked Tess for her help and they were about to walk away when Tess called out to Marie that watching her work is always a pleasure. It was then that Marie felt a very cold feeling that she felt on the very first day she came to the university and she jogged up to Jones to catch up to him. Back at the police station, Jones was slumped down in his chair and he said with an exasperated sigh, "This case is the most complicated one that we ever had to face Marie. If you weren't with me, I would've given up on trying to catch that serial killer; they're just too good! How could the Rorschach Reaper hypnotize people to commit murder? And even more so why?!"
Just then, Jones' phone started to ring while he was explaining that he answered it in anger and thinking that it'll never stop ringing. On the other end was the one person they were chasing, the serial killer. The serial killer then said to Jones and Marie on the other end, "How nice it is to hear you my dear friends. I think it's about time we spoke directly to one another, don't you think?"
Jones' eyes went wide when he knew who the person was on the other end and the serial killer chuckled evilly and gave Jones a point for deductive skills. They then told him to put them on speaker phone and when he did, the serial said to Marie, "Now you're gonna listen to me very carefully my dear Major. I'm going to give you a little incentive to help you solve Madison Springer's murder. If you haven't found out my identity by dawn, I'll kill one of your suspects. And don't even think of interrogating them cause they're dead if you do."
After they hung up, Jones and Marie stood their in shock and surprise and fear.