Lisbon surveyed the glow of the laptop, frowning slightly. "So our killer is Spark or Electrokinesis, then?"
Aleksander nodded, calm and concise. "It would seem so."
Wednesday glanced toward her aunt's line of memory, the weight of lineage heavy in her eyes. She knew her paternal family carried Electrokinesis by blood, and Uncle Fester's prowess was well known. Still, this killer had pushed far beyond what she'd seen before. "My Uncle is a talented Spark, but even he hasn't reached this level," she muttered, more to herself than to the room.
Lisbon pressed, practical as ever. "We need a city-wide list—Sparks active in the area at the relevant time."
Grace frowned, the task daunting. "That's a lot of records to wade through. It'll take time and cross-agency access."
Jane leaned in, eyes narrowing with a spark of curiosity. "Maybe not impossible. Sometimes the right connection—"
Aleksander raised a hand to pause the speculation, his voice deliberate. "Give me a minute. I'll check with my father. He keeps tracks on these things more closely than anyone else."
He pulled out his phone, a moment of quiet focus passing between the group. After a brief exchange, he spoke again, a measured calm in his tone. "There are four Sparks here at the time."
The room shifted slightly as the weight of that revelation settled, each member weighing the implications for the case and for their next moves.
Just as the group absorbed Aleksander's news, Wednesday broke her silence. Her tone was level, almost offhand, but her eyes were sharp. "Maybe my uncle knows something. He probably keep tabs on other Sparks—especially the difficult ones. He could probably dig up some inside details we wouldn't find in a database."
Jane arched his brows, the glimmer of a sly smile flickering. "Inside info is always better than paperwork."
Lisbon nodded, quietly hopeful. "If you think he'd be willing to talk, we'll take any help we can get."
On returning back to the office, Wednesday wasted no time reaching out to Uncle Fester. He was delighted for the chance to help—and, conveniently, already in the area. Before long, he arrived in his signature fashion: a gray wool full-length coat, a classic fedora perched atop his bald head, green eyes glittering with mischief and curiosity. His lack of eyebrows only made his expressions more striking.Wednesday's signature coolness thawed for just a moment as she spotted him—her smile subtle, but genuine.
She wasted no time, giving Fester a concise rundown of the case and everything they'd discovered.
Uncle Fester listened intently, tapping his chin in thought. "Well," he said, voice carrying that odd, cheerful energy, "of the four Sparks, James, Robert, and Henry don't have the stomach for this sort of thing. But Julian… now there's someone who could. He's the only Spark in town who's ever matched me, power for power. But to be honest, I always got the sense he was holding back."
He shot Wednesday an appraising look. "If you're chasing monsters, Wednesday, Julian's the one you don't turn your back on. The others? Soft hearts... or just bad poker faces."
The group exchanged glances, the name "Julian" settling into the center of their investigation
Grace's fingers flew across her keyboard as soon as Uncle Fester mentioned the name. Within moments, she looked up. "Got him. Julian Alvarez," she said, pulling up the file on screen.Photos and records filled the monitor—employment logs, city documentation, and incident reports. Grace continued, her tone tightening. "He works at the city morgue. Which explains a lot—he'd have daily access to bodies. If he wanted to refine his control, this was the perfect place to practice undetected."
Lisbon's expression darkened, a blend of disgust and grudging understanding. "He's been using his job as cover."
Jane leaned back in his chair, folding his hands, the familiar flicker of deduction in his eyes. "That explains everything. How he got so good at controlling postmortem movement—and how he learned to erase every trace after the second kill. He's been studying death from the inside."
Lisbon spoke up, her voice firm and pragmatic. "Even if Julian is our suspect, we don't have anything concrete to tie him to the murders. All we know is he was in the city at the right times or visions. That's not enough."
Grace nodded, scrolling through the database. "No direct evidence—no forensic link or eyewitnesses."Jane rubbed his chin, thoughtful. "We need a thread, something that sets him apart at each scene. A pattern only he could've left, even unintentionally."
Wednesday's gaze remained calm, almost inscrutable. "A killer this careful always leaves something behind, whether he knows it or not."
Aleksander leaned forward, resolve clear. "Let's keep searching. If there's a connection, we'll find it."
The group—Aleksander, Wednesday, Jane, Lisbon, and Grace—pored over the case details, looking for anything they might have missed. Stitch, restless and visibly grumpy, muttered under his breath, pacing nearby.
Aleksander caught the change in Stitch's mood and gestured for patience, but Stitch grumbled louder, clearly unsettled.
Then, Aleksander's eyes suddenly sharpened. A realization struck.He pushed back his chair, moved swiftly to the whiteboard, and began writing, voice rising with intensity, "He's been taunting the police all this time. He's been giving us his calling card—right under our noses!"
The room fell silent. All eyes turned to him.Aleksander pointed to the board where he wrote:
Name: JULIAN
Letters: J (10), U (21), L (12), I (9), A (1), N (14).
He continued, "Look at the full moon dates—each victim was slain on or around these days of the month, matching their letter in the alphabet. The 10th, the 21st, the 12th, the 9th, the 1st, and the 14th."
Lisbon blinked, leaning in as the pattern clicked for her. "So the date of each murder is a letter. When combined, it spells out—"
"JULIAN," Jane finished, eyes wide with realization.
Wednesday's lips curled into a faint smirk. "A signature tattooed in time. Poetic, if not arrogant."
Grace sighed, shaking her head. "He wanted us to find it…the Moonlight Killer's true name."
The room pulsed with a mix of disbelief and clarity.
[Note: I am taking a time put for three days, also I have an idea. Maybe during the time they are attending Nevermore.]