As she closed her station, all she wanted to do was go home and get out of her clothes. A long, hard day slinging coffee had her neck muscles unrelentingly tense. Days like today she wished she had someone at home to rub the knots. One man existed in her life and unfortunately he was so far out of her league he might as well have been in wonderland. Elsa gathered the newspapers from the various tables. All of them had the same headline, “Cheshire Cat Garrots Again.” The last murder occurred only a few blocks from Elsa’s house. When would it end? The killings started three months ago and the newest victim ratcheted the body count to ten. Six women and one man. Just last week she overheard the police in her shop mentioning the killer targeted people based on criminal history. That meant she should be safe, but a serial killer on the loose still scared her. A shiver slid up her spine at the thought. The psycho might have walked down her street, passed her door, and caught her gaze on the street.
