The old alarm clock rang at the annoyingly high pitch sound this morning, just like every other morning before. Madeline Scarlet rolled slowly out of bed with her messy, curly, caramel colored hair and turned off the old alarm clock and groggily rubbed her eyes. She does her usual morning routine to the tiniest detail although something felt off today. Three years ago, Madeline moved into her very own New York Apartment, an old building that still kept its charm. It was a little beaten down and broken but she still calls it home. Since she was only 19 when she moved in, she created her morning routine to keep herself on track, and she has been following it everyday for three years now. Her routine consists of: waking up, turning off the old high pitched alarm clock, opening the curtains and being welcomed by the dark, gloomy sky every morning, however something felt off today, but she plays it off as just being paranoid. 

After getting ready, Madeline leaves her little apartment on the second floor this morning around 4:30 a.m. to go start her coffee run for her internship at the detective agency. As she walked out the door she couldn't shake the feeling of eyes watching her every move, again Madeline just ignored that feeling of being watched and just went through her day as normal; this is New York after all, so there are always going to be people looking. 

Madeline’s internship is great and all, however they don’t take her too seriously, they just use her mainly for coffee runs and paperwork. She tries to not let it get to her but she is usually devastated when she isn't allowed to go to the crime scenes and get the field experience she needs. Her true dream that she has had since she was a simple teen in highschool was to be a detective. Detective movies and shows have always intrigued her. She had spent many all-nighters at college working so hard to get the internship she landed. All of that hard work and sleepless nights just to get up extra early and get coffee and do paperwork. 

Madeline had just arrived at the coffee shop and entered the small little cafe to pick up the 10 cups of coffee. She started balancing them on top of eachother like a circus elephant. As she opened the door her bag got caught on the handle and she was pulled back towards the cafe. Just one more irritating thing to add to her morning along with the weird feeling that was still lingering.  Luckily, all of the coffees were still intact and stacked on top, so she continued on to work. 

As soon as Madeline made it to the detective agency she started to hand out the 10 coffees and not a single thank you from the detectives. She eventually got to Detective Jonhson’s office with his coffee. The one detective in this entire agency that she actually respects. Yes the others are detectives and pretty good at their job, but not as legendary as Detective Jonhson, at least to Madeline. 

“Here is your coffee sir, one sugar and one creamer.” Madeline explained as she set the coffee on his coaster on his large, cluttered desk. The desk may look completely messy and disorganized to everyone else but to Detective Jonson and Madeline it makes perfect sense and is perfectly organized, that's why Detective Johnson lets Madeline hang around his office. Madeline also helps him find clues and solve cases every now and then.  

“Ah just in time as usual, thank you kid.” He responded, without looking away from his huge yarn and picture covered bulletin board. 

“What have you gotten so far today for your case of ‘The New York Stalker’?” Madeline questioned as she slowly made her way around the desk to scan over all the files he had laid on the desk, talking about the case that has taken them the longest to solve. The case of the ‘New York Stalker’ has been unsolved for 5 years and counting. Madeline has been obsessed with this case for years because of how many detectives have tried but failed at cracking this case. 

“Not a lot so far, but that's what coffee is good for.” He replied as he turned around for the first time to grab his coffee. His black, untrimmed hair was a little messed up and his tie had already come undone and loosely hung around his neck. The years of detective work and stress were very present on his face this morning.

“Oh this case is a lot more than we thought, huh?” Madeline asked, referring to his appearance. Knowing that this ‘New York Stalker’ has been terrorizing New York for five years without any consequences, yet. 

“Yes, unfortunately it is, a five year unsolved case cannot just solve itself. Which leads me to the next thing that I wanted to talk to you about.” He said as he settled into his old, worn desk chair that was pushed halfway across the room. “I was thinking since you have been so helpful to me with my cases and have been consistently getting along with everyone in this department, I believe a permanent position would best suit you, if you are up for it.” 

Madeline whipped her attention from the bulletin board and desk back to Detective Johnson. “Are you offering me a detective position? I’m pretty sure the answer to if I'm up for it or not is very obvious.”

“Well you would just be trailing me for a long while before you even get your own case.” He replied, “You’re going to need field experience and you obviously can't get field experience by yourself.”

“I promise I won't let you down Detective Johnson.” Madeline replied.

“I know you won’t kid, you have the most potential here, I'm not worried about that.” He smiled. “You will start trailing and shadowing me tomorrow, but for now it looks like you have a mountain of intern paperwork that isn't going to sort itself.” He said pointing to Madeline’s desk piled high with papers waiting to be sorted. 

Madeline made her way to her desk, dreading all of the useless paperwork she had to do for the day. She almost couldn't focus on the papers she was sorting into the files because she was so excited for tomorrow. The rest of the day was like a fast blur because all Madeline could think of was that she is going to finally fulfill her dream and become a detective. 

As the day came to end and the last of the paperwork was sorted, Madeline couldn't have gotten home faster. However, since she was in such a hurry home she had run into her new next door neighbor. He had just moved in about a week ago and is pretty strange so Madeline has been trying to avoid him, but because of her excitement for tomorrow she had completely forgotten about the strange new neighbor.  It looked like he had just arrived home from a rough night because he looked completely disheveled and stressed. HIs brown hair was all over the place and the eye bags under his sky blue eyes were very present.  Madeline was about to walk past him but didn't want to be rude and not say anything. 

“Rough day at the office?” Madeline asked, referring to his messy button-up shirt and his crazy looking hair. 

“Huh? Oh yeah, boss won't get off my back about expense reports even though he knows I've been moving around a lot this year already, you know the usual.” he replied in a boring monotone voice. 

“Oh yeah, I've been doing paperwork all day, I get it. Anyways, I'll see you around.” She said before he could get another word in she already had her keys in her lock and the door open. This wasn't the first interaction they have had. They've run into each other many times this week because they are next door neighbors but Madline has always kept the interactions short with the strange man next door. Except the first time they met, he introduced himself as her new neighbor, Peter Grant, he said that he lives alone and he works at some boring office job somewhere in the city. 

Just as Madeline laid down for bed, that weird feeling of being watched returned, but Madeline was too excited about tomorrow to give it another thought before she closed her eyes. 

Madeline woke up to her old, high-pitched alarm clock going off as usual. She got ready as fast as possible, she couldn't help her excitement of her highschool dream finally coming true. As she was locking her apartment door, she noticed that her strange neighbor had just arrived home again at 4:30 in the morning looking stressed as always. Brushing it off Madeline turned back and locked her apartment door. 

“Morning.” He said in his usual boring, monotone voice. 

“Goodmorning, Peter.” Madeline responded too excited about her day to let her strange neighbor throw her off and in return he gave her a strange look of confusion and annoyance. Madeline left that interaction at that and left to go get some coffee just for her and Detective Johnson for work. 

When she got to work she went straight to Detective Jonhson’s office to start the day. From the way his desk was already full of files and papers with him standing by his bulletin board, Madeline knew he had already started for the day and he is already frustrated with this case. 

“Goodmorning Detective Johnson.” Madeline said as she set his coffee on his coaster on the cluttered desk. “How’s the case going so far today?” she asked him even though she already knows the answer. 

“Difficult.” he responded shortly. 

“Well, that's why I'm here to help, so where are we on the case today?” She asked readily to start her new position at the agency. 

“Well I've narrowed it down to where the victims lived, worked, visited, and traveled leading up to their murders. So far there isn't a pattern yet.” He said as he reached for his fresh, warm coffee Madeline had brought him. 

“May I take a crack at it?” Madeline asked as she gestured to the board and the files on the desk.

“By all means, we are working on this together.” He said as he took a couple steps back to his worn, black chair to let Madeline look at what they have so far.

After a while of looking at the files of the victims and suspects she realized that there really wasn't a connection between the victims and why they were chosen. They were all different and had close to nothing in common. The only real connection is that a small portion of their hair was cut off and couldn't be found at the crime scenes and there was no explanation as to why it was missing. 

“It looks like you were right, there seems to be no connection between the victims.” She told Detective Johnson, who was busy reading a file on one of the victims at the moment. “They all lived very different lives. Even their families and friends are different and there isn't a connection anywhere-...” she stopped mid-sentence after reading something blood chilling on one of the files. 

“Did the victim act strangely or differently leading up to the incident? 

She acted normal and nothing seemed off, except she did mention having a constant feeling of being watched a couple of weeks leading up to.. what had happened to her.’

“That’s a bit weird.” Madeline murmured to herself under her breath. 

“What have you found?” Detective Johnson asked. 

“Huh?” Madeline asked looking up, realizing Detective Johnson was still there.  “Oh, it's probably nothing, but in this file the questionnaire from the friends and family of this victim said that she had a feeling of being watched constantly leading up to her murder.”

“Yes, I've read that, just as I've read the rest of the information in that file.” He replied, sounding disappointed that Madeline hadn't found anything new yet. 

“Well, the part that is so weird to me is that I started to get that feeling just yesterday and I can't quite shake it at all.” Madeline said as she sat on the small couch, still looking at the file. 

“You may just feel a little paranoid because of how much we work with these situations here on a daily basis.” Detective Johnson said as he took another sip from his coffee, leaving a little bit of foam on his top lip, which he shortly whipped off with the sleeve of his shirt. 

Madeline and Detective Johnson worked together reading the files and talking about the small number of connections of the victims of ‘The New York Stalker’ right through lunch. They went through every detail in the files and with any connections they would add them to the bulletin board. 

After a while, Madeline noticed that all of the victims had this weird feeling of being watched all of the time, even in their homes or apartments and they couldn’t get rid of this feeling leading up to their murders. They also vaguely mentioned a strange neighbor in all of them but there are no more details about that. 

“It mentions in almost all of these files that there was a strange neighbor of the victims. Would you happen to have more information on these weird neighbors?” Madeline asked with a little bit of excitement because she found one connection between most of the victims. 

“Unfortunately, we do not, we've tried to get in contact with those neighbors but they seemed to have moved away before we could get a hold of them.” Detective Johnson said as he grabbed another file off of his desk to skim through. 

“Do I have access to the system to look people up, yet?” Madeline asked, with an idea of who she was going to do a background check on already. 

“Yes, you were just put into the system this morning, you have access to all of the information in the system, search away kid.” Detective Johnsn replied without looking up from his desk. 

Madeline, now having a new lead to follow, hurriedly walked out of Detective Johnson’s office and went to her computer at her desk. 

The first name that she typed into her computer was: Peter Grant. Her strange new neighbor. The one that seemed to be always running around at weird, late hours and always stressed and disheveled. She just couldn't shake the weird feeling he gave her everytime they interacted. 

When she hit the enter key not much came up, he's a boring simple guy with a pretty boring and simple life. Disappointed but also slightly relieved, Madeline started to make her way back to Detective Johnson’s office before something on the screen made her freeze. His recent addresses, she remembered him mentioning something about being stressed from moving around a lot this year. Madeline knew that it would be a dead end, but she still checked anyway, comparing the victims addresses from this year to his old ones before he moved in next to Madeline. 

What she had found made blood rush to her head and made her ears start ringing. Sure enough, Peter Grant had been direct neighbors to most of the victims and the ones where he wasn't their direct neighbor, he still lived very close to before their murders. Madeline couldn't believe it, so she clicked the print button on Peter’s file and rushed to the printer. 

After she collected the warm papers fresh out of the printer, she circled the addresses part with a red pen so Detective Johnson wouldn't miss it. She then hurried to his office with the evidence she had just found. 

“Detective Johnson, you have to take a look at this.” she said as she burst into the room out of breath and shoving Peter’s file in front of Detective Johnson on the desk.

As Detective Johnson read through Peter’s file the room was quiet. Madeline was anxiously  waiting for Detective Johnson to read the addresses in anticipation. As he finished reading and set the papers down, Madeline couldn't wait any longer. 

“So do you think he's our guy?” She asked impatiently. She had been nervously fidgeting with the red pen in her hand, scared to find out if her neighbor is a serial killer or if she is just chasing a wild theory. 

“Well it all adds up, it looks like there is enough evidence to bring him in and question him.” Detective Johnson said as he reviewed the file one more time. 

Detective Johnosn made a couple of phone calls to let the higher ups know of Madeline’s findings, while Madeline anxiously paced the length of his office. They sent a team to go get Peter and another team to search his place. Madeline and Detective Johnson were on the team searching Peter’s apartment for any evidence or something that would prove that he is ‘The New York Stalker’. 

They arrived at the scene after Peter was taken to the police station for questioning. When they walked in everything seemed like a normal apartment and didn't seem any different than Madeline’s apartment, except a crack in the wall that Madeline had come across while she was searching the closet. She tried to push on it and nothing happened, so she then pulled on the small crack in the wall and it started to open like a small, makeshift door in the closet. She called Detective Johnson over to investigate since she is still working alongside him. As he opened the small makeshift door they saw all of the evidence they were looking for. There were pictures and drawings of the victims taped to the wall and there were the hair clippings in ziploc bags with labels of the victim’s names. Horrified, Madeline got a glass of ice water and took a seat on the couch in the living room area. 

Her neighbor that has been constantly unexplainably running into her all week and always stressed is actually ‘The New York Stalker’, the serial killer that has been killing people in New York City for 5 years and hasn’t been caught, until now. Madeline couldn't believe it, she lived right next door to a serial killer. Was she going to be next if she didn't notice Peter’s strange behaviors or the connection between the victims and their weird neighbor? 

As Madeline got up she noticed a small light on the wall that she shares with Peter. She took a couple slow, hesitant steps forward, only to realize that it wasn't a light but a small peephole into her apartment. She could see all of her living room area and her kitchen. Madeline felt the entire world start to spin, all of the noises around her started to merge into one consistent ringing sound as she realized that she was going to be next. 

Detective Johnson noticed the horrified expression on Madeline’s face and looked at the small spot on the wall she was so fixated on. He walked over and looked in the peephole in the wall and called the station to let the police know to keep Peter in a holding cell and then told Madeline that they were going back to the agency. 

The entire way back to the agency was dead silent. Madeline too stunned and terrified to speak and Detective Johnson too busy filling out papers and making quiet phone calls. When they arrived at the agency, Madeline went through the motions of walking in the building, going up in the elevator to their floor, and walking to Detective Johnson’s office completely silent and shocked. 

Madeline sat down on the small couch still in shock. She had solved the ‘New York Stalker’ case in a matter of days because she was going to be next, because she was the one that Peter Grant moved in next to, because she was a real detective. She solved the unsolvable case that many before her have tried but failed at doing. She had found ‘The New York Stalker’ and enough evidence to put him away for his crimes. Now that he is going to be locked up, New York will be safer again and Madeline is finally going to get to fulfill her dream of being a detective.