"Shit!" I hissed under my breath as I accidentally stepped in a deeper-than-it-looked puddle taking up most of the sidewalk. Despite the downpour, I'd almost made it to the precinct dry under my raincoat and ankle boots. With only a few steps to go, I had to screw up. Now both my leggings and brand-new sequin skirt were soaking wet.

Fifteen minutes later, after a warm cup of tea, a quick morning brief and a change from wine red raincoat to white lab coat I was ready to get to work. Not long ago, a notorious serial killer known as the Origami Killer had claimed their seventh victim, and multiple samples awaited analysis. I prepped the victim's blood and sat down in front of the microscope to perform a manual blood count, carefully noting down every observation I made.

"Got any plans for the weekend?"

I was so focused on the task at hand that Jane's voice visibly startled me.

"Except for studies, Netflix'n chill… nah." I replied, not taking my eyes away from the microscope's eyepiece.

Despite my short time as an intern at the Philadelphia Police 6th District's forensic section Jane had proven to be both a reliable colleague and a good friend. Knowing I was new in town she'd taken me under her wing, shown me around the lab and the precinct, pointed out the best dining and shopping areas nearby and taken me out for tea and drinks. Realizing I'd been glaring down the ocular longer than intended I stretched my back and rubbed my temples. Jane tilted her head and cooked a sympathetic smile.

"Been working three hours non-stop with no break again, eh?"

It wasn't far from the truth. I had a habit of getting absorbed by my work, losing track of time.

"A couple of drinks would be nice though," I admitted. "Tomorrow at 5?"

"I can't tomorrow sweetie. I have a date, remember?"

"Pfft, I can barely remember what a 'date' is."

Jane gave me this overbearing look as if pitying my lack of social life and I could tell she was trying to fit me into her weekend plans. I was about to assure her I'd be fine as I had some studying to catch up on and my apartment was in serious need of a good tidying.

"How about we go out for a Frappuccino and a hot chocolate after hours?"

"But didn't you plan on go shopping later?"

"Yeah… But as you may have noticed, raining season has just started and we need to stay warm." Jane shot a glance towards the nearest window. "Better get used to it. The rain's gonna last more or less till Christmas time when it'll start to snow instead."

My eyes shifted between the notes spread on my desk, the glasses on top of my notebook and the lit microscope. It was an innocent statement save for the fact that over the past few years, raining season in Philadelphia had become synonymous with serial killers and drowned children.

"Then I'll be far away from here…" I replied distantly, my attention drifting to the nearby window and the shower outside. I switched focus back to Jane, noting the worried look on her face.

"Back at GW Uni and hopefully the Smithsonian still has an opening for me," I chirped with a forced cheerful tone. "Eh, I guess I should get back to w-"

Jane interrupted by physically putting her hand on my left arm and her grey eyes locked on mine. "Oh no, you don't. You need a break. C'mon, let's grab lunch."

After the break, I spent the remaining working hours going over the rest of the biological samples from the latest crime scene. I went over the DNA sequences and compared them to existing databases. As with the other cases, nothing came up of interest. All samples recovered turned out to be a dead end. The only matches I got were of the victim and police officers that had contaminated the crime scene. The victim's blood analysis showed an extremely low O2 saturation, as you'd expect after a drowning, and as with the other victims the low blood glucose and lipid levels suggested a prolonged state of exhaustion and low, possibly no intake of nutrients from the time of abduction to the time of death. Doing my best to put my emotions aside, I carefully noted down everything, logged the evidence and my findings according to protocol and had my supervisor and head of the forensic section, Dr. Gabriela Mortiz, approve my work. Having read about the infamous O.J. Simpson case, I knew all too well how a set of skillful lawyers would be able to find and exploit even minor routine slips in the handling and processing of evidence, creating enough reasonable doubt to get a murderer free of all charges. I carefully did everything by the book and had Gabs, as she insisted to be called, supervise my notes and double-check my findings. From what I'd heard, this level of scrutiny was unfortunately not always the case here at Philadelphia PD. Word had it that the chief investigator of the Origami Killer case, Lt. Carter Blake, was unconventional to put it mildly and not in a good way. In the short time I'd been here, Gabs had on more occasions than one let out verbal frustration of Lt. Blake's crude methods and in-your-face arrogance. I'd briefly met him, and it had not been a pleasant experience. He was also lousy at replying to emails. I suspected he rarely bothered to check his work mail at all.

Jotting down notes I halfheartedly listened to the conversation going on behind my back. Jane was talking to the mass spectrometry guy. What was his name again? Ian? Ira? He'd been late for work and had missed the morning brief. Now that Gabs was in a meeting with Captain Perry, head of the Philadelphia PD's homicide division, to prepare for this evening's press conference he'd asked Jane for a recap. The meeting had been mostly uneventful, with the usual routine reports and status quo updates. The only interesting news was that a profiler from the FBI were to arrive over the weekend to assist in the investigation. I was curious as to why the FBI had not been involved earlier. Gabs had mumbled something about Captain Perry, pigheadedness and egocentric pride.

"Inferiority complexes." Jane had scoffed, rolling her eyes. "They don't want some pencil-pusher from the capital in on their turf. Especially one who outranks them." I was not impressed with the implications that their own professional pride had gotten in the way of the investigation.

"The Feds have their own shrinks!" Ian/Ira exclaimed as it was the most surprising thing he'd learned since I'd told him that peanuts are not actually nuts.

After work, Jane and I made our way to the local OCF Coffee House, where we found a quiet corner to sip away at our drinks. Despite the weather, Jane had changed into her trademark black and blue stilettos and low-cut slim-fit jeans but she was wearing the same white blouse as she had at work. A simple and clean look that worked to her advantage. Chic, bob-cut brunette hair graciously framed her beautiful face. With my love for boho-chic inspired clothes and jewelry, complete with a nautilus tattoo, multiple bracelets, nose jewelry and messy ponytail, we were polar opposites of each other.

We chatted about work, my studies and what she'd wear on her date the next day when this guy came barging in, clearly agitated. All heads turned as he was shouting on his phone about what sounded like a near-death experience. Apparently a nutter had been racing at full speed in the wrong traffic lane on the highway, nearly ramming into phone guy's car in the process.

"If you drive against traffic on that highway in this weather, you're not just an idiot or a daredevil, you're suicidal," Jane mumbled. The guy kept yelling into his phone for several minutes, gesticulating like mad. As he was soaking wet from the shower outside, his frantic arm movements showered most of the nearby guests with rainwater.

A couple of hours later, Jane excused herself and headed to the nearest shopping mall. I sat for another twenty minutes or so flipping through my phone. The buzz of conversations nearby felt soothing. I was by myself, but not alone. When the battery was down at 23%, I figured it was time to head home. It was still raining cats and dogs outside, the mere sight made me shiver. I order a hot chocolate to go from the barista, mentally imagining taking a hot shower and tucking myself in a thick, cozy blanket accompanied by a hot cup of tea.

As I was about to leave the coffee house with my newly made beverage, a woman slightly taller than me hasted through the door knocking the hot drink out of my hands and all over the floor and my shoulder bag. Flustered, she fished out a Kleenex and started wiping my bag while apologizing and insisting on buying me a new one. Before I could tell her not to worry, she was at the counter. A minute later, she returned with two hot drinks - in mugs.

"I- I am sorry, I forgot to say it was to-go. You don't mind, do you?"

I kind of did but said nothing. Despite her pale complexion, my new acquaintance had all the features of a model. A prominent but not too obvious bone structure, big, brown almond-shaped eyes, full lips and short-short brunette hair with fringes down her forehead. She was dressed in a well-worn patterned purplish-brown leather jacket, jeans and surprisingly carried no purse or handbag. I noted that while her clothes were soaking wet, her face and hair seemed dry.

She placed the drinks on a nearby table and gestured for me to sit. "At least give me the chance to properly apologize for running you over like that." She brushed the fringes from her forehead and made a gesture as to tuck the short locks behind her ear, but the fringes kept falling back. Did she recently have a haircut, perhaps?

"I- I didn't mean to… I'm normally not, I mean…" deep breath. "I've been struggling with insomnia lately and I can barely tell the difference between night and day at times. It's all just… a blur."

"Look, it's totally ok," I assured. She seemed genuinely distressed and in hopes of being reassuring, I accepted her offer but kept my coat on. I reached out my hand to introduce myself. She shook it.

"Madison Paige."

Madison presented herself as an in-between jobs photographer that due to a traumatic incident a few weeks back had been struggling with sleep, work and even regular day-to-day routines. I guess she didn't feel like talking about it as she was quick to change the topic from her to me.

"But enough about me, what do you do for a living, Lisa?"

I told her about my studies, my previous work at the Smithsonian Natural History museum, where I hoped to land a future career, and I briefly mentioned my internship at the Philadelphia PD as part of a Uni course in forensic science and epigenetics. I didn't feel comfortable talking about my work there. The case of the Origami Killer was under investigation and not up for discussion. As expected, that's exactly what picked Madison's attention.

"Oh." Her brows shot up and her eyes widened. "Are you… eh, have you been…" She started fondling the back of her neck and then went on to swirl her mug, likely contemplating how to casually bring up the Origami Killer case. Her eyes locked with me as she nonchalantly leaned over the table while resting her chin in her palm.

"You haven't been involved in the case of the, you know, the Origami Killer?"

I tensed, trying to figure a way to change the subject or an excuse to leave without being impolite.

"Eh, I haven't really been there for a very long time. It's just this… really short internship, you know. Six more weeks and I'll be back in D.C. They wouldn't let an intern mess with murder cases, let alone a case involving a serial killer."

I hoped she'd settle for that. It had worked for a couple of nosey neighbors earlier this week. And it wasn't a complete lie. Had it not been for the letter of recommendations from my Uni tutor and for Gabs' willfulness it would have been the truth.

"Oh, really? According to my sources – eh, I mean from what I've heard… from a friend that works at the local newspaper, there's an intern at the PD's forensic section that's been involved with the Origami Killer case. I thought it might be you?"

Sources? Contacts at the local newspaper? Maybe this 'random' meeting hadn't been so accidental after all. I suddenly had an eerie feeling of being set up. I straightened my back and chose my wording carefully.

"I'm sorry, Ms. Paige. I am not at liberty to discuss an ongoing investigation. I'd advise you to direct any questions you might have to Captain Leighton Perry, head of the Philadelphia PS's homicide division."

Madison seemed flustered. Hopefully she wasn't just faking it but felt genuinely embarrassed.

"Of course. I mean – eh… I just thought you might be able to tell something…"

Seemingly unsure of how to continue from here and likely feeling a bit guilty too, her words drifted off. The skin below her eyes turned a slight red.

"Look, Madison. I get it. You're a journalist or something in search of a story or you're just curious. It's all right." I got up and put my bag over my head, signaling I was ready to leave.

"But I really just want to go home now, so if you don't mind…"

"I'm sorry, Lisa. And you're right; I am looking for a story." She stepped forward and grabbed my wrist as to make sure I did not go until she'd said what was on her mind.

"Yes, I am a journalist. I work for The American Tribune. And I haven't had a proper story in ages… what I said about my insomnia is true and I'm worried I might get fired if I don't come up with a-" She paused and her gaze dropped to the floor.

"I've been under a lot of pressure lately. Sorry."

Despite nearly being taken advantage of, and having hot chocolate spilled all over my bag I couldn't help but feel for her.

"It's okay. Really. Look, not to be rude, but it's been a long week and I'm getting kinda tired so…" To cut the conversation short I started walking towards the exit.

"Can I get your number?" Madison blurted to my back.

"Just in case something comes up that you are at liberty to discuss?" I turned and she flashed me what was undoubtedly her most charming smile.

My first instinct was to politely decline, but then I heard myself giving her my phone number and watched in bewilderment as she saved it on her phone. Out on the cold, wet and crowded street I replayed the whole scenario in my head. Even if Madison's intentions hadn't exactly been pure, I had no doubt she was a nice and genuine person that had been under a lot of stress, causing her to make some bad decisions. More importantly, I was all alone in a foreign city. I had no problem being by myself, but away from family, friends, everyone and everything I knew there was no denying I'd feel lonely at times. As wonderful Jane had been to me, she had a rich social life and a huge network of contacts. She rarely entered weekends without plans that included girls' nights out, hanging out with her mother or sisters, hot dates and whatnot. I'd tagged along a couple of times but couldn't shake the notorious 'third wheel'-feel. Having another acquaintance in this foreign city felt… reassuring.

Longing to get home to my small but cozy student apartment I made my way through the crowd to the nearest bus stop. On the surface, it seemed like the usual big-city Friday evening rush with people of all ages hasting from school or work to meet up with friends or running pre-weekend errands. However, over the last few days, summer had slowly turned to fall. The seemingly never-ending rainfall that followed had unmistakably brought with it the threat of the Origami Killer. A suffocating, ominously present threat hanging over the city like a sinister cloud of angst and mistrust making people cautious, vary and vigilant. Passerbyers would eye one another and parents would hold on to their children when out in public places, especially in crowded areas. It was as if everybody was a possible suspect and anybody could be next. Even if the killer had only gone after young boys living in certain districts one could never know, right?

At the bus stop, people crammed together under the small rooftop to get some shelter from the relentless rain. I managed to maneuver in between the waiting crowd, tiptoeing and rubbing my icy hands. I didn't know if I was shivering from being cold or from the case I'd been working on and the effect it had on the community. The 7:15 bus was a welcoming sight. It even arrived on time for once. I sure was looking forward to a warm and quiet weekend indoors.