Fifteen years ago, my parents-in-law were cut into pieces. My wife and I spent years searching for the killer.

One day, I came back from the market and found that the neighbor’s family had been murdered in the same way.

At the crime scene, I saw the neighbor’s face in the mirror.

I rushed out and chased him.

I was just about to catch him when my wife stopped and handcuffed me with her own hands.

“Drop the act. You’re the killer!”

One morning, I came back from the market and saw a crowd gathered downstairs in the compound.

More than a dozen police cars were parked at the entrance. The neighbors stood around and were all talking at the same time.

“Mr. Lane and his family died horribly. The old lady who was bedridden was chopped into pieces!”

“Mr. Walker, you’re finally back. The neighbor’s family was slaughtered. Blood flowed down the second floor all the way to the first. It was terrifying.”

Chopped into pieces? Hearing those words again after so many years, my heart skipped a beat.

I rushed up to the second floor. Police tape sealed off the unit across from mine. My wife, Rebecca Parker, stood there with a group of officers collecting evidence. A forensic doctor examined the bodies. I took out my badge, then put on gloves. I stepped over the tape and entered the scene to inspect the bodies myself. The more I looked, the more shocked I became.

The cuts were clean. A mirror sat on the coffee table.

It was the same method as fifteen years ago!

Fifteen years ago, my parents-in-law were killed during a home invasion. Their bodies were cut up. The cuts were clean. Their heads had been placed on the coffee table, and a palm-sized mirror had been placed beside them. They had been drained of their blood. The scene had been so brutal that no one could bear to look at it.

Rebecca was deeply shaken after that. Her hair turned white overnight. We spent fifteen years investigating the case. We grew middle-aged, but we still had no answers.

I wiped my tears. The method was the same. It was very likely the same killer striking again.

The mirror on the table reflected the crowd gathered on the first floor.

One of them was a man with a scar on his face. The more I looked at him, the more familiar he seemed. It was my neighbor, Warren Lane.

Then who was the body?

I rushed downstairs. I pushed through the crowd on the first floor. Warren tried to run. He looked panicked. His reaction made me even more certain that he was involved in the case.

He might have been the one who killed my parents-in-law fifteen years ago!

“Make way. I’m making an arrest!”

More people gathered. I kept losing distance to Warren. I shouted again for people to move aside. Warren heard the noise and looked back. He ran even faster. Before long, he reached the entrance of the compound. I ran along the wall where there were fewer people. Then I took out a flare gun and fired it into the sky.

Warren tripped over a stone and fell. I saw a bullet scar on his arm.

It was him! When I chased the killer back then, I shot him in the left shoulder. It was the same spot.

I thought of my parents-in-law. I thought of Rebecca’s pain. I gritted my teeth and forced myself to run faster. The killer I had been hunting for fifteen years was right in front of me. I was finally going to bring him to justice. I was not on duty today. I did not bring my gun or handcuffs. That made the arrest difficult.

I was about to catch Warren when a car stopped at the entrance of the compound. Warren quickly opened the door and climbed into the back seat. Then, he tried to kick me away.

I grabbed his leg tightly and refused to let go.

I could not let him get into that car. If I let him escape this time, it would be much harder to catch him again.

The car started moving. Warren slammed the door against my head, but I used my elbow to block the impact. The car sped up. My knee scraped the ground and bled, but I still did not let go.

At a turn, I used the momentum and pulled Warren down with me.

We rolled onto the main road. Warren punched me in the nose. I did not stop to wipe the blood. I grabbed his wrist and tried to pin him down. Warren twisted his body and slammed into my stomach.

It had to be him. The killer. This was the same old injury from when the killer stabbed me years ago. Only the real killer would know this detail. We fought on the ground. I was no longer young. I did not know how long I could keep going.

Just as I was about to lose strength, Rebecca arrived with her team.

I felt a brief relief. Then, I saw her bend down and put handcuffs on me.

“The killer is you!”

“What did you say?”

I looked at Rebecca’s furious face. I could not believe it.

“Have you lost your mind? The killer is Warren. He killed your parents fifteen years ago. Two murders. Fifteen years on the run. Arrest him now!”

Rebecca slapped me hard across the face.

“The one I’m arresting is you! You ran for fifteen years! Both dismemberment cases were done by you!”

I struggled to sit up. I was breathing hard. Blood from my nose dripped down my chin. I thought I heard things because I pushed myself too hard during the chase.

But the cold metal on my wrists told me this was real.

“You’ve lost your mind! The killer is Warren!”

As if it were still not enough, Rebecca stepped forward again and kicked me hard twice.

“Drop the act! My mom said that you were the killer!”

Warren stood nearby with his hands on his hips. He was out of breath. He looked at us with a strange expression, as if he did not know what to do.

Anger rushed through me, and my eyes turned red. I demanded an answer.

“Your mom has been gone for fifteen years! How did she tell you? In a dream?”

Rebecca’s eyes filled with tears. She raised the mirror in her hand and said with a quiver, “The mirror told me!

“This is the evidence. Listen. My mom used this to identify you as the killer.”

I stared at the mirror in her hand. It was the mirror from the coffee table at the crime scene. The same mirror had been there at the dismemberment case fifteen years ago.

But how could a mirror speak? That sounded even more absurd than a message in a dream!

The major dismemberment case from fifteen years ago shocked the whole of Raventon. Everyone knew about it. After the incident, the residents moved out overnight. The entire street became quiet. No one dared to live there anymore.

After all, the killer was still on the run. He could return to the scene at any time.

I stayed at my parents-in-law’s home for a full month before the killer came back. During the arrest, I held back because I was afraid of hitting bystanders.

When we got close, we fought hand-to-hand. I shot him in the shoulder, but he still got away.

For fifteen years, Rebecca and I searched day and night. We left the Raventon Major Crimes Unit to join the one in Sylvara. I had finally caught the culprit.

But she said that the killer was me. The man I had hunted for fifteen years was me.

How could that be?

Among the officers, my trainee, Jason Lloyd, could not stand it anymore. He stepped forward and tried to stop her.

“Ms. Parker, are you under too much pressure from this case? We all know what happened back then—”

I looked at Jason with hope in my eyes. He was the best recruit I had taken into the special unit. He trained under Rebecca and me and was like a son to us. He followed us on cases and even spent holidays with us.

Jason gave me a reassuring look. He was about to talk her down.

Rebecca handed him the mirror. Jason took it. He seemed to see something terrifying and quickly went silent.

“Mr. Walker, I didn’t expect the killer to be you!”

They looked at me the same way. They wanted to tear me apart to avenge my parents-in-law.

“That’s impossible! How can a mirror show who the killer is?”

I struggled with anger. I tried to get up and see what was in the mirror.

Jason kicked my knee hard and forced me back to the ground.

Rebecca took the mirror back. She called for the team to put me in the police car.

Warren stood there. He looked stunned.

“The killer is him?” he asked.

Rebecca wiped her tears. Her voice was full of grief.

“It’s him. I never thought he could be this cruel. He killed my parents!”

Then she handed the mirror to Warren, who leaned forward with curiosity.

He took the mirror, and his expression immediately changed.

“Y-yes, it’s you.”

Warren’s hands shook. He could barely hold the mirror.

Rebecca stepped forward and held the mirror steady. Jason ran over as well. He was afraid Warren would drop it.

“The killer is you! I saw it!”

Warren looked like he had seen something terrifying. He kept shaking. Then he pointed at me and shouted.

“I didn’t expect you to be the killer. It wasn’t enough that you killed your parents-in-law. Why did you have to kill my mother too?”

I looked at the three of them. They all had the same reaction. I froze for a moment.

How was that possible?

A mirror was just a mirror. It showed whoever stood in front of it.

How could it show my face no matter who looked into it?

But their grief did not look fake. What was so strange about that mirror? How could it make my wife, my trainee, and my neighbor all believe I was the killer?

“I didn’t kill your mother. It wasn’t me.”

I stared at Warren. He stood there with tears and snot on his face as he accused me.

“I came back from the market this morning. I heard the news as soon as I got downstairs.”

I listened to Warren describe where he went and what he did. The more I listened, the stranger it felt.

“That’s a lie! I was the one who went downstairs to buy groceries this morning! You followed me!”

I stared into Warren’s eyes. I searched for anything out of place.

“If you’re not the killer, why did you run?”

Hearing this, he swallowed. He looked like he remembered something terrifying. He started to panic. He could barely get his words out.

“Because I saw it. I saw that you’re the killer. You killed my bedridden mother. Then you came to kill me to silence me. Was I supposed to not run and just wait for you to kill me? You’re a psychopath.”

I did not expect him to say that. I stared at him in shock and felt so angry that I could barely breathe.

“You’re talking nonsense! You’re the killer! I was chasing you. You’re the killer who has been on the run for fifteen years!”

Warren was about to speak, but Rebecca stepped forward and grabbed my throat.

“You’re the one talking nonsense. Give me back my parents! What did they ever do to you? You twisted monster. Why did you torture them like that?”

Years of police training had made her grip strong. It did not take long before I started lacking air. My hands were cuffed. Her hand was on my throat. I struggled with all my strength. When I was about to pass out, Rebecca let go, and I coughed hard.

“I won’t let you die so easily!”

Rebecca was still not satisfied. She slapped me twice more before kicking me a few times.

Jason stepped forward to hold her back.

“Ms. Parker, calm down. We have a witness now. Once we close this case, we can also solve the major case from fifteen years ago. Your parents can finally rest in peace.”

Hearing that, Rebecca signaled for Warren to follow them to the police car. The officers hauled me up and took me back to the station. My former colleagues heard that the killer from the major case had been caught. They all looked at me in shock.

When I entered the familiar station, I suddenly remembered something. I had a witness too.

“Captain! The captain can prove my innocence. I’m not the killer.”

I grabbed Rebecca’s hand and begged. The handcuffs struck the mirror in her hand and made a clear sound.

The captain, Louis Taylor, heard that the major case had been solved. He pushed open the interrogation room door.

He saw me sitting in the suspect’s seat and froze.

“Rebecca, are you joking? Why is your husband sitting here?”

Rebecca stood up and gave a formal salute.

“It’s him. He killed my parents.”

Louis realized she was serious. His expression turned serious as well.

“This is not something to joke about. Lives are at stake. You say he is the suspect. What evidence do you have?”

Rebecca nodded. Her voice trembled. She pointed at Warren in the corner.

“He is the witness. His name is Warren Lane. He is our neighbor. He is also the victim’s family in today’s dismemberment case.

“As for the physical evidence, it’s this.”