As the sun light poured in the room, Karl felt a sense of peace. For the last 24 hours he had seen nothing but death and despair. Friends losing friends, band members losing band members, it was all a fog of hate. When he was lying in his bed that morning, it just felt like the only security he had at that point.

The birds seemed to be chirping awfully loud that morning as Karl waltzed his way down the stairs into the kitchen. He forgot to set the coffee maker the night before, so now he had to sit there and make it. As he stood there awaiting his caffeine fix, he thought about the new case that had been unfolding the last few days.

Now there were two murders in the last 24 hours. Both of them were significant band members to their group. Both were brutally murdered by their instrument of choice. Whoever was doing this, knew this people well and killed them in a cruel fashion. The victims never saw it coming.

"I need to find this ****er..." Karl belched as he munched on some Smores pop tarts. He lit up a "cigarette" and took a few puffs. He spaced out for a little bit then grabbed the coffee when it was done.

Then Karls phone started ringing.

"Hello?" Karl questionably answered.

"Hey man." said the mysterious voice.

"Who is this?" Karl asked, confused.

"It's Frank! Your guitarist! In our band! You know!" Frank? said.

"Right! Frank! What's up man, I'm getting ready for work." Karl said, going back to light his cig.

"Well I was wondering, you trying to have band practice tonight? " Frank asked, then dropped his coffee shouting **** immediately after.

"Huh? Well, maybe I got this big case going on. Gotta find this dude, he is killing off musicians. Punk ass Micheal Myers wanna be." Karl laughed, caughing.
"Haha I hear that, well let me know. We got that show in a few days. Peace" Frank said, hanging up.

Karl finished up his coffee, pop tarts and cig and headed outside to his van. He headed to the Lakewood Valley Police Station.

Arriving at the station, Karl parked, got out and headed up that familiar elevator to his desk. Damien could be seen in his lab, singing Bob Marley songs and dancing like a idiot. Candace was sitting at her desk minding her own business. Then an old buddy of Karls walked up, Dwayne Carlson.

"Is that you Karl? Karl Kish? Get over here man!" Dwayne Carlson stoop 6'5, wore gold chains an had a wicked afro. He was practically Shaft. He had won various medals and honors for his work in the police department. He trained Karl when he first started up.

"What's up Carlson? How you been?" Karl shook hands with his hold friend

"Nothing new really, my kid had a kid. That was a little weird. Can you imagine me, a grandfather?" Carlson and Karl look at each other and start laughing.

"So what's this case I'm hearing about? The musician killer you're calling him?" Carlson focused now more on the police work.

"Well yeah, that's what I'm thinking right now anyway. As far as I know, both victims were in bands that were going to play at this upcoming Battle of The Bands. They were both key members of their respective bands,both killed in a brutal fashion by their own instruments." Karl explained that, for like the fifteenth time.

"Wow, that is extremely disturbing..Both murders happened yesterday? What about the other bands? We should check up on the members. We need to make sure that whoever is killing them, doesn't kill anymore." Carlson explained and Karl agreed.

"I'll head to the venue of the Battle of The Bands, get all the bands information. We need to stop this before it gets out of hand. I'll be back soon." Karl said, he started walking away but Dwayne stopped him.

"Wait, let me come with you. I haven't been out on real police work in awhile." Dwayne and Karl walked out and headed down the elevator.

"You know, you didn't have to come. I could have done this by myself." Karl sighed

"Why the beef? I just wanted to get out of that god awful office. Got any trees?" Dwayne laughed.

Karl pulled out a doob and the two of them headed out of the elevator and over towards Dwaynes car. They headed to The Stone Pony, the venue where the Battle of The Bands would be played. The rain came back half way there. The dark clouds symbolized the dark times ahead.

As Karl and Dwayne pulled up the venue, Dwayne pulled out his wallet.

"Hey, do you want to see my grandkid?" Dwayne smiled, as he handed Karl the picture.

"Haha, he looks just like you!" Karl laughed, as he reached for his badge.

"It's a girl.." Dwayne sighed.

"OH! Well! It's a beautiful baby girl! So about the case?" Karl awkwardly laughed, then tried to change the subject real quick.

"Yeah yeah. Well I suggest we head in there, ask him anything he knows about the bands, then ask him for the band list with names of all the members. We need to warn them." Dwayne got serious, and then got of the car.

"Yeah good call, alright let's head in there." Karl said, then getting out of the car.

They walked over to the front door of the venue, and walked in. It was a rusty old building, it had seen better days. Apparently some real well known groups have played there, but no one remembers their names. The ceiling was all black, possibly tar build up from fans chain smoking cigarettes all these years. Dwayne and Karl walked over to the receptionist.

"Excuse me? Hi, I'm Detective Karl Kish of the Lakewood Valley Police Department. This is Dwayne Carlson, also a detective. We need to ask you a few questions. Is that okay?" Karl said looked into the receptionists eyes. She was in her early 20s. Ditzy blonde, pretty but with half a brain. She looked at Dwayne and Karl for a minute.

"What is this about? I think you may have the wrong place guys." the receptionist sighed, obviously not interested and trying to get rid of them so she could continue to do nothing.

"No, I am sure we are in the right place. This is where the Lakewood Valley Battle Of The Bands is to be played, correct?" Dwayne asked, putting his hand firmly down on the table.

"Whoa, excuse me sir. Yes this is where it will happen. Why are you interested in signing up?" the receptionist asked, while combing her long blonde hair.

"No nothing like that. We have had a couple murders in the last 24 hours. Both victims were members of bands prepared to perform at the concert.We were looking for any information you might have on them." Karl asked her, fed up with the small talk.

"OH MY GOD?! ARE YOU SERIOUS?! WHO?!" the receptionist stood up, shocked and now was the one looking for answers.

"The victims according to the report filed by my partner are John Frick of The Tides, and Wes Chambers of The Sponge. Would there be any reason for them to be murdered? Did they have a bad history when any of the other bands? Anything at all you can tell us would be really helpful." Karl said looking at his papers.

"Well, I don't know much about the bands..Or the people in them..I just know them from seeing them in here every once in awhile. I'm sorry..." the receptionist girl started to pout.

"It's okay. Well, do you have the list of bands and members in each? Contact information for each of them?" Dwayne looked at her, and could tell she didn't know much.

"Well I do have band members information. It's a list of all the bands and their member's, but I only have contact information for one member of each band. That is all that is required. " the receptionist explained.

"Okay, well can you make me a copy of that? I'm going to need to give the other members a heads up. I don't want anymore lives lost." Karl said, as he reached over to the receptionist.

"Yeah sure. Here you go sir." the receptionist handed Karl the list.

"Thank you for your time Ms. Have a nice day." Karl smiled, then him and Dwayne walked out of the venue heading back towards Dwayne's car.

"Well it's something I suppose. We needed to start calling up these kids and letting them know there is a musician killer on the loose. Any of these kids could be next. Let's head back to the station." Dwayne said, as he got back into his car.

"Yeah that's all we can really go off right now." Karl sighed, as he lumped back into the passenger seat.

The two of them rode off back to the station. As they pulled up, Karl received a call on his cell phone.

"Hello? Yes this is Karl, the one and only. What?" Karl then had a look of disgust on his face.

"What is it? Karl? " Dwayne looked puzzled, as he tried to figure out what was going on.

"Okay, I'm on my way." Karl hung up the phone.

"Karl, answer me man! What's going on?" Dwayne questioned loudly now, he needed to know.

"We got another homicide, it's looking like it was another musician. Rose is going to text you the location of the crime scene. I'll meet you there.. " Karl got out of Dwayne's car and ran off to his van. He immediately headed in the direction of the newest crime scene.