Re: Devoured (Chapter 3)
Here's the next chapter...sorry it took so long. :X
---------------------------------------
“None of this makes sense”, Valerie exclaimed loudly, barely able to keep herself from slamming her firsts on the table. She and Jonathan were sitting in front of some café not too far from their office, trying to draw a conclusion of what little clues they had.
“Lucas Garner, 24 years old, deprived of a few fingernails. Nicole Higgs, 23 years old, deprived of two fingers. Amy Coris, 22 years old, deprived of five fingers. And finally...Liz Reed, 23 years old, deprived of her whole body except the head. All seem to have been killed with some sort of knife or hatchet. Right?”
Valerie felt like she had repeated those words at least a million times today, yet there was no real connection between all of this. The culprit left too few clues to be found and Valerie was unable to understand his scheme of killing.
Just when she closed her eyes to relax for a minute, her work phone rang. Did she want to ignore it? Definitely. Would she? Of course not.
“Valerie Lovell. ID number 698.” While she knew this was necessary, it still annoyed her. Yeah, safety reasons, whatever.
“Good morning, Miss Lovell. I believe there's something you and Mister Glover might want to see in the forensics.”
And somehow, even before getting up to find out what is was, Valerie was more than certain that whatever was waiting for her, she so did not want to see it.
Arriving at the forensics twenty minutes later, Valerie and Jonathan were greeted by their boss, Jack Owen.
“To make it short: We found Miss Reed's body last night. Or rather...someone left it in front of the police station.”
Valerie raised an eyebrow at that. Why the hell would the culprit do that? If he had left it where he killed her – well, that would fit into the scheme, but why bother bringing it somewhere where he could be caught?
One of the employees showed them Liz' body. It looked normal, except for her head missing of course, but something about it felt...off.
“Somehow...”
“It's whole.”
She shot Jonathan a confused glance, knowing that he had thought the same thing as her, but, unlike her, was able to draw a conclusion out of it.
“Except for her head, obviously, her body is in one piece. The culprit didn't steal parts of it. Right?”
Blinking rapidly, Valerie realized he was right. Of course! She looked back at Liz' body, double-checking if it was true.
“But why...I don't see a reason why he should steal body parts of the other victims but not Liz. I...I think we need to find out what he does with them. Maybe that'll give us a clue on why he didn't need Liz.”
Lowering her head, Valerie realized it was getting easier to talk about Liz, a person who was really important to her, as if she were some random pedestrian she had never met before.
“I assume there are no stains on her body or clothes?”, she asked even though she already knew the answer. This maniac was meticulous, apparently not allowing himself to make even a single mistake.
Shaking her head, she took a deep breath. She really needed to get out of here this instant. The atmosphere made her sick and angry because she already knew this wasn't the last time she was going to be here in the course of this case.
“Thanks for letting us know, even though it sadly doesn't help us much as of now.”
With that, she and Jonathan left the forensics, both uncertain what to do next.
“If I were a killer”, Jonathan said slowly while walking next to her, “what would I do with stolen body parts?”
She looked at him in a disgusted way, because she herself had no idea what she would do since they weren't killers and she sure didn't plan on becoming one.
“Don't look at me like that. There has to be a pattern. Maybe he...”, Jonathan frowned before shaking his head as if the answer was more than obvious.
“Of course! Don't you think he might be trying to build a new body out of different people's body parts? He made sure the fingers of Nicole Higgs and Amy Coris were similar to each other. Even Lucas Garner's fingernails looked similar to theirs, right?”
She looked at him for a few seconds, blinking confusedly before realizing he was right. Of course! It was definitely a possibility – and not one that Valerie liked – but even if it were true, the question remained: Why would anyone do that?
“But what about Liz?”, she asked and came to a halt. Why would the culprit first steal Liz' body and then return it? Did he try to steal parts of it but realized he didn't need any of hers for the body he wanted to create?
“Yeah, that's what I'm worried about as well. But I don't think it's coincidence he sent her head to you without stealing anything.”
To be honest, she hadn't even drawn that conclusion, but it made sense. The problem was: What did the killer try to tell her? This body is useless, I'll use it as a shocker before returning the rest? Or maybe that was what he wanted Valerie to think in order to trick her.
“Ahh! None of this makes sense! I need to check my desk. Maybe, hopefully, I missed something.”
They decided to think about their next steps individually, hoping they would find something to help them in this case. But just when Valerie entered her office room, she remembered something important – the letter she had gotten yesterday. At least she thought it would be important.
But the letter was nowhere to be found. She was sure she had left it on the desk before driving to meet Amy Coris' parents. Throwing a confused gaze at the door, she wondered who was able to get in here besides herself.
Maybe she had put it in a drawer of her desk? She was actually quite sure that she hadn't, but decided to check just in case.
What greeted her was a letter, addressed to her in the same handwriting as the first one, but there was no doubting this was a different letter, mainly because of the fact that there was a date and a time written on it.
What the hell was this supposed to be? She couldn't even hope that one of her colleagues was messing with her, because she knew no one should be able to get in here. No one besides her and…
With the letter in her hand, she stormed out of the office and into the one right across the floor without even knocking once.
“Did you put this in my drawer?”, she asked without even believing that he did for half a second, yet hoping that all of this would turn out to be a bad joke.
As she had expected, Jonathan looked at her confusedly, probably just now thinking about what she had said.
“What is that?”, he asked, frowning at her weird attitude. She wasn't the kind of person that didn't knock or accused a friend of something like this. To be honest to herself, she just didn't know what to think.
“There was a letter on my table before we went to see Amy Coris. I know the secretary left it there but she doesn't work on the weekend, as you know, of course. Yet the letter is gone and now I find this one in my drawer. Same handwriting. You and I are the only ones who can get in there.”
She handed it over and dropped on the second chair in the room, burying her head in her hands. This was awful!
“You didn't open it.”
It wasn't a question, yet Valerie nodded without looking at Jonathan. Of course she hadn't opened it yet. Not after…
“I don't wanna find more blood or cut-off limbs in anything addressed to me. You know I'm not that kind of person, but this is starting to frighten me in all honesty.”
When he didn't respond, she looked up to meet his eyes. What could he be thinking? Of course she had never expected him to be the one who did this, and he knew it. But of course that didn't change the fact that this letter had somehow found its way into her drawer.
“You are completely sure you didn't just miss this before and someone wrote a wrong date on it?”
She nodded, remembering she had been tidying up the whole desk just a few days back. There was no doubt this letter really had been put there in the last night.
Jonathan kept staring at her with a look in his eyes she couldn't decipher. He was probably afraid – of course he was – but didn't know what to do, either.
“Valerie. I very well know you don't want to hear this-”
“You shouldn't say it then”, she interrupted but he ignored her completely.
“This is getting dangerous. If whoever is behind this – and we both know that this is the same guy who killed your classmates – already manages to get into your personal rooms, even without having to break the door open, as it seems, there's no telling what could happen next. He might already be hiding in your apartment as of this moment.”
Of course she knew all that, but what exactly was she supposed to do about it?
“Your point?”, she asked curiously. If he was trying to tell her she should drop the case, he'd better guess again. She hadn't become a cop to back down when her life might be in danger.
“Don't look at me like that. I know you'd never drop the case, you're way too stubborn. But I thought it'd be safer if you'd be...accompanied from now on.”
It took her a second to realize what he was trying to say, but when she did, she laughed. No, she giggled, like a little girl.
“You're kidding me”, she said amusedly. But he didn't laugh like her, didn't even crack a smile just so he could prove his point.
“You're not kidding me”, she inferred, rolling her eyes and sighing. Of course there was some sense in what he was saying. She sure didn't want to risk getting in danger and right now, whoever was killing off people without any traces was extremely dangerous to her.
“Let me guess. You already talked this over with the boss and are about to introduce my new bodyguard”, she did her best to make that sound as ridiculous as possible, “to me, hm?”
Now with a small smile on his face, Jonathan nodded and got up. But instead of walking past Valerie like she had expected, he simply walked around the table and came to a halt in front of her, holding a hand in her direction.
“Jonathan Glover. I'm 28 years old and a cop. I'm sure we're gonna be the bestest of friends.”
She chuckled at his stupid attitude before getting up to shake his hand in return.
“Valerie Lovell. 23 years young and already tired of this before it started. Why do I get the feeling none of this is going to go well?”
He cracked a grin at her childish answer, hiking his shoulders in defense.
“I'm not going to argue about this. Being around me is still better than ending up dead in your own apartment.”
“Tsk. Not betting on that yet.”
Here's the next chapter...sorry it took so long. :X
---------------------------------------
“None of this makes sense”, Valerie exclaimed loudly, barely able to keep herself from slamming her firsts on the table. She and Jonathan were sitting in front of some café not too far from their office, trying to draw a conclusion of what little clues they had.
“Lucas Garner, 24 years old, deprived of a few fingernails. Nicole Higgs, 23 years old, deprived of two fingers. Amy Coris, 22 years old, deprived of five fingers. And finally...Liz Reed, 23 years old, deprived of her whole body except the head. All seem to have been killed with some sort of knife or hatchet. Right?”
Valerie felt like she had repeated those words at least a million times today, yet there was no real connection between all of this. The culprit left too few clues to be found and Valerie was unable to understand his scheme of killing.
Just when she closed her eyes to relax for a minute, her work phone rang. Did she want to ignore it? Definitely. Would she? Of course not.
“Valerie Lovell. ID number 698.” While she knew this was necessary, it still annoyed her. Yeah, safety reasons, whatever.
“Good morning, Miss Lovell. I believe there's something you and Mister Glover might want to see in the forensics.”
And somehow, even before getting up to find out what is was, Valerie was more than certain that whatever was waiting for her, she so did not want to see it.
Arriving at the forensics twenty minutes later, Valerie and Jonathan were greeted by their boss, Jack Owen.
“To make it short: We found Miss Reed's body last night. Or rather...someone left it in front of the police station.”
Valerie raised an eyebrow at that. Why the hell would the culprit do that? If he had left it where he killed her – well, that would fit into the scheme, but why bother bringing it somewhere where he could be caught?
One of the employees showed them Liz' body. It looked normal, except for her head missing of course, but something about it felt...off.
“Somehow...”
“It's whole.”
She shot Jonathan a confused glance, knowing that he had thought the same thing as her, but, unlike her, was able to draw a conclusion out of it.
“Except for her head, obviously, her body is in one piece. The culprit didn't steal parts of it. Right?”
Blinking rapidly, Valerie realized he was right. Of course! She looked back at Liz' body, double-checking if it was true.
“But why...I don't see a reason why he should steal body parts of the other victims but not Liz. I...I think we need to find out what he does with them. Maybe that'll give us a clue on why he didn't need Liz.”
Lowering her head, Valerie realized it was getting easier to talk about Liz, a person who was really important to her, as if she were some random pedestrian she had never met before.
“I assume there are no stains on her body or clothes?”, she asked even though she already knew the answer. This maniac was meticulous, apparently not allowing himself to make even a single mistake.
Shaking her head, she took a deep breath. She really needed to get out of here this instant. The atmosphere made her sick and angry because she already knew this wasn't the last time she was going to be here in the course of this case.
“Thanks for letting us know, even though it sadly doesn't help us much as of now.”
With that, she and Jonathan left the forensics, both uncertain what to do next.
“If I were a killer”, Jonathan said slowly while walking next to her, “what would I do with stolen body parts?”
She looked at him in a disgusted way, because she herself had no idea what she would do since they weren't killers and she sure didn't plan on becoming one.
“Don't look at me like that. There has to be a pattern. Maybe he...”, Jonathan frowned before shaking his head as if the answer was more than obvious.
“Of course! Don't you think he might be trying to build a new body out of different people's body parts? He made sure the fingers of Nicole Higgs and Amy Coris were similar to each other. Even Lucas Garner's fingernails looked similar to theirs, right?”
She looked at him for a few seconds, blinking confusedly before realizing he was right. Of course! It was definitely a possibility – and not one that Valerie liked – but even if it were true, the question remained: Why would anyone do that?
“But what about Liz?”, she asked and came to a halt. Why would the culprit first steal Liz' body and then return it? Did he try to steal parts of it but realized he didn't need any of hers for the body he wanted to create?
“Yeah, that's what I'm worried about as well. But I don't think it's coincidence he sent her head to you without stealing anything.”
To be honest, she hadn't even drawn that conclusion, but it made sense. The problem was: What did the killer try to tell her? This body is useless, I'll use it as a shocker before returning the rest? Or maybe that was what he wanted Valerie to think in order to trick her.
“Ahh! None of this makes sense! I need to check my desk. Maybe, hopefully, I missed something.”
They decided to think about their next steps individually, hoping they would find something to help them in this case. But just when Valerie entered her office room, she remembered something important – the letter she had gotten yesterday. At least she thought it would be important.
But the letter was nowhere to be found. She was sure she had left it on the desk before driving to meet Amy Coris' parents. Throwing a confused gaze at the door, she wondered who was able to get in here besides herself.
Maybe she had put it in a drawer of her desk? She was actually quite sure that she hadn't, but decided to check just in case.
What greeted her was a letter, addressed to her in the same handwriting as the first one, but there was no doubting this was a different letter, mainly because of the fact that there was a date and a time written on it.
To Miss Valerie Lovell
October 10
3:33 am
October 10
3:33 am
With the letter in her hand, she stormed out of the office and into the one right across the floor without even knocking once.
“Did you put this in my drawer?”, she asked without even believing that he did for half a second, yet hoping that all of this would turn out to be a bad joke.
As she had expected, Jonathan looked at her confusedly, probably just now thinking about what she had said.
“What is that?”, he asked, frowning at her weird attitude. She wasn't the kind of person that didn't knock or accused a friend of something like this. To be honest to herself, she just didn't know what to think.
“There was a letter on my table before we went to see Amy Coris. I know the secretary left it there but she doesn't work on the weekend, as you know, of course. Yet the letter is gone and now I find this one in my drawer. Same handwriting. You and I are the only ones who can get in there.”
She handed it over and dropped on the second chair in the room, burying her head in her hands. This was awful!
“You didn't open it.”
It wasn't a question, yet Valerie nodded without looking at Jonathan. Of course she hadn't opened it yet. Not after…
“I don't wanna find more blood or cut-off limbs in anything addressed to me. You know I'm not that kind of person, but this is starting to frighten me in all honesty.”
When he didn't respond, she looked up to meet his eyes. What could he be thinking? Of course she had never expected him to be the one who did this, and he knew it. But of course that didn't change the fact that this letter had somehow found its way into her drawer.
“You are completely sure you didn't just miss this before and someone wrote a wrong date on it?”
She nodded, remembering she had been tidying up the whole desk just a few days back. There was no doubt this letter really had been put there in the last night.
Jonathan kept staring at her with a look in his eyes she couldn't decipher. He was probably afraid – of course he was – but didn't know what to do, either.
“Valerie. I very well know you don't want to hear this-”
“You shouldn't say it then”, she interrupted but he ignored her completely.
“This is getting dangerous. If whoever is behind this – and we both know that this is the same guy who killed your classmates – already manages to get into your personal rooms, even without having to break the door open, as it seems, there's no telling what could happen next. He might already be hiding in your apartment as of this moment.”
Of course she knew all that, but what exactly was she supposed to do about it?
“Your point?”, she asked curiously. If he was trying to tell her she should drop the case, he'd better guess again. She hadn't become a cop to back down when her life might be in danger.
“Don't look at me like that. I know you'd never drop the case, you're way too stubborn. But I thought it'd be safer if you'd be...accompanied from now on.”
It took her a second to realize what he was trying to say, but when she did, she laughed. No, she giggled, like a little girl.
“You're kidding me”, she said amusedly. But he didn't laugh like her, didn't even crack a smile just so he could prove his point.
“You're not kidding me”, she inferred, rolling her eyes and sighing. Of course there was some sense in what he was saying. She sure didn't want to risk getting in danger and right now, whoever was killing off people without any traces was extremely dangerous to her.
“Let me guess. You already talked this over with the boss and are about to introduce my new bodyguard”, she did her best to make that sound as ridiculous as possible, “to me, hm?”
Now with a small smile on his face, Jonathan nodded and got up. But instead of walking past Valerie like she had expected, he simply walked around the table and came to a halt in front of her, holding a hand in her direction.
“Jonathan Glover. I'm 28 years old and a cop. I'm sure we're gonna be the bestest of friends.”
She chuckled at his stupid attitude before getting up to shake his hand in return.
“Valerie Lovell. 23 years young and already tired of this before it started. Why do I get the feeling none of this is going to go well?”
He cracked a grin at her childish answer, hiking his shoulders in defense.
“I'm not going to argue about this. Being around me is still better than ending up dead in your own apartment.”
“Tsk. Not betting on that yet.”
Last edited:
