Woohoo, I actually finally did it.
This first chapter is more like a prologue, so I suppose it's shorter than future chapters will be. :3
This story is gonna be like a crime novel, so violence, blood and such will be included. :X You have been warned!
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“Dead,” was the only thing a young woman muttered, half to herself and half to her colleague, Jonathan, who was approaching her just now. He raised an eyebrow at her attitude, grabbing her shoulder with one hand.
“Shouldn't you be at least a little more...concerned, Val?”
Kneeling down to get rid of his hand, she shook her head in defense.
“You expect me to cry over someone I don't even know anymore?”
She put on a glove in order to not leave stains or smudge the ones that hopefully already were on the dead person's face.
“Amy Coris. She was 22 if I recall it correctly.”
The girl's underlip was slit open brutally, probably with a blunt, even rusty knife. Dried blood stuck on her chin and her eyes' expression was hollow. Taking a closer look, Valerie realized something was missing.
“Five fingers," she heard Jonathan say. His voice was calm but she knew he was more than unsettled. Exactly all five fingers were missing on her right hand. They had been cut off neatly right where the palm ended, and were nowhere close to be found.
“Why would anyone steal fingers, though?” Jonathan asked confusedly, crossing his arms in front of his body. But was the culprit actually stealing them? Maybe they cut them off before killing the victim in order to make them suffer more, and then just threw them away. But Valerie was sure there was even more behind all that.
“The first victim was missing only a few fingernails, right? And the second was ripped off two fingers. I wonder if the next one will be missing a whole hand.”
“Could you not talk about a next victim just like that?”
She rolled her eyes and got to her feet, turning away from the corpse. Cleaning this up was luckily not her job, but she couldn't say she was happy with what had to be done next.
First of all, she needed to get some sort of conclusion out of this. This was the third person in a row being killed only days apart, and there was no doubt the murders were linked together. All three of them had been classmates more than five years ago.
Three murders were also enough to draw some conclusions on the locations and the weapons the culprit chose. Amy was lying in the middle of a park right now, not even hid behind a tree or anything. As if he wanted her to be found.
“Of course he does..." Valerie mumbled to herself. It seemed to be his or her goal to kill as many of that certain class as possible without getting caught, and as for now, they had done a pretty decent job on that. No traces, no stains, nothing.
She got back to her office only forty-five minutes later, a big cup of coffee in her right hand and a phone number in her left. It was probably rude, but she had indeed tried to call Amy Coris' parents on the ride back home, kind of in passing, but she really wasn't good with that kind of stuff. Amy's parents had always been kind to everyone and so had their daughter. This news would be more than devastating.
Tons of papers were lined up on the desk, but at least neatly. Valerie remembered the last time she had come here to see a complete mess. Right now, it was actually pretty tidy though, but she really did not have any time for all of this. Her current case was getting more and more intense. Sure, people like Jonathan hoped the culprit would be caught soon, but she was more realistic than that. There would be more victims, and if her prediction of who the perpetrator could be was even closely correct, she kind of already knew the pattern of people he would choose.
Even though she had decided not to care about all the papers right now, one of them caught her interest. To Miss Valerie Lovell. The letters were written in a neat handwriting. One would probably suppose it was that of a woman, but more than that, Valerie felt like she had seen it before.
Lost in thoughts, she jumped when someone knocked on her door. Once, twice, thrice. She only knew one person who knocked exactly like this, so she greeted him with: “What is it, Jona?”
He entered with a small, sheepish smile, as if he was surprised that she actually identified him by the way he knocked on the door – even though she had been doing so for the last two years.
“Amy Coris' parents called back.”
She sighed thoroughly and closed her eyes. Great.
“Can't you just tell them...”
“Val. You don't really want to tell them this via phone, do you?”
She sighed again, this time louder, silently begging for patience. Why not? What exactly was it going to change if she told them via phone or personally? It wouldn't change the fact that Amy Coris had been killed and robbed of five fingers of her hand, probably by one of her former classmates and in the middle of a lonesome park.
Did it really matter if Valerie sat in their living room while breaking the matter to them? It wasn't like she had anything positive to tell them. She didn't even know if the girl had been tortured, and if she knew, she was wise enough not to spill such details. Sometimes, a comforting lie was better than the unalterable truth.
“Fine, I'll do it. Tell them I'll be there in an hour.”
Jonathan nodded before leaving the room. This was so not going to be fun.
This first chapter is more like a prologue, so I suppose it's shorter than future chapters will be. :3
This story is gonna be like a crime novel, so violence, blood and such will be included. :X You have been warned!
------------------------------------------------
“Dead,” was the only thing a young woman muttered, half to herself and half to her colleague, Jonathan, who was approaching her just now. He raised an eyebrow at her attitude, grabbing her shoulder with one hand.
“Shouldn't you be at least a little more...concerned, Val?”
Kneeling down to get rid of his hand, she shook her head in defense.
“You expect me to cry over someone I don't even know anymore?”
She put on a glove in order to not leave stains or smudge the ones that hopefully already were on the dead person's face.
“Amy Coris. She was 22 if I recall it correctly.”
The girl's underlip was slit open brutally, probably with a blunt, even rusty knife. Dried blood stuck on her chin and her eyes' expression was hollow. Taking a closer look, Valerie realized something was missing.
“Five fingers," she heard Jonathan say. His voice was calm but she knew he was more than unsettled. Exactly all five fingers were missing on her right hand. They had been cut off neatly right where the palm ended, and were nowhere close to be found.
“Why would anyone steal fingers, though?” Jonathan asked confusedly, crossing his arms in front of his body. But was the culprit actually stealing them? Maybe they cut them off before killing the victim in order to make them suffer more, and then just threw them away. But Valerie was sure there was even more behind all that.
“The first victim was missing only a few fingernails, right? And the second was ripped off two fingers. I wonder if the next one will be missing a whole hand.”
“Could you not talk about a next victim just like that?”
She rolled her eyes and got to her feet, turning away from the corpse. Cleaning this up was luckily not her job, but she couldn't say she was happy with what had to be done next.
First of all, she needed to get some sort of conclusion out of this. This was the third person in a row being killed only days apart, and there was no doubt the murders were linked together. All three of them had been classmates more than five years ago.
Three murders were also enough to draw some conclusions on the locations and the weapons the culprit chose. Amy was lying in the middle of a park right now, not even hid behind a tree or anything. As if he wanted her to be found.
“Of course he does..." Valerie mumbled to herself. It seemed to be his or her goal to kill as many of that certain class as possible without getting caught, and as for now, they had done a pretty decent job on that. No traces, no stains, nothing.
She got back to her office only forty-five minutes later, a big cup of coffee in her right hand and a phone number in her left. It was probably rude, but she had indeed tried to call Amy Coris' parents on the ride back home, kind of in passing, but she really wasn't good with that kind of stuff. Amy's parents had always been kind to everyone and so had their daughter. This news would be more than devastating.
Tons of papers were lined up on the desk, but at least neatly. Valerie remembered the last time she had come here to see a complete mess. Right now, it was actually pretty tidy though, but she really did not have any time for all of this. Her current case was getting more and more intense. Sure, people like Jonathan hoped the culprit would be caught soon, but she was more realistic than that. There would be more victims, and if her prediction of who the perpetrator could be was even closely correct, she kind of already knew the pattern of people he would choose.
Even though she had decided not to care about all the papers right now, one of them caught her interest. To Miss Valerie Lovell. The letters were written in a neat handwriting. One would probably suppose it was that of a woman, but more than that, Valerie felt like she had seen it before.
Lost in thoughts, she jumped when someone knocked on her door. Once, twice, thrice. She only knew one person who knocked exactly like this, so she greeted him with: “What is it, Jona?”
He entered with a small, sheepish smile, as if he was surprised that she actually identified him by the way he knocked on the door – even though she had been doing so for the last two years.
“Amy Coris' parents called back.”
She sighed thoroughly and closed her eyes. Great.
“Can't you just tell them...”
“Val. You don't really want to tell them this via phone, do you?”
She sighed again, this time louder, silently begging for patience. Why not? What exactly was it going to change if she told them via phone or personally? It wouldn't change the fact that Amy Coris had been killed and robbed of five fingers of her hand, probably by one of her former classmates and in the middle of a lonesome park.
Did it really matter if Valerie sat in their living room while breaking the matter to them? It wasn't like she had anything positive to tell them. She didn't even know if the girl had been tortured, and if she knew, she was wise enough not to spill such details. Sometimes, a comforting lie was better than the unalterable truth.
“Fine, I'll do it. Tell them I'll be there in an hour.”
Jonathan nodded before leaving the room. This was so not going to be fun.
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