"Do you believe in God, detective?" I lazily shift my eyes away from the pieces of evidence to look at this lazy bastard. "Why?" I curiously asked.
He started walking towards me, mumbling something, playing the pen between his hands, trying to act so cool and genius, wtf. "Coz I assure you, this is just the start." He drew his arms around me and hands me a photograph from the crime scene, "Greed... Dante's inferno," he whispered.
"Do you think it will be a series of murders?" I excitedly jumped out of my seat, focusing on the photograph. My eyes are glued at the congressman. His body was curved into a 'C.' I almost puke again when I saw his hand was cut off to become the straight line of 'G.'
"Crazy fool" my partner impatiently said, pertaining to the criminal. I look at him, "Don't ever call a man as tactical as this as a fool." I look back at the photograph. "For a man full of knowledge, you know so little." I side-eye him and look at the photograph, again.
Mr. Rodio's body was curved to be a 'C.' His arm was cut off to make that 'C' form into a 'G.' A bloody text 'REED' was written using the victim's blood. His killer even used the thumb of the victim to write the succeeding letters of GREED.
No fingerprints, no DNA, and unclear motive. Christmas is fast approaching and this is my gift? What the hell.
"So," He jumped out to me, "Do you have Catholic faith?" I tilted my head, unsure why it is necessary.
"None." I blankly stare at him. A full minute of silence airs. I sighed, breaking the silence, "You see, Rodriguez, Catholic faith is a fantastic gift I have yet to receive." Still quite unsure why that question is necessary, I stand up to get my coat, heading towards the door. "Sleep, I'm outta here. I pat his back, "We need patience and intelligence to unveil this murder. Take a rest"
"Adios, Sir!"
The next morning, I wake up still questioning the killer's existence. He's a ghost. No DNA, no fingerprint, unclear motive. Did we miss something?
I remember the congressman's position. On how the killer curved his body, how the killer cut his arm to create a 'G.' It gives me shiver. As I close my eyes, the red text of the word 'REED' flashed through me.
Greed is such a vast word. It may belong to Dante's Inferno about the seven deadly sins, but it's too early to conclude. Must I wait? Must I wait for someone to be dead just to prove it's the 7 deadly sins?
I hurriedly run to the office to look at the pieces of evidence as if my world depends upon those. I'm sure we missed something.
"Mornin' Detective!" Rodriguez greets me with such enthusiasm. I look at him, thinking if I should let him with me. "Come, help me investigate the scene." With such a hurry, I collected all the photographs and drove to the crime scene.
There, I see the body mark. I look at the evidences. "What are we missing?"
I could not help but feel hopeless as he looks at me with such clueless emotion. He's staring out of nowhere. "Idunno, Det, but I'm sure as hell that painting looks creepy," he acted as if he's shivering. I should have done this alone, sighs.
I look at the congressman's body form in the photograph. I closed my eyes as I imagined the fresh look of the scene.
Photo credits to here
What did we miss? What? I picture myself walking around the scene, looking at everything. Accidentally, I stumbled on the victim's arm. Something sunk into me. There, I realized something! "The arm!" Rodriguez looked at me with disbelief.
"Detective, I recall saying painting, but you said arm? He walked towards me and sandwiched my face. "Did you not sleep?" He tilted his head weirdly. Everything Rodriguez does makes me want to punch him. Funny thoughts, huh.
"Look at the congressman's hand." He looked at it dumbfounded. "Yeah, I see, his arm's cut. I guess he can't do Snow Angel in hell now, huh, deserved."
"Dumbhead, his finger's pointing towards the painting. He looked at it. Despite giving him what he should know, his dumb ass can't reach the required IQ, eh?
"The Severed Heads," I raised my arm and pointed it at the painting. I tried so hard to explain, "His finger's pointing at it." But, still, he gave me no response. Disappointed at my second attempt, I am anything but proud of my co-workforce.
"Theodore Gericault..." I explained to him. Theodore Gericault made this art piece, 'The Severed Heads'. He's known for his main theme: cut limbs and body parts.
He tried listening to me but, "Soooo?" He said with funny hand movements. For the third time, I felt disappointed. I sighed, "Just take a photo of this angle," I commanded.
After I hear the snap, I proceed to remove the painting. I tried to find anything but, I found nothing. There must be something.
Eager to find anything, I remove the frame of the painting. Something fell off. "What the fork?" Rodriguez, as always, has something dumb to say." Hand me a clean cloth."
I carefully lift the tongue that fell from the painting. Our killer has the hobby of cutting, huh? Rodriguez on the other hand, collected the photographs and the flash drive behind the frame.
Thinking that we collected all behind the painting, a letter fell, saying,
"Should people suffer in the dark,
I'll illuminate the truth,
Blood will run as told,
Corruption and secrets will unfold."
After collecting, we pinged forensics to examine the tongue. While waiting for the team, we studied the photographs. We're shocked to see how brutal every picture reveals.
"Damn, our man's a sadist" I looked at him as he said that. "Or woman. And he or she is unbelievably patient," I added.
Some photographs are dated five years earlier. Different victims, different tortures. I'm hoping that these cases were filed to the police to run some cross-checking.
Our criminal is not an easy-peasy. Whoever he or she is, one thing's for sure. This is a game he/ she wants to play. The guts to reveal the victims is something I did not expect.
I'm afraid of two criminals, genius and patient as hell. Five years of waiting, and here it comes. The spotlight has to be run.
It's been 10 minutes and the sky looks dark. After a few minutes, the team arrived. We hand all the evidence: the tongue, the photographs, and the flash drive that I assume contains all the corruption evidence against our corrupt victim.
Rain poured, and the electricity went off. We had no choice but to use flashlights. But, a strange thing captured my attention. "Wait!" I shouted while everyone's so busy. The lines from the poem keep repeating in my head.
"Should people suffer in the dark,
I'll illuminate the truth"
I never liked being the center of attention, but I don't want a piece of evidence to be ruined. "Capture this one." I walk toward the wall where the painting was mounted, "Hand me a bush and a powder."
I brushed the wall and a message was revealed. "Help me, help them. There will be two more. Are the police always late?"
A message that is written with a fingerprint. And I'm a hundred percent hella sure that this is not our criminal's print.
That's for my Halloween entry, everyone. I'm really shy about posting this, haha. I've been contemplating if I'll be clicking that publish button or nah. This is my first time writing a story. I'm sorry for the errors you might have found. Let me know what I should improve. Should I continue it?
Disclaimer: I have watched several thriller and mystery films. You might've noticed that some lines are familiar. I always save my favorite lines from the movies I watched and the books I read. Let me know if you recognized them! Most parts of this are based on the movie SE7EN, a 1995 film written by Andrew Kevin Walker and directed by David Fincher. This is a notable film, especially with Morgan Freeman and Brad Pitt as a few of the casts! Look up the summary here
