American Devil

Chapter 2 - A Scene from Hell

Strolling out of the many open alleyways that mark Kyro's home city, he shoves his hands into his pockets. By the burning sun in the sky, it appears to be way past noon. He's struggling to fight down a yawn that threatens to escape him. It might be a day here but his internal clock tells him it's the middle of the night. Another yawn follows, this one so intense that threatens to stretch his face and create new wrinkles. He almost trips because of it. Spending weeks in Warsaw chasing down clues and fighting through storms of people will do that to a man. He could consider this jetlag, or just a lack of proper sleep. Whatever it is, it's a pain, like usual.
"Should've caught up on some sleep before I decided to come back." He mutters into his open hand that covers up another yawn. "Well, too late now."
Kyro stops walking in the middle of the street, not caring about the people that have to walk around him now. He stretches out the aches in his body, groans as several bones in his body crack at the movement. He lets out one more yawn, stops stretching and tries to shake off the last vestiges of sleep pulling at him.
He's got a job to do and he needs to be able to fully focus to get it done right. He's solved plenty of cases, some so easy that he could have solved them half asleep, maybe even deep in his REM cycle, but this isn't such a case. Because this one is personal. A murder in his hometown. But not just any murder. This one is committed by the one person Kyro has been chasing from the beginning while he was still a kid in college. The one he had been chasing in Warsaw, the only criminal that somehow keeps dodging Kyro at every turn.
This particular murder feels like such an obvious taunt, a "you couldn't catch me all the way across the world, so let me help you out by killing someone in your hometown" sort of insult. It's a spit in the face and Kyro cannot help the mixture of guilt and anger that washes over him.
He is aware that there are plenty of people unsuccessfully looking for this terrorist too, that it is not just up to him alone, but it still feels like he is the only one failing. He should have found this person already, saved all of those people from such a cruel death. Each day this case drags on that sense of failure builds, but especially now, here in Atlanta. So many of those crime scenes have been nothing but dead ends. However, he has to keep trying. Trying being the key word. He just doesn't and can't fail again.
His thoughts circle around everything he has learned so far as he takes quick strides towards his destination. Police tape is already circling the crime scene and there are two police officers behind it. One of them is a familiar face. Kyro has seen him at previous crime scenes. Marcus.
"Hi." He calls out as he approaches, a polite smile plastering on his face. The two men swing their heads towards his voice, interrupting them from whatever discussion they were having. Marcus stands up straighter at the sight of Kyro, while the other man crosses his arms, suspicious.
"Good day to you! I-I mean hello, hi." Marcus stammers out, looks instantly embarrassed at himself, a blush rising high on his cheeks. The other officer turns around to stare at Marcus incredulously.
"Sure, yeah. It's a good day, I guess?" Kyro answers but it sounds more like a question than a statement, momentarily confused by the other man's greeting. Marcus manages to look even more uncomfortable at Kyro's response, so Kyro tries to quickly move on, coughs and says, "So, how are we looking with the case?"
"We?" The other officer now turns his disbelief at Kyro, says the one word with a raised eyebrow, tone mocking. "Who might this 'we' be? Are you a cop too? Is that a new standard police officer uniform that we weren't informed about?" He asks with a sweep of his hand at Kyro's outfit, black leather jacket over a T-shirt, dark jeans and white sneakers. Definitely not the standard issue police uniform. As if he can sense Kyro's argument, the man goes on, "So unless you have some ID or even a piece of paper that tells me you have permission to be on the crime scene, this is the end of the line for you." He says this at Kyro, but quickly turns around with a grin to nudge Marcus with his shoulder. "Get it? Because we're behind the police line?" Marcus looks thoroughly unimpressed. Kyro would maybe even laugh at the stupid joke if the man wasn't standing his path. He's got a case to solve and no more time to waste.
"That's hilarious, really." He grabs their attention again, voice dripping with sarcasm. "I think you chose the wrong career, buddy. You should have been a comedian." Kyro's face turns down into a scowl, having enough of the jeering and ready for this conversation to be over. "I'm a Private Investigator."
"A P.I?" The man asks incredulously. "As far as I'm aware Private investigators aren't allowed on the crime scene."
Just as the officer opens his mouth to say something else, Marcus puts his hand on the man's arm and drags him a step back. "As far as I'm aware, Dillan was dropped onto his head as a baby one too many times. Please don't mind him. You can go right ahead." He says with a nice smile, lifting the tape for Kyro to duck under. The other officer, Dillan, looks ready to protest, but Marcus' grip on his arm tightens which causes the man to give out a loud yelp. Kyro smiles back at Marcus, grins even wider at Dillian who now looks very disappointed, and ducks down under the tape.
"Thanks! I won't take too long." He says, but before he can get far, Marcus' voice calls out to him.
"The other investigators have already come and gone for the day. And they took away the body. Hopefully you can manage to find some clues even without it. Take all the time you need. Good luck!" He gives Kyro a thumbs up. It's such a silly gesture that it makes Kyro chuckle.
"Thanks again!" He throws another grin over his shoulder and a brief wave before walking away to investigate this place.
As soon as Kyro disappears from their line of sight, Dillian frowns at Marcus. "Why would you let him go to the crime scene?" Now it's Marcus' turn to look incredulous.
"Because that's Kyro Roof. One of the most famous P.I.s around here. He's solved a lot of cases for the police. If the case seems like a dead end, they'll call him in to get to the bottom of it. The man is a genius or something, I don't know how he does it. It's like he's got the eyesight of a hawk that helps him spot clues and then his incredible brain connects them to solve the puzzle and catch the criminal." A smirk grows on Dillan's face as his collegue continues to rant about what an amazing P.I Kyro is. It takes Marcus a while to stop. Actually, he only stops because he doesn't like the face Dillan is making, like the cat that got the cream.
"What? What are you smirking about?"
"Oh I don't know, you seem to know a lot about this guy." There is a teasing note to his voice, and his smirk grows wider as Marcus becomes flustered.
"E-everyone knows about Kyro. It's not my fault you live under a rock or something. It's shocking how you ever managed to become a police officer with your sense of awareness." He growls out, flushed from embarrassment. He turns his back to Dillan so he doesn't have to face the mockery.
"Oh I'm sure everyone knows who he is. Well apart from me. But I don't think everyone has a crush on the man like you do." Marcus whips his head around to glare at Dillan, and the man chortles at the murderous expression on his friend's face.
"I don't have a crush on him! Kyro is just a great detective and-" Marcus starts defending himself, but before he can continue, Dillan starts cackling so hard he bends over, unable to hold himself up properly from it.
"I'm sure there are a lot of people who have a crush on him, considering how amazing he is, but not me." Marcus mutters, causing another wave of laughter to go through Dillan.
"I hate you." Marcus bites out, giving up on explaining himself. Dillan's laughter dies down after a moment, finally, but he is still grinning just as wide when he rejoins the conversation.
"You might hate me, and I say might, because I know you don't. But you definitely don't hate Kyro. You like him. 'Like' like him. Kyro and Marcus sitting in a tree-"
"Finish that sentence and there's going to be another body at the crime scene today." Marcus threatens and Dillan raises his hands in surrender, backing up from the other man just in case he decides to make good on his threat.
"Okay, okay, not kissing, but maybe like holding hands, it is the first date after all."
"Shut up, or we're not going to be friends anymore." Marcus jabs a finger into Dillan's chest, and he manages to stay quiet. For a split second, Marcus thinks he is finally in the clear. But then Dillian starts giggling to himself and Marcus knows he is never going to live this down.
"Good day to you!" Dillan imitates Marcus. Another wave of embarrassment floods the man at the reminder of his awkward greeting to Kyro. "That was so lame."
Marcus throws his hands up in frustration. "You were warned. I'm not buying you dinner. You can just sit there while I eat and starve."
The two continue to bicker as they wait for Kyro to finish up at the scene. They still have a job to do after all. The entire crime scene needs to be secured so no trespassers or some rowdy teenagers can break in.
Meanwhile, Kyro walks along the train tracks trying to check everything out. Rest in the remains of an overgrown trainyard sites a decrepit warehouse. It was probably once used to store carts, but Kyro knows it's out of use at the moment. He's going to have to go investigate it afterwards though, once he finishes with the exact place of the murder.
It doesn't take him too long to reach an overturned train cart. He walks past to it, fcircling around the cart to reveal the gruesome murder that resided in it's shadows. There is a sketch of the body, half on the ground, half on the side of the cart, showing that the man had ended his life slumped against it. A number of clue cards are scattered around the area, clear signs of officers that investigated earlier in the day. However, due to the minimal amount of clue cards it doesn't seem they got too much out of the scene. Kyro takes his phone out of his jacket pocket and turns on the voice recorder. It's his turn now.
"This is Kyro Roof, Private Investigator. I am currently at the Atlanta trainyard where a man known as Donovan Bishop was killed during the night. The body was found around twelve hours later by a homeless man who usually sleeps in one of the abandoned carts. He hadn't been at the trainyard last night, however, so he did not witness the actual murder." He says as a brief introduction, before looking at the details.
The hull of the cart seems to be warped. "I can see scorch marks on the metal, which suggests that it got bent in such a way under extreme heat." He approaches the sketch of the body and crouches next to it, looking closer at it. "The man slumped against the cart, probably first thrown from a distance of about..." He looks towards the forest, eyes scanning over the ground, before he continues. "...twenty feet, according to the scorch marks on the ground. But-" He breaks off, getting up, unsure. Walks around the body, checks the clue markers set up.
He continues, "As far as I can tell, the body was thrown back into the cart by an initial blast that left scorch marks about two to three feet away from the body. There are additional scorch marks on the cart and on the ground around where the man was found, probably from an additional blast, the one that killed him. I don't see any indication that the man was tied up. From the position of his arms when he was found, which were lowered at his sides, he doesn't seem to have attempted to defend himself, nor does it look like he made a move to extinguish himself. This might indicate that he was either unconscious when attacked, which is the more unlikely option in my opinion. Or, he knew who the killer was and possibly did not expect such an attack. I should look into his most recent contacts and see if anyone suspicious or familiar pops up, anyone that I might recognize from previous cases." Kyro sweeps his eyes over the entire scene again. "I don't see any gasoline residue, nor any other fuel for that matter. This confirms that it is the same terrorist who I have been chasing down for so many years." There is a frown etched into his features now after confirming for sure that this bastard had in fact followed him back home.
There is nothing else he can get from this scene. He'll need to check out the man's apartment to try and find that contact list, find out where he works, who he works with, anything suspicious. He makes a mental note to ask Terry if the police found Donovan's phone on his body. Hopefully it didn't get destroyed in the fire, it could procure some useful information. But that will all have to wait for the cover of the night. For now, there is more to investigate.
From the scorch marks, it is pretty obvious that Donovan didn't make it to the forest. But that doesn't mean the killer wasn't the one to use the forest as an escape route. Kyro strides over to the edge of the trees, tries to spot anything unusual, maybe burnt grass or sticks, something the killer dropped, but there is nothing. Kyro didn't think there would be, but better safe than sorry.
He walks back following the trail of scorch marks both on the ground and on the carts, past the body line drawn on the ground, past the overturned cart and towards the warehouse. It's clear that this is the path Donovan took in order to escape. Without success.
The doors to the warehouse are wide open, the lights inside off, but there is enough natural sunlight streaming through the large windows so that Kyro can scrutinize the place. Walking in reveals exactly what Kyro expected. The whole place is empty, as it's supposed to be, considering the fact that this warehouse has been officially vacant and out of use for several months now.
However, as he walks further in, Kyro can notice that there is a suspicious lack of dust settled on all the surfaces for a place that has been up for sale for such a long time. There are strange marks on the floor too, and as Kyro bends down to check them out, he sees it's freshly scratched. They look like they were made by something heavy being moved recently. The place was, indeed, used for storing something not long ago, possibly even last night, but storing what exactly Kyro can only guess at this point.
He rubs the bridge of his nose, a headache forming at yet another dead end. Not a dead end exactly, but as close to one as it can get. There is not much else he can get out of this, just like with the previous cases. It's always frustrating. He hopes that researching Donovan's contacts and his apartment will finally give him a clue as to who this monster is.
Just in case, he sweeps his eyes over the warehouse once more. He doesn't want to risk missing something that could be crucial. There is nothing, again. As he marches out, however, something catches his eye and he abruptly stops. From right outside the door, heading in the direction of the entrance to the trainyard, there are tire tracks in the dirt. Large and deep, they must have been made by a truck loaded with something heavy. They look relatively fresh too. Whatever went down last night in this warehouse must have caused the murder of Donovan.
Kyro heads back to the police line, mulling over everything he had found today. The two officers are right where Kyro left them. Marcus now looks to be glaring at Dillan, while the other looks slightly apologetic. Kyro briefly wonders what happened there. He doesn't put a lot of thought into it, as it only seems to be a friendly quarrel.
"Hey Marcus!" He calls out the officer's name from a little further away, grabbing their attention.
"Wait, you know my name?" Marcus gapes at Kyro as the man stops in front of them, clearly shocked. Kyro tilts his head at that reaction, visibly confused that Marcus could think that he didn't know.
"Of course, I know your name. We've seen each other at crime scenes before." Kyro points out. "We've even talked a few times."
"I mean yeah, I know, that's true, we definitely did talk but still..." The man trails off, clearly unsure. "I just didn't think you remembered me. You're you." Marcus responds, a blush spreading across his cheeks.
"I'm me? What does that mean?" Kyro asks with a frown.
"Well, you know, the famous P.I. who constantly solves difficult cases for the city and catches all the uncatchable killers. And me, I'm just an officer."
"You are a police officer who does his job diligently. You're an important part of the investigation, you think the detectives could do all their work without your support? And you are definitely competent at your job, I've seen you in action before." Marcus' face goes an even brighter red at the compliment.
"I guess that's true. T-Thanks for saying that."
"No problem." Kyro grins at Marcus and the man smiles back. They stare at each other for a second too long, it seems, as Dillan clears his throat.
"Are you done? That was awfully quick." He directs his question at Kyro, nodding his head towards the crime scene.
"I got everything out of the scene that I could have. There wasn't all that much to begin with, especially without the body, but it was still informative enough. Thanks for letting me pass."
"Any success?" Dillan wonders, interested if the famed P.I managed to find something that their detectives couldn't.
"Not much honestly. Confirmed that it is our serial killer, but there are still no clues to tell me who it is. Just some leads that I need to follow up on. Cases like this almost always consist of leads not leading anywhere. It's slowly driving me insane, honestly." He grumbles.
"You'll catch them. If anyone can do it, it's going to be you." Marcus chips in with a confident smile.
"Your fate gives me more confidence, that's for sure. I hope you are right." Kyro's face relaxes from the heavy frown into a small smile. "I should get going now. I've kept you guys here for far too long. You need to get back to your work so that you can finish up and finally head home." Kyro says as he backs up.
"It was no problem, really. Anytime!" Marcus says and then corrects himself. "I mean, it's not that I hope there are murders anytime, of course, I don't, I just-" He stops himself when he sees the grin on Kyro's face. "You know what I mean."
"I do, yeah, don't worry." Kyro assures him, not wanting to torture the man further. "I really should get going now." He says, heading towards the street.
"Good luck with the rest of the investigation!" Marcus calls out.
"Thanks! I'll see you around." Kyro waves and turns around as the two officers wave back, before leaning in to start talking quietly amongst each other again.
He heads into the alley that he appeared in earlier that day, secluded enough to escape the watchful eyes of passersby. He hesitates for a second, debating if he should just go home to take a nap and rest up his brain or head straight for the office. He quickly comes to the conclusion that he is too keyed up for sleep and decides that he might as well head into the office and see Vanessa. He hasn't seen her in a while. Besides, this way he can also avoid her nagging about him not coming to see her before heading home. Mind made up, he vanishes in the next second.