In Your Custody

•FORTY-SIX•

"You've seen the report?" Axel wasted no time with small talk or greetings. He threw his coat down on the chair across from Detective Burnns' makeshift desk and paced back and forth.

Mason looked up from his computer and took off his square reading glasses, leaning back, "Which one?"

"The necropsy. Yes or no?"

"Of course." He said, "It's my job."

"Good." Axel sat down, his legs spread his elbows propped on his knees and his hands clasped together in front of him, "Who did it?"

Mason couldn't stop himself from snorting out a chuckle, "I thought I knew that three weeks ago, but I guess I was wrong."

"Well, give me a good answer now."

"I know you're worried, we all are, but-" He set his glasses down on a pile of papers, "If I was you, I would be more concerned about Leviathan's family prosecuting you with a wrongful death claim."

"The man killed himself before I even arrived!" Axel told him through gritted teeth, his eyes blazing into him, "You were the one who sent us there in the first place!"

"You had no warrant to enter his residence!"

"I found that girl's god damn necklace! What was I supposed to do? Sit there and do nothing?" He shouted, the disturbance causing the few officers in the department to turn and look at them, "He was far from innocent."

"Good, now we're on the same page." Mason clicked a few keys on his computer, and turned the screen at an angle so Officer Davis could see better, "He wasn't working alone. Leviathan was not the brains, he was muscle. He was a nobody, used to cover their tracks."

"You're a piece of shit." Axel seethed, "I asked what you knew, you could have just told me."

"Don't question my methods and I just might be able to save your pretty Vera." Burnns licked his teeth and arched his brow, "Okay?"

Axel had to physically bite his tongue to stop himself from cursing him out. His knuckles were turning white from how hard he was squeezing his hands together to prevent himself from leaping over the desk and strangling him, "Shut up."

"They found another girl." The detective pointed to the screen where a photo of a young woman, no older than possibly 23, washed up on her back on the banks of another lake.

Unlike the others, this one's eyes remained. Lifeless, but a brilliant and stunning blue, practically like glass marbles. Her red hair was shaved on the sides, except for one small patch near her forehead that was braided in a long thin strand. She was naked, her genitals mutilated and destroyed, Axel had to look away, gagging from the sight. It was so horrific and graphic, it somehow didn't even compare to the previous girls, whose torture now looked like child's play.

Mascara clumped in her eyelashes, red lipstick staining her teeth and smeared across her face.

"Was it him?" Axel asked, his mouth agape in shock and horror. His chest rose and fell quicker with each picture that flashed across the screen, "Stop!" He felt his face heating up and a flame searing behind his eyes.

Detective Burnns clicked out of the report, the images disappearing off the screen, "It feels like him, but it's different."

"Why her? Why was she so different?"

"Her name was Kaylee Bennett. She's been missing since July." Mason closed his eyes and turned away, "They found her at Branched Oak. I got the call last night." He wiped his nose with the back of his sleeve, clearing his throat.

Axel stared at the now blank screen, those blue eyes haunting him, flashing through his mind, "He kept her. He kept her like... like a... pet." He swallowed harshly, "Any sort of lead, at all?" He asked.