Corrupt [h.s]

chapter one

Crimson Abella

•

"Cause of death?"

The words flow easily from my lips as I inspect the dead body lying on the ground, the sight not being anything new to me. Hell, I see this shit every day. Another day, another dead body. The pleasures of being a detective for the NYPD.

"Two gunshot wounds to the chest and abdomen," Bailey informs me from her position next to the body. Her glove-covered hands pull back the sleeve on the dead man's arm, revealing what I already knew was going to be there. "With an upside-down 'e' carved into his wrist."

I release a puff of air through my lips and shake my head, "Nine millimeter?"

"Mhm," Bailey confirms, sending me a knowing look. "Based on the body temperature and blood pooling, the time of death seems to be around midnight."

"Okay. Get him back to the precinct and search his body for any fingerprints. Montgomery and I will search his place," My eyes dart to find Felix, spotting him talking to the witness who found the body. She's the owner of the apartment building and came to check on him when he didn't pay his rent. When he didn't answer the door, she used her key to get in and found him on the floor lying in his own pool of blood.

"C," he catches my eyes and nods me over, momentarily taking a break from writing down notes. I move to stand by his side, the witness staring at us with frightened tears in her eyes. "Neighbors said they thought they heard someone knocking around midnight last night, but no arguing. They didn't even hear the gunshots, so the killer must have used a silencer."

My eyes cast around the room, noticing how there are no signs of a struggle, and the victim is only a few feet away from the front door, "God, it's always the same. Never a struggle, and there's never any yelling. It's almost as if our victims know who it is." Felix nods his head in agreement while clicking the top of his pen. "Do you have any surveillance cameras, Miss Ravel?"

"One by the entrance and another facing the elevators," she nods her head warily.

"We'll need the tapes, if you don't mind," I smile kindly at her before leaving Felix to question her some more. Nothing seems out of the ordinary. There are no tossed-over chairs or broken glass. Just a dead man lying on the floor with two bullet holes in his body.

It's the same with every crime scene and every body. Two bullets lodged into the chest and abdomen, an upside-down 'e' carved into the left wrist, and always a few feet away from their front door. Even after having come across ten bodies, we're still yet to find the killer. They never leave behind any clues or evidence. Just the fucking body.

"Owner said she'll have the tapes to us in an hour," Felix appears by my side. We both stand over the body, each knowing taking it to forensics won't do us any good, yet we'll do it anyway. There's never a single fingerprint or source of DNA from anyone else other than the victim. "Is there an upside-down 'e' carved into the left wrist?"

"As always," I sigh and motion towards the exposed flesh. "I swear this has something to do with Elixir. We always link the victims back to having ties with them, and why else would there be a fucking upside down 'e' carved into their skin? That's their symbol."

Felix hums in agreement and moves to stand on the other side of the body, "Do you think they're trying to send us a message?"

"No. I don't think so. If they were trying to send us a message, their killings wouldn't be so random, and they'd be different each time," I shake my head, wracking my brain for any reason Elixir would be killing these people.

Elixir is the largest drug gang in New York City. They're dangerous and hard to track down, seemingly always one step ahead of us. With every corner we turn, they've already managed to run a whole other block ahead of us. It's fucking frustrating but also understandable considering they have connections in almost every corner of New York. Part of me believes they have an inside connection to someone in the department but seeing as to how everyone in the department despises Elixir, that possibility is nowhere near true.