Mindless Quest

The opportunity

A woman in her late twenties with jet black hair, amber eyes and a chiseled face was thumping up and down in a dimly lit room. Beside her lay a large table on which many files lay open mercilessly. On the other end of the large wooden table, there sat a middle aged man with his head lowered as if in deep thought. He looked like a man either caught in realms of mystery or sleeping soundly. The atmosphere in the room was tense and those two people significantly contributed to the tense setting of the room.

The woman straightened her face and directly faced the man. She had a strong and well built jaw line. The woman was nothing sort of ordinary and it was clear from her looks. She looked like someone who had been through a lot and would without a second thought put herself through a lot. Resilience adorned her face and fearlessness dripped from her eyes. She looked like a warrior queen. Her gaze spoke more than words.

"Ummm...Mr.Richardson....Was the weapon found which was used in the last murder?"the woman asked in a silky voice. The words seemed to dissipate into the thin air of the closed room before reaching the slouching man. The man slowly looked up and faced her. This man's gaze too spoke a lot more than his words and the woman nodded slightly. The two people had a lot in common. Both were extremely intelligent.

The man gently rose from his chair and picked up a photo of a teenage boy from the files spread across the table. He held up the photo infront of his eyes and looked carefully. The picture was of a dead adolescent boy and it was impossible to comprehend that he was dead unless the picture was viewed from a close vicinity.
A very thin metal wire was wound around the boy's neck who was lying on his side on a bed. He put down the photo and picked up another. This showed the boy's back side. The back of the boy's head was mutilated by hammering with a blunt heavy object. This was not visible from the front picture.

"Well, Alicia the blunt heavy object with which the boy's head was hit has not been found yet. The boy died from the blood clot in his hind brain. The wire was merely a second step to assure that the child was completely dead. The killer was not assured after hitting his head."he said glumly. His face was scrunched. He let out a deep sigh and shook his head in apprehension.

This was the third time.

The woman name Alicia said," well Mr. Richardson, this boy was the third and there will be more if you ask me and we need to stop these serial murders as quickly as possible or the murderer will wipe out the entire city of Raliya with the rate at which he or she is going." Her voice faltered a bit with those words. She could not see innocent people dying without a cause.

"As far as I have observed from the case files all the attacks were directed towards victims' head which results in an immediate death as the brain suffers serious injuries. Like Mrs.Jefferson was attacked by a large Damascus knife on the back of her head which severed her medulla oblongata. The knife was found at the crime site. The case of Mr. Samuel Spencer is also same just the weapon used was a hatchet. The killer seems to have a good knowledge of human neurology and anatomy. He or she simply disconnects the brain from the body." Alicia took a breath and sat down on a chair and looked up at Richardson.

Mr. Richardson looked at Alicia with a subtle hint of appreciation. All these years that he had invested in the girl had not gone to waste at all. Alicia was incredible at observation and assessment. He cleared his throat and stood up from his chair.

He moved beside Alicia and put an arm on her shoulder." It would all become very clear if you go to Raliya and start investigation physically. You would be interrogating people, identifying suspects, visiting crime scenes and identify the murderer perhaps."uttered Richardson in a low tempting voice so smooth that it can make the devil shiver. Alicia was visibly stunned.

She had been avidly waiting for this opportunity for all these years.