Mad

Chapter 4

~Detective Jasper~

I completed my rounds for the day, the station was still on the high of catching 'The Artistry Killer' so there was a lot more chatter as several of us chose this period where there was a lull in activity to catch up on filing paperwork between patrols.

I took a case file with me as I went over to the lab, knocking on the glass to get the attention of the two flitting around inside. Their heads popped up as i entered.

"Did you guys finish analysing evidence number 37H59B279?" I asked, tucking the folder under my arm.

"Just uploaded them to the system. Do you need the hard copies?" Jason asked, Sue returned to her work.

"If you don't mind." I replied, glancing around and noting what I needed, waiting until they were both distracted to pocket it.

After I got what I needed, which was essentially the final piece needed to close out a minor case, I headed out for an early lunch.

"Did you do it?" I sent the text and shortly after, got at short 'yes,' in response.

"Good. 5:30, watch carefully." After I sent the message, I covertly slid the letter into the post box, casually addressed to the chief.

Now the wait began.

~Chief Maddox~

The letter that arrived was something new. Never has he actually sent a letter to me or to any police for that matter but even so this was cause for concern. A change in MO was never a good thing in my book. Apparently his next kill was going to be extravagant. If I had anything to say against it, he would be behind bars before his next one. I had cops on constant patrol for the night so hopefully nothing would happen.

It was about 10:30 when the call came in reporting that another body had turned up. The forensics team packed up and we headed over the location that they gave. When we got to the crime scene the sight before us was gruesome. An officer was comforting the finder of the body which appeared to be a woman that was out for a jog if her attire was anything to go by. The victim in question was a woman in her late twenties. Her body was suspended from the light pole and beneath her was the words 'I'm back'. As always carved into her body was what he named his 'latest masterpiece',

Puppets.

"Puppets, that's plural... Search the surroundings for another body, this guy doesn't do anything without reason." I barked out the order.

They began to spread out and not long after did I hear Detective Jasper call out that he had found it. The body this time had the word 'Encore' carved into it and I let out a sigh. This was defiantly going to be a long night.

****

Zeek came back running and stopped in front of me with a huff.

"They found several hairs and sent them off for testing." He said with a huff.

I gave him a pat on the shoulder before I headed back to the first body. Something seemed off to me. Why now. After all this time why did he decide to come back? Why now was there evidence at the scenes? Was he getting messy or was this a copycat trying to be the real Artistry Killer.

Maker came up to me next, not saying a word but instead handing me a letter and then walking away. I took a long look at the outside before deciding to open it.

'How did you like my latest masterpiece? I find it exquisite. I'll tell you this, I'm getting rather bored of this, it's not fun anymore so I decided to leave you a few...clues... Whether or not they are legit is up to your department. I'll be killing again soon and thus time I'll leave a little present for you. Call me sick but I can easily say I love what I do.'

~AKJ

"Get this to a graphologist." I instruct the nearest officer as I hand the paper over.

They took it and jogged off to get it done. I examined the first body closely.

"He's got to be tall and know how to lift heavy object from how the body is suspended. We also need to test this blood to see who exactly belongs to. This is the real killer and the MO is changing meaning he's evolving. He's getting bored so he's doing little things to get that high back." I explained taking notes on the body and other details I picked up on and was told.

After we did our investigation the coroner arrived and transported the bodies to the lab for autopsies. We headed back to the HQ as cleanup crew arrived at the scene. It was definitely going to be a long night.

~Sue~

Seeing as TAK has resurfaced my work load has been increasing as the days go on. I had just received the blood samples and Jason was currently running samples on the hairs we got in.

"Um we have a problem." He piped up and I slid over to where he was peering into a microscope.

"What is it?" I asked as he moved aside and allowed me to look through the microscope myself.

"It's from a wig." I confirmed standing upright.

"Yeah, but luckily, by the way the fibers are constructed you can tell that it's a high quality wig so it shouldn't be too hard to trace it back to a shop in surrounding areas." He stated.

"Get to work then." With that I started the half hour process of testing the blood samples.

....:::: One hour later::::....

"Holy ham sandwich!" I exclaimed when I finally finished with all of my testing.

"What! I can tell you found something good!" Jason said popping his head up from the counter top.

"Come here." I waved over and he hopped up and came to stand by my side.

"So this is from one section of the writing on the ground and it matches the victim that was suspended." As I was explaining he was looking at the strands and nodding along.

"Now this." I switch the sample.

"Is a little towards the end, not really purposeful but I tested it and guess what?" I asked turning to him.

"It doesn't match...." He trailed off.

"It doesn't match either of the two victims at the scene!" I squealed and he beamed.

"So you think it belongs to our killer?" He questioned.

"I don't know who it belongs to but I do know that it's not animal and the killer either didn't realize or planted this sample. Judging by how and where it was though, as well as the amount I would say that it's accidental." I ranted and he laughed at me.

"Time to go tell the boss man."

~Unknown POV~

I waited until the two left out of the lab to slip inside. After looking around I found the samples, switching them out for ones that I had already planted. Once that was done I chuckled as I snuck out of the lab without being seen. I pulled out my phone and looked down at it seeing the message 'it's a go.'

I clocked out and said my goodbyes to the night crew. Then I hopped into my car and proceeded to the said place about three hours outside of town. The set target was just coming home when I made my strike. Everything was going according to plan. This was sure to get everyone's attention. Tonight's masterpiece...

Mirrors.