- IT ALL BEGINS IN THE NEW YEAR -
CHAPTER 1
January 02, 2012 – and the Midnight before.
She watched him drag the dead girl up the stairway, out of the basement, and into the room upstairs. Fear filled her heart; she knew it was her turn soon. She cursed herself for not being able to get out of that hell. With her limbs tied up and cloth stuffed in her mouth, the only thing she could do was stare at the reeking and pungent walls of the basement, the leaking roof and the windows closed shut with wooden planks nailed across them. Though she was held hostage for the past one week, she never spoke to the girl he killed before her eyes.
She heard the floorboards creak above her. The flickering light went dim for a fraction of second and then glowed in all its glory. She turned her head and saw the door of the basement open and close; a shadow emerged on top of the stairs, slowly descended down and stood before her. A vehement smile came upon his face and his eyes gleamed at the girl. She felt weak; tears rolled in her eyes; and she felt so brittle. She knew that was going to be another such day, when he stabbed her or made careful cuts on her body.
*
“What do we have?” Kia asked.
The night’s breeze carried a sickening and bloody foulness until it was morning again. The glimmering rays of the sun were the first to gaze at the blood in the alley. The girl was leaning against the wall, with her hands and legs stretched wide, head carefully supported against the wall. Blood dried up on the cement pavement around her.
Kia made her hair into a single plait and adjusted her shirt as she entered the alley. A black shirt on blue jeans, gun holstered to the belt on the right side of her waist, badge glittering on the left, running shoes, and very little make-up.
“Another girl dead, just like the first one,” Dr. Jennifer said. She was leaning over the dead body examining it with a forceps in one hand and a magnifying glass in the other.
The police cars lined up at the entrance of the street and the ambulance siren broke the silence of the early morning. The newspaper delivery boy was the first one to see the body and call in the cops. The passage was sealed and the Crime Scene Unit was at the scene. The whole area was surrounded with yellow tapes shouting ‘Police Lines – Do Not Cross’.
“Do you think it’s the same killer who killed our Jane Doe?” Kia asked.
“May be. The cuts are cleaner this time and even the throat was cut professionally. Either this is the same killer or someone is taking advantage of the opportunity and killed this girl trying to pin this on your killer.”
“Anyway, we don’t have an official count of three to classify this as a serial killer case. So, we will process this as two individual murders for now.”
“Fine. I’ve a seminar at the State University. You have to send the body to the lab. I’ll do some tests when I return from the seminar.”
“Okay. Enjoy,” Kia said as Dr. Jennifer walked away.
“Ah! The brilliant scientist teaching the young minds,” Ash remarked pushing a pocket diary into his vest and then kissed Kia on her lips.
“Oh come on! At least someone in our team interacts with living people. Any ID on our victim?”
“Nothing so far. Nick is trying to see if someone in the neighborhood knew her.”
“Send the body to the crime lab. I’ll take a look at the crime scene.”
