and thus, a killer was born. sorry for the month long wait but i was really busy with school and stuff and yeah. hope this is going to be worth it! thank you loads for reading, i appreciate it a lot!
Disclaimer: This story contains violence, gore, sexual content and strong language. Subjects covered might trigger some. If you are very sensible or easily offended, please abstain from reading.
After the strange meeting with the two curious boys at the crime scene, Quest rushed to every radio and television stations to warn them about the announcement. He had made several sloppy reports in the car while Wade drove, and gave them out to the reporters.
Dan and Phil had gone home after their crime scene encounter. Phil had brushed it off his mind after confessing to Dan again and again that he felt personally victimized because they ruined cereals forever for him.
Dan felt exalted. He had managed to transmit his message to Phil and even meet two of the people who were after him… without any of them even knowing he was the killer. He was so excited, everything went as planned, it went so well.
He just wanted to lock himself in his room and celebrate. He wanted to touch his body sensually, languorously, and send himself over the edge, thinking about Agana, Bradley, Carrie, Dave, Emily… Thinking about the pattern, the eleven other people to come, Phil finally seeing a part of his work and Quest Kadner… Oh, Quest Kadner. He would watch him dance under his nose, like a puppet on strings, and lead him to different paths. Quest had even called him a son of a bitch! He almost felt honoured.
Dan never thought this could get any more enjoyable. He just wanted to strip off his clothes and jump right on his bed.
But right now, he couldn’t. The police officer had mentioned a public announcement about the killings, and Dan wouldn’t miss to see Phil’s reaction for anything in the world.
So instead, he sat with Phil in the lounge and waited for the announcement. They both had their laptops on their laps as the fainted sound of the television resonated in the room. And suddenly, the news came on. Dan's body tensed up.
The woman on the screen started talking about minor news, to which Phil didn't pay attention. He continued typing on his laptop as Dan listened carefully, nervous and excited.
He hastily turned the volume up.
“Since when do you listen to the news?” Phil asked, curious. “I thought you hated them?”
Dan glanced at Phil.
“Yeah, I do hate them, but, remember earlier? The police officer talked about a public announcement. I want to see that.”
“Oh, yeah, I remember.”
Phil put his laptop aside and listened as carefully as Dan, to his delight.
“We have now an announcement coming straight from the police force.” The woman announced with a serious, professional voice.
Dan twitched on the sofa.
“That's it!” Phil exclaimed, his voice uncertain.
“Citizens of London, be on your guard as a mass murderer is on the loose.”
Phil's eyes opened as wide as the moon as Dan's glowed.
“The murderer has made five victims so far, and isn't close to stopping this savagery. The police identified a pattern in this murderer's killings, and we wish to warn you. This murderer kills people considering the first letter of their names. They are following the order of the alphabet. The five first victims' names started with A, B, C, D and E, and the police are convinced the next victim is going to be someone with a name starting with the letter F. The police claim that the murderer might continue this until they reach the 16th letter of the alphabet, due to some evidences they have found that shall remain secret. This is very serious, please be careful. The police are trying their best to catch this murderer. We will update you on what happens with the case of the Alphabet Killer…”
Phil's mouth was slightly open, and his eyes were still widened with shock. He couldn't take his eyes off the screen. Dan couldn't help but grin evilly.
“Alphabet killer…” Dan thought. “Really? What a lame ass name… They could’ve at least put some effort!”
Dan observed Phil from the corner of his eye, unable to brush the smile off his face.
“What the hell…” He finally managed to breathe.
Phil turned to Dan. His evil grin immediately vanished, and he faked a believable terrified look.
“A mass murderer on the loose…” Dan repeated anxiously, surprising himself with his acting skills.
Phil was still not doing much. He stared in front of him, processing what had just happened. And suddenly, it dawned on him.
“A mass murder... A mass murde- OH MY GOD A MASS MURDERER, DAN!” He screamed, panicked. “WE'RE GOING TO DIE!”
“But they said this murderer kills considering the first letter of someone's name!” Dan exclaimed back at Phil, acting as panicked as him.
“EXACTLY!” Phil yelled again, his voice getting high pitched. “YOU'RE D! IT'S SO CLOSE!”
“Didn't they say the letter D had already been taken down?”
“I DON'T KNOW! MAYBE?!” Phil retorted. “AM I GOING TO DIE?! I'M P! WHAT NUMBER IN THE ALPHABET IS THAT?!”
“I don't know, I never counted that high!” Dan replied.
“DAN! DAN, DAN, DAN!” Phil screamed again, grabbing his friend's knees strongly. “WHY THE HELL WOULD THEY ANNOUNCE SOMETHING LIKE THAT?! WARN US TO BE CAREFUL?! WHAT THE HELL ALL THEY MANAGED TO DO IS SCARE A WHOLE POPULATION TO DEATH!!”
Dan inwardly smiled from ear to ear. Phil's reaction was everything he could ever dream of. He decided he would calm him down a bit… for now.
“It's the case to say…” Dan joked.
“Dan! Don't joke at a time like this!” Phil exclaimed.
“Oh, come on, Phil. Aren't you exaggerating just a little bit?”
“I don't think you understand that there is a mass murderer on the loose, Dan.” Phil replied harshly.
“Come on, they said it themselves; the next person to die has a name that starts with the letter F!” Dan said. “Does your name start with F? I reckon it doesn't. So why are you worrying so much?”
“How the hell would they know my name?!” Phil uttered, his voice higher than Dan had ever heard it before. “How the hell would they differentiate me from someone whose name starts with an F!? They’ll just walk up to me like ‘yes, hello, I was just wondering, what’s your name? Because if it starts with an F I might just murder you!’”
“Phil, I think you’re being a bit paranoid…” Dan replied, crossing his arms.
“You know how much I hate these kinds of things! It just scares the crap out of me!”
“Oh yeah, I know.”
“As long as you don't make a name change, you'll be fine!” Dan joked again.
“You're an idiot.” Phil laughed.
Dan turned the TV off and stood up swiftly.
“I know. Now excuse me but I think I'll go in bed as this wave of tiredness just crashed upon me and I feel like I'm literally going to fall asleep standing up.” Dan lied.
“Yeah, that's it, leave me alone in the living room as the mass murderer climbs from the window and kills me on the spot!” Phil said, half joking and half serious.
“You're on the third floor, dingus.” Dan laughed.
“Hey! Who knows! It could be Spiderman or something!” Phil replied, a little bit more relaxed this time.
“Or something…” Dan muttered to himself.
He put his hand on the doorknob before adding:
“Don't disturb my beauty sleep.”
Phil nodded and Dan exited the room. He escaped in his bedroom, stripped off his clothes, and finally celebrated.
~
Two long and slender fingers massaged each of his temples. He rubbed his two hands along his face out of exhaustion and stared at himself in the mirror.
Quest’s quiff was sloppily falling on his forehead. He was in a white t-shirt and pyjama bottoms. It was around 2am. He wanted to go to bed and fall asleep but his thoughts were consumed by the case he was working on.
Telling the population about a mass murderer was a risky move. Quest knew it would terrify them, but since they didn’t have any leads, or at least a very few leads on who the killer actually was, he couldn’t do anything more to protect the citizens. Maybe they would be scared, but, at least, they’d be careful.
The only leads his team had were that the killer was a male between the ages of 18 and 35, and that he liked to kill people in alphabetical order. They hadn’t found any DNA on any of the crime scenes. There never was any witnesses, any understandable clues, anything. It had been five victims now and still nothing.
Quest left his little bathroom and walked into his bedroom. He stripped down his pyjama bottom, turned on the lamp on his nightstand and sat on his bed. He dropped his head in his hands.
“How does he know their names..?” He whispered to himself. “If he doesn’t know any of the victims… how does he know their names?”
He shook his head slightly and grabbed the pot on his nightstand. He swallowed two aspirins, turned the lamp off and lay on his bed. He tried to clear his mind but a million questions kept bombarding him.
“If none of the victims have judicial or criminal records…”
“Or appeared on a national broadcast…”
“Have something in common…”
“Appeared somewhere their name could’ve been broadcasted…”
“Publicly announced their names…”
“How…”
“How does he know their names!?”
“Didn’t simply walk up to them…”
“’Hey what’s your name?’…”
“Does he just know..?”
“Stole IDs from them..?”
“But Emily…”
“She brought him home…”
“She probably introduced herself…”
“And he knew…”
“And Agana…”
“And Bradley…”
“And Carrie…”
“And Dave…”
“Did he ever introduce himself..?”
Quest hit his hand violently on his mattress, angry to be unable to answer his questions, before turning on his stomach.
He remembered the two boys that came to the crime scene that morning. He remembered the taller one, with his brown eyes and his dark clothes. His head started pounding when he thought of him again and immediately brushed him off his mind.
Quest nuzzled his head in his pillow and managed to fall asleep two hours later.
~
The alarm went off. Dan jerked awake. He looked at the clock. 8:00. He pressed snooze. Nuzzled back in his pillow. Alarm. Clock. 8:15. Snooze. Alarm. Clock. 8:30. He looked at his phone. “Dentist appointment in 30 minutes.”
“Oh, shit!” He exclaimed, falling off his bed.
Dan stood up hastily and realized he was still naked and sticky from yesterday night’s bed festivities. He put his ear on his door, trying to see if he could hear Phil anywhere. He deduced he was still asleep and decided to run for it.
He swung open his door and sprinted to the bathroom. He jumped into the shower, soaped his body quickly, rinsed, got out, dried, and ran back to his bedroom with his towel wrapped tightly around his hips.
He got dressed as fast as he could, brushed his teeth and left the flat. He took the bus and arrived only 10 minutes late at the dentist office.
His dentist greeted him and sat him down on his long chair. He began the procedure, making boring small talk, which Dan thought was frankly annoying. How did he even expect him to reply when he shoved his fingers and metallic objects in his mouth?
After checking everything, the dentist left the office and left Dan by himself.
Dan scanned his surroundings. Metallic tools. Paperwork. Certificates proudly hung on the walls. Syringes. Blinding lights. Insignificant little toys inside of a treasure chest…
Syringes..?
Dan stood up and kicked the dentist’s small table to the ground. He grabbed the stool and held it up above his head. He aimed for the glass cabinets above the counter. He struck the metal shaft in the glass and it shattered all around him. He took the metallic dentist tools and launched them at the wall like darts. They solidly jammed in the plastered surface.
He jerked on the dentist chair. He glanced at the door; his dentist still wasn’t back. He flashed a look at the syringes in one of the glass cabinets. Dan stood up and peeked from left to right outside the door. He was alone. Dan zipped open his backpack and tiptoed to the cabinet. He opened it delicately, seized one of the syringes and shoved it in his backpack before zipping it closed and sitting back on his chair just as the dentist was coming in.
His cheeks flushed lightly, but his dentist didn’t notice a thing. He finally left the office and went back home. When he locked himself in his room, he retrieved the stolen syringe from his bag. Dan admired it for a few seconds, holding it up at the level of his eyes, and grinned devilishly.
“Everything I could do with this…” He whispered to himself. “Tonight… I’m going tonight… I have to go tonight…”
But Dan suddenly remembered something.
“Wait… is it Tuesday?” He thought. “Damn it! I have a live show tonight! I can’t miss it again…”
He beamed.
“Wait… This is perfect! The announcement was broadcasted yesterday, it’s probably all over the Internet by now! What a perfect opportunity to drop the subject…”
Dan delicately placed the syringe on his desk and covered it with a dirty shirt. He told himself he would give time to the police so they could believe they had more leads before striking again.
~
The meeting room was occupied once again. The whole team seated at their usual places, the new files stacked on top of the old ones in the middle of the table.
Quest’s headache had increased and the lack of sleep wasn’t helping him. He simply tried to forget about it and keep his professional figure.
“I think we should start with updates on Agana Baldwin’s case.” Wade began with a neutral voice.
Tucker nodded and opened his mouth.
“My research teams searched the first area all day long on Monday, without any results. They are currently preparing themselves to search the second area that was given to us.”
Everyone nodded and Quest rubbed his forehead slowly.
“Harrigan, Talley, got anything off Emily Fontaine?”
Vincent held up his report sheet.
“Cause of death: suffocation. Lacerated wrist and cheeks. Eyes popped out, put in the bowl with some of her blood. Bruises on her neck due to getting choked.”
“Unfortunately,” Jesus continued, “we didn't find any fingerprints. No skin cells under her fingernails. Once again, no sign of sexual assault, no hair, no body fluid, no blood different from hers… Nothing.”
“We checked everything in the house as well.” Zarah went as Dallas passed the photographs around. “Firstly, the cups of tea. The DNA found on both of them matched with Emily's. No one drank in the second cuppa. We analysed the cereal box, the bowl, the spoon, we checked every surface with a fine-tooth comb and…”
Zarah looked around the room like she was trying to trigger some suspense inside her colleagues.
“Nothing…” She finished, sighing.
“So, from what I hear, we're after a ghost?” Tucker grunted.
“Not a ghost, Agent Essex, but someone who knows what they're doing.” Quest snapped.
“Could it be a professional murderer?” Vincent suggested.
Quest furrowed his eyebrows.
“I mean, could it be a murderer that is already on our files that we still haven't caught yet?" He clarified.
“No.” Quest replied. “This murderer had never killed before Agana Baldwin.”
“How could you know?!” Tucker spat.
Quest massaged his temples, annoyed.
“Agana Baldwin was murdered and her body was hidden.” Quest explained, keeping his eyes shut to try and contain his annoyance. “The four other victims were all disposed in a way that their corpses would be discovered. This only proves that Agana Baldwin was this killer's first victim, and that they were scared. It's between the murders of Agana Baldwin and Bradley Cox that they realized their duty. It is a very fresh killer, they've been doing this for a very short period of time and they are enjoying themselves a whole lot. If you started using your brain instead of sitting in your chair spitting on everyone, maybe you would be on everyone else's level.”
“You little-” Tucker began, but Zarah cut him off.
“Alright, so that's a thing.” She said. “Anything else you deduced that we don't know yet?”
Quest glanced at her. He noticed her irritated look.
“Well, I know that the murderer is a male between the ages of 18 and 35.”
“How?” Zarah exclaimed.
“Cloud Brooke, the victim's friend, admitted that Emily Fontaine brought men to her house almost every night. He said she brought men around her age, which is 23. I deduced the age range might be 18 to 35.”
Jesus noted that down on a loose paper.
“But, the main question here is; if he didn't know any of the victims, how does he know their names?”
He stopped talking and looked at his colleagues. They all searched for an answer.
“Well… maybe they stole some IDs before?” Dallas suggested. “Like he met or saw his victims before, stole their IDs and maybe he analysed them before striking?”
“That's not bad, Wiseman.” Quest said.
“Told you he was a wise man!” Jesus laughed.
Dallas rolled his eyes.
“But I don't think that's quite it. See, I highly suspect that Agana Baldwin was killed on an impulse. I understand your reasoning, though. He caught Agana Baldwin during the night, it would be rational to say he followed her there. But you see, if we follow his pattern, he wants us to find the bodies. So if he had already planned to take her down that night, I think he would've found a better way to dispose her body, and, most definitely would've made it so we would find her pretty easily.”
Dallas nodded. Quest gave him a small grin.
“Anyone has any other ideas?” Quest asked.
“Maybe they told him their names before he killed them.” Jesus laughed, elbowing Vincent in the arm so he would giggle with him.
Quest slapped his hand on the table. He pointed a slender finger in Jesus’ direction. He stopped laughing.
“It’s fascinating how the only times you get things right is when you’re joking.” Quest admitted.
“What?” Jesus pondered, confused.
“The victims told him their names before he killed them.” Quest confirmed.
“What?” Jesus repeated, even more confused. “I was just joking…”
“Don’t you see it, Harrigan?” Quest exclaimed. “If none of the victims’ names were broadcasted anywhere, if none of the victims knew the killer, how could he possibly know their names..? They told him!”
“I’m not following…” Vincent spoke with a tiny voice.
“Agana Baldwin. Goes out at night to kill time. Killer is nervous, has been thinking about murder for a while. Needs to get some air. Killer goes out at night. Killer meets Agana Baldwin. They chat. She tells him her name. On an impulse, killer kills. Killer is scared, it’s his first murder. Hides the body, not knowing about his duty.”
His whole team was now listening to him very carefully.
“Bradley Cox. Was found dead in a dumpster. Where was he before he got killed? In a nightclub. His friends said he was kicked out because he was too drunk. He got killed not long after he was kicked out. He couldn’t drive, couldn’t walk home because of all the alcohol in his body, what happens next? Killer shows up. Sees the poor man unable to step forward. What does he do? Asks if he’s okay, asks if he needs help. Asks for his name. Once he has what he needs, he decides it’s a perfect choice. Suggests helping him. Brings him in the alleyway, kills him. Killer knows his duty. Puts him in the dumpster so he would be found the next day.”
“Carrie Drysdale and Dave Evans. Found dead in their apartment. Killer shows up at their house. They open the door. Killer manages to get both of their names. Jackpot, C and D at the same place. Murders them both.”
“Emily Fontaine. Found dead in her apartment as well. Killer is on a night walk. Emily Fontaine is on a night walk. They bump into each other. Emily Fontaine decides to bring him home like she always does. She tells him her name. Killer kills.”
The whole room was silent.
“All I’m saying is that the man we are looking has the charm to seduce his victims enough to get their names out of them.”
Wade gave him a satisfied grin. Quest humbly nodded in his direction.
“So he manipulates them?” Zarah summarized.
“Yes.” Quest confirmed.
“Well, he seriously seduced Emily Fontaine.” Jesus said. “Her lipstick was smeared everywhere around her lips. Damn, we’re not only dealing with a psychotic Casanova, but with a super professional kissing hoover.”
Quest laughed lightly, to Jesus’ delight.
“Do we know anything else?” Quest asked.
“Actually yes!” Vincent announced. “After analysing Bradley Cox’s body once again, we were able to determine the weapon used. The wounds weren’t too wide or too deep. The stab through the heart still managed to end the poor guy, but, it didn’t kill him instantly. He agonised in the dumpster. The blade was too short to kill him within the next very few minutes. So, Jesus and I deduced that they might have used a penknife. It’s a normal thing to carry with you as well as being very dangerous.”
“It could’ve been a kirpan.” Jesus larked.
“Wrong religion, Jesus.” Vincent pointed out.
Jesus shrugged.
“That’s good to know.” Quest spoke. “Good job guys.”
He stood up, followed by Wade. He walked to the entrance when a voice stopped him.
“Wait, so what do we do now?” Dallas asked.
Quest turned around.
“Find Agana.”
~
The mask was on. The live show had started about 30 minutes ago, and Dan was acting as normal as usual. This time, he felt ready. He did not fear to slip words out today. He was even looking for an opportunity to drop the subject in.
When a topic of conversation finally died out, Dan stopped talking for a few seconds and simply read what people said in chat. By rote, he hummed a beat. And suddenly, the opportunity fell into his hands.
“Hey, have you guys heard of that mass murderer they talked about yesterday on the news? The one who kills in alphabetical order or something?”
He inwardly smiled. He read the replies in the chat. “Yes! Everyone’s talking about it!”, “I saw it and I’m terrified!”, “It’s all over the Internet!”
Dan’s heart skipped a beat.
“Is it really all over the Internet?” He asked hastily.
He read. “Yes! It’s really scary!”, “I don’t even live in England and it’s terrifying!”, “Everyone is calling him Alpha…”, “Alpha is literally everywhere I’m kind of scared…”
“Alpha?” Dan repeated, his eyes glistening.
He stared at his own reflection on the screen for a few minutes. He was silent and absent.
“Alpha…” He thought. “I like this… I like this a lot…”