You would've been surprised if your new partner didn't get sick. Still, you kind of wished he didn't. The sounds of him heaving up the remainder of his lunch was a bit distracting to say the least. Can't say you didn't tell him not to eat first or at least wait for you before checking out the crime scene, maybe he'd listen to you next time.
Walking into the house formerly owned by miss Charlotte Prim, it wasn't hard to tell what happened. Police tape wrapped around the parameter and the front door was blocked by cops looking as pale as your partner, trying to get a breath of fresh air. People looking to catch a glimpse of what happened inside were pushed up against the tape. You squeezed past the men at the door, a couple giving you worried glances but not stopping you. Once inside you were greeted with the overbearing coppery smell of blood and a relatively neat living room.
The house was quaint so the room wasn't all that big. To your left was a set of stairs leading up and to the right was a sitting space with a TV filling up a large portion of a wall. The only signs of a struggle in here was a knocked over table lamp. You snapped on the pair of latex gloves you'd been carrying and approached the lamp, careful not to disturb your surroundings.
A team had already come through to gather what evidence they could so technically it wouldn't be a big issue if something got a little out of order. But they called you in to go behind them and see if you could find anything new. This particular murder was already confirmed to be a part of an ongoing case, one involving a string of murders in the city. The police force had given up on solving it themselves and called in for a specialist. And that's where you came in.
You crouched down and picked up the lamp, twisting it around in your hands. It was metal and had a bit of weight to it, perfect for swinging at someone which was exactly what it was used for. One of the sharp corners on the square base was covered in recently dried blood. It was flaking in spots that were covered in thin layers of the stuff. Your eyes moved to the plush white carpet and the blood trail on it.
"(Y-y/n)?"
Your partner stood in the doorway as he called to you weakly. His face was still pale and he looked absolutely terrified. Sweat clung to his forehead and made some of his pink locks stick to his face. His glasses had slipped down his nose and the bandana he usually wore to keep his hair out of his face was being used to mop up sweat around his neck.
"What's up Koby?" You stood and started following the blood trail. He slowly followed after, knowing he had to take in the scene again if he wanted to help.
"How'd you handle your first crime scene?" He asked.
You wouldn't have picked a case as gruesome as this for a starting point for him, but there wasn't much of a choice. It was your assignment whether you liked it or not and therefore, his as well.
"About as well as you're handling this." You offered him a comforting smile. "I think I threw up a few times, mostly from the smell. My first one involved a few dead bodies at different stages of decomposition. It was....it wasn't pleasant."
"How do you deal with all this?"
You stepped into the kitchen and it was a completely different scene than the living room, like night and day.
"You experience something often enough and it gets easier in some ways more than others. And it's important to find your own ways to cope."
The once white room with black appliances was painted red with blood. There wasn't one thing in the kitchen that had escaped being at least partially covered. Right in the middle of the tiled floor was the culprit. Prim was a beautiful woman in life, blonde hair, blue eyes, nicely tanned skin. Her body was now a mere shadow of who she used to be. The single remaining eye showed the terror she felt in her final moments, the second was removed from the socket, the killer's doing.
Her pink dress had become a tye dye mess with splotches of red and was torn open, baring her midsection and half her chest, at least what was left of it. A butcher's knife lay discarded beside her in a pool of still wet blood and she had chunks of flesh cut out of her body. You gingerly lifted the bottom of her dress to find her left thigh had been carved to the bone, not an ounce of flesh remaining on it.
"How do you cope with this?" Koby whispered as he held his bandana to his mouth and nose to block out the smell.
"I can show you that after we're done."
You focused back on the body, letting the dress slip back down to cover her. Besides those chunks missing, her entire right arm was gone, bone and all. You noticed her mouth was slightly ajar and let out a huff. It looked off but you'd have to get closer to see why. That meant stepping in blood. You really needed to invest in something to keep your shoes clean in the future.
Koby watched with mounting horror as you moved closer and bent over the corpse's mouth to pry it open. That's why it looked weird. She was missing her tongue.
Your partner realized it as well and fled the room, gagging the whole time. He was probably going to be sick again. You appreciated him leaving to do that, adding the smell of whatever was in his stomach to this wouldn't have been good.
You glanced over the rest of the body after removing your fingers from her mouth. She was covered in cuts from the knife. Many of them were around her forearms and hands, suggesting she had raised them to protect her face and upper body from damage. With a bit of effort, you turned her on her side to examine the back. Besides the blood pooling around her, there wasn't much of anything noticable. Except....
There was a patch of hair around the back of her head that was matted down. You prodded around it to find a gash. That had to be where the lamp hit her. The poor woman didn't get much of a fighting chance. Finished with the body, you set it back carefully. You could only be so respectful with a corpse and a case like this made it hard to treat it right. But you'd stop now for the sake of decency, not like there was much else to see anyway.
You looked around the rest of the room but knew there wouldn't be anything else to find. It was almost enough to piece together what happened but you'd need to talk with someone she knew to get a better idea. You left the room and headed outside, cringing internally at the bloody shoe prints you left in the carpet. It was a good thing you were the last person to check things over.
As you got outside you were immediately drawn to the sounds of yelling in the front yard. A few police officers were trying to keep two plain clothed men behind the tape. They were both tall, older men, one dressed sharply with pressed jeans, a dress shirt, and a long coat despite the mid July heat. The other was more casual. He also had on blue jeans but with a well fitted black tee shirt and a scarf wrapping around his neck and mouth. You knew who they were.
Charlotte Linlin's oldest boys, brothers to the recently deceased Prim. The family was well known in this city for their sweets businesses and habit of arranging marriages. Right now, your only interest in them was defusing the argument they were having and getting them to talk to you.
You cleaned your shoes off as best as you could in the grass and removed your gloves. They had quite a bit of blood on them and you doubted the brothers wanted to see that. After stuffing them in your back pocket, you marched over. The better dressed of the two brothers quickly caught sight of you and took note of the direction you came from.
"You." His eyes narrowed. "You need to tell us what happened."
First you needed to get the attention of the other brother as well. He looked ready and able to beat down the entire police force.
"Funny thing, I was just thinking the same thing about you two."
The other snapped his gaze to you, staring you down furiously through crimson eyes. Perfect.
"Excuse me?" He rumbled. The man not only looked, but sounded intimidating. "Are you suggesting we had something to do with this?" He pointed towards the house.
"I said nothing of the sort Mr. Charlotte. I'm simply suggesting you two may be able to fill me in on some details so I can piece the rest of this together."
You stared back at them both boldly. Part of being a small, female investigator was making sure you did everything with purpose. No one took you seriously otherwise.
"We are the ones needing details right now. That's our sister, our family!" The better dressed one was raising his voice again.
"I understand you're angry, it's not easy losing family, but all I can say is she's passed and the only thing I can do for her now is catch the person who did this." You gave them a second to take in what you just said before continuing. "I may still be able to do that without your cooperation but that might mean it'll take longer and the body count will go up. Now that being said, I need you to stop raising hell and talk to me so we can get somewhere with this."
The brothers shared a look before they both nodded.
"Fine, what do you need to know?" The one with the scarf growled.
"Well first," You lifted the tape and beckoned the men under it. "let's go talk where we won't be bothered."
The small crowd of people around the house were all hoping to get in on the juicy details of what had happened and you weren't keen on letting them know. The brothers ducked under and followed you over to a couple police cars, out of earshot of the public.
"So," You nodded at Koby as he caught sight of you and made his way over. "I'd like to know your names. You can call me (L/n) and this is my partner Koby."
They shuffled around on their feet, not expecting the casual question before one spoke up.
"I'm Peros and this is Katakuri, we're both her...Prim's older brothers."
Koby quietly pulled out a notepad and began scribbling everything down. The kid was great at helping you take notes, something you didn't do much of yourself. The more he did it for you the more you wondered how you got through cases in the past without having his well written observations handy.
"Alright, Peros, Katakuri. I need to know what you know about the killer, about what Prim might have known."
"Everything that's been on the news." Katakuri spoke up from behind the scarf. "We've seen the picture of the freak, the list of victims, whole nine yards."
"Did Prim talk about him any? Suggest any interest in him?"
"No."
"She mentioned buying better locks for the doors and windows to be safe since she lives alone but that's the closest she ever came to bringing him up." Peros added.
Koby scribbled away in his little notepad.
"Alright."
You contemplated giving them some information in exchange for what you hoped would be the last piece you needed to know exactly what happened.
"I can say with certainty that there were no signs of forced entry." You nodded towards the house. "That being said, do you know of any reason she might have possibly opened the door and let him in?"
Peros frowned. "No. She'd been very careful lately."
It was silent for a minute as they thought about what you'd said, confusion written all over their faces. Finally, Katakuri cleared his throat.
"She did have a boyfriend, an ex who kept trying to get back in her life. He had a habit of trying to get a hold of her to meet up and sometimes she'd agree."
"That can help." You nodded. "Can you give me his name and number?"
Katakuri gave you the information and Koby wrote it down. You tried to find any other possible leads but they didn't know anything else. In the end, you got both of their phone numbers as well and promised to contact them if you had any more questions. By the end of it they both looked tired and defeated. You felt for them, they just lost a sister after all.
"Miss (L/n)." Peros looked at you with a mix of grief and anger as he got his car keys out of a coat pocket. "Do what these idiots can't and catch him. Bring Bartolomeo the cannibal to justice."