3 Chapter Three: The Hunt Begins

BLAKE'S P.O.V.

Early Monday morning by 8am I was up and already at the station. Accompanied by Nathaniel, we went into the debriefing where we met Captain Adam, Christina and some other officers as they were about to start the meeting concerning the murder investigation that was now the talk of the county.

"Detective Hunter, Detective Ross. Please take your seats, we're about to begin" The captain said to us as we entered the room motioning us to sit down

"Okay so this is what we have so far" Christina said as the room became quiet "An unidentified female was found tied to a chair with a knife on her chest in a warehouse at the old abandoned docks. She's believed to be in her mid twenties. Her time of death is believed to be around the early hours of Saturday morning between 12am and 4am. Her fingernails and toenails on both hands and feet were removed and placed inside a plastic jar. We found no fingerprints on the body of the victim and also a note by the side of the victim addressed to detective Blake" She added as she scrolled through the images on the screen as she talked

"The killer who identified himself as 'Ghost' claimed that he did this because of in his words "Officer Blake's weakness" She added as she scrolled onto the letter

"Detective Blake, do you have any idea who this Ghost character is and what does he mean by "your weakness"?" The captain asked as Christina finished talking

"I have no idea captain. I have no idea who Ghost is" I replied to the captain as he turned his attention to the screen

"For whatever reason this ghost character has made you a point of interest and I need to know why" The captain replied as he scrolled through the images displayed on the screen "But first we need to find out everything we can about this woman" He added

"I'm definitely going to find this person captain" I responded to the captain as he turned back facing all of us

"I expect you to." He responded "This person just used the life of an innocent civilian to call us out and now its our turn to respond. Detective hunter you're going to take point on this investigation and I expect good results" He added

"You got it captain" I said

"He wants to play serial killer now its our turn to be ghost busters. Dismissed" The captain said as he walked towards the door to leave the room.

We all got up from our sits and walked out of the room to begin our investigations.

"So what's the plan chief?" I heard Nate say from behind me. I turned around to meet the eyes of Nate and Christina staring at me

"First things first we have to identify the victim. If we can do that then we can start our list of potential suspects." I said

"I'll have the guys at the lab run a facial on the victim to see if anything pops up" Christina said as she removed a stray stand of hair from her face

"Okay and I also need someone to go down to the docks. Check thoroughly to see is there's something that we missed when we found the body. Possibly a lead to help us find our killer"

I added "I'll go" Nate said raising his hand

"I'll accompany you then" I said to Nate

As Nate and I were heading out towards the exit Officer Mark called out to us from behind.

"Hey, while you all were in the meeting with the chief we got a call from a lady about a missing persons report and we asked her to come down to the station" Officer mark said

"Oh okay. Any specific description?" I asked

"None yet but she seemed pretty shaken up so I asked Officer Andrews to go down and bring her here. He should be on his way back by now" He said "Oh he's here" He added looking over my shoulder to see Officer Andrews and an elderly woman with shiny white hair walk in

"Nate you go ahead to the docks and see if you find anything" I said turning to Nate "Take Officer Mark with you"

"Alright I'll let you know if I find anything" He responded as he walked towards the exit

I instructed Officer Andrews to take the woman to my office as soon as they entered the building before joining them afterwards. Walking into the office I saw the woman sitting on the small office chair with her brown hand bag clutched to her chest as she looked around the office

"Sorry for making you wait" I said as I took my seat on the other side of the brown wooden office desk "Could you tell me about the person you said was missing" I added taking a pen from the drawer and opening up my notepad on the desk

"My name is Laura, its my daughter. The last time I saw her was Friday night. She had gone out for her usual evening jog. She told me that she was going to stop at her friends place for a while" She said

"And have you spoken to her since that night?" I asked after writing down the information she just gave me

"We've been texting up until Saturday evening and then I tried calling her on Sunday morning to see if she was okay but her number was switched off" She said to me bringing out her phone from her bag to show me the text messages

I took the phone from her hand and went through the texts that she and her daughter had confirming what she had just told me. "I tried calling her afterwards and I still sent her a text on Sunday evening but there was no response" She added as I handed her phone back to her

"Has she ever ran away from home before or done something like this?" I asked

"No, never. That's why I'm worried. She's all I have left in this world since my husband died at the beginning of the year and we're just getting by" She said as she tried to hold back the tears that were already falling down her cheeks

"I'm sorry ma'am" I said as I pulled out an handkerchief from my pocket and handed it to her "Here. I promise we would do everything to find her"

"Thank you" She said as she wiped away her tears "Before she went out that Friday night she had just received a letter from the college she had applied for and she was so excited that she had just got in after so long of trying and failing" She added with a smile on her face "I've never seen her smile that much"

"I'm going to bring her back to you. You mentioned a friend earlier?" I asked

Before she could answer the question we were interrupted by the knocks on the other side of the door. "Come in" I said

"We were able to identify the name of the victim we found. Her name is Allison Parker" Christina said as she walked into the room with her eyes fixed on the file in her hands "Oh I'm sorry I didn't know you're busy" She added when she realised that I wasn't alone in the room

"Allison?" She asked shocked to hear the name come out of Christina's mouth "Do you know her?" I asked

"That's my daughters name" She said as tears began to form in her eyes "What do you mean by victim?" She asked

"Well her body was found at the abandoned docks and we're currently investigating her murder"

"Murder?" She asked as she cupped her hands over her mouth as the tears fell from her eyes "No it can't be. My daughter can't be dead she's all I have left" She added as more tears fell down her cheeks "Take me there. I need to be sure" She said turning to face me

Christina and I walked out and headed towards the morgue with the woman walking behind us as she mumbled words underneath her breathe. I couldn't hear everything that she was saying but the little I heard sounded like she was saying a few words of prayer hoping that the girl laying dead inside one of the freezers isn't her daughter.

We arrived at the morgue which was a few floors below the office and walked straight through the door as we were greeted by Dr. Connors and his assistant Camila

"Dr. Connor could you please bring out the body of the lady we found at the abandoned docks last week" I said to him after we shock hands. In my mind I prayed hoping that it wasn't her daughter under the sheets because I didn't know what would happen to her if it was

As Dr. Connor walked away to open up the cold chamber at the north end of the room' I walked back to meet Laura who seemed lost in thought

"Are you sure you want to do this?" I asked as I got close to her enough for her to hear me

"I need to be sure" She said in an almost whisper

"Okay. come with me then" I said as I led her to meet Dr. Connor who had already pulled the body out from inside one of the cold chambers

"Raise the sheet" I said to Dr. Connor

He raised the sheet to the reveal the face of the lady that was underneath. Laura's eyes shot open as her bag fell from her hand and landed on the floor besides her. Her eyes began to water as she cupped her hands over her mouth trying to subdue her screams.

"No Allison, Don't do this to me. Wake up" She said as she walked closer to the body on the table "Wake up Allison" she added as she grabbed both of Allison's shoulders and shock her vigorously I tried to pull her away but she was rather strong for her age. She shooed my hands off as she continued to cry and scream at the top of her voice begging her daughter to wake up. After a minute she stopped as she clutched onto her chest and staggered backwards

"My heart" She cried as she fell down to the ground

"She's having a heart attack" Dr Connors ran towards her just before her body touched the ground "Call an ambulance" He added as he began to administer CPR

I pulled out my phone, dialed and requested for an ambulance. Up until the doctors arrived at the station Dr. Connors and I took turns administering CPR. They came in, carried her on a stretcher and wore her an oxygen mask as they carried her away into the ambulance

"I'm going with them to the hospital" I said to Christina as I got into the ambulance "I'll be back" I added

"Okay, be careful" she said to me as the doors shut

Emergency sirens were blasted as we sped through traffic in attempts of getting to the hospital in time. Some nurses including Marina were waiting at the entrance of the hospital. The moment we arrived, Laura was quickly taken in and rushed into one of the emergency rooms while I remained at the hospital lobby.

"Were you the one who came in with the woman who had a heart attack?" A nurse said to me as I sat down on one of the chairs in the lobby

"Yes I am" I replied as I got up from my chair "You need to sign a few papers" she said

"Okay" I said as I walked behind her to the counter at the entrance of the hospital as I was handed the papers to sign on

"How are you related to the patient?" one of the nurses asked as I handed the papers back to her "Oh uhm I'm not really related to her" I said

"Do you know of any immediate relative that we can get in touch with?" The nurse asked

"Her only other relative died a few days ago" I said as I turned to look at the door that they took her through "Oh my!" The nurse exclaimed "I'm sorry but there is also the issue of the payment" She added

"Of course" I said to her as I took out my black leather wallet from my back pocket and handed her my credit card from inside

"Whatever is needed should be charged from this card" I added

"Okay sir" She said as she took the card from my hand and inputted the details into the computer that was in front of her

"Here you go" She added handing the card back to me

"Would that be all?" I asked as I placed the card back into my wallet

"Yes that's all" The nurse replied

I bowed my head as a gesture of saying thank you and made my way back to the metal chair I was sitting down on in the lobby before the nurse called me. I sat down there and waited for an extra hour before one of the doctors finally exited the emergency room

"Doctor how is she?" I asked the doctor after we shook hands

"She's stable for now. We moved her down to a private room where we can monitor her closely" The doctor said "There is the issue of her bills" He added

"I've already taken care of that. But is she going to be okay though?" I asked

"We can't say for certain now but we will keep her under close observation" He said to me "If you'll excuse me" the doctor said as he shook my hand and turned to leave

I sat back down and exhaled deeply as I ran my hand through my hair. Feeling frustrated that my only possible lead is now laying down unconscious in a hospital bed, I leaned back on the metal chair, folded my hands and closed my eyes letting my mind rest and process the information that I had so far. While lost in my thoughts, I was brought back by the vibration of my phone. I got a text from Christina

C: Hey there. Hope everything is okay over there?

ME: Yeah. She's stable for now but the doctors are gonna keep her under observation

C: Is she awake?

ME: Nah. She's unconscious. I don't think I'd be able to talk to her today

C: Alright. take care

ME: Alright I will. LY

C: LYT

I set my phone back in my pocket but pulled it back out a second later because I got a call from Nate.

"Hello Nate. Talk to me"

"Well I found something at the warehouse and I think you're going to want to see it"

"What is it?"

"Its a cell phone. I'm heading back to the station now "I'll meet you there"

I said to him and hung up the phone and put it back into my pocket. I got up from the chair and walked towards the front desk to speak to the nurse.

"Please let me know if there are any developments with Mrs Laura" I said to her

"Will do" She replied and I left the hospital, got into a taxi and headed towards the Station to meet up with Nate. I arrived back at the station within thirty minutes. I got in and walked towards the officer at the front desk to speak with him.

"Is Nate back in?" I asked officer Mark who was speaking to the officer in the front desk

"Yeah he came in not too long ago" He responded "He's with forensics checking for fingerprints" he added

"Alright thank you" I said as I walked in and headed for the forensics lab. I got to the lab and I saw the forensics team and Nate talking

"Hey over here" Nate said as our eyes met

"Who's phone is it?" I asked as I walked into the room "It seems to belong to the victim.

We managed to unlock the phone and confirmed that it belonged to her"

Paul the forensics team leader said "Anything viable from it?" I asked

"When we went through the phone we didn't find anything that could tell us who or why" He said pointing to the phone in a plastic evidence bag "Oddly the phone was still active until late Saturday evening last week" He added

"When I spoke to the victims mom earlier she said she was still talking to her daughter until late into Saturday evening" I said folding my arms

"Her mom?" Nate asked in disbelief

"The woman I spoke with earlier today when you went back to the docks happened to be her mom" I said turning my attention to Nate

"And where is she now?" Nate asked "Well" I exhaled "She had an heart attack when we took her to confirm the body in the morgue" I said

"And is she okay?" Nate asked

"yeah she's stable for now so lets all pray that she recovers" I said as I slipped my hands into my pockets

"While we spoke briefly she made mention of a friend that our victim was supposed to go and meet. So search through the phone and find me that friend" I said to Paul as he turned to walk away before turning to Nate

"If its true that the victim died during the early hours of Saturday morning that means our killer has being passing himself off as her up until late Saturday evening" I said to Nate

This guy most definitely planned the whole thing out" Nate said to me

"Where did you find the cell phone anyways?" I asked Nate

"Behind some boxes by the entrance of the warehouse we found her in" He said

"I thought we searched through the entire warehouse before we left so how did we miss a cell phone that was there. Maybe whoever did it came back after we were done and dropped the phone" I thought to myself to what Nate just said to me.

"Everything alright?" Nate asked snapping me out of my thought

"Oh Uhn yeah. I was just thinking about how we managed to miss the phone during the search" I said with a slight frown on my face

"Well maybe whoever did it came back and kept it there after we were gone" He said

"That's possible" I said to Nate as I adjusted my shirt to see the time on my wristwatch

"Its getting late so I'm going to head out" I said to Nate as I turned to leave

"I'll head out later. I still have some things to take care of" He said

"Text me if you find anything" I said as I shut the door behind me and headed towards the exit

I got out of the station and walked outside to be greeted by a cold breeze from the chilly night. It was barely 7:30pm and the outside was already so dark and chilly.

I walked to my car and brought out my phone to text Christina before I headed out

ME: I got to the station and I didn't see you. I hope you're okay?

I hit send and waited a bit for her reply and thankfully I didn't have to wait for too long

C: Yeah I had to head out early to meet up with Marina

ME: Oh alright. So that means I won't be seeing you tonight

C: I'm sorry.

ME: Its fine babe. Just take care of yourself

C: I will. I'll see you in the morning.

ME: Alright. Goodnight baby

C: Goodnight My love

After that I locked my screen, tossed the phone to the side, turned the key in the ignition port and started my car. I drove into the quiet and open road for about Thirty minutes before I got home. I hopped out of the car, got inside my house and locked the door behind me.

After taking a hot bath, I got out and slipped into a pair of shorts and got into bed. It's definitely been hectic this past couple of days. From finding a dead body in an abandoned warehouse with the killer calling me out with a letter, to rushing the mother of the victim to the hospital because of a heart attack and now I'll be going to bed alone now because my girlfriend chose her friend over me.

Not trying to sound demanding or anything I need attention too. Turning to my side I grabbed my pillow from underneath my head and wrapped my hands around it. Nothing left to do now than to go to bed and await the trails that tomorrow would definitely bring.

I closed my eyes and slowly the darkness consumed me as I fell asleep.

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