CHAPTER FIVE

Alice walked from her room. She just received a call earlier about a crime scene in a particular part of the city. Alice was to report at headquarters. That was her first time in Atlanta police department. She couldn't help but feel nervous. She noticed a patrol car ready to take her to headquarters. A man sat in the car. He sized her from head to toes as she approached the vehicle. He smacked his lips in appreciation.

Alice looked at him with disgust. It was not as if she thought her self ugly but for a poor helpless fool to be drooling over her was certainly not what she pictured. She walked to the car and got in. The man didn't let his eyes off her till she sat next to him.

"Are you going to drive or stare at me all day?" She asked giving him a hard look.

"I could if you want," he replied. He finally made an effort to ignite the engine but then stopped halfway. "I'm John by the way, so what's your name?"

"You know that already otherwise you wouldn't be here to pick me up". She replied him nonchalantly.

He smiled widely flashing his set of stained teeth which was probably as a result of smoking a lot. Alice wondered what he saw in her. She was not the fashion type and certainly not the most beautiful. John finally started the engine and drove off.

The drive to Alice was almost taking forever. John kept blaring lies about himself all through obviously trying to impress her. She began to wonder if he wasn't deliberately stalling them just to have more time together. They finally got to the police headquarters.

It was a massive structure. It was tall and stretched to extreme length. There was a flight of stairs to pass through before entering the main door. The building was built with glass and the floor was paved with ties all through. The environment was neat and inviting. Alice felt the place was welcoming. She stepped out of the vehicle and John followed. He smirked when he saw the way she was transfixed while accessing the place with her eyes.

"I thought New York's headquarters was as big as this" he whispered to her ears. Alice's face flushed in embarrassment. He was right. She avoided his gaze as she walked smartly into the building. " I'll show you to the lieutenant office", he offered.

"Thanks" she replied. When they got in she couldn't help but gasp at how extravagant the place was. Everywhere was arranged orderly. He took her to an elevator and they got in.

"Do you know why this place's bigger than that of New York?" He asked.

Alice wondered if he was trying to mock her or he was just being helpful. "No" she answered.

"Because we have the highest record of crime" he replied. " Everyday we receive up to one hundred and fifty distress calls from different people. Our staff's nearly not enough so we recruit more people and hence the enormous structure to accommodate emergency situations."

Alice tried to search his face to see if he was lying or mocking her but she could see the sincerity in his eyes.

"This is a dangerous place for someone like you to stay in" ,he said. " Atlanta is not what you think it is."

Alice smiled at him warmly. "So am i, i love dangerous places, that's where the fun is" she replied warmly, "that's what attracted me here in the first place.". He looked to be loss by her words but the elevator slid open before them. They walked into another section of the station. They were greeted by a strange looking man. There was nothing strange about his physical appearance but the scent protruding from his body was strange.Alice had the unique gift of smelling and feeling a particular kind of scent. Almost everybody she knew had similar scents but his was totally different. It gave a kind of dangerous aura.

The man locked his eyes on hers. He was taller. He wasn't heavily built but was kind of muscular. His cloth pressed tightly across his shirt. He looked somewhat lost in her eyes. His eyes glittered something Alice couldn't understand, pain, It was real. Alice thought she saw his eyes become teary but it disappeared in a flash.

John stared at the both of them. He looked at one and then to the other wondering why the two were standing transfixed and staring at each other. "What's going on here?" He asked.

They both recovered quickly. " I'm Sergeant Martin" ,the man said. He offered his hand for a hand shake and Alice took it warmly. They both broke the ethics of their profession and they knew it. John didn't look pleased. Martin turned to John and dismissed him. " I'll take it from here" ,he said.

John saluted and gave Alice a sharp looking before going towards a different direction. Alice trailed him with the corner of her eyes. " Follow me" Martin instructed. He led her towards a big passage which led to so many offices. They walked down the passage.

"You never told me your name" ,Martin said breaking the silence between them.

"Alice" she replied. He smiled warmly but didn't say anything. Alice wondered what could have triggered sadness in him when he saw her but she didn't ask him. At least they weren't friends yet. They finally,reached the lieutenant office. Martin walked in and Alice followed also. They both saluted when they sighted him. He nodded his head at them and ushered them to sit which they did.

"So you're the best agent they have in New York he began,giving Alice a cold stare. Alice never expected the conversation to start that way so she stammered. "Ehn..yes" ,she managed to say.

"You have a good file report. One that peeked my interest was when I read that you have never failed a mission and never lost a hand to hand combat. You also never miss a case as you always solve them all except for this one."

Alice chuckled. She knew where the conversation was heading to.

"You have managed to tackle all your problems except this one. One interesting thing I saw in your file was this case had something to do with your husband and daughter's death". Martin eyes glowed in surprise. He turned sharply to her but she refused to look at him.

"I can assure you sir", she said " that this is not a personal vandeta my sole aim is to ensure the culprit faces the true power of the law and I can assure you I won't take matters into my own hands."

The lieutenant sat back on his chair relaxing. He studied her face. " There's a crime" he finally said. " The same method of death as the previous death. This is the third person to die so far. Why don't you and Sergeant Martin go check it out and see what you can dig from there."

"Thank you sir",she replied. She and Martin stood up and saluted simultaneously. They both turned back to leave. " Alice", the lieutenant called. She turned back to face him.

"Revenge could be a strong will", he said, " it could also be the right motivation to push you beyond your limits but remember also that it could send you to your early grave or make you get lost in the darkness".

She nodded her head. " Thank you sir" ,she said and saluted again before moving out.

She shut the door and walked briskly down the passage with Martin. "I'm sorry for your loss" he said. " I understand how that feels" There was a note of sadness in his voice. They walked into the elevator.

"Thanks" ,Alice finally replied. She looked at his face. Their eyes locked once more. His face looked torn. He was struggling to control himself. "Whatever that happened" , Alice said, "try not to think to much about it. The thought of it might put you in a state of depression."

Martin smiled at her but didn't say a word. When the elevator finally opened they walked out. Each taking few steps at a time. They spotted John talking to a girl at the corner. Immediately he saw them he dismissed the conversation with the girl and rushed towards them.

"Where're you heading to?" He asked looking straight at Alice without acknowledging the presence of Martin. "Don't worry about it" she replied. "And thanks for the drive and pep talk."

Martin smirked at him. "I got this" ,he said. John reduced his pace and then left them. He didn't look pleased.

"That man is a Casanova". Martin said. " I could tell" she replied. They walked out of the building towards the parking lot. Martin led them to a dark range rover. He unlocked it and they both got in. Alice waited in silence as he drove them. She used the opportunity to sightsee. Atlanta had similar building structures with New York. The streets were also busy.

They finally arrived at the crime scene. Martin was the first to get down from the car. He waited for Alice to also get down. " See what you can dig from the corpse, I'll ask around" he said.

Alice did not object. Martin dissappered into a crowd of people trying to get a closer look at the corpse. Alice showed her ID to two cops before crossing the tape. There were various reporters there desperately trying to cross the tape. The policemen,however was preventing them from doing so. Alice spotted the corpse on the floor. She moved quickly to it, she didn't see any sign of Martin anywhere again. She squatted beside it and opened the white blanket they used to cover it. She gasp when she saw it. Memories of her husband and daughter hunted her thoughts. The person lying on the floor dead had his or probably her skin peeled off. The murder was gruesome. Whoever did it took his time. She studied the body. Tears gathered in her eyes but she waved them off. This was not a time to weep. She stood and was startled to see someone one staring at her. A lady was staring at her probably studying her.

"If you're gonna stay in Atlanta you should get use to seeing deaths like this."

Alice was at first confused but then knew why the lady would say that. " I'm not like this because of the murder" she corrected. " It's just something personal."

The lady shuddered it off. "I'm Janet by the way,forensics." She offered her hand for a handshake and Alice took it warmly. Janet moved closer to the body. "Whoever did this is a beast" she said glancing at Alice. Her eyes were almost green. They were moderately big fitting to her skull. Her makeup was light. Her dark eyelashes added to her beauty. She glimmered with beauty.

"There are so many beast in this world" Alice replied. "Its the way things are now. Men are slowly becoming monsters."

Janet's face revealed an embarrassing smile. "I didn't mean beast literarily,I mean beast like .... Beast."

"What do you mean?" Alice asked with sheer curiosity.

" You probably wouldn't take me serious" Janet said. "Nobody does, just forget it." Janet made a move to go but Alice held her by the arm.

"I'm going to listen to you" ,she said. " I have to consider all options in this case. Come on,tell me what you know." Janet paused for some seconds staring into Alice's eyes. She hesitated for a while.

"Take a look at this" she finally said. She bent before the dead body and Alice did the same also. They both wore gloves to cover their hands and prevent imprints on any object surrounding the murder scene. "See this marks around this edges?",Janet used her finger to trace some parts of the head of the corpse. " The marks of the cuttings are irregular and jaggered."

"Could be an amateur" Alice said trying to see things from Janet's point of view.

"Or could be a claw" ,Janet replied her. " Take a look at all this sides. The skin wasn't peeled off it was scratched off." Her fingers pointed to stretches of marks on the shoulders. "The open flesh and blood around the area made that spot difficult to see." Alice was beginning to see Janet's point. Memories of her conversation with the taxi driver slowly drifted to her mind.

"Could it be wild animals?" Alice asked, " Probably a dangerous predator set loose and all this victims happen to be at the wrong place at the wrong time."

"Animals only work on their instinct," Janet said. "They don't care of footprints or leaving evidences behind they just do their brutal thing and go but this victim here ,no this victim was grabbed to a corner and the murderer carefully scrutinized its victim. It peeled its skin off carefully and caughtiously. I say it took hours. The worst part is it didn't kill its victim no it wanted its victim to feel the pain and did it while he was still Alive. Just peeled off the skin and let him bleed away. The victim was dragged towards the blind spot of the streetcams. No fingerprints on the victim,all marks are covered with pieces of the victim's flesh".

"But how can the killer use claws and no DNA?" Alice asked in confusion, "doesn't make sense."

"Its simple",Janet replied. "It peeled away the flesh of its victim, we find the brutalized body of the victim but no flesh which means it......."

"Used the victim's flesh to replace its prints on the body." Alice finished, "very clever. But there's another thing. If it didn't directly kill its victim but peeled off his skin slowly wouldn't the victim like scream and people would hear?"

"That's what I can't understand" Janet replied. " Its why nobody believes me. I think whoever did this is a very clever beast."

"Or a man in form of a beast." Alice added. "This is the closest I've ever been on this case all thanks to you."

Janet smiled. Just then Martin arrived. "No body saw what happened" ,he said. " Which is kind of odd."

"We have good news" Alice announced. "We have strong reasons to believe that whoever did this used claws and not knives. It was expertly done. More like a beast in form of a man.Strange right?"

Martin didn't look surprised. Alice studied his face and countenance. Oddly there was a sort of expression on his face. Fuck he knew what she was talking about. His face and expression tells it all. He knew of men like beast existing. He tried to feign surprise but Alice could see right through it. She immediately began to have her doubt against him. He was hiding something, she was sure of that.