1 The Seventh Murder

It was 5:20 a.m. when Haston city's police arrived at 17 Crosswalk Street. Another person had been murdered the previous night. The police rushed over immediately the body was discovered and barricaded the scene. It was a small house with a little garden at the front yard. Bruce, Haston city's police chief, and Jason were welcomed by the strong metallic smell of blood in the room as they entered.

Beside the bed, on the cold floor, lay a young lady with her eyes wide open, her face depicted the very meaning of fear and anguish. She had a long slit at her throat with sticky blood patches that ran down her chest and onto the floor. It was a ghastly scene.

"Another woman..." Bruce sighed and knelt beside the corpse looking intensely at the pool of blood.

Over the last eight months, Haston city has been plagued by a serial killer who kept striking when the police didn't expect. His pattern of murder was very unusual, his victims were mixed; men, women, teenagers, it didn't adhere to any logic. It seemed like he killed randomly. The only thing that linked all these seven cases was that the killer would use the victim's blood to write a blood text on the floor which read: THE WEAK HAS BEEN EXORCISED, YOU'RE NEXT.

The last letter of the words was always dragged as if the killer wanted to add more but was restrained or stopped.

"This guy has some fetish for weakness or what? And what does he mean by 'you're next?'" Jason asked looking around. He found this text very bizarre. Bruce didn't reply feeling that the question was rhetorical.

After some minutes, five other officers entered the room with their equipment to analyze the crime scene. This wasn't a regular serial murder case and they knew it. This murderer had managed to outsmart the police for eight months. He always got away with little or no clues left behind.

"Sir, the media are causing problems outside," a police officer with a stoic face reported to Bruce

who nodded and turned to Jason, "has he arrived yet?"

"Yeah, he will be here soon" Jason nodded in affirmation.

"Okay, send the reporters away; tell them to get the details from the police's information department." Jason said passively. He already felt pressured by the government which led to the intervention of Wakeville who sent over their 'best' detective to help out, and right now he didn't want any more pressure from the media.

Outside one could hear the commotions and angry words thrown at the officers who attempted to clear the area. The media persisted the most as they tried to force their way through the barricade tape only to be stopped. Not long after, the detective sent by Wakeville arrived the room. He wore a sweater over a green shirt and black tight fitting pants to combat Haston city's unusually cold weather. Haston city is known for its irregular weather which is mainly the reason why weather forecasts were only accurate by 70%, and as such he came prepared.

"Sir, I'm detective Bryan Derrick from Wakeville," he quickly introduced himself to the chief of police extending his hand for a handshake which Bruce accepted.

"I know who you are, you can call me Bruce Denise" he replied indifferently. To him, this man was an indication that Haston city's police department wasn't doing their job well and needed an intervention; hence, he wasn't so enthusiastic about meeting him.

"This is...." Bryan stalled as he scanned the blood text on the floor.

"Horrendous?"

"I was going to say, sinister" Bryan walked over to the table that was pushed to the far corner, "has it always been like this?" He asked feeling the creepiness of the scene.

"Always." Bruce replied and walked over to Bryan, who had already picked up a book on the table with his gloved hand and flipped through, he continued, "There's only a slight difference across the other six scenes which you will see after going through the report"

The door creaked opened and Jason walked in with a solemn expression. The noise from earlier had died down. After a brief introduction he asked Bryan, "Have you encountered something like this before?"

"No," Bryan shook his head, "this guy seems like a psycho." Although he had been involved in many homicide cases before but he hadn't encountered such clean operation. So far from the on-site analysis, no finger prints or body fluids were found which didn't belong to the victim. It was like a suicide!

"This murderer seems like a ghost" Bryan remarked tersely, "what about the CCTV footage?"

"Already retrieved" Bruce, who preferred to be silent most of the time, spoke.

Bryan nodded passively as his mind was occupied with something else. Somehow he perceived a faint smell. It mixed well with the scent of blood that one wouldn't notice unless they paid particular attention. He made a mental note to check it out later, for now; he needed the forensic reports to be able to ascertain his next course of action.

"Have you spoken with her relatives yet?" Bryan asked as he went about the room checking every detail.

"Not yet, but the mother is really broken now and her fiancé doesn't want to speak to the police yet" Jason replied with a serious tone.

"Her mother was the first to discover her when she rushed over for a visit." Bruce added conclusively.

"They live apart?" Bryan found this strange. It appears this murderer targeted people who stayed alone or attacked them when they were alone. But even more unsettling than that was the fact that her mother discovered her. A visit at 5 a.m.? Bryan looked at his wrist watch to confirm the time. Whatever made the woman visit must have been very grave.

"Don't you feel it is strange for her to rush over at 5 in the morning?" Bryan raised his concern.

"Very. With the follow up investigation we should be able to know more." Bruce was impressed with this 'best' detective who seemed to be living up to his reputation. Honestly, he found it weird that the woman had rushed over so early, but he couldn't bear to probe further seeing the woman's sorry state. He could really empathize with her. He shuddered when he thought of going home one day just to discover that his child was murdered.