The haunting mystery

The mystery

Mysteries and the aura associated with them had always fascinated him. His heart leaped in a body chilling thrill whenever he was called to figure what pieces of the puzzle fit where and why.

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His glory had always been a celebratory gin and a cuban ciger while enjoying some jazz while his mates stared in awe at his insight on some basics and complexities they had overlooked or had no idea about as he shuffled the investigation papers into a labelled file "Case Closed".

This had been the life of senior Detective Grinch Blair for the past ten years. A senior homicide detective in the Nairobi Metropolitan city, Grinch had collected a multitude of accolades and earned respect among his colleagues and seniors over his professionalism and passion for the ghostly puzzles of the dangerous endeavour.

He had always treated the crime scenes with a raw desire, keenly evaluating and rarely with any hint of fear, but not today.

He had just received a body chilling call, not the thrilling kind but more of a thought provoking, angry and fearful one.

As he fumbled with the laces of his canvas boots, cursing at having been woken up just an hour past midnight, he replayed the shaky voice of his partner over the phone ," 8th STREET MOI AVENUE, ANOTHER ONE".

He did not ask about the details, neither did he anticipate to find out, but he knew what was required of him as duty came calling.

The simple call was enought to send a head splitting headache and dizziness over him. Mysteries had always been his thing but not this one. They had always referred to it as "ANOTHER ONE " over the years and that had always been it.

The gross details and nauseating scenes were beyond human bearing to describe and with each getting worse than the previous, they always looked forward to it ceasing to happen, almost forgetting it but with each year, on the month of March the 20th during the full moon, their worst fear always came to reality.

It had grown to a spiteful routine, blood spatter, flesh torn, stale body parts and a lifeless human or two that they had to convince their bereaved families they will get to the bottom of the murders and bring the culprits to book. Something they had desperately and miserably failed to do for the past five years.

The gross nature and careless brutal murders were inhuman and rarely left any trail that one could follow as a human lead and this always frustrated their investigation. Tonight was another nightmare he wasnt looking up to.

Detective Grinch, grabbed a leather jacket, closed the door to his apartment with a thud and lit a cigar as he reversed out of the garage in his foul wheel drive land Rover cruiser, heading into the highway, not in the same hurry as he would have done under other circumstances.

The busy crowded streets full of bustle and congestion during the day were replaced by a serene calmness at this hour of the night. The street lights shone brightly blinding some drivers momentarily as a few blinking lights indicated a few late night dwellers on the road.

Except for the random delivery trucks and a few night shift workers in a hurry to get home to their families, the city was almost empty. Detective Grinch drove slowly through the bypass while envying the people in the warmth of their homes without a worry in the world as he sighted a few lights in the apartments. He for a moment forgot what was awaiting him on the other side of town, imagining what it was like to live a 'normal' life and working on normal hours.

He had graduated top of his police academy class and taken a step further to acquire a first class honours degree in Criminology from the prestigious city university and knew he was best suited where he was except the mysterious killer he was dealing with was proving too much to handle even for him. He flicked the cigar off as he took the last turn, leading to 8th Street Moi avenue and his midnight crime scene for the "another one" sociopath.

The narrow street of the Moi Avenue was a bustle of activity as Detective Grinch approached. A small crowd of onlookers was gathering curiously murmuring amongst themselves while peering, trying to go beyond the 'do not cross crime scene' yellow tape erected by detectives already at the scene. Grinch ignored the reporters blocking his path, zooming past as they flicked lights and cameras his way with a blabber of questions he wished he himself had answers to. He nodded to his partner, Bruce Williams, a younger detective and recent police academy graduate, who seemed shaken to the core by the crime scene.

Detective Grinch, followed his partner to the crime scene and stopped, dumbstruck as his eyes tried take in the sight ahead of him.

Covered in light blankets, were three naked bodies. Bruce had half uncovered the victims to unveil the horror and allow him the scrutiny he needed in order to come up with a report.

A nauseating feeling overcame him, almost forcing him to puke as his brain tried understand how uncharacteristic this was.

The killer had not just provided one nor two but three victims this time, an indication of desperation and how out of control he was running. Detective Glinch noticed the severe bites on the necks of the victims, characteristic of the killer, the pale bodies indicating lost or to be precise sucked blood, the torn flesh indicating missing tender parts and no heart, that he was certain.

Detective flinch, checked the scene for anything vital that could lead them to their killer, unsuccessfully. He understood the victims had been dumped here after receiving the inhuman fate else and this would make it worse.

A flicker of hope flared in the distance as he realized something common amongst all the victims. Cards withdrawn from the victims indicated they had attended a fancy 18plus affair in the famous Sassy Strip Club the night before and for the first time ever, their killer had left a trail, a mistake Detective Grinch would ensure they would regret ever making.

He was hot on his trail now and this time he would be ruthless as the killer was, had always been.