Chapter 1

My name is Hanzaki. I am currently working as a detective. With average wealth and average appearance, I have never been on a date in my 34 years of life and a virgin. However, there is something that is not regarded as average in me.

Yes, it seems that I am good at my work.

And right now, I am going to a crime scene of a serial killer case.

I take a glance at the watch on the right hand, It is 6 : 46 am.

"We have arrived, Mr. Hanzaki, " the man at the driver seat notifys me.

"Thank you for driving me here,"

"No, no. It is an honour for me to drive the famous Sherlock Holmes of 21st century to the crime scene"

"Haha,"

I could only laugh it off with a sour face since I don't know if that is a sacarsm or a compliment.

"Mr. Hanzaki"

"Oh. Mr.Johnny"

Mr.Johnny who arrived at the crime scene before me, is calling me out.

He is a huge man around 40 years old. When I say huge, I don't mean he is muscular. He is huge because of both the muscles and fat. His stomach is swallowing like a pregnant woman because of all the beer he pours into it every night. Moreover, he is a public safety police officer, and we've met a few times while working on these types of crimes.

"How is the crime scene. As expected, the serial killer's doing?"

Mr. Johnny nods.

Then we both cross the path the polices are sealing and go to the crime scene.

The crime happened in a dark alley where not a single living soul can be seen it at night. The dirty walls are filled with colourful graffitis, and at the sides of the road, the trash cans where flies are flying around while making bezz-bezz sound are standing. There are a total of 4 steel trash cans and 2 black plastic bags filled with trash in the alley. Three of the trashcans lie together near the entrance of the alley, and the bags situate near them. The last trach can is lying on the ground with the lip opened, and all the filthy trashes are falling outside, and the whole street is filled with its dusgusting smell of rots. In the middle of the alley, a woman around 26 years old is lying on the dirty ground with her throat sliced open. She is in a white shirt with two of her upper buttons undone, and her purple sexy lingerie can be seen from the outside. The long black hairs are being painted red because of the pond of scarlet blood under them. The hairs are sticking together using the dry blood as a glue. At the foot, she is wearing a pair of preal colour socks combined with leather lady shoes. Blood stains can be seen on both the plain white blouse and the long brown skirt she was wearing.

"This is one terrible sight."

"Yes, this is the 4th one,"

I look at Johnny's piercing eyes. He is also gazing at me with anxious expression.

Then, I looked away and divert my attention to the corpse of the woman.

"Have you found anything on her?" I ask Johnny.

"We found her identification card. Miss. Mary Crom,28 years old and 170 cm height. I also have the police investigating more about her based on the indentification we got. "

As expected from Johnny.

"Any news about the person who reported this?"

"No, we haven't found him yet. The cctv in the phone booth did not get his face since he was wearing a mask. "

Around 6 am today, the police got a call from an anonymous telling that he found a corpse in the dark alley. So, the police rushed here and discovered this.

"His height and appearance?"

"He is about 6 ft tall according to the cctv and has a strongly built body. Other than that, we don't know anything. He was wearing gloves and a mask to cover everything. "

Johnny answers with an unsatisfied tone.

I also nod in agreement with his unsatifaction.

All the blood was already dried up when the corpse was discovered. It means that the crime happened at yesterday's night, and a suspicious guy contacted the police in the morning. Why?

"Hey,"

"Hey!!" Johnny wakes me who is lost in my own thoughts by shouting really loud.

"What?" I try to complain with an annoyed tone.

But beside Johnny, there is a new police officer I do not know is standing, and there are 2 sheets of snow white papers being held tightly in the hands.

"We have found out who she is," Johnny talks as he swings the paper with his right hand where an expensive looking watch is attached.

"Then?" I ask shortly.

"She is called Miss Mary Crom.."

"You've told me that already." I cut what Johnny is saying.

"Yeah, yeah.."

"Anyway, she lives in the slum area and has a son called James Crom, who is around 11 years old. He said that she would always go out at night saying that she was going to work and come back at dawn every day, leaving him at home alone. Moreover, that had been continuing ever since he remembers"

"What!!??'

I raise my voice, which surprises Johnny.

What is going on? I can't understand it. What is the purpose of these consecutive crimes.

"What the hell is wrong with you?" Johnny also raises his voice and asks me with a surprised face.

"Have your men investigate all the love hotels and alley ways around this 2 miles radius range,"

"What? Love hotel? What for? Is this about this crime?" he asks in a hurried expression.

"No," I answer in a straight face, which makes Johnny very tense.

"This is about your wife,"

"Fuck you!" Johnny swears at me furiously.

"Fuck you motherfucker. Fucking bastard" he continued his swears without resting.

"Haha" I bursts out laughing looking at the figure of Johnny who looks like a furious bull attacking the red carpet desperately.

"Stop fucking laughing"

"The crime itself is not very complicated" I fix my expression back to straight.

Yes, it isn't. Any detective can solve this easily.

"Then, you know the culprit and how it is done?"

I nod.

"It is very simple. The victim, Miss Mary Crom, is what you call, a night worker and yesterday the customer turned out to be our guy, the serial killer. They met yesterday and went to somewhere to do their business. After that he lured her to here and killed her for literally no reason. That's it"

"But how can we tell if she is a night worker or not?" Johnny asks with a serious expression.

"She goes out at everynight saying it is for work and her sloppy way of wearing a shirt. Moreover the right sock of hers is inside out which means she has to take off her sock. People naturally do not take off their sock at home or work. That means that she was taking a shower, AT NIGHT"

"But there is a chance that she just mistook the sock ever since she came out of her house" Johnny complains.

"When people wears a sock, they always look at their feet before they wear a shoe to comfirm if the appearance is right or not. There is no way a person would not fix and put right the sock back when it is in inside out condition. But in her case, she did not fix that even if she knew that the sock was not in right condition. Why? Because she was hurrying or someone was rushing her"

I explains my theory patiently to Johnny.

"Okay, I will believe you and have my men investigate into that matter"

Yes, the strange thing is that the culprit phoned the police at the morning. He had no reason to expose himself as a suspect. I have no proof yet but I suspect the anonymous guy is the culprit. Just what are his intentions to take the risk of getting exposed himself. And his crimes are also bizarre. First a office worker got killed 3 month ago, second a waitress of a bar after a week away from the first one, thirdly a kid got killed at his way back home from school about 1 month ago and now a prostitute. There is no connections between them. Is he covering up his true aim by randomly killing a chain of people? On the first crime, I was abroad and couldn't go to the investigation. Second one too. And the third one occured when I was sick and taking a rest at home. I was not there at any of his crimes.

I was not there and the attacks are totally random.

What is this bad feeling I am having? I could not finish my coffee this morning and forgot to bring my cigeratte box to work.

Is he targeting me? Is he commiting crime after crime luring me?

I will bring you death and cleanse you for your sins Hanzi.

Yes, I got a letter like that 6 months ago and totally forgot about that.

Shit.

"STOPP!!"

"Stop him!"

Bang.Bang.Bang.

While I was in my own world, I get forced to wake up because of the nosiy environment.

I take a look at where the chaotic voices are coming from.

A man wearing a bullet proof jet-black armor and a dark helmet with a gun in the right hand is coming straight toward me while riding a motor cycle. He is shooting the officers who are trying to stop him from entering the sealed area.

Bang.Bang.Bang.

The polices are shooting him back but because of the armor, it does not even faze him.

The motorcycle is coming nearer and nearer to me. I am too stunned to even react and looking at the bloody scene where police officers are dropping dead one after another because of the gun shots.

Bang.Bang.

This time he shoots his gun toward me. The bullets are flying straight to my head as they pierce through the air with great speed.

The whole environment around me goes quiet. The speed of the bullets gets slower and slower.

I can see everthing clearly and think clearly.

"Hanzakiiii!!" the roar of the shooter.

That is the last thing I hears as the bullets pierce through my head.

I die.