Chapter 5
“This is the third case in the last 5 months. The MO is the same, the clues left are the same. Exactly the same. Exactly the same star comprising of two intersecting triangles, cut exactly one inch into the flesh. Everytime. No fingerprints were found. No hair was left around. Girl definitely raped but no traces of semen. We are dealing with an intelligent John Doe here. Someone who possesses some medical knowledge. Someone who either reads up extensively on police work or is or has been a member of the force. I sincerely hope it’s not the latter or we will be in deep shit this time. Ok. What have you guys got on this fella?”
“Nothing new or interesting. What we know is what you have boss.”
Kim sighed. This is bad. Very bad. This case is not making progress at all. Whoever he is, he’s one hellava good killer. Kim could practically vision his taunting face, sneering at her and making snide remarks about how inept they are at attempts to trace him.
“Alright buddies, let’s go through these cases again and see what we extra stuff we can figure out.”
The afternoon wiled away just like that, with Kim and her capable team holed up in their tiny discussion room, trying to fix the jigsaw puzzle that is this mysterious killer. Pictures of the victims, with their names scribbled at the bottom, were taped to the huge whiteboard in front of them. Sherry, Melissa, Eliza. The mysterious killer who took away their lives with seemingly no remorse. No guilty conscience. No hesitations. Many different things were written on the board. The predicted profile of this John Doe; a fairly detailed sketch of the Method of Operation and a possible computer-art of how he might look like.
In the police hospital in the next block, Dr Willam Watts was fretting over his newest case. Ashley, 28 year old woman was in his care. She was brought in because she was almost knocked down by a car and the police officer who happened to save her saw her deranged state and decided to bring her in for treatment. Terribly battered both inside and outside, she was a picture of total wreck. Bruises and cuts were rampant. Burns covered her entire back. Her left nipple was cut off. She walked with a very serious limp caused by her broken right leg. She looked so terrible even the nurse didn’t bear to look at her for more than five seconds. But what made Dr Watts sigh was that she refused to say anything. Her eyes were withdrawn and she refused to look at anything else other than the wall. Even if you forcibly put her in the field, she will simply look at her feet. Dr Watts tried all sorts of methods. From persuading to coercing to tricking to hypnotizing. Nothing worked. Nothing could make her talk. Not even in her hypnotized state would she say a single word. For the first time in his 15-year career, Dr Watts was stumped.
Two streets away was Corona Industries. A handsome man was standing in a huge office on the very top floor, facing the wrath of his boss. Looking from the outside through the glass doors, one could not help but feel the anger of the boss as well. His face was red with anger and he was banging his fist on the table ever so frequently. You may even see steam coming out of his ears if you looked closely. On the other hand, the receiver looked cool and moderately mocking. He just didn’t seem to care. Although he had his head bowed low, there was a trace of a smirk on his face and his whole demeanor was shouting ‘To hell with it!’ This, together with his condescending remark of ‘Yes Boss’ to everything that his boss says, was the last straw.
“Ryuichi Takemori. You are FIRED! GET OUT!” His now ex-boss screamed and spitted at him.