Happy little accidents

Prologue

This is something I never thought I'd have to tell anyone, let alone retell it. All those families. All those people... the lives lost and the lives ruined.

That man impacted so many people's lives, including my own... it took me four years to solve all those cases, and now more bodies, with the same MO are popping up. Each of his paintings... they were all scenes from crimes he'd committed. Nobody suspected a thing. They just thought he was a happy art teacher.

"Miss Briar?"

I looked up a little, noticing that my thoughts were wandering again. A bad habit I'd somehow grown into in my line of work.

"Sorry, Dr. Drew... I was-"

"-Lost in thought? I know hun, I've been seeing you for years" my shrink, Amelia Drew, was one of the best in the city, she was kind, understanding and actually took the time to get to know her patients.

She smiled at me gently and tapped the back of her pen on her notepad. After taking a few notes she stretched and took her hair out

"I hope you don't mind, my head was starting to hurt from my hair being tied back all day" she tucked her hair behind her ears so it would still be out of her face and look professional. A funny thing about Amelia. She always looked nice, even on casual Fridays when all she really wore was a T-shirt, sweatpants, and slippers.

"So... tell me about work, you said there was a new development?"

"Yeah... that case I spent four years of my life on, turns out... it's not as closed as we thought" I sighed and leaned back in the chair, the soft leather squeaking quietly as I adjusted. "I thought it was finally over and done with but... suddenly..." I paused and looked at my hands

"Suddenly?"

"Suddenly we are finding new victims along with paintings, in the exact style of the killer"

"Looking back through my notes..." Amelia started, the crisp sound of the pages turning between her weathered fingers was a familiar one, but one I hope to never get used to. "The paintings were his way of, what? Documenting?" she asked

"It was like his way of having a trophy" I stated bluntly

"A trophy?"

"A keepsake so to speak. Ed Gein kept people's faces... Ivan Milat took people's camping equipment of all things-"

"-That sounds rather messed up, was it a way for them to gloat?" Amelia studied my face as she spoke. Trying to see what was going on in my head, something she had been taught to do when speaking to homicide detectives. Their way of knowing if we were close to breaking point was the movement and relaxation of our faces.

"I believe so, I mean Bundy kept his victims' heads, Albright kept the eyeballs, hell, even John George Haigh kept one of his victim's dogs"

"Okay, but those are things that belonged to the victims... your killer creates these paintings, he doesn't take them from anyone and he actually leaves them with the bodies" after jotting down some more notes, she looked back up at me and sat forward in her chair. Unable to think of why he would 'break the trend' so to speak, I did what I was trained to do and used the information I already knew.

"A lot of killers come from a past of sexual abuse or frustration, domestic violence, neglect, some have trauma and start off small with things like bullying, the murder, and torture of animals, or even just abusing their siblings" I stated. Amelia nodded and slowly started to lean back, reaching for her coffee cup as she listened intently, not taking her eyes off me for a second, like a teenager engrossed in their phone, she only looked away quickly when the back of her hand hit the cup beside her almost knocking it over.

"There is a noticeable difference between when a killer takes a trophy and when they keep a souvenir-" I said "-It is believed that these 'souvenirs' fuel whatever fantasy they have, whereas a trophy reminds them of the skills they possess that made them successful in their attempt. Both can be used to fuel sexual desire" I gulped a little and kept going "Typically a souvenir is just something that belonged to the victim, like a bottle of perfume, a photograph, a toy sometimes even underwear"

"Whereas a trophy is usually always the same thing, like a pair of glasses or a hat, they will always take the same thing from each victim" I finished, checking the time on the clock beside Amelia's coaster.

I always watched the time during these sessions, I just wanted to get back to work and continue my research. Amelia waved her hand a little in front of me. I shook my head and looked at her as a concerned, yet gentle smile crossed her face.

"The act of trophy taking can also be part of a killer's MO" I took a deep breath to prepare myself. Recalling past cases always made me feel a little gross, but it's part of the job.

"Something that becomes a signature like they always kill the same way, the always take the same thing from each victim or they leave something like a calling card: some leave a spraypaint mark, some leave a design cut into the victims' skin" I started to think it about each painting and suddenly jolted upright as a realization came into my head

"His paintings... they're his MO... Most MO's are the same, say you have a killer named 'the joker' he will always leave a joker card on his victims, he will never use... say... an ace of spades"

I looked at Amelia with an intensity that I've never gotten in one of my sessions before

"Even though his MO is to leave a painting, it's never the same painting, what do you think that could mean, Miss Briar?" she asked in a serious tone

"To be honest... I have no idea... but it could really help me here"

After years of being on the force, you tend to grow the balls to stomach this sort of conversation, but when you're reliving something that consumed your life, ruined relationships and made you lose friends... it tends to get the best of you. You become detached from everyone and everything else, the case consumes you and you become obsessed.