Carver

Chapter Six- Coralinne

Heels clicked against the pavement as a lone figure made her way at speed through a quiet street. A discarded soda can tumbled along the sidewalk, guided by the breeze. The woman pulled her leopard print faux fur coat further around herself, her entire body shivering. Coralinne had just departed her friend’s party. Although her head felt fuzzy from the few glasses of red wine she had consumed alongside the delicious carbonara that her friend had cooked, Coralinne felt uneasy, like she was being followed. It was dark out and there were no clouds in the sky. The street lamps cast orange pools on the pavement. Coralinne stole a quick glance over her shoulder, hugging her coat around her and tightly grasping the leather strap of her purse. She silently cursed herself at the plastic bag that was floating behind her. She continued forward, picking up speed. She jumped at the sound of a howling cat nearby, hand pressed against her chest. Coralinne stopped and tugged off her heels. She felt a presence behind her. As she slowly turned her head, she found that she was alone. With her heels gathered in one hand, Coralinne straightened and continued on. Stones dug into the soles of her feet but she knew that she stood a better chance of running if she needed to. Coralinne tugged her cell phone out of her purse but found that the battery was dead.
“Shit,” she cursed, dropping her phone back into her purse. Suddenly, she was regretting her decision to forgo driving for the sake of a few glasses of wine. Coralinne glanced around in a hope that a cab would be idling nearby but she was very much alone. She did not live too far away, but she felt uneasy.
“Pull yourself together, Corrie,” she muttered to herself. She hated feeling so paranoid, but the news of the prostitute who was murdered shook her to the core. She felt the presence again, even closer this time, but nothing was there. As she turned back to continue forward, a black shape appeared before her, blocking her path. Coralinne yelped and brought her hand up to her mouth, dark brown eyes wide with terror. She could not make out any features of the person in front of her, only that it was the shape of a man and that they had a pair of icy blue eyes. There was silence for a moment before the figure slid a knife from the back of their jeans, the blade glinting in the moonlight and simply said,
“Run.”

Coralinne wasted no time in darting past the man and fleeing down the street. She glanced over her shoulder to see the man sauntering behind her, knife still in hand. Stones flicked up from her feet. Her heart pounded a hole in her chest and blood rushed through her ears. Her breath caught in her throat. Coralinne was not sure how long she could run for, but prayed to the heavens that her previous cross country running would finally become useful. A stray dog streaked out from a back alley, knocking Coralinne’s feet out from underneath her and sending her crashing to the ground. She took the opportunity to look around. The man was nowhere to be seen. Coralinne picked herself back up from the pavement, dusted the dirt from the knees of her jeans and snuck into the same alley that the dog had come from to crouch down behind a large dumpster. She closed her eyes and tried to steady her breathing. Swiftly and silently, a knife came down and sliced deep into her throat. Coralinne’s eyes snapped open and widened, her mouth bobbing. Crimson liquid surged over her lips. Dropping her shoes to the ground with a clatter, she brought her hands up to her neck in an effort to stem the bleeding but it continued to trickle between her fingers. The last thing she saw as the dying light of life escaped from her body was those icy blue eyes staring intently at her.

Sarah was seated on the sofa in her lounge, a mug of coffee cradled between her hands and a crochet blanket draped around her shoulders. Her legs were crossed underneath her. It was dark, leaving only streaks of moonlight across her floor. She cast a glance sideways to Luke who was sleeping on the other sofa. He had balled up his blazer and was using it as a pillow. A stray lock of hair hung over his face and nose. His tie hung loosely around his neck and his sleeves were haphazardly rolled to his elbows. His chest gently rose and fell. Sarah could not help but watch him in admiration. Luke had insisted on keeping Sarah company, even if it meant camping out on her sofa. Initially, Sarah felt awkward about having him in her home, but then she remembered that he had been in earlier in the day and that he had had to reluctantly go into her underwear drawer. Her headache had subsided somewhat. Sarah yawned and her eyes began to droop. She set her half drunk coffee on the table and unfurled herself from the sofa. She quietly picked her way to her bedroom and dropped onto the side of her bed. She swung her legs up onto the mattress and tugged the duvet over herself. Sarah lay back into her pillows and sighed in bliss.

The scent of freshly brewed coffee awoke Sarah the following morning. With closed eyes, Sarah poked her nose out from her duvet and sniffed to try and locate the smell, suddenly resembling a mole tunneling its way out of the ground. She cracked open her eyes and peeked over the duvet to find Luke setting a mug down on her bedside cabinet and removing the empty glass. Luke smiled at her and turned away to return to the kitchen. She shoved the duvet away and used her arms to push herself up to a seated position. She reached over and grabbed the mug, the steam still rising from the top of the mug from the coffee inside, and cradled it in her hands, the warmth spreading through her fingers. She could hear the sound of a phone ringing and then Luke chatting in hushed tones. Sarah brought the mug to her lips and sipped her coffee. Luke appeared at the doorway, cell phone in his hand and a grim expression across his exhausted face. He leaned against the door frame. Sarah looked at him, mug still pressed against her bottom lip. She slowly moved the mug away, eyes wide.
“What happened?” asked Sarah. Luke sighed and looked at the floor.
“Another body turned up in an alley just off of Rogers Avenue. Same MO.” Sarah quickly set the mug down on the bedside cabinet and threw the duvet back, swinging her legs out of bed and coming to her feet quicker than expected, leaving her with a wave of dizziness. She pressed a palm to her forehead.
“Give me five minutes to change,” she ordered, already making her way to her drawers and gathering clean clothing. Luke nodded in response and returned to the lounge. Sarah appeared in the lounge five minutes later and in record time. Luke was in the process of shouldering his blazer. Sarah was dressed in a pair of black jeans and a dark purple t-shirt. Although her ensemble was more casual than usual, Sarah had made an effort to at least resemble being a professional. She hooked her lanyard and ID card around her neck and holstered her glock. Neither of the pair spoke as they filed out of Sarah’s apartment.

Rogers Avenue was bustling with early morning commuters and shoppers. A crowd had gathered around an opening to a back alley which had been cordoned off with yellow crime scene tape. A pair of police officers were stationed at the entrance whilst another stood near the dumpster scribbling down notes. Luke’s dark blue BMW pulled up to the curb and came to a stop. Sarah was first out of the passenger side, her hand already reaching for her credentials. Luke followed closely behind her, credentials in his hand. They barged through the crowd of onlookers and flashed their badges at the police officers. Luke held the tape up for Sarah to duck underneath, then bent his tall, lanky frame down to do the same. Luke straightened, his knees clicking. He fished through his blazer pockets for some nitrile gloves. He handed a pair to Sarah who looked at them, then at Luke. The gloves were twice the size of Sarah’s hands. Sarah chuckled and wriggled her hands into them. Luke blushed as he pulled on his gloves with a snap. Sarah crouched down next to the body. The woman’s fur coat was open and hung at either side of her. Her ebony curled hair was matted and caked with congealed blood. The woman’s glazed eyes were wide with terror. A neat, deep cut snaked across her throat. Blood was dried to her chin. Her hands hung limply at her sides and were also covered in dried blood.
“Certainly has a type,” commented Luke as he crouched down next to Sarah and closely observing the woman’s hair, “Likes women with black curly hair.”
“Yeah. Look at her knees. They’re all grazed like she fell over, just like Patricia Sparks. She’s also got stones in her feet like she was walking barefoot.”
“Makes sense,” replied Luke as he hooked a finger in a shoe and held it up. He glanced out to the busy street, “I wonder if any of these buildings have any security cameras. It’s clear that she was killed here but this is just off a busy street so it’s more likely that someone had to see something.” Sarah grabbed the woman’s purse and opened it. She slid the burgundy leather wallet out of the purse and opened it to reveal the woman’s driving license.
“Coralinne Smith. She’s a Brooklyn native. We’ll see what we can find on her when we get back to the office.” Sarah turned to the police officer who was listening intently to the pair, “Has the ME been yet?” The officer cleared his throat and twitched his graying mustache. Luke tugged the half battered notebook out of his pocket to make some notes.
“Yes, ma’am. He estimated the time of death to be around eight hours ago based on lividity but will give a more accurate time when he completes the autopsy. He thinks the COD is likely to be blood loss from the cut to the throat.” Sarah nodded.
“Who found her?” asked Luke, eyes screwed up in concentration.
“The head chef at the restaurant here came out to discard some unused food and found her and then rang it in. That was around an hour ago. As soon as the call came in, we knew we needed to call you guys.”
“Thanks, officer. MO is the same as Patricia so this has to be the same killer. I think that these women are a surrogate for someone. We need to go back and find out if there are any similar cases that might give us some inkling as to what’s going on.” Luke nodded and stuffed the notebook back into his back pocket. They both came to their feet and removed their gloves before depositing them into a bag being held open by the police officer and making their way back through the crowd of people craning to get a view of the dead body to the car.