Crime and Chemistry

• Chapter 1 •

  First Impressions

Jay stood at the edge of the crime scene, surveying the area. He had been on the force for years, but he never got used to the sight of a dead body. This one was particularly gruesome - the victim had been stabbed multiple times and left to bleed out on the sidewalk.

As Jay was examining the scene, he noticed a woman in a lab coat walking towards him. She had long blonde hair and piercing blue eyes, and she was carrying a large kit of forensic tools.

"Excuse me," she said, "I'm Hailey. I work with the forensic team. I'm here to collect evidence."

Jay nodded. "I'm Jay," he said. "I'm a cop. Nice to meet you."

Hailey smiled. "Nice to meet you too. Do you have any information about the victim?"

Jay shook his head. "Not yet. We just got the call a few minutes ago. We're still trying to figure out what happened."

Hailey nodded. "Well, let me know if you need any help with the evidence. I'm happy to assist."

Jay thanked her and went back to examining the scene. As he worked, he couldn't help but notice Hailey out of the corner of his eye. There was something about her that he found intriguing - maybe it was the way she moved, or the confidence with which she handled her tools.

Jay and Hailey worked together to collect evidence and interview witnesses. They learned that the victim was a young woman named Sarah who had just started working at a tech company in the area. She seemed to have no enemies, and no one could think of a reason why someone would want to kill her.

As they were talking to one of Sarah's colleagues, Hailey noticed something strange about the way he was acting. He seemed nervous and kept glancing around as if he was afraid someone was watching him.

Hailey nudged Jay and nodded towards the man. Jay caught her meaning and asked the man if he had seen anything suspicious on the night of the murder.

The man hesitated before answering. "Well, I don't know if it's related, but I did see someone hanging around outside the office building that night. They were wearing a hoodie and a mask, so I couldn't see their face."

Jay and Hailey exchanged a look. It was a lead, at least. They thanked the man and headed back to the station to see if they could pull any security footage from the night of the murder.

After hours of combing through footage, they finally found something. It was grainy and hard to see, but they could make out a figure wearing a hoodie and a mask lurking outside the building around the time of the murder.

They ran the footage through facial recognition software, but it came back with no matches. Whoever the killer was, they were good at covering their tracks.

Jay and Hailey went back to the office building to see if they could find any more clues. They talked to the security guard and learned that the building had been broken into the night of the murder. The thief had stolen a few laptops and some cash from the vending machines.

Jay and Hailey exchanged another look. It was possible that the murder and the break-in were connected. They decided to look into the other burglaries in the area to see if there were any similarities.