Paint the town red

Chapter X

The investigation of the case went on as usual: we interrogated and interviewed possible witnesses, went to the crime scene several times in the hope of finding any clue that the forensic experts who worked at the scene might have missed. We checked messages and calls on Pierre's phone a hundred times, as well as checked all his social media and all his e-mails, but there was no sign of anyone wanting to hurt him, let alone kill him.

There weren't many people at Pierre's funeral, only the closest people came. It broke my heart to see the inconsolable and sobbing mother of my best friend. I remember going up to her to express my condolences, and she hugged me as tightly as she hugged me when I was little, and said:

"Charles, please find the one who did this. Don't let this case stay open. Find him, I beg you."

I swore that I would find the murderer of her son and my best friend, and I am sure that I'll keep my word no matter what it takes. Yuki was also at the funeral – Pierre managed to introduce him to the family, so for them he was almost like a family member. He stayed with me, but I didn't mind – neither he nor I wanted to be alone in the evenings. And grieving together isn't as devastating as when you're grieving alone.

Sometimes Max joined our company - he gladly accepted invitations from me and Yuki and spent time with us. Thanks to him, these evenings became homely and cozy, and not full of mourning and sorrow, as it was in the first days after Pierre's death. We can say that at this time, when the three of us gather at my house, our lives seems to be getting back on track. And I was glad that Max became friends with Yuki, although initially I thought that they would be very difficult to find common ground.

There's been no progress in the case so far, but I still haven't given up. Max and I were sitting in the office again and trying to find at least some motive for the crime, when Frederick entered the office and, judging by the look on his face, he brought some bad news.

"Another one."

Max and I immediately got up from our seats and, taking our personal belongings, immediately left the office, going to the scene of another murder. The second murder in six weeks? Is this a series? Or are they unrelated in any way? That's what we were going to find out.

When we arrived at the crime scene, we saw the familiar picture again: yellow tape around the perimeter, a body covered with a black cloth, many forensic experts everywhere, and officers keeping out press and passers-by. We showed our IDs to one of them, and he let us into the crime scene without questions asked. This time Max went to the medical examiner, and I went to the police officer who was the first to arrive at the scene.

"What do we know?"

"At 9:00 a.m, a runner found the body when he went for a morning jog. Berthier and I arrived here first, immediately reported to the station and secured the place, so the place remain untouched."

"What about the victim?"

"Young guy again. All personal items, documents, everything's with him. It doesn't look like a robbery."

I nodded to the officer and went over to Max, who was talking to Esteban. From what he's told us, preliminary cause of death was a penetrating stab wound in the abdominal cavity. Ocon briefly explained what he had noticed during the initial examination and that the rest would be known only after the full autopsy. My partner and I were about to leave when the expert quietly called out to me.

"Leclerc!"

I turned around, and Esteban waved his hand in the direction of the dead man, thereby beckoning me to him. I touched Max's forearm and told him to come with me. We went to Ocon, who squatted next to a corpse covered with a black cloth. He lifted a piece of cloth, showing us the guy's hand.