Danse Macabre (Angel Devourers #4)

2

It was almost at the end of his shift when suddenly the phone rang and Lee Hyunwoo – the detective in duty from Major Case – groaned.

“Fuck! Can’t they wait for another five minutes before they call us? I need to go home and sleep in my own bed today instead of having to work overtime again. My back is literally killing me from sleeping in the break room or on the chair.” He was in the middle of gathering his things to go home in five minutes, and he was not happy when the phone rang. He had not come home for 3 days, and he was pretty sure his plants had died – even his favorite cactus which didn’t need that much care.

Toru Hasegawa – the Captain of Major Crimes division 5 – felt the same, but since they were knee deep in the middle of investigating a serial killer who only raped and killed young and beautiful people no matter what the gender was and left them on public properties wearing one of the previous victim’s things, he and his team were pressured by the higher ups to wrap this case as quickly as possible. And that would mean overtime and instant ramyeon or delivery until they caught the perpetrator.

“I need to take a shower and eat something not ramyeon. I slowly loathe ramyeon and it was my favorite food.” Toru grumbled but he picked up the phone. “Major Crimes, this better be good.”

“We caught another one.” The voice on the other line sounded tense and Toru started to massage his temple in frustration.

“Where?”

The place where they found the body was not too far from where they were. It was as if the killer was mocking them by leaving the victim close to the very crowded space and near the police station.

Toru flashed his badge to the uniformed rookie who guarded the scene, and he let him and Lee pass – and meet with another one of their team members, Park Iseul – who stood guard beside the body after she called Toru.

Toru stepped closer and Iseul showed him the body – who was being handled by the Medical Examiner – and started to fill him in with the statement she collected from the eyewitness – a middle aged man with a beer belly and premature baldness. He wore a cheap suit and he looked like he just came back from work when he stumbled upon the body, and his testimony matched.

“That man over there was just coming back from the bar and he’s piss drunk. When he tried to find an alley to relieve himself, he found this woman here. At first he thought that she was a prostitute who was beaten by her customer, but when he saw all the blood and the missing face, he got sober quickly and called the police.” 

Iseul quickly recapped the testimony and Toru took out a pair of black gloves and wore them, then he crouched beside the sexy medical examiner who went to the crime scene wearing a Manolo, and asked her the usual questions.

“Doc. Time of death?” 

The medical examiner – Geraldine Kim – turned to face him and flashed him a sexy smile before she answered.

“Buy me coffee later?” She licked her lips, and Toru was not that dense to know that the Doc had a hot for him, but this was still working hours and he was not going to indulge the spectators with a response.

“Time of death?” His tone became more chilling and Geraldine pouted, but she also knew that this was not the time nor the place to flirt openly. She would definitely do it later when they’re alone at the morgue.

“According to liver temp, she died around two weeks ago. Her inside was a mess, but strangely, her skin was still perfect. And the scary part is that her skin was separated from her body. It’s like she was…”

“Skinned alive.” Toru already knew ever since he saw the rotten head without the face. 

“More like, someone was taking her face and her skin, and did something to them before they returned it to the owner like a used clothes.” Geraldine explained. 

The scene was gore, but it was not the first time they saw it. In fact, it was the fourth victim within three months, and also the reason why Division 5 was very busy.

“So, it’s them?” Lee was still not used to the view in front of him although he had seen them many times before.

“Well, it’s definitely them, judging by how everything resembles their work, including this small incision here.” Toru pointed at the small scar under the chin of the woman that showed the beginning of the knife work.

This fact was never released to the press and kept secret in case there would be attention seekers who admitted that they did it to gain fame. Then they could verify if they were the real perpetrator.

“Well, there’s nothing I can do here, so I’ll get back to my office.” Geraldine stood up and got ready to leave.

She was fascinated by this case, as the three before this, and she wanted to quickly go back to the morgue to dissect the body – before having coffee with Toru.

The Captain of Division 5 was such a fine specimen of a man that she was craving for him after they slept together a week ago. But Toru was very busy lately and she knew that he hadn’t been home for so long because of this darn case, so she decided to help him to solve the case quickly and maybe take a weekend – or two – off to an island somewhere just the two of them.

Toru nodded and continued to examine the body, when his phone rang again. This time, it was from his supervisor.

He didn’t really want to answer it, but he knew that he had to report the progress and let the Supervisor do some pressuring stuff so he answered it.

“Yes.”

“Are you at the crime scene?” The Supervisor asked him without even saying hello first, but Toru was used to it.

“Yes.”

“Go back to the station, there’s something I need you to do.”

Toru looked at his phone like it grew a pair of legs, because the Supervisor was never this nice before, but he quickly composed himself.

“Fine.”

“What was that?” Lee asked him. He was very curious because he peeked onto the screen that said Supervisor was the one who called, but Toru looked confused.

“No idea. He asked me to go back to the station to do something.”

“Do you want me to come with you?” 

“Nah, I’m good. Let me know if you find anything else, I’ll be going first.”

“Aye aye, Captain.”