Criminal Hearts

Chapter 7: Masks of the Past

Sophia sat at her desk, the weight of the case bearing down on her as she scanned the latest forensic reports. Despite all their efforts, the killer was still out there, and every day brought them closer to his next attack. The pattern was changing, yes, but something deeper was lurking beneath the surface, something they hadn't seen yet.

Ethan walked over, leaning against the desk across from her. "Any luck finding that missing piece?" he asked, his voice low.

Sophia shook her head, frustration evident in her movements. "The more I look at this, the more I feel like we're missing something fundamental—something about him."

Ethan nodded, crossing his arms. "We know he's evolving, but what's driving it?"

Sophia was about to respond when Lucy burst through the door, her cheeks flushed with excitement. "I've got something!" she exclaimed, drawing the attention of both Ethan and Sophia.

Lucy rushed to the crime board, flipping open her laptop. "You remember how we've been looking at the victims' routines, their backgrounds? I went a little deeper into their personal lives. Turns out, they all had one thing in common that we missed before."

Sophia raised an eyebrow, intrigued. "What is it?"

"Each of the victims had reported experiencing stalker-like behavior within a few months before they were killed," Lucy explained. "But they never went to the police, at least not officially. They mentioned it in passing to friends, coworkers, or on social media, but never filed reports."

Sophia's eyes widened. "Stalker behavior?"

Lucy nodded, spinning the laptop around to show them screenshots of the victims' social media posts, old forum discussions, and private conversations. "It was subtle—creepy texts, someone showing up at their workplace or favorite café a little too often, but none of them ever took it seriously enough to formally report it."

Ethan frowned. "And no one thought to look into it before?"

Lucy shrugged. "It wasn't obvious. Most of their friends didn't make the connection because the victims didn't seem overly worried. But now that we know he's targeting women, we can't ignore the possibility that he's been following them, maybe even inserting himself into their lives."

Sophia leaned forward, her mind racing as the pieces started to come together. "So he wasn't just choosing them randomly. He was getting closer to them first, studying them, earning their trust just enough to get close without raising alarm bells."

"And then when he strikes, it's like he's already been part of their lives for months," Lucy added, her tone serious.

Ethan's face darkened. "It means he's been a ghost, hiding in plain sight, watching these women without anyone suspecting. We need to find out how he's managing it—where he's watching them from."

Sophia's eyes scanned the board again, but now with fresh insight. "If he's been this careful for so long, it means he has a routine. We need to look into any unusual or repeat visitors to places they frequented. It could be someone they knew but didn't feel threatened by."

Lucy nodded, already typing away at her laptop. "I'll pull records of repeat visitors to their workplaces, coffee shops, gyms, anywhere they regularly spent time. He had to have left some kind of trace."

As Lucy worked, Ethan walked to the other side of the room, pulling out one of the older case files. "We need to reexamine how he interacted with them. Did he leave any traces at the crime scenes that point to his familiarity with the victims? We've been thinking of him as an outsider, but if he was already part of their routine, maybe there's something we overlooked."

Sophia's pulse quickened. "Let's look again at the smallest details—objects that seemed out of place at the crime scenes. Something personal, something that could've been left behind by someone close."

Ethan handed her the report from the first crime scene, where the killer's meticulousness had made it difficult to find clear evidence. "It's a long shot," he said. "But maybe we've been searching for clues too big to see what was right in front of us."

Sophia leafed through the report, her fingers pausing over an inventory of items found at the scene: a broken watch, a set of car keys, and a single glove. Her eyes narrowed.

"The glove," she muttered.

Ethan looked over her shoulder. "What about it?"

"Did anyone ever identify the glove as belonging to the victim?" Sophia asked, her mind already working through possibilities.

Ethan shook his head. "No, it wasn't her size. We assumed it was dropped by one of the paramedics or officers on the scene. But it wasn't tagged as evidence since it didn't seem important."

Sophia stood up, pacing in front of the board. "What if it belonged to him? What if he left it behind, not by accident, but on purpose?"

Lucy glanced up from her laptop. "You think he wanted us to find it?"

"Not just that," Sophia said, her voice growing more confident. "It's a marker, a signal. If he's been stalking these women, he might leave behind small personal items—things that seem insignificant but are actually trophies or signs of his presence."

Ethan's eyes darkened as he realized what she was suggesting. "He's been toying with us. Every crime scene has something personal, something that ties back to him, but he's careful enough that we haven't noticed."

"We need to go back over all the crime scene photos and reports," Sophia said. "If we can identify more objects like the glove—items that seem out of place—we might be able to build a profile of how he's interacting with the victims before the murders."

Lucy's fingers flew across her keyboard as she pulled up the digital files from the previous crime scenes. "This could take some time, but I'll start cross-referencing everything now."

Sophia nodded, her mind still racing. "The key to stopping him is understanding how he integrates into their lives before he strikes. If we can figure that out, we can predict his next move."

As the three of them huddled over the evidence, the weight of the revelation settled over them. The killer wasn't just a faceless predator, lurking in the shadows. He was someone who had already entered the victims' worlds, earning their trust or at least their tolerance before he destroyed them.

And that realization made him far more dangerous than they had ever imagined.