One murder, three dead friends, three different modus operandi - the case is closed.
Three years later, the ambitious journalist Joycelyn Riley takes on the case of her life, travels to the former crime scene and follows the murderer's trail.
The de...
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"Joanne Verton." A young and gentle voice answered on the other end of the phone and I faltered for a moment. I hadn't expected her to actually pick up.
"Hello Joanne, I've got your number from Rue. My name is Joyce Riley, I'm a journalist for the Daily Mail and I'm writing an investigative piece on the murder three years ago."
Silence. My heart was pounding, afraid of her answer. It had to be hard to have it all back in front of me after three years.
"Rue has already told me about you," she said in a low voice. "I-I'd like to help you too, but I don't know exactly how, without..." She paused briefly, "withouthaving to go through all that again."
"I can understand that, Joanne. You don't have to do anything you don't feel ready to do. I'd just like to know a bit about the three of them. What they were like as people, what they liked and that sort of thing. I feel like there's still a lot of unanswered questions and I'd really like to help clarify the case."
"Yes, that's very... kind of you. It means a lot to me. If you like, I can tell you a bit about Shireen, Alex and Mason."
And she did. Joanne explained that she and Shireen had been very close. Therefore, she knew a lot about everything Shireen was dealing with. She described Shireen as a dreamer who always had a smile for others. She had always listened to anyone and always been there for them.
Joanne described Alex as an extremely correct, polite boy. However, he was also a little weird and possessive, two adjectives that painted a completely new picture of him. Alex was in very different moods, depending on who his company was. According to Joanne, he had wanted to study law and had been very focussed on it from an early age. As his parents owned a bakery, they hardly had any time for him when he was a child and he was very often alone. The fact that he later went to a private school also contributed to his early, very pronounced independence.
"He always thought a lot of himself," said Joanne. "Sometimes he seemed really arrogant, but Shireen brought him back down to earth and signalled to him when he should hold back."
"They'd known each other since primary school, hadn't they?"
"Yes, exactly, that's why I was quite good friends with him. When we were all younger, we often played together - Alex was often with us. I knew Mason well too. He was always very quiet, but often whispered with Alex and made inside jokes that nobody understood. Mason was always very understanding, he was considerate of Shireen when she was a bit quieter and always pointed out to Alex when he had something else on his mind. He and Knox were always very similar."
"Knox?"
"The fourth in the gang. Didn't you know about him?"
Confusion spread through me and I denied her question.
"It was never a clique of three, but a clique of four," she explained. "Knox Doston was the fourth member. He didn't come along because he had to work. He was the only one who had started an apprenticeship and no longer went to school. I have to say, Knox was always my favourite. He wasn't as stuffy as Alex or as cautious as Mason and Shireen, but always the joker. Unlike the others, Knox is very free-spirited. He's also very understanding, always made sure that Shireen wasn't excluded because of her quiet nature and didn't let Alex push him into anything."
"Pushed into anything by Alex?"
"He... he was very stubborn, sometimes." Her voice was quiet, almost ashamed. "It was just Alex. He had his quirks. But Shireen didn't see that. Or at least she ignored it, otherwise she wouldn't have travelled to Vienna with him and Mason."
The conversation gave me food for thought. I played the recording over and over, going through each line and trying to sort out the new information. It was amazing and kind of silly that I hadn't known about Knox Doston. However, neither had the rest of the world - he hadn't been mentioned at all. For now, I created a new profile.
Other: - was the only one to start an apprenticeship - was not in Vienna
As soon as I finished the profile, I went to the social media accounts of Shireen, Alex and Mason. After searching for a while, I found a certain Knoxx.lifestyle23.
The account was public and several photos showed a well-trained young man with light brown curls and a cheeky grin on his face. He seemed to like skating a lot and the majority of his few photos were taken in the skate park. His first post had been just before the summer holidays three years ago, where the other three were also to be seen. They had all gathered around a table in the restaurant and were smiling at the camera. They had all dressed up, only Knox was wearing normal jeans and a simple shirt. After that, nothing had been posted for a year. His next post contained only photos of nature and skating.
I clicked on the highlights, one of which was called 'Please help us'. These were police posts from three years ago that he had reposted. In them, the police appealed for help, described the possible killer profile and gave new updates. Knox seemed to have shared almost every single one of the posts, explaining that his friends deserved justice and asking for support several times. Until he suddenly stopped two and a half years ago and no longer shared a single post about the investigation. A short time later, the police closed the case.
I read through the published police files again and realised that they had come to the same conclusion as I had.
It had to do with Alex.
He was the one who had been killed in the most brutal way. Seven stab wounds.
That pointed to something personal. The killer must have been angry with him about something.
