The Boston Slasher (hesxljp).

01 - overkill

01 // overkill

     I parked my car only meters away from the crime scene. It had already been secured by the first respondents and people from the neighbourhood and local news stations lingered around the premises. I noticed Liam by the forensics truck already suited up in full body gear, ready to head into the crime scene to take photographs for evidence. I made it through the crowd that was slowly becoming dense even at these early hours in the morning; probably awakened by the lights on the tops of the police cars.

     Once I made it over to Liam, I gave him a quick pat on the back and he turned around and pulled the mask off of his face. He smiled warmly before his facial features relaxed again.

     "Has anyone talked yet?" I asked him as I took my jacket off and placed it inside the van. I heard the people from the news stations trying to get the attention of someone who would talk about anything that had occurred inside the residence.

     "No. Lieutenant Rogers told us not to say anything since we're going to have a press release once all the evidence is gathered." I nodded in response as I ripped open a package for the matching disposable overalls and boots and slipped them on over the top of my uniform. I quickly used a tip that I had learned early in the field; I rubbed some Vicks around my nose so that I wouldn't smell the putrid odour of decomposing flesh. I doubled up on the latex gloves and Liam and I headed inside the home. In the front foyer, two officers stood, one looking obviously pale. They both locked eyes with me and Liam as we walked past them and I could not help but sense that I would not want to see what I was about to walk into. Another officer stood outside of a doorway tucked in the back of the residence and she walked over to me. Liam continued on into the room as the individual started talking to me.

     "Holy shit..." Liam whispered as he stopped in the doorway for a moment before stepping inside. I looked back at Detective Clarke as she began speaking.

     "It seems very apparent that this could be another homicide relating to those that have been happening within the city over the past couple of months." She spoke in a quiet tone.

     "....Christ." I mumbled and shook my head.

     "We have to catch this guy soon Styles, the murders keep getting increasingly worse..." She whispered before brushing past me and walking towards the front. I slipped my mask on over my nose and mouth and headed into the room that Clarke was guarding.

      Blood was splattered all over the cream coloured walls as if the person preferred the colour red. In the middle of the room was a mattress lying by itself on the floor with Carter posed in a sexual fashion on the bed. Her legs were spread apart, her arms placed above her head, wrists crossed over each other delicately. As I stepped closer, it was clear that her body had been cleaned thoroughly; her skin was washed, her hair was brushed and oddly enough, her nails seems to be freshly painted. I looked up and over at Liam who was taking a photograph of blood splatter patterns on the wall.

     "Hey, once you're done can you take a photo of her hands?" I asked as I walked around the other side of the bed trying to avoid the blood.

     "Of course." Liam responded before finishing up his initial work.  I peered at the lacerations on her torso, arms and hands. It was clear that she had fought for her life but it apparently was not enough. Not only was the struggle shown on her body, the lamp beside the bed had been smashed on the floor and the other table had been turned over.

     The foul stench of blood and death seeped through my mask and my eyes began to water. Maybe that's what I told myself in order to forget the fact that I used to attend university with this woman. I wasn't sure if I could stand the sight of such a violent scene. Truthfully speaking, I had never seen one this bad, maybe once or twice, but it was very rare- strange even- to see the deep stab wounds that you could see clearly through. Blood was no longer leaking out of the wounds -clearly because it was all over the room. This left the wounds open revealing the muscle tissue and even some bone underneath. Who would want to disfigure a body like this? I noted this down mentally thinking that this homicide was personal. Carter must have known who had done this but I remembered what Clarke had said. I kept both theories in mind until I got back to the office.

     "Harry, look here." Liam was crouched down near the victims legs and was looking at her inner thighs. I bent down beside him and he used his hand to lift her dress a little higher.

     "Look at this mark, it's the same one on the last murder, in the exact same place." There had been countless deaths occurring, frequently these days. The twelve female victims were all under the age of twenty-five and each had been marked with a stamp similar to the one on Carter's inner thigh. It seemed to be a swirl radiating from a center point carved into the skin tissue. The killer would always rape the victim before killing her and once Liam completes a full body autopsy, we would be able to tell if the suspect took advantage of the moment.

     "Photograph it, we're taking these back to the lab." Liam nodded and began doing his job again, and I had circled around the room.

     "Take a sample of the blood on the mattress. It may not only be hers, she put up quite a fight, the killer must have shed some blood." Everybody began cutting away small pieces of the mattress that the drops of the dried blood had landed. Others started to take samples off of the walls and the floor. Every part of the room that contained even a speck of possible DNA evidence was collected. Liam came and stood by me shortly after.

     "Another one." He barely whispered.

     "I know... excuse me for a moment." I pardoned myself and walked out of the building, taking my mask off. I could no longer bare the sight of her sprawled out across the mattress, as if she was some sex toy. It was hard to accept and comprehend but it's my job to solve this case and I needed to be professional about it. How professional could one be? It's Carter, Carter Oslo. I took a deep breath and walked toward the cop car my team leader was seated in.

     "Harry, what did you find?" I sat in the passenger seat and closed my eyes, leaning my head back into the head rest.

     I cleared my throat and shrugged my shoulders. "She's clean. Completely wiped down, I suspect the killer used soap and water to wash her off, not a single drop of blood on her." I opened my eyes and sat upright, I grabbed the report folder off of the dash board. I skim through the information, add my own notes and close the manila folder again.

     Soon enough, a whole team of people came out of the building, followed by Liam and some other man holding the stretcher that had Carter's body contained in a body bag and carried it to a van. I flinched as they closed the van doors, shipping her down to the morgue for Liam to perform the autopsy.

     "I'm gonna head to the morgue. Let's hope we find something on her body." Derek nodded and sipped on his coffee, returning back to his newspaper.

     "Liam!" I ducked under the 'CRIME SCENE - DO NOT CROSS' tape and jogged over to Liam's side.

     "Ready?" He looked to me and asked while taking his latex gloves off and replacing them with new clean ones.

     "Yeah" I breathed, "Ready."

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