Love May Not Be a Game, But Murder Sure Is

Chapter One

"There has to be some kind of evidence!"

Flustered, Detective Lilla Heartlay slammed her tired hands onto the cold metal table of the Hamilton police station.

"How does someone completely cover their tracks? There is always a mistake...Always.

They always slip up somehow. A fingerprint, a hair, anything! Just, anything!"

Pacing across the bland room and relishing in her settling insanity, Lilla recalled the occurrences of the gruesome murder, her memory playing it back scene by scene, as though it was a horror movie that she was the main character in. The shape the victim had been morphed into, almost as if it were dancing to the beat of silent music, the blood red rose clamped between pale white teeth, an offering to Lilla. Yet, despite the obvious hardships the killer had gone through, there was no suspect or evidence, not even a fingerprint. The murderer had wiped the whole place, eliminating anything that could lead to them. Lilla sat down on the only chair in the room, her head in her hands as she re-ran the evening over and over again through her mind, a living nightmare. Lilla looked at the pictures strewn across the table, the man in his contortion, the darkness of the room, inviting monsters in. Lilla stacked them quickly as she heard footsteps walking down the hallway towards her.

Lilla felt relieved when she saw the husky police officer standing by the door.

"Ma'am? They need you up in the main office."

The world came rushing back to her as she left her mind and prepared herself to leave the room, gathering the papers into the manila folder in front of her.

"I'll be there in a minute, thank you George."

"Alright, ma'am."

"George, I asked you to please call me Lilla. Ma'am is a bit too formal for me, thank you. Especially between friends. This may be the workplace, but there are always some exceptions."

"Yes ma- Lilla."

George stepped out of the room, hesitating at the door, leaving Lilla alone in the silence. She stood up, pushing the lonely chair into the table with an ear-piercing screech, and left.

----------------------------------

The station after hours was both silent and screaming at the same time. It never was completely quiet, there was always a drunk driver or stupid teenager in handcuffs somewhere. Lilla walked through to the front office, opening a filing cabinet and shoving the folder inside. She placed the key back around her neck after locking up and started to leave. She walked outside, the town hall still light with workers staying over time or a janitor cleaning the offices. Lilla walked down the road, passing her car as she went for a night stroll. The town never went to sleep, always an insomniac somewhere. The bell tolled loudly, twelve o' clock. Midnight.

As Lilla made her way back to the station, she noticed a light on in the basement of the station, the "smell room" as everyone called it, or the mortuary. Rushing inside, she was greeted by an officer dragging a kid into the hall from one of the offices.

"'Scuse me, ma'am. Got a little bailer here." The officer slid past her, the kid stumbling along behind him. Lilla kept going through the hall, turning down a stairwell and rushing down. She reached the mortuary, opening the door slowly to an older man hunched over the rose-carrying body.

"Hey, Eli. What are you doing here so late?"

"I could ask you the same thing. I'm guessing you want to look at the body. Put on some gloves."

Lilla did as told, happy to finally get a look at the mystery man. The body was horrifying, a shadow of a person who had once been. Eli had bowls set up beside him with the organs separated so that the lab can check them out.