A two sided mystery

Chapter 3 - Victims

"Okay, so what we know so far is these three things. He is a tall, presumably male, person with red eyes that uses blades to kill and stops people running away using blood lust. He kills his victims in places that cops either don't patrol, can't go or can't access. And that he writes the words, 'Joey was here' every time he kills on a wall somewhere. Does that sound right?"

Daniel nodded, looking up at the nearly empty board in front of them, trying to come up with ideas as fast as he could, his mind drawing nothing but blanks. "Yeah, that sounds about right."

Andrew nodded and turned back to the board, gesturing at one side "So far, there have been seven victims. Let's look at them all." Pictures of the seven victims are lined along the bottom, their name and occupation listed below each one. "The first victim. Yohan O'brian, aged 30, worked as a lawyer for the high court. Second victim. Ulanya Carson, aged 32, worked as a barista by the station. Third victim. Anthony Nezumi, aged 33, worked as an amateur writer and home tutor. Fourth Victim. Timothy Carson, aged 32, twin brother to Ulanya Carson, worked from home as an IT professional. Fifth victim. Arleen Tenson, aged 20, recently laid off, adopted daughter of Charlie Harjones and Meyer Elene. Sixth victim. Charlie Harjones, aged 45, worked at Big Bank as a cashier, unmarried. Seventh Victim. Meyer Elene, aged 45, married to Charlie Harjones, unemployed. If we include the cop he killed as his eighth victim. Dylan Recourt, 40, worked as a cop for over 20 years, right out of high school, no wife or children. And that's all of them."

Daniel leans forward, looking at all the victims carefully, scanning his eyes over their names, faces, occupations, relations, ages, all the information they have. "Andrew, do you see any clues? Or messages in this order? This is the order they were killed, correct?"

Andrew nods "Yes. This is the order they were killed, and the order we found the bodies. Why do you ask?"

"Because, if this is the same order they are killed, Joey is mocking us."

"Mocking us? How so?"

Daniel stood up, walking over to the board and grabbing a marker, writing down all the victims names before stepping back "Take a good look at this, and tell me what you see."

"I see a bunch of names Daniel. I don't have a mind like you do. I'm just good at finding information."

"It's a message to us. He wasn't killing random people. He was doing his research, finding specific people to murder in this order. Assuming the autopsy was correct, and Meyer was alive as Charlie died, but unable to move, then the message makes sense."

"Daniel, just spit it out already. I don't need to know all this, just tell me the message."

Daniel walks up to the board and erases most of their names, leaving the first letter of each first and last name. "That's the message."

"Yuatacm ocncthe?"

"No you idiot. Look at their names in the proper order."

"You can't catch me?" Andrew falls silent. "Your right, he is mocking us. But isn't this awfully convinient? I mean, was there really people with names this useful in the city? How long would this have taken to look up?"

"Well, we don't know what resources he has access to. He could work for the government or something, and in that case he may have access to a lot of personal data."

"Maybe so, but still. It would have taken a long time to get all his victims."

"Not for someone with access to the citizenship log. If he had access to that, then it would be simple for him to do something like that."

"I thought the only people with access to that were the police detectives and people high up in the government?"

"It is restricted heavily. However, he could of hacked into the system, or gotten someone else to do it for him. He could have allies, we don't know if he is working alone or with someone else."

Andrew let out a sigh before sitting back in his chair, looking up at the ceiling "I swear. Sometimes your like a human database, and other times you would forget to put your pants on before going to work. I'm not sure whether to call you a genius, or an idiot."

Daniel lets out a laugh, sitting in his own chair and leaning back "Well, many people have called me a genius in the past. Being called an idiot for once might be a good change of pace for me."

"Hey Daniel?"

"Yes Andrew?"

"You're a real idiot, you know that right?"

Daniel laughs again, smiling softly, closing his eyes and relaxing "Yes Andrew. Yes I am."

Andrew turns back to his computer and starts typing away, doing more research on the victims, finding their families, where they lived, and any data possible. As he does this, Daniel sits in his chair, thinking hard, his mind racing a million miles a minute, searching desperately for any other links between the victims, but coming up blank. After ten minutes had passed, Daniel turns his his computer, accessing the citizenship log and bringing up the list of names, flicking through each name one by one, looking at their physical characteristics.

"Daniel. Please don't tell me you are going to go through every person on that list one by one."

"That was the plan."

"Not only is there over a million people on that list, but there is also a search function you can use. You know that right?"

The slow clicking stops, Daniels face moving up and looking Andrew straight in the eye. "I completely forgot. Help?"

Andrew sighs again and slides his chair over. "Why are you such a baby Daniel?"

"I may be a baby, but isn't it your job to babysit me."

"Your nearly 30 years old Daniel. Learn to take care of yourself."

"You know you have fun Andrew."

"Your right. I do. And I hate myself all the more for it as well."