The Phantom Killer

~One~

"Chris, we've got ourselves a case.", Dylan said.

"Not interested."

"This one seems to be interesting. Very interesting."

A look into his eyes was all it took to confirm my delight. We had found ourselves a good case, at long last. And so it all began...

++++++++++

I am Christopher Lang, a private detective who solves (only) difficult cases along with my partner Dylan Nuts (no, he's not nuts. Usually). At the moment, we were headed to Bob's. He was our friend who was in the police. Whenever he found a tough case, he knew where to find me.

As we entered Bob's mansion, we could hear his Labrador bark. Through the window, I noticed Bob's figure walking around the room impatiently, his hands at his hips. I immediately knew something was up.

++++++++++

"... It's called the broken heart syndrome.", Bob said with a sigh.

The police had found three dead bodies and what was interesting was that all of them had died in the same way- of heart failure. The three bodies were found in different locations and what was more, none of those three shared any relation with each other- as far as we knew. Three teenagers who died on the same day. It was murder, all right. A heart stroke... interesting. But why? Why would someone kill three teenagers who were unrelated? They had to share some relation. But how could all of them have died of heart failure? Bob answered my question, almost as if reading my thoughts.

"Whenever you are frightened, the adrenaline which is thereby released into your body forces the heart to pump more and more blood, making you stronger and faster but if it goes on the heart may cease to beat.", he said.

I scanned the pictures of the crime scenes, and of the victims. The first one was a blonde boy, skinny and tall. The second victim was a muscular young man, fair skinned and with black hair. The third was another blonde- but shorter and heftier than the first one. The ghost of shock was etched upon their faces, even after so long. They had to have seen something terrible. My eyes came to a stop, widening a little, at a red spot to which Bob was pointing. It was a piece of paper, which lay beside the corpse of the third victim, so perfectly in place as if placed there. My eyes narrowed as I noticed the letters engraved on the note. 'Wanna Play?'- it had the words in black ink. A grin spread across my face.

"Heh, I'll take this case."

++++++++++

"Could it be a ghost they have seen?", Dylan asked.

I did not reply, being too busy lost in my own thoughts. The killer had scared the victims to death. Judging by the looks on their faces, they had to have seen something bad. Was it a ghost that they saw? Not like ghosts existed, of course. The killer could have acted as a ghost to scare them. Or maybe something else?

"That's not the main problem!", Bob yelled. "Why would someone kill them?"

"Why indeed...?", I murmured, brushing my beard with my fingers in thought. "Bob, I need all the information you can get about these victims."

What worried me more was the note. Although Bob never seemed to worry about it, I cared. Could it mean...? Was it all nothing but a game? Could the killer have taken the lives of three people for a stupid game? If so, I would enjoy playing the game and get him behind bars. In order to make any further deductions, I needed to visit the crime scenes.

"Where–", Dylan started to say as I headed towads the exit but I cut him off.

"You're coming with me, Dylan."