A two sided mystery

Chapter 7 - Investigation

"Joey was here. Again? Who is this Joey? Why does he keep getting in our way, how does he keep getting in our way?"

The body had been found, an ambulance had been called and the body taken away. An autopsy was to be completed, and the crime scene was to be investigated. That was what they were doing now. Once the body had been taken away, Andrew and Daniel put on masks, walking slowly into the room and looking around once more, paying attention to every small detail they could.

"Do you notice anything strange about this situation Daniel?"

"Yeah. I notice a few things. What about you?"

"Yeah. I've noticed one main thing. The hooks, hammered into the walls and ceiling. It would have taken an incredible amount of strength to do that. These walls are solid concrete. It wouldn't be easy to hammer hooks into something like that."

"I agree. That is the one main thing. But if he did nail them in, then it would have taken some time, and made a lot of noise. Because of that, it couldn't be at night. It had to be sometime during the day, when everyone was out of their apartments. The only time I can think of is during the day, three months ago, when he extracted money. But Joey wasn't around then, and the body is clearly younger than that."

"Judging from the state of the body, the medics said he may have been hanging there for about two, maybe three weeks. And Joey only really came around a bit over a week ago. There has been a serious problem since then, but we heard nothing before that. What do you think happened here? Do you think someone else killed him, then when they heard of the Joey murders, came back and wrote it on the wall to divert the attention away from him?"

"No. I think this was a Joey murder. I am 98% sure that Joey is behind this."

"What do you mean by that?"

"I mean this. Joey did kill him. You can tell by the lacerations, they are consistent with the knife wounds we find on Joeys other victims, and the brutality of the murder is another indicator. Not only that, but it is clear that Joey has immense physical ability. It wouldn't be hard for him to hammer hooks into concrete if that was the case. If he was using a sledgehammer, even easier."

"That is a good point. According to Boris, he dashed forward towards him and his partner in the blink of an eye. This proves he is fast. And judging from how he is easily able to bury his knives in any part of his victims, and the broken bones and bodies we have found, he has to be insanely strong as well. Your right, it isn't impossible that he hammered it in."

"Exactly. But that's not the only reason. If this blood has been on the walls for three weeks, it would have stained the walls. If the murderer came back after two weeks to clean a spot and write that, then there would still be traces of the red stain on the walls. However, the clean section is completely spotless. Unless he knew of joey beforehand, he wouldn't have been able to do this."

"So you're saying that the Joey murders are older than we thought they were? That there is more victims, and that he started much sooner than we thought?"

"Yes. That is exactly what I am saying. I'm saying that these murders started a while ago, and have just gotten more vicious since then."

"Why do you suppose he does all this?"

"He is looking for thrills."

Andrew turned to face him, Daniel still looking around the bloodstained room, walking closer to the walls and leaning in to examine them. "Thrills? Is that why he is killing so many people?"

"I don't think it started off as killing without reason, but over time it got closer and closer to doing it for fun. Then, Joey got bored, so he decided to have a fight with the police. I have a feeling that Joey is keeping his eye on us, and the closer we get to the truth, the closer we get to him, and the closer we get to death. As soon as we figure out who he is, or anything about him, he will kill us."

"Closer than you think."

"Exactly, closer than I think." Daniel leaned back, looking over at Andrew. "But why did you only say me? Aren't we working on this together?"

"What do you mean? I didn't say anything. And of course we are working on this together, why would you think otherwise?"

"I just thought I heard you say 'closer than you think.' Was I wrong?"

"Yeah. I never said that. Are you sure you heard it? Wasn't it just your imagination?"

Daniel shook his head, looking around before starting to walk out. "I don't think so. I definitely heard it. Didn't you heard anything?"

"No, I only heard you say what you said." Andrew followed him out, pulling his mask off and looking into the sky, Daniel looking up with him.

"Hmm. Maybe it was just me. I'll have a good sleep tonight. Maybe it is just because I'm feeling stressed. This case is a little stressing. You know I hate violence."

"Yeah. You need the sleep. You look like you are about to collapse. Have you been resting properly lately?"

"No, not really to be honest. I keep having bad dreams, and waking up in a cold sweat. My morning run has been a little more extreme lately, because I'm trying to tire myself out, hoping I'll sleep well for once. It's not working though."

"Maybe go see someone about that."

Daniel shook his head again, smiling gently before standing up and starting to walk away, Andrew following him. "Nah. It'll be fine. I think it's just because of work. I'll take a vacation after this case is done. Maybe Hawaii. Want to join me? You can bring your family if you want."

Andrew laughed "You know me too well. I'd love to join you. And I'm sure the wife and kids would love to as well. They need a holiday anyway, and Hawaii is a great place."

"Then let's organize that. I'll put in the request for the both of us when we get back."

"Sounds great to me."