Yarrow: The Smiley Killer

11:40

Subject: Meeting with HR.

Doug just glared at the email that had popped up on his monitor. It had been there for the longest two minutes he'd experienced in a long time. It was the way time moves when there's something you know needs to be done but you have absolutely no desire or intention to do it. He knew what it'd be about.

His cursor hovered over the blue link. He closed his eyes and clicked. When he opened his eyes his suspicion was confirmed.

Dear Mr. Chaney,

You are expected at a meeting at 13:30 today to discuss a complaint posed against you by a fellow member of staff. Failure to attend will result in disciplinary action.

Faithfully,

Tannis Cartwright

HR Manager.

He groaned and leaned back in his chair, "piss off," he whispered.

The computer monitor crackled and the emitted and short buzzing sound. He stared beneath the screen - his phone was glowing under the monitor. A message from Christine. He opened it up instantly, he still had not figured out how to put a lock on the phone.

Two names that could be leads. It only took him a few minutes to get the two men's phone numbers and send Christine the number for Carl. He jotted the number down for Teddy.

He quickly scanned the records for the two names. Carl was relatively clean, one instance of urinating in public whilst intoxicated. Teddy on the other hand was more interesting. He thought how typical it was of Christine to leave the thug to him. ABH, domestic violence, vandalism and possession of a weapon to name a few charges held against him.

He stood up, threw his jacket on and turned off the monitor on his computer. It had become so old he didn't like to shut down the modem as it'd take a good half hour to reboot. He left the office and shut the door.

* * *

Christine sat in Condor Coffee slowly swirling her little wooden stick around the froth on top of her latte, making a brown swirl. Her Bakewell tart sat lonely on an oversized, white side plate. Her eyes were not fixed on her order however, they were focussed on the woman at the counter.

She was a young girl, early twenties, dark brown hair with dazzling green eyes. She stood at the counter, leaning on her forearms as she flicked down on her phone. When Christine had arrived to order, she hadn't actually noticed her standing at the till for at least two minutes. She was so entranced by the glow from her phone screen, hooked on the blue light like a drug. It had taken a clearing of the throat to get her attention.

She had apologised, as you do, but then begun to divulge what she was transfixed on. She had been reading a click bait article on Kevin Kline who, over the last three years had become an online sensation.

His blog Sliding Faces had become a cult classic and taboo piece of reading that had become all too mainstream. He'd built up quite a following, unbeknownst to him. Mostly girls from fifteen to thirty who found him eerily attractive. He had committed three murders, a stabbing, a drowning of his girlfriend and most graphic of all, he had bled out a university professor on a park bench.

He claimed that he was stalked by ghosts that told him to do the murders. His only witness had been a spiritualist who claimed he also heard the voices around Kevin. He'd been declared insane and imprisoned. However there was a surprising amount of coincidence in the voices he heard. Genuine cases he knew details about that no one else did which had led to several appeals for his freedom from groups of admirers. He had always pleaded guilty to two cases of murder and one of manslaughter however.

Little had the barista known that she was talking to the woman who had brought him down. He had been her first major case and it had earned her an impeccable reputation. She had saved the fourth potential victim seconds before she'd was about to be killed. She retired soon after.

Christine was unsure what fascinated her about the barista. Maybe it was superficial, those emerald green eyes were breathtaking. She weren't her type, but she appreciated beauty. Perhaps it was the way she didn't care that she was clearly infatuated with a murderer. It was almost as if she was proud of it. Or maybe it was because Christine understood this fascination with Kevin.

That's when he walked in. Christine did not expect to see Carl. It seemed unlikely, almost as if someone had forced them together prematurely. She lowered her head. She didn't want to see him yet, she needed some idea of what the code meant before she spoke to him.

She put her head down, averting her eyes and focussing on her coffee. The last thing she wanted was for him to come over and do the forced 'long time no see' conversation.

Her fears were short lived, he leaned over the counter and kissed the barista, and she kissed him back. He always had a way with women.

So two girls on the go at least then. The behaviour of someone that is hiding something, she thought. She ducked out the cafe before they had to breathe again.