The Madrasi and her Madman

CHAPTER 3 ARADHYA

It was the first of October, a quarter past noon. She was still asleep, entirely covered underneath her blanket. The sound of the doorbell was as if it were from another world. No matter how hard, or how long Larson pressed his fingers against it, it was meaningless. He eventually gave up and seated himself on the porch outside.

When she finally did open the door, the blanket that was supposed to be left in bed was around her, like a shroud that covered her from neck till toe.

'Sorry Larson, did I keep you waiting?' she said, eyes half shut, strands of hair all over her face and her body, half asleep.

Larson walked inside and shut the door behind him. 'You missed your press conference again. More than the bureau, the media really want to hear you speak, you know.'

She yawned, placing the back of her hand against her mouth whilst doing it. 'The media want a great many things, can't give them everything.' she said, taking slow steps as the blanket formed a tail behind her. 'What did they say?' she asked

'Ah, the usual.' he sat on the large sofa in front of the television, pressing the button for the incliner as it shot out from underneath his legs.

'No, no. I want to know the exact words.'

She was in the kitchen now, dipping the tea bags into two mugs of warm water. Her hair, still all over her face.

'If you wanted to know the exact words, then you should've come.' he let out a relaxed sigh, leaning back against the cushion.

'Please Larson. You know I can't function without knowing what they said.' She sat in the chair opposite to the sofa after handing him the tea.

'Very well. So at first, they apologized for your absence.'

'Who did?'

'General Jordan.' 'Like always he said you had an emergency at the last minute, the press as usual kept asking him why you weren't there, but he, given the cunning son of a gun he is, changed subjects within a second.'

Aradhya laughed.

'Then he went on about how the serial killing would've been impossible to decipher without your mind and dedication.'

'Well, he is right.' she smiled

Larson shot a stare that signaled her to let him complete. She raised her hand, gesturing him to continue.

'He then said you were to become one of the greatest serial killer hunters in this country's history. And every case, unsolved for a period of one week will be handed over to you. Then the press asked for your right handed man. So I went there, stood in front of the mike and said it was a pleasure working alongside you. Blah blah blah.'

'Not bad Larson. All in all, I'll say it's a good day.' she sipped some more of her tea. 'I can finally take that trip to see my family at India after all.'

'Not so fast AD.' he kept the mug on the floor beside his feet, opening his brief case and turning it towards her.

She saw the list of files and enclosed casesheets that bore a tag 'Classified'. She opened them.

'The Prince of Darkness?' she let out a chuckle. 'Sounds like some wannabe circus act.'

'It's now our top priority. The killing has been going over just about two weeks, five victims so far identified. All middle aged, fairly attractive women.'

The humor over Aradhya's face was quick to fade away. Her eyes, now focusing on the files of information. 'He cuts his victims open?'

'Not just that. He cuts them perfectly, the line of symmetry was so accurate that the forensic team suggested it must be someone with utmost focus and who knew what they were doing.' He paused, taking another long sip. 'Any ideas?'

'Time we look up some hospitals.'