Cold Corpse

Chapter 5- Isolated

1989, September 23rd

He was bound differently from the rest, for he had to his ankle a chain so long that it was wound all round his body, and two rings on his neck, one attached to the chain. Prison ages ago dances in cheer for the new criminal that has caught. Two policemen walk by his side to side gripping onto his arms and the nails dug deep into his bright fire orange uniform almost scratching in his skin.
Hands of the veterans tried to reach for him and some would be sticking out their pierced tongue. Men inside this facility is dangerous and they would be covered with tattoo. "A fresh new meat has arrived!" One of the men shouted in their cell.

It was one long of a hallway to go through that seems forever but he finally arrived in his own special cell. It was not the ordinary type but the door was a giant titanium blocked filled nothing with bolts and a small sliding window enough to fit a tray of food. The officer unlocked the multi latch on the door, when they did. The enforcer shoved him down enough for him to plunge on the ground but he managed to catch himself.

"Welcome home, arsehole." One of the guards spitted on the floor. They sealed the door while cackling loudly on the other side of the wall.

In the dark room, where all hopes have faded there lies an innocent man. The room is stuffed with sound proof so there was no way he could hear anything but his own heartbeat skipped each second. He go on all fours just to feel the cold dusted floor. He felt the iron bed hit his fingers. He set himself on the bed, tired. He closed his eyes but even if he open them. The same darkness would appear before him, It's like he doesn't know if his eyes are open or not. The blackness formed from some primeval hatred, and the collective despair of all those it's taken before.

Sasha laughed and muffled his cries.
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Andee burst through the doors of Chief's office. "For godsake!" Edson flinched, driving the papers into the air and downfall. "The killer is still out there! Sasha didn't kill any of them!" Andee waved the scented paper in front of her own boss. He snatches the paper from her and soundlessly read the phrase. "Please, Edson. Sasha has nothing to do with any of the murder or sexual abuses. He's innocent." Andee sighed heavily in distress.

Edson eyes repeatedly scroll through the words and slammed the paper on his table. Making his desk wobble in a motion. "Is this some kind of joke, Miss Hortox?" He wore his stern look when people are wasting his time. "You were drunk when you wrote this." Andee's face was puzzled, raising one of her brow. "Wrote this? I never wrote anything. A man came into my apartment while I was unconscious..." Her voice decrease. "How did you know I was drunk?" Edson stretch each cabinet door he possessed trying to find a certain thing.

In the stack of envelopes was one curiously unlabeled, the same as any random piece of junk. He slid it open nonetheless. He take out a two years old dirty white handkerchief with a visible blue ink of words written down.
"Hope to see you again
-Andee xoxo"

Andee's face fell quicker than a lightening. In that instant her fair skin became greyed, dull, her mouth hung with lips slightly parted and her hazelnut eyes were as wide as she could stretch. "But..." She wasn't surprise about the fact he kept the hankie for these years. No. She was stunned that the killer knows how to copy someone and sneak in Sasha's DNA in the corpse. Whoever the killer is, it's not from the café. It's someone who has access to everything. To everyone. Andee thought that might be a case. "Go home, Andee. Get some rest."
When she swing the door open chief constable was about to knock on the door and froze on the motion. "Sorry, Am I interrupting something?" CC Katie asked, a hand full of reports rested on her arms, held it close so it wouldn't fall down and scattered. "Oh, no. Detective Hortox was about to leave." He motion his hands in a sway. Andee scuff and moved a few feet away when she heard the constable about her announcement. "The press conference is ready."

Edson rear from his black leather chair, his golden medals patch on his left chest clanged against one another. He walked right behind Andee and leaned closer to express in a low soft voice "Go home. I'm worried about you." He moved himself away and walked down an aligned cramped station. The prescient is filled with box like office to cover the works of each papers and separate them. Edson turned his way toward the fire exit stairs twisted like those slinky toy children play. "GODDAMN CALL THE MAINTANANCE!" Edson screamed on top of his lungs while walking down the stair case "I WANT THAT ELEVATOR FIX BY TOMORROW!" His voice echoed, his angered voice repeatedly circle leisurely reduced.

Andee dropped a small laughter just hearing Edson being mad. "Ted, I thought you already called the maintenance?" CC Katie gave a look of 'you're-dead' before approaching the man in his cube and giving him a smack on the back of his head.

Andee misses the precinct. She was always at the field, hungry for the hunt. She enjoys solving mysterious events, it's one of her favorite thing to do ever since she was a little girl. Her mind snapped back to reality, she wants to talk to Sasha. She doubts that he was the murder. He was with her all the time. She felt a buzzer in her pocket and made an annoying sound like a rattlesnake. She reached down from her pocket to scavenge for her phone. The clicking of her apartment keys and coins made it harder for her to take it out.

She held the phone close to her face in about five inches away from her face. Andee ignited her device to witness thousands of messages and missed called from a blocked number. She flipped the phone open and shimmer of light lit up on her puzzled face "Why did I just receive this?" She pushed a button making all messages appeared to the same unknown number. She went all the way up to the very beginning, it took a while to get to the top of all bubble text. Each week there was an equivalent message.

When she finally got to the top, the first message was
February 11th, 1988
"I find you very fascinating."
"The first time I saw you..."
"I want what's inside you. Like that first victim I craved."
February 4th, 1989
"Do you like it?"
"Tell me you like."
"It's my work of art."

She continue to scroll down, scanning every message.

September 15th, 1989
"You look beautiful as always."
"I wish I could carve a heart on your cheeks."
"I want to see you bathing in your own blood."

Her heart beat in her chest, pounding, banging, horrified by all these messages. Her eyes is wide as it can be. Her mind wanted to move but her body is paralyzed

September 23rd, 1989
"Miss Andee, did you know serial killers has a heart?"
"But mostly it's from someone else :)"
"It's from Anthony. One of my favorite writer."
"By the way, your friend is dead."
"Ask Sasha about the letters. Ask him."
The last message was like a knife slit her throat open in a clean cut. She wasn't able to speak nor do anything. The precinct in the background was busy but her mind cleared the noises and turning them into a loud buzz bouncing around her head. One of the officer approaches her and asked about her condition, she went back to reality. Nodding her head in response and a smile crept on her lips. She gesture her hand for the officer to get back to work and she was about to leave the precinct when she bumped into her brother. Nolen Hortox his skin was invaded by crystal shine and salty drops. He was glistening from the afternoon sun. "I'm sorry Andee..." his cheeks is hot red, taking a deep breathe. "Hey, hey slow down, bro. What's wrong?" Andee patted his back sweat trickled down from the man. "Penelope is dead. A kid found her in the park close to an oak tree. Disembodied. A few parts was missing including the heart."

She didn't take the news too bad because Andee knows that Penelope doesn't even know the real her. "Nolen, the killer is still out there. Somewhere. Edson won't believe me. He still blames for Sasha." Nolen rubbed his chin, a few millimeters of hair sticking out. "Don't you think that maybe..." Nolen's sentence ceased when Edson cheered from the distance. "Nolen! Buddy, great to see you here." Both Andee and Nolen turned their attention to Edson who was being followed by five reporters asking about the new murder. "Miss Hortox, I thought I told you to go home? You need rest didn't I tell you." He said, smiling so happily like a child who got what they want.
"No, sir. I decided I want to investigate this murder and catch the killer."
Reporters switched their recorders to Andee's direction and some wrote down each words she said, more intrigue with her.
"Release Sasha Vorperian from his current state for he has done nothing wrong. The evidence has been alter by our killer. We will work this case alone. Isolated."