Life's Undoing

Silence couldn’t be heard throughout the hustle and bustle of Carricklawn Police Station. It may have to do with the newest murder, but only one or two officers knew about it. No one was sitting except for one.  Officer Hunter Jacobson sat and watched as everyone scrambled around. Her powerful eyes gazed at each individual running past. The static from the intercom was barely noticeable until the chief came on.

“Every officer not sitting within the next five seconds will be eliminated from this station,” hushing down officers piled back to their desks. The chief continued, “ I need the following officers in my office pronto Harley Bates, Kristopher Klems, and Hunter Jacobson.” With no goodbye he went off. Those called to the office got up and made their way. Hushed whispers followed them, but nothing could distract them.

Entering the musty office, Kristopher held the door open for the other two to enter. Muttering a thank you, Hunter walked past and moved to the corner furthest from the desk. Behind the desk sat a burly man with a balding head, dull brown eyes, and a stone cold sneer across his face. The bags that were usually less prominent stood out like a sore thumb. Inhaling he motioned for them all to be seated.

“Today is as grave as any could be. Do you know why?” He looked pointedly at Hunter. “Officer Jacobson? Please tell the other two as to why they’re here, with you, in my office.”

“Yes Chief Suthers. We are here to talk about the case involving three murdered men. Each had their,” she coughed,” their faces mutilated and their tongues cut out. None of the tongues have been located and are assumed to be in the possession of the killer as a trophy,” she glanced at the other two while conveying the information. Nodding for Hunter to continue Chief took out three folders and handed them to each officer. “ What we know so far is that the suspect is a copycat. Thirty years ago a killer nicknamed the Talisman did the exact same thing.”

“How do we know it’s a copycat and not just the Talisman starting again?” The small voiced interruption came from Haley Bates, a short and extremely aggressive officer.

“I will take it from here Jacobson,” Suthers looked at Hunter appointed before continuing,” Thirty years ago we caught and killed the Talisman. I was an officer then and it was a very horrible time. Anyways we discovered the Talisman to be a man named Anthony Wifesson, aged 36. He would take the tongue out and make the face almost unrecognizable. We named him the Talisman because each tongue wasn’t to be found and thought, as Hunter said earlier, to be a trophy to him. When we located him we found all seventy-three tongues,” silence overcame the four. Thoughts raced through each individual's head. Why would one do this? Who could be crazy enough to take a tongues as a trophy. Hunter spoke up first after what seemed forever.

“Chief Suthers, why are there only three of us, not including you, here?”

“Ah, Hunter, great question,” reaching into his desk he brings another folder out. Two times the size of the previous ones, Suthers leafs through it until he finds the crime scene photos. He grabbed them all and spread them across the desk. The three took a sharp breathe upon looking at the photographs. Each one that sat in front of them were beyond gruesome. Glancing at the first set out of the three included four pictures. In it was a middle-aged man with no eyes. The nose was detached and reattached onto the man’s lower jaw. His mouth was propped open with thread running through the lips and his tongue removed. X’s looked cut across the empty eye sockets which made Hunter cringe. She made an effort to not look at the other photographs and turned to Chief Suthers, but something kept getting her attention. The floor where the body lay was familiar. Suthers’ voice interupted her thoughts.

“I don’t understand. You show us photographs, but avoid telling us why. Why are there only three out of the twenty-eight in here?” Suthers studied Hunter before lifting a finger and pointing at three photos, one from each group.