The cannibals

Chapter 4 : Byles

death
/dɛθ/

noun
the action or fact of dying or being killed; the end of the life of a person or organism.

Death was here.

dying
/ˈdʌɪɪŋ/

adjective
adjective: dying
on the point of death.

We were dying.

dead
/dɛd/

adjective
adjective: dead
no longer alive.

I've witnessed so many crime scenes. Initially, they'd make me nauseous, but soon I got used to it. I've accepted the fact that everything brings both good and bad. The world has good and bad people in it. When someone dies, you cry and tell yourself it's the part of the life cycle. You console the dead's family. You say you understand and you're really sorry for them. But when I lost Nancy and her parents who loved me like their own, I realized people fathoming my pain and them being sorry about it didn't help me a bit. One could come to terms with the natural death of their dear ones, but how could anyone handle the death of a loved one who has been murdered, while the murderer is still out there killing more people. I could've lost Joyce and Angel too. I could've lost the last few people left in my life. I'm somehow glad that we didn't find Angel, at least there's a possibility that he is alive.

"Few people in black outfits and black masks attacked us when Angel's car broke down. They attacked us and injected something into my neck. Angel snatched one of their guns and shot a few of them. He carried me in his arms and ran as fast as he could. I think I lost my consciousness then." I noted down as Joyce gave her statement.

. . .

25th July 2017.

Angel is still missing, and Joyce locked herself in her bedroom. She refused to leave her room and wouldn't talk to anyone.

At night she screams in her sleep. Her mother had come to take care of her, but Joyce pleaded her mother to leave the country for her mother's safety.

Since the incident, she has put numerous locks in her door and windows.
I could feel it. I could feel her terror. I could feel how she was losing her sanity, just like I was.

. . .

27th July 2017.

"Hello. Detective Byles speaking."

"Officer, my brother is in his bedroom."

. . .

Angel's sister found Angel's dead body on his bed. All of his bruises were wiped neatly first, and then he was put on the bed.

"The killer killed him in the least painful way possible. Didn't cut a bit of his skin. Just placed the Campanula flowers in his hand. CCTV footages are all missing," Quin said.

"This is weird. Why would a serial killer show sympathy to its victim?" I muttered.

"What if it's not Campanula Cannibal? Maybe someone else is trying to take advantage of the situation and place the blame on the most wanted serial killer, Campanula Cannibal," Samuel estimated.

. . .

28th July 2017.

"Chief, another murder has been reported."

This time the crime scene was a motel room.

My team members and I push our way into the room, past the police guarding the crime scene.

The sight of the dead bodies made most of the officers nauseous.

We found two naked bodies- one male and another female. Slices of skin and flesh from their backs hung from the ceiling using a string, the other end still connected to their bodies. Each body in each corner of the bed. Kneeling. Their hands tied together using the other end of the same string - Campanula flowers in their hand.

"Put a plastic sheet on the bed," I order Samuel.

I lie on the plastic and see what the killer tried to create.

"He tried to create angels. The skin cut from their back is the wings he gave his victims. But I don't understand why tried to create angels," I wondered as he lay on the plastic sheet put over the bed.

Quin and Samuel looked impressed. Each of them took turns lying on the bed to see it firsthand.

. . .

"According to the CCTV footage in the hallway, a man wearing black clothes and a mask broke into their room at 3:37 a.m. As he left the room, he removed his mask and looked into the camera, so we have his face on record." Samuel reported to me. "Also, both of the victims had criminal records."

"So the killer tried to make the criminals look like angels when he killed them, but why show his face to the camera? Is he trying to challenge us? In all the past cases, the killers tried to hide their identity after the murders. Each of these killers seems to be pawns acting on behalf of a behind-the-scenes mastermind. This time the mastermind is being incredibly bold by telling us who our killer is," I muse.

Quin rushes to us.

"More than bold. We got another murder reported." Quin said, panting.

. . .

A man in his mid-40s had been killed in the same way. Skin and flesh of his back had been sliced to look like wings and was hung in a construction site. Campanula flowers in his hands.

"He, our this victim, killed three people while robbing a bank in 2015. He has been on the run ever since," Quin said.

"Chief, the guy who broke into the motel room- the killer- his name is Charlie White. He disappeared after divorcing his wife around five months ago," Officer Lee reported to me.

. . .

"Officer, I haven't heard from Charlie since our divorce."

"Was he abusive?" I asked.

"What? No! Charlie never abused me. Not even verbally."

"Then why did you get divorced?"

The woman sighed sadly.
"Because he was diagnosed with squamous cell carcinoma. It's in the last stage. He didn't want me to see him die. At first, he avoided me and pushed me away, but after our divorce, I got to know about the actual reason. It was too late, he had already disappeared and moved away."

. . .

29th July 2017.

"Chief, we found Charlie White's body in an abandoned warehouse."

Charlie cut his own flesh and gave himself a pair of wings, just like the ones he gave to his victims. He then hung himself and kept a Campanula flower in the pocket of his black shirt.

"How does the Campanula Cannibal and Trumpet creeper Cannibal, convince these killers to kill themselves right before we catch them?", I ask Samuel and Quin.

"I suppose the killers took that secret with them to their graves," Quin said with a sigh. "Now, Do we close all these cases?"

"None of the cases will be closed until I catch the Campanula Cannibal and the Trumpet Creeper Cannibal. They shouldn't have been playing with each other by killing so many people," I say, gritting my teeth.