The Symbologist

Chapter 3

The man rocked back and forth in his rocking armchair. He lived in an eight-story apartment the size of a living room with no windows, but it didn't bother him. To him, it was just another one of the bad things dealt to him in life. It wasn't all bad though. The stony, closed off apartment made him feel safe and at home.

He stared at a piece of paper in his hand. An average-looking blonde stared back at him with intense blue eyes. Just like his mother, intense blue eyes. He smiled as he took a pencil and lightly drew a little symbol on her stomach. There, perfect.

Putting the paper down, he walked over to where his bed was. Laid out on the bed was a violet shirt. It was cropped, so it exposed the stomach. He folded it carefully and put it in a bag, along with a few other items that he would need to carry out his mission. Once that was done, he sat back down in his chair and looked up at his cork board. There was a woman with wavy brown hair that had a reddish tint to it in the sunlight. There was a woman with round glasses that sat atop a nose bridged with freckles. He reached down to pick up the picture of the blonde woman and plucked a pin from the cork board, pinning the woman's photo next to the others. She was going to end up just like them.

...

DI Sugars' meeting with the commissioner went fairly well, he thought, since he got the case.

"Sir, I am Sergeant Carla Lostin and I will be working with you. Here is the case folder," Carla walked up to DI Sugars and handed him a thick folder, "Your office will be here. Follow me."

Even though she had been taught not to judge a book by its cover, Carla couldn't help noticing DI Sugars was dressed in sweats and an extremely baggy t-shirt. It was an unusually hot day; Carla didn't understand how he could bear it. Was that the new work attire or something of the sort...?

DI Sugars did as he was told and entered a spacious office, "DI Jones? Shouldn't it be my name that is displayed?"

"Sir, you will be working in DI Jones' office for this case. Would you like me to ask the commissioner to assign you another one?" Carla offered as DI Sugars sat down at the desk.

"The commissioner assigned me this office, huh?" DI Sugars snorted, setting the folder down on the desk just as Jones did the day before, "...no, no, it'll be just fine."

Of course the commissioner did. From that first time they talked on the phone, DI Sugars had gotten the feeling that the commissioner wasn't the biggest fan of his. Giving him Carla to work with also definitely proved that. With the straight, dark brown hair, brown eyes, short figure, and black suit, Carla wasn't all that noticeable. If anything, she would make him look duller.

"Oh alright sir, if you need anything, I'm just one office over," Carla turned and closed the door, breathing out a sigh of relief as she entered her own office. She had a feeling that working with DI Sugars was going to be very...draining was a nice way to put it.

A few hours later, Sergeant Carla Lostin received a phone call from the commissioner informing her of another murder. She told him she and DI Sugars would be over immediately. She wouldn't admit it to any of her colleagues, but Carla was scared. The murders kept her on edge and had her waking up in the middle of the night worrying about what could happen.

Pushing the thoughts out of her head, Sergeant Carla Lostin walked over to DI Sugars' office and knocked on the door, "Sir, there has been another murder."

"Has there?" Sugars said, loud enough for Carla to hear, "Hold on, you can go on ahead without me. I'm currently chatting with a buddy. Yeah Carlos, hold on, I'll be right back."

Carla raised her eyebrows and tried to act like she hadn't heard any of that when Sugars opened the door, "Oh good, you're ready to go, sir."

Before he had a chance to protest, Carla started walking away, "Yes commissioner, we are on the way. No, he was very cooperative."

Carla smirked to herself and she pretended to hang up her fake phone call with the commissioner. That should do the trick.

"I have to go Carlos. Work, you know," Sugars told his buddy as he made his way out the door, "I'll call you later."

That sergeant.

In just ten minutes, Sergeant Carla Lostin and DI Sugars had arrived at the crime scene. After confirming who they were, the two were led to where the body was.

"Holy-" DI Sugars' voice was muffled by Carla's hand over his mouth.

"Not to be disrespectful, sir, but we are at a crime scene. Show some decency," Carla waited a moment before taking back her hand and rubbing it on her pants.

"Yeah, yeah," DI Sugars strutted over to the body and knelt down beside it, "Anyone going to hand me a pair of gloves?"

Carla rolled her eyes at his behavior and a nearby police officer offered him a pair. As Carla got closer, she immediately knew this must have been done by the same person who committed the last two murders. But she wouldn't say it out loud because she only figured that out by taking a sneak peek at the thick folder containing information about the cases. The folder was wide open on the desk when she had walked in to clean DI Jones' office after she had left for the hospital. Leaving the folder open on the desk was probably the most careless thing DI Jones would have done in her entire career. It didn't seem like something she would do.

"...blue eyes, and blonde hair," DI Sugars observed, "I have confirmed her physical appearance."

Carla was snapped out of her thoughts. She looked at Sugars oddly. Who made him a DI?

"Sir, do you see anything unusual or suspicious? Or maybe something that relates to one or both of the previous murders?" Carla suggested. She decided to guide him. After all, she had never been on such an important case before.

"You mean other than the fact that she's dead...?" DI Sugars poked the victim's arm.

That raised hairs on the back of Carla's neck, "Sir, this is not the time to joke or play around."

"Relax, geez," Sugars stood up and looked at the body for a few moments, "Well it's the same symbol on the stomach as both of the other victims...she's wearing a purple crop-top, also like all the other victims...."

"Carla, could-"

"Sergeant Carla," she corrected him.

"Yes, that, could you brief me on the observations made about the other two victims? I didn't have time to read the folder because I was busy," DI Sugars asked shamelessly.

Yeah, busy with chatting with your buddy. Carla didn't understand how he could so shamelessly say something like that. He was seriously making himself look bad. In addition, he completely dismissed her when she corrected him.

"Sir, why don't you make observations now and compare them to what's in the folder later?" Carla suggested. No way was she going to save him from the consequences of not doing his job.

DI Sugars looked up and glared at her, then nodded, "Fine, I will do just that!"

Satisfied, Carla decided to make a few observations of her own. The case wasn't going to be jeopardized just because DI Sugars was incompetent.