The Symbologist

Chapter 19

Over the next week, Jones gathered information and made significant progress on the case, although she still couldn't place her finger on who the serial killer was. The killer had even gained themselves a name: The Symbologist.

Sighing to herself, Jones looked up at all the pictures and lines on her cork-board. So many people, so many words, so many links, yet...nothing. It simply didn't make sense. What was even more baffling was why the killer hadn't struck again. Perhaps they were laying low for awhile? If that was the case, could that mean she was getting too close? The commissioner had dropped by that morning and DI Jones shamefully announced her progress.

"You have made much more progress than DI Sugars, but it is still not enough," the commissioner had said, cap in hand, "It is our duty to catch the killer and put him behind bars. I sure hope you don't disappoint, DI Jones."

Jones had numbly nodded, expressionless as usual, but inside, frustration festered, threatening to explode. She had practiced patience, taking a deep breath and thinking rationally, but even she had her limits.

That night, as she hung her keys on a pink kitty-shaped hook, Jones decided she would stop thinking about it for the night. Hopefully, she would have something useful when she woke up the next morning.

"Dinner's here!" An ecstatic Ari danced through the door past Jones and set a big paper bag on the dining table, "Let's eat! I'm starving!"

"Yes, I am as well," Jones joined Ari at the dining table and the two began unpacking the food.

"You're almost done with your story?"

"Yes! Now, as I was saying the other day, Alacia makes a big discovery and that's where the story gets interesting! She discovers the body of Ambrosia's long-lost mother who supposedly abandoned Ambrosia when she was just five years old. Ambrosia had always tried to find her mother so imagine her surprise! So Alacia investigates the case of-"

"Joni, are you listening?" Ari reached across the table and poked Jones on the arm.

"Genius...." Jones muttered, standing up abruptly and running to her room, "Could it be...."

She shoved the door open and shuffled through the papers on her desk, finally finding the photo she was looking for, a picture of Leanne Hample. She held it up next to every single victim's picture on her bulletin board, her heart skipping a beat each time she found a similarity between the photos.

"Wavy strawberry-brown hair...intense blue eyes...nose bridged with freckles...unusually pale lips...." Jones murmured as it all seemed to come together perfectly in her head.

The only outlier was Jillian Han, and Jones suspected she had killed herself and staged it as murder. It was so petty, killing all these women over some traits they shared with this one woman.

"Just one more thing left to confirm...." Jones picked up a picture of a man and held it up to Leanne's, "Striking similarities, even after surgery...."

She opened her laptop and quickly granted herself access to the records. Jones was shocked after learning her mother had had a son before Jones was adopted. That son, David, had apparently gone missing. If it was true that Jones' mother, as sweet, caring, and lovely as she was, did drugs before she adopted Jones, then she probably had abused her children as well. Jones had come to the conclusion that David had ran away, although she didn't exactly know why he didn't simply go to the police. On the other hand, fear could do that to a person.

"A-ha!" Jones growled triumphantly as she found what she was looking for.

"I knew Sugars couldn't've been your real name," she said to a picture of Sugars, his face forever frozen in time, captured in the moment, "David Crystien, the Symbologist, bravo, you had us all fooled."

Jones leaned forward with a smug expression on her face, "I bet Sergeant Carla got the better of you when you tried to mess with her as well."