Serial Killer Book (will be continually updated)

“That’s the second one this month Coleman”, says Special Detective Stephen Fletcher of the Hillwood Serial Killer Division.

“I know. We’ve gotta stop this bastard”, replies Special Detective Ryan Coleman with a grave tone as he gazes down at the mutilated body while Forensic Photographers snap pictures from every possible angle and Crime Scene Investigators stand by to collect the physical evidence.

They’re both hardened detectives of over a decade but they’re never been this nauseous at a crime scene. The poor man’s head had been smashed in and bits of the skull of brain had seeped onto the ground to join the large, red pool of dried blood that coated the wet asphalt. His eyes had been crushed by the blows and were now mush that seeps out of the lopsided eyelids. His face was unrecognizable.

Fletcher looks up at the sides of the buildings that enclose this obscure alleyway, slightly white in the face.

“No windows”, he says. “No way for any of the neighbours to see what was going on.”

“I don’t think that he was killed here though”, replies Coleman. “There would be way more splatter on the sides of these buildings. How wide is this alley, like, 5 feet across? And with the intensity of these blows I’d think that it says he knew the victim.”

“And harbored a lot of anger for them until it finally just blew up”, finishes Fletcher as he examines the walls for any blood splatter. “You’re right, he wasn’t killed here but was disposed of quickly enough that the blood could still pool around his head.” He turns around and looks at Ryan. “The thing is, I wonder if this killing is related to the one last week. Remember the mark on the last victim’s back?”

“The burn mark of the coin?”

“Yeah. Let’s go ask the coroner to check.”

They take a few short strides to where the coroner is examining the wound on the head of the victim. They kneel down next to him.

“My first thought for COD was blunt force trauma and after closer observation I believe that I was right. The ME should agree with me. And –he holds up the man's wrists for Ryan and Stephen to see– there are ligature marks on the wrists and ankles of the victim. Finally, this man’s body was still warm and I estimate that he only died about 4 hours ago.”

Ryan glances at Stephen and he clears his throat. “Can you check the victim's top part of his left shoulder?”

The coroner nods and gently tilts the body onto its side. He slowly draws back the left shoulder of his stained black coat and they notice a mark.

Ryan nods grimly. “It’s the same guy.” He gets back up and Stephen follows. They walk down the alley, their dark brown trench coats flapping around their legs.

—-----------------------------------------------------

That took them shorter than I thought it would to find that one. It’s no fun when they don’t find them.

He walks down the dark hallway of the dingy farmhouse, night-vision goggles on and knife in hand. The floor creaks as he steps but he continues on to the room at the end of the hall. The door slowly glides open as he gives it a little push.

The room is decorated with drawings of tanks and planes. Bookshelves line the far wall at the foot of the bed. A little boy in blue pajamas lies resting, encased within the warm embrace of his blankets. The man in the doorway allows himself a little smile.

Piece of cake.

He slowly creeps over, not worrying about the grandparents in the other room as they had already been taken care of with a few accurate slashes and stabs of his trusty hunting knife.

They won’t hear the little bastard scream.

The man bumps his leg on a box that he didn’t see and hundreds of dominos flood to the floor as it tips over while he swears.

“Huh? Grandma? Is that you?” the little boy's eyes open groggily as he sits up in his bed. His groggy eyes widen with terror as he sees the hulking shadow standing above him. As he opens his mouth to scream the man shoves his blanket into his mouth.

Good night.

—-----------------------------------------------------

“4 people in less than 24 hours? He’s escalating.”

Coleman and Fletcher had spent the last three days pursuing every possible lead; interviewing witnesses, looking at traffic cams, talking to the Medical Examiner to see if there was any evidence of the killer left on the body but their search had yielded nothing. Until this morning when a brutal triple-homicide had been called in by a mother coming to pick her son up from a sleepover with his grandparents. She had found them all dead in their beds, covered in blood and in her son's case, urine.

They walk up creaking stairs into the house which has already had dozens of CSI officers and photographers going through it, bagging evidence and taking photos.

“Oh, that’s disgusting.” Ryan wrinkles his nose as they enter the withering old house and are hit with an odor of rot mixed with blood.

They look around the small entrance hall and notice that there are three doors in the hallway, two on the right and one on the left as well as a small stairway that seems to lead to the second floor. More officers walk down the stairs, forcing Ryan and Stephen to flatten against the wall so that they can get past them and outside.

Ryan leads the way up the stairs, brushing his short blond hair to the side as they reach the top hallway. They can hear more CSI officers as they walk down the hallway.

They reach the first door on the left and glance inside. The sheets and pillows are coated with red and their faces harden as they see the grandparents lying there, necks sliced with precise cuts.

“COD seems to be a severed carotid. Two deep cuts on each one. It was relatively quick, they didn’t know what hit them.” The coroner doesn’t look up at them as he says this but instead keeps examining the body of the grandfather. “Their names were Sarah and Robert Phillis. Their grandson Asher is down the hall.” His voice cracks at this.

Stephen nods grimly.

They turn and continue walking down the hall, past the bathroom to the end. Thin beams of light attempt to penetrate the layer of grime on the window.

“I dunno about you but I wouldn’t want to stay here”, Stephen says as they reach the end of the hall.