"I hate winter in the city." Antonio Fernandez Carriedo stated to his partner, Ludwig Beilschmidt, as the two walked along one of the many crowded, slushy streets that wove their way around New York. "I mean, it isn't even real snow. I'll never see what Lovi, or you for the matter see in crowded smoggy places like this."
Ludwig shrugged as the two turned around the corner of a large building, and walked up to a high end apartment complex surrounded by yellow CAUTION tape.
"I think we're at the right place." Antonio remarked, as the two officers snuck under the tape.
"Duly noted." Ludwig said, in a dry voice, as they flashed their badges at the police officers standing guard around the entrance of the complex, and walked inside, to be met by their entomologist, Eduard von Bock.
"Antonio! Ludwig!" He said with a smile, standing in the entrance of the place. It was huge with th tile floors. Nearby the revolving door entrance was a mahogany wooden desk with a fresh-looking bouquet of roses next to a phone. Behind the desk was a blue spinning chair, and not too far away from said desk were numbered wooden doors. The walls were wooden paneling covered with expensive-looking paintings.
"Whoah! No way!" Antionio exclaimed, walking towards the painting of pale white naked girl with a seemingly broken neck. Upon further examination by Ludwig, he noticed the woman was standing on a shell, two people floating above her, and he couldn't help but feel as though he'd seen his picture somewhere before.
"What is it?" He asked, pulling out a pair of disposable plastic gloves and putting them on his hands.
"The Birth of Venus by Sandro Botticelli." Antonio said, his eyes practically sparkling.
"Not the original of course." Eduard said from behind the two FBI agents. "But looks like it. Anyway, you two probably came for the body, so come on." As the man turned to escort the agents to their murder victim, Ludwig handed Antonio a pair of the same gloves he already had on his hands. The hallway was long, with even numbered doors on the right, and odd ones on the left. Walking past door 20, and taking a small alcove behind the last door on the right the three men were greeted by both an elevator and a winding staircase. Eduard pressed the UP button on the elevator with a mutter of "it's faster."
"So, who's our victim?" The German asked, as the three waited for their mode of transportation.
"Xiao Mei." Eduard responded.
"That name sounds familiar." Antonio noted. "An actress?"
"A fashion and interior designer." Eduard corrected as the elevator door opened and the three walked inside.
"Oh yeah!" Antonio exclaimed. "I know who she is!...Er was."
"How'd she die?" Ludwig asked as Eduard pressed the 5 button and the door closed.
"Suffocation. Something-we're led to believe rope-strangled her, and then the body was stabbed in the chest several times in her bathroom."
"Oh. Ludwig said quietly. After a while of silence the elevator door opened, and the three walked out and to door 95 near the end of the hall. The wooden door was ajar, and at first glance, everything looked normal. A large kitchen and a family room with a large flat screen TV and large red sofa, an empty bathroom, two unused bedrooms, an office, another-smaller-room with a television, and then the master bedroom. Connected to that was the bathroom in question.
"Oh." Antonio muttered, as he stepped into the bathroom. Laying on the tiled floor was the body in question. She looked as if she could be sleeping, if not for the blood that covered the front of her pink dress. On a nearby was a number. The number 1. Written in presumably blood. "Oh god." Antonio muttered as his legs gave out underneath himself and fell feet away from the body.
"Sheisse." Ludwig said softly, looking at the body.
"Yeah." Eduard nodded.
"We'll go see if there's anything in her room." Antonio said quickly, standing up and grabbing his partner's arm and walking the both of them away from the body.
The dead woman's room had white walls, her bed sheets and blankets were light pink, with some sort of flower decoration on them in dark pink. Next to her bed was a dresser, with one of the same pink flowers in a vase on top of it as in the bathroom. Upon further examination, Ludwig noticed a set of five pictures on the dresser. He wasn't sure why he felt the need to, but he picked one up-the first in the line of five-and looked at it.
The photograph held a line eight children, around five years old. The left-most wore a green shirt and green pants, and an overly large green hat that covered the child's eyes. Nevertheless, a huge grin shone on their face, their right hand holding the hand of the next child's. The second wore a green dress, and once again an overly-large hat, this one behind her head. Her dark brown hair was cut short, almost touching her shoulders, but not quite. While one hand was being held by the first child, her left arm was sprawled over the shoulder of the third child, who seemed to be in the act of falling backwards, into the girl with the green dress. The third child's mouth was wide open with the realization that he was falling. His shirt was red, with sleeves that extended over his hands, one of his legs up in the air. The child to his right wore a light pink dress, with a pink flower in her hair. She sat there, her eyes closed due to her large open mouth smile, her hands held together at the front of her dress, apparently unaware of the falling kid to her left. Next to her was a man(?) who seemed to be-while still a child-older than anyone else in the shot. Their brown hair was in a pony tail and over their right shoulder. They wore a green shirt, and were around a foot taller than the other kids. Next to them was a boy in a grey kimono and blue jacket, their arms wrapped around the green ones waist, looking worriedly at the camera with dark brown eyes. To his right was another child with dark brown hair, wearing some kind of Asian blue-wear with white sleeves. Both of their arms were up in the air, their right holding on to the left hand of a boy with crazy brown hair and glasses, wearing a white shirt. This child's right hand held limply at their sides.
Aaaaand….That's all for right now! (If you couldn't tell, the children were, in order, North Korea, Vietnam, Hong Kong, Taiwan, China, Japan, South Korea, and Thailand. Stick around for the other four!) Rate and Review please, bye!