Rachel sat in the passenger's seat of the car, her head leaning up against the window. She was admiring the beautiful scenery when she heard something that was quite familiar to her:
"January 17, 3 P.M.
Diane,
there has been a murder here in Twin Peaks. Gordon says that it is a
possible lead to a serial killing. I don't know enough now to make
that judgment…but hopefully I will soon. Agent-in-Training Rachel
Doucette is helping me with this case.
What we know at this point
comes from Cable's report. A work of fiction worthy of a Pulitzer.
Distilled down to the facts, this is what we have. Theresa Banks, no
known next of kin, residence unknown, was found lying in a drainage
ditch on the outskirts of town. Her naked body was wrapped in clear
plastic and secured with duct tape. Appeared to have suffered
numerous contusions to and about the head. The local coroner has
determined the cause of death to be brain damage caused by a blow to
the right temple area that fractured the skull. None of the other
blows were severe enough to cause death. She had had sexual relations
within the last twelve hours of her life.
I'm going in to see the
body now."
Rachel sighed. Cooper and his tape recorder….he always has that dang tape recorder. Rachel then had a temptation to throw the recorder out of the window, but then decided not to.
"Interesting…"
"What's that?"
"Interesting…the case is quite interesting. And a little strange… Why would someone murder and then dispose of the body in such a strange way?"
"Rachel, I've seen some strange cases in my career…and this would be the strangest…I really don't know why…"
Cooper then pulled the car into the parking lot of the morgue. The two then proceeded to see the body.
Rachel opened the door and walked inside, she hated morgues…but this was something in a days work, she supposed.
The man (who Rachel guessed was the sheriff) greeted them.
"Greetings. You must be Agent Cooper. I'm Sheriff Truman and this is Doc Hayward."
Cooper shook hands with the two men, Rachel followed suite.
"Pleased to meet you." Cooper said. He then motioned to Rachel. "This is Rachel Doucette, she is an agent in training. She will be helping me during my time here."
"It's nice to meet you." Doc said, "Now, let us proceed."
They then followed Doc into a different room. Rachel could see the body. A beautiful girl that had been murdered. Rachel held back a sigh. This is tragic.
Cooper examined the body and motioned to Rachel to hold his recorder. Rachel gave the thing a dirty look before turning it on.
"January 17, 3:10 P.M.
Diane, I am looking at a
white female, approximately eighteen years of age, weight 117 pounds.
There is an obvious collapse of the right cranial vault above and
forward of the ear. Bruises on her neck indicate that strangulation
was also present. There are scratches on her knees, and dirt has been
ground into the cuts. There is no indication that she was bound in
any way during or before her death . . . . This is
interesting. Would you please hand me the tweezers?
Diane,
something appears to have been forced under the nail on the ring
finger. It is quite deep. I am going to try to remove it . . ..
It appears to have penetrated at least three quarters of the way
under the nail . . . . Just a little bit deeper. . . .
There, got it.
Diane, what we have is a
small square of white paper with the letter T typed on it. Offhand I
would say the typeface appears to be of American manufacture,
pre-electric. The lab should be able to identify it more
specifically.
There is nothing under any
of the other fingers, or the toes. We'll need to run a check of all
homicides of females in this general age category, specifically
looking for letters placed under the nails of victims, body wrapped
in plastic, similar cause of death.
Diane,
as Gordon thought, everything about this has the feel of a serial
killing. The question is, is this the beginning of something, or the
end?"
Rachel clicked the tape recorder off. A serial killing? She remembered Gordon mentioning it…but from what she knew before seemed like it was just a brutal homicide. It chilled her slightly. Seeing that letter stuck in the girl's fingernail almost made her sick. A letter T, what could it stand for?
"We have a dangerous killer on our hands." Cooper said, "Was there anyone who saw or heard anything at the time of the murder?"
"Yes." Sheriff said, "Theresa Banks, but she's missing…"
"Well." Cooper said, glancing at Rachel "It looks like we have a bit of work to do."
Author's Note: I do not own any of the characters from Twin Peaks. Rachel is my own character, which I have created, do not steal her…