Who Killed Madison Paige?

NIght was upon the town of Bannock, Montana, and all was quiet in the long, winding streets. Along one particular street was a hotel, and within this place of rest stayed one Norman Jayden, an FBI Agent; and a pretty damn good one, too. As he peered outside his hotel window, he was glad that it had stopped raining. He glanced at the clock which was firmly attached to the wall, 3:45p.m. it read. The clock must have stopped, since it was very early morning in reality.

Rubbing his eyes, Norman Jayden looked over the file once more on Madison Paige, lamenting the fact that he was reduced to using such obsolete media such as paper. Madison, a young female journalist who had recently moved to the town of Bannock, was found dead six miles outside of town. This particular case was assigned to Norman Jayden as he had met her previously, though only in a fleeting moment.

Here were the facts of the case: at around 11:10am last Sunday, a truck driver had come across the body of Madison Paige in the ditch of a countryside road. It was most certainly foul-play, as the body had several stab wounds. Rape was ruled out, as her clothes were undisturbed and she was still wearing her underwear. Norman Jayden requested himself to be put on the case, and had arrived in the town two days after the body was found. Tomorrow an autopsy would be conducted, and he would have to be there. This did not fill him with glee; lighting a cigarette he leant back in the old chair which was covered in dust when he arrived and went over her background once more:

After the media frenzy that was the Origami Killer, Madison Paige and Ethan Mars, the former prime suspect of the origami murders, moved out to Bannock to escape the city and their past. They were lovers, and due to be wed in the winter. Ethan Mars is currently missing, so the details of what Madison was doing the night she was murdered are still clouded in mystery. Norman thought about what might've happened to Ethan.

Could Ethan, reliving the trauma that the origami case brought, have killed Madison and fled? Or perhaps he was taken by Madison's murderer and his body has yet to be found? Whatever happened, Norman would have to use good old-fashioned investigation to work this one out. The prototype virtual reality system ARI that he had utilised in the past was long gone, having been returned to the technology department of his bureau.

As he thought about it, faint sounds of rain came from outside. As if spurred by the change in weather, Norman stood up clumsily and crashed out onto the soft bed, drifting into dreams.

CHAPTER 1: Shrouded

Madison Paige was laid out on the autopsy bed in the very small hospital basement of Bannock. Trying not to see her as she was, alive and vibrant, Norman gazed up and down at her body which was covered in a sterile, white sheet. Although she was found in six inches of water, it seemed that she wasn't drowned, nor had she been there long; her skin wore the morbid pale of death, but it was not bloated as if it had been in water for a long duration. Norman could surmise from that that the killer had left her body in the ditch only a short while before it was discovered. The coroner kept silent as he lifted the sheet to display the various knife wounds her abdomen sustained.

"Are you sure that the knife wounds were the cause of death?" Norman asked. The coroner explained that although traces of arsenic were found in her stomach, the knife wounds were the main cause of death.

"Arsenic?" Norman repeated back. "Why would there be arsenic in her system?"

The coroner didn't have a clue either; arsenic was not a tranquiliser so it wouldn't have done much good if the killer had wanted to kidnap her and then kill her with no fuss. And the amount of arsenic found was so small it couldn't possibly be fatal, just induce slight vomiting. Another strange factor was that water was found in her lungs, even though she was placed in the ditch after she was murdered.

Norman tried to piece together in his mind what he thought so far of Madison's murder. Perhaps the killer had tried to drown her first; there had been a struggle and she had managed to break free. He had chased her, stabbed her repeatedly and dumped her in a ditch. But that still wouldn't explain the arsenic. Could she have taken it by mistake? Rat poison, perhaps? Leaving the hospital, Norman Jayden shielded his eyes from the bright glare of the sun; at least it wasn't raining anymore. He gazed up and down the streets of Bannock; it was a dusty, quiet town with numerous, old shops and few houses scattered here and there. It was one of those towns where everybody knew each other's ins and outs. If he was to get anywhere in this investigation, he woud have to ask around about Madison Paige.