It was darker than usual in the office. With not even a fluorescent glow, the room was nothing but a black abyss except on tiny beam of light shot from a flashlight. A tall and fairly slender man stood with that flashlight in his hand, hunched over another figure. Kai moved the flashlight from the figure to the notes he kept scribbling on paper, then back to the figure. This was a very unusual case of suicide, and he had seen many things out of the ordinary before. Somehow, something wasn't lining up here.
The body seemed to be in fairly good condition. And so was the site where it was found. There was a bloody knife in his hand when they found him. But otherwise, everything was clean. And there were no cuts on the man that could have led to his death.
Kai flipped the switch to illuminate the room and turned off the flashlight, but continued examining the body. He heard the door open behind him. A tall and thin, yet slightly muscular man with blonde hair and glistening blue eyes stepped into the room.
"How is it coming? Have you found anything?"
Kai stood straight and looked at him.
"Nothing. Sorry, Link. But this cause of death isn't plain as day like the others usually are…"
"No cuts to kill him?"
Kai merely shook his head. Link walked over and joined him next to the pale corpse. He leaned in toward the face, which had an open jaw as though screaming.
"Kai, when you got the witness reports, did they hear any screaming?"
"No, why?"
"Then why does it look like he is?"
Link stretched a glove over his hand and traced the line of the body's lip while he looked into the mouth.
"Kai, look at this."
Kai leaned in closer.
"The mouth has some sort of adhesive around it. Almost like a duct tape substance. And inside the mouth…"
Kai examined the inside of the mouth. It appeared to be burnt, all the way down the esophagus to as far down as the two could see. Kai looked over at Link.
"…Acid?"
"Call Reno. I believe we have ourselves a homicide case."
Link stepped back and ripped open the man's shirt. No marks from a burn had spread to the outside, but there, on his chest, was a single curved line, almost like a half-moon, carved into his flesh.