Chapter 7: Hands

Matthew and Alfred sat in the back seat of their father's car. It had been two days since their parents argued and they still hadn't seen Francis since. The swelling in Matthew's nose had gone down significantly. Matthew had decided to put the whole thing behind him, Alfred wasn't as forgiving. He wasn't going to stop giving his parents the cold shoulder.

"I'm going to stay late today," said Arthur, looking into the rear-view mirror. "Will the two of you be able to make it home yourselves? Also I've left some money – order a pizza or something."

"Sure thing, Dad," said Matthew, clutching the back of the driver's seat. He then looked at his brother and jerked his head slightly.

Alfred just rolled his eyes and didn't respond. Arthur saw his son's angsty behaviour and was growing very tired of it. "You cannot keep acting like this, Alfred. What your father and I did was wrong and I understand your feelings. But-"

"Do you want us to save you a slice?" Alfred said, cutting him off.

Alfred was sick to death about having to have serious talks with his parents. What he really wanted was for them to just get along. He wanted everything to go back the way it was.

Arthur was taken aback. He never expected for Alfred to respond with such a casual question. Letting out a small sigh of relief Arthur turned to his boys. "Please."

He stopped the car just outside of the school grounds. He knew parking was going to be a difficult job since it was Monday morning, so he decided to stop further away. Besides, some small exercise would have done the twins some good.

The two brothers grabbed their bags and got out of the car. They waved goodbye to their father and let out one big synchronised breath. They never thought that seeing school would bring them such joy.

Toris had brewed a fresh cup of coffee for both himself and his partner. The coffee which was supplied at the office tasted like dirt, so Toris always brought his own brand of coffee. He carried the two steaming mugs into Arthur's office – Toris' office was having some repairs and in the meantime he was to share Arthur's. Gently, Toris set down the mugs on the desk before heading back outside and to reception.

"Has the autopsy results come through, Cheryl?" he asked, leaning his elbows on the high desk.

Cheryl looked down at the many papers which littered the front desk. She picked up a dull yellow paper folder and handed it to the investigator. "Here you go, sir," she said, smiling.

"Thank you," Toris replied, taking the folder from her hands.

Just as Toris turned around the main doors swung open. Arthur waltzed inside the building with an exasperated look on his face.

"Morning, Arthur," said Toris, a happy grin on his face. "How was your weekend?"

Arthur pinched the bridge of his nose. "You don't want to know. Mornin', Cheryl."

"Morning, Mr. Kirkland."

Arthur turned back to his partner and stopped the folder tucked under his arm. "Is that the autopsy?" He pointed at the folder.

"Yes," Toris said, untucking the folder from his arm and placing it between his fingers. "I was just about to go over it."

Arthur yanked the folder from his partner's hand. Nippily, he walked towards his office while opening the folder. Toris had to break out into a small jog in order to keep up with the Brit. By the time the two entered the officer Arthur had already glanced over the report. He had a confused look on his face.

"What is it?" asked Toris taking the chair opposite the desk.

Arthur put down the folder and rubbed his face. "Says here she'd been dead for three days before she was found. Seventeen stab wounds and no eyes."

"She looked pretty fresh to me," commented Toris.

"She was. Whoever did this to her preserved her body for a while after killing her." Arthur drew a disgusted look at the folder, as if it was the killer himself. "But why take the eyes?"

"Is there any evidence which points to our killer?" Toris asked, leaning forward.

Arthur shook his head. "None, but whoever did this is one nasty little-"

The telephone rang loudly in the officer, cutting off Arthur's insult. Arthur picked up the phone and brought it to his ear. "Hello, Arthur Kirkland speak-" Arthur sat up straight. "Yes. Uh-huh. Has anyone else looked her over? We'll be right there!"

Arthur slammed down the phone and had a sullen look on his face. Leaning forward, Toris steadied his elbows on his knees and waited for Arthur to speak. Arthur didn't want to speak, this was the part of his job he despised. Guilt made his stomach drop. For a long time he stared at the telephone, he would have to dial the number sooner or later. He just wished he could do it later.

"Do you have Lars Van Dyk's number?" he asked, stalling for time – he already knew the number.

"It should be in your desk," Toris said. "Why?"

Arthur reached into his desk drawer and pulled out a piece of paper which held Mr. Van Dyk's contact information. He didn't answer Toris' question, instead he started down at the piece of paper. Clipped to the corner of the paper was a photograph of his smiling sister – Emma that was her name! She seemed so innocent, so kind, so pure. Arthur gently took the photo and put it in his pocket before standing up from his chair.

"I thought you were going to call Mr. Van Dyk?" Toris said, snapping to his feet also.

"I can't right now," Arthur said, patting his pocket double checking he had actually put the photograph in it. "Pray that whoever called me just now was a fucking prankster."

He bit out the words with such venom that Toris stepped back slightly. Toris had known Arthur long enough to read his emotions like an open book. The emotion Arthur had on his face was a cocktail of sorrow, rage with a hint of remorse.

Pushing past his partner Arthur walked out of his office. He left his suit blazer, the sun outside was blazing down its scorching rays.

Francis made a quick phone call to his restaurant. It had been a while since he checked in and he hoped the place wasn't falling apart without him.

"Hello, Bonnefoy Brasserie," chimed a voice on the other line. "Adnan speaking. How may I be helping you?"

"Adnan?" said Francis.

"Francis!? How is the hanging? I didn't expect a call from you," said the Turkish man.

"I thought I'd just check in," remarked Francis, sitting down the couch. "How is the place? Sorry I haven't been in for a while."

There was a hearty laugh on the other end of the phone. "Everything is finer than fine!" Adnan said, with refreshing confidence. "There's no need to get yourself all worried 'bout here!"

Francis smiled. "Yes, I thought so." Francis let out a gentle sigh. "I'll maybe come in during this week," he informed the Turkish man.

"Make sure you be taking it easy, man," Adnan said, with genuine concern for his business partner. "I would be guessing things aren't very good right now?"

Francis let his head fall backwards to rest on the edge of the couch. "You would be right," he said, rubbing the space between his eyes. "Things aren't going well at all."

Francis flinched slightly as he remembered the dark glare his son gave him two days ago. He was truly disgusted with himself for doing such a despicable thing. Francis knew he shouldn't have gone into that room, he should have left when he had the chance. If he had just done that then Arthur would be the bad parent and Francis wouldn't have punched his own kid in the face.

"I'm sorry to run off like this but I gotta go takes care of somethings," said Adnan, clearly in a hurry.

"Of course," Francis muttered, sitting up properly. "I'll see you later." He hung up the phone before Adnan could say his goodbyes back.

Francis dropped his phone onto the couch and exhaled heavily. He realized, as he sat alone in his elegantly decorated apartment, how bored he really was. He thought about calling either Gilbert or Antonio but after looking at the clock he guessed the two would be settled at work. He stood up and walked towards the window. It looked like it would be another beautiful day, which Francis didn't want to waste. It had been a while since he just took a stroll around the town. The day was warm enough so he left his coat and sauntered down into the street.

The street was strangely busy with people in police uniforms and suits. Francis decided to be nosey and take a look at what all the fuss was about. He found the main commotion was just outside a small allyway. He was able to push himself just behind a line of police tape. He froze up when he saw a familiar sprout of bright blond hair and bushy eyebrows.

Quickly Francis walked away from the place, with his head down.

Arthur was talking to one of the police on the scene. He took down notes into his pad before going to see the body. Toris was snapping pictures of the scene.

Arthur's breath got caught in his throat as he looked down at the body. It was Lars Van Dyk's little sister. Her face was seemingly untouched, her eyes were closed but her mouth hung open. Even though Arthur knew it was that girl he still had to check. He pulled on a glove and started to poke around in the girls pockets. He found her wallet inside her trouser pocket. Nothing was taken from it; it was thick with bills and coins.

"They didn't take anything from her?" he questioned.

"Actually they did," said an officer, pointing to the sleeves of the girls brown leather jacket.

Arthur hadn't noticed it at first, but the girl was missing both her hands. His eyes moved along the girl's body, there was something familiar about it. At first he couldn't quiet put his finger on it that was until he saw her neck.

Her shirt was slightly covering the pussing wound on her neck. He opened her eyes but they were still intact.

"Toris!" Arthur flagged over his partner.

Toris took one more picture before strolling beside Arthur. "What is it?"

"This is the same as that school girl," Arthur said, looking down at the girl.

"Are you sure?" asked Toris.

Arthur nodded his head. "It's the same style. Killing wound across the neck, fresh looking body, a missing body part, multiple stab wounds. It's all the same."

Toris bent down and studied the girl. "But he took the eyes last time."

"That's what is confusing me."

Arthur turned away and went towards a few officers who were standing by the police tape. He gave the officer his card and asked him to relay his contact details to whoever was doing the post mortem. The officer took a look at the card before nodding.

"Of course, Mr. Kirkland," he politely said, before walking away.

Arthur went back to his partner. Toris stood up from examining the young girl's body, he had a strange look in his eyes. Arthur interpreted it as sadness, or disgust. "It's horrific. Isn't it?"

Toris nodded but didn't say a word. This was this first really gruesome case the two had worked on. Arthur put his hand on his partners shoulder and gave him a smile. "I'm going to make sure we catch whoever did this."

Toris gulped as he turned his gaze away from the girl.

"We should head back to the office and look over our findings; I already got the witness statements from the other officers," Arthur said, putting his hand in his pocket, fingering the girls picture. "I'm going to let head office know this is to be our priority case from now on."

Arthur pulled out his phone and dialled his boss' number. Toris watched as the British man exchanged short words with the head. The conversation was short and to the point. Arthur motioned his hand for Toris to follow him out past the police tape. They were hassled by a few media outlets but the police were able to cut away most of their attention. All put one.

Arthur had just hung up his mobile phone a woman rushed up to him, a pen and pad in her hand.

"Excuse me, Mr. Kirkland," she said, a strong Hungarian accent flowing from her mouth.

Arthur didn't see her approach him from behind. Before Arthur had any chance at giving her a response, she flew into a flurry of questioned.

"Do you think this murder is related to Bethany Cross? Do you know why this killer would take certain body parts? Does this perhaps have any connection with the girl that went missing this morning?" Her questioning was too quick for Arthur to take in, except for the last one.

Arthur shot Toris a look, and Toris nodded.

"I don't have time for your questioning today," Arthur said rather rudely before adding, "Ma'am."

Arthur held up his hand trying to shoo her away. The two detectives pushed past her and went towards their car. Toris quickly slid into the driver's seat. The reporter followed after Arthur as he got into the other side of the car.

"Look sweetheart, I am kind of busy trying to catch a killer." He looked her in the eye. "So please bugger off before you annoy me even more."

Arthur tapped Toris on the shoulder and he sped off down the street.

Thank you from the bottom of my heart for reading.