Dan pulled out a micro tape recorder and started speaking into it after surveying the scene for a few minutes. "victim is a Caucasian male, looks to be around 35 or 40 years of age. Large wound on left side of neck, minor abrasions over entire suface of the body. Bloody knife still clutched in hand, lips blue so body has been dead for at least 12 hours or more." Dan noticed something on the back of Jason neck and put on a pair of white latex gloves to flip him over. "Small jigsaw piece has been cut out of the skin on back of neck." He said into the recoder before clicking it off.
"Has the tape recorder been---" Dan stopped what he was saying as Jesse held up in front of him. "This ones no different than the others. Forenscis have listened to it and said that it's the same as every other case. Why does he do this, dammit?" Jesse said with a bit of annoyance in his voice. "Well, you know, in his sick, twisted little world, he hasn't killed a soul. Says the decisions are up to the victims and he has nothing to do with it." replied Dan after taking a few laps around the coffin. "Yea, well I don't call it decisions, I call it murder, and were going to find the sick freak who commits them." said Jesse. "Now lets get into Nina's van and properly listen to this." He said holding up the black tape recorder and turning around to a yellow van that was filled with electronic equipment used for everything from analyzing voice samples to recording video and everything in between.
"Nine's, pop this in the SM12 will ya? We wanna listen to this thing right." Said Jesse with the slight tone of impatience in his voice. "Fowler listen, everyone has already heard it and thers nothing on that damn thing other than the voice of the bastard you two have been chasing for six months now. Nothing is different"
Jesse walked up close to her and said with a very gruff and demanding voice. "Put in the fucking tape."
"You know, you sure can be a real asshole." said Nina as she spun around in her chair and shoved the tape into the SM12 digital voice analyzing system. "It's why I'm chief"
"Hello Jason...
Almost six hours after arriving at the scene Jesse and Dan had givin up. "Come on lets get outta here." said Dan getting up and throwing away the Styrofoam cup filled with spoiled coffee. "Yea, right behind ya."
They started to walk back to the black and white that had been left for them, seeing as though everyone else that had been there earlier in the hot, dusty day was now gone.
"Shit, hold on, forgot my jacket" said Jesse turing back around to the yellow van. "Alright I'll wait in the car". Dan tunred around and started walking toward the car. As he walked he got a funny, tingling feeling. "Damn dead bodies got me spooked." He said in a shallow voice halfway to the car. Then he heard a noise, like footsteps. Dan put his right hand down on the Smith & Wesson service Glock that was holstered on his right thigh. "Gardnerville PD, if anyone is out there come out with your hands up. Nothing. "Must just be my---. Then a very sharp pain in his back. He was falling backwards, then he hit the ground. Now blackness, nothing but blacknes... and that.. that face almost like a... Pig. He heard seven final words before blacking out. "Don't worry detective, you will soon appreciate."
"Hey dumbass, wake up" the usual sound of Jesse gruff voice awoke Dan. He slowly blinked open his eyes. He was in a dirty, grimy room. He sat up and looked around. Dan saw one metal door placed on the wall to his right. Standing next to him was Jesse, who was examining the wall in front of him. He then noticed two other people. Both were women and both looked to be understandably scared. The one straight across and on the other side of the room as him looked to be only about 25 or 26. She was pressing her weight against the concrete wall behind her for some reason. The other was in the far left corner. This girl was by far the youngest and looked to be only 16 tops. She was crouched into a ball and had her head down.
Jesse turned around with a mean look on his face. "Where the hell are we?" Dan asked, getting up for the first time and noticing that his legs were sore.
"Where the fuck do you think we are Socrates?" "Our John Doe put us in one of his little 'games'.
"Goddammit... Well do you know who those two are?" said Dan shrugging to the two women in the corners.
"Yea, that ones Lacy Behnke."
"Behnke, why does that name sound so familiar?" Dan said looking at her.
"Her husband Mason and step brother Mike disappeared about a year ago. People think it was the work of our boy" Jesse said pointing to the black T.V. that was sitting on a metal stand on the left side of the room that Dan had just noticed. "The young one over there's Jayde Reid. Hasn't said much. I can't believe this asshole is taking in just kids now.
"Yea, well we both know it's pointless to look for a way out. Let's just try to talk to these two and see what that dirtbag puppet has to say. Both men started to walk toward the two women, but not before making it halfway, the TV on the stand turned on by itself. Lacy stopped her attempts of escape through the wall and turned around to watch the T.V. Jayde stayed seated but raised her head slightly. You could see moist eyes behind her golden, dirty blond hair. What both Jesse and Dan had expected happened next. A fairly large dummy's face appeared on screen. It had a pure white face, large cheeks and red spirals on them. It's mouth moved mechanically like a Colossi's bones after thousands of years of rest. Both girls looked shocked by the dummy's appearance, but this is exactly what the two detectives had been expecting so they didn't even flich when they saw him on screen. Then it started to speak.
"Hello ladies and gentlemen. I would personally like to welcome you all to what quite possibly is the final day of your lives. Now two of you know exactly what is going on and exactly why you are here. Two do not. Im sure you can all figure out who knows what. More explanation will come when you enter the door that is directly across from this television. It will unlock as soon as this is over. You are all here for different reasons, but you do all have something in common, you are all conneted to me somehow, although none of you know who I am." A slight and menacing laugh followed this statement. "Beyond the aforementioned door, is a room with four doors. In each door is a 'game' designed for each one of you. I have made these 'games' easier than usual for a reason, so do not think you can outwit me by pure mindpower alone. If you successfully win each one you will receive a key. If you all win you will have four keys. Once you enter that door im sure you will see what you can do with four keys. Also, I will make sure only ONE of you escapes this place. You will need teamwork to get the keys, but how will you decide who escapes? That my friends,... Is up to you. Oh yes, I forgot to mention if someone does not escape within one hour I will lock every door to this building and release more than 300,000 Indian fire ants, which have the most painful bite known to man. You will know how much time left by the way of the clock that is in the pocket of your youngest friend. Let the games begin."
The screen went black and grave empty silence filled the dismal room. No one spoke or even
uttered a noise for a few minutes. Finally Lacy stood up and walked over to where Jayde was
still sitting and staring. The blank screen was reflected in her large, scared looking eyes.
Lacy looked down at her and said "Look in your pocket." Still silent, Jayde reached into the
dirt smeared right pocket of her pants and pulled out a old fashion clock that, at just that
very same moment had started ticking down from 60:00. "Come on, we need to get moving. What
this freakshow says is true, once that thing reaches 0... Well you heard." Said Dan
grabbing Jayde's hand and pulling her along while motioning for the other two to follow him.
Together the four of them walked up to the gray metal door that had just beeped, releasing
the lock and allowing them entrace to the room of their fate. "I can't fucking believe I'm
here" said Lacy in frustration." Jesse spoke for the first time since introducing who
everyone was. "I can, we all have done something to make this sick fuck think that we
somehow derseve whatever the hell it is that were going to do." The door slammed shut on
it's own accord behind them and once again beeped signaling its sealing. The room they now
stood in was about the same size as the previous, only now there were four doors on each of
the four bloody walls. Each door had a small black tape recorder with a visible tape inside
of it hanging down from above the doorway via a small slice of string. Each one was labeled
with one of the four names and below it had the now famous words, PLAY ME.
For the first time that Dan had heard, Jayde finally spoke. "What the hell is THAT thing?" she said pointing to the device that everyone was now staring at. It was a large cylindrical block that had a see through center. Visible in the middle of the see through part, was one large, gold key. Around the sides of the cylinder were four key slots. Once again Jayde spoke. "Four keys, four slots... So that means we each need to get one key to unlock that one" she said pointing to the middle key. "Screw that!" said Jesse. He walked up to the transparent surface that held the main key captive and started pounding it with his fists. This time it was Lacy who spoke. "This psycho went through all the trouble of kidnapping us and setting this hell hole up. You actually think that's gonna break?" she said uttering a dark laugh. "Yea well you got a better fuckin idea!" he said savagely, turning around to face her. Lacy stood her ground. "Yes, actually. He said the traps were easier than most of his others, and we know of at least one person surviving his better ones, so I bet we can make it!" Dan turned to face her and said one word. "Amanda". "I think she's right, if we just use our heads we can make and we better do it fast cause we only have... He checked the clock that was clutched in Jayde's sweaty hand, 55 minutes left."
Jayde stepped forward. "Well,I guess I'll go first" she said with still visible tears in her eyes and a shake to her voice. "What could you have done so horrible at how young you are?" Lacy said looking at her.
Jayde looked at her for a moment before saying "I don't know... but I'm about to find out.