Rolling out of bed, Darcy groaned unhappily, at being cold and alone, and levelled a glare to the small cell phone going off on the nightstand. The device shook against the polished wood with its customary annoying chime. Frustrated that she had been woken up at the ungodly hour of three in the morning – or so the digital clock showed – Darcy picked the device harshly and pressed the answer button a little too firm, without even looking at the caller's name. "It's three in the morning, this better be good!" she spoke, releasing the aggravation.
"As good as you make it, sunshine." the person on the other end replied. "I'm glad you have your sweet disposition this early in the morning. Did I wake you, darling?" The question was unnecessary and used for the purpose of irritating her further.
"You miserable sod!" she muttered acidly as she stripped of her pyjamas, while wondering how exactly he had sneaked out of bed without her noticing, and started looking for clothes to wear. "Loki, it's too early for me to deal with your lovely personality. What do you want?" This had to be work related. It had to, because if it wasn't, Darcy would skin him alive.
She pulled a pair of black jeans on as she put the phone on speaker and set it on the nightstand again. "There's been another victim." A brief pause followed in which Darcy pulled a white t-shirt on. "Female. Young, mid twenties. Redhead. Same method as the others. Down to the missing middle finger; it's all the same." Darcy snatched her leather-like jacket and put the phone out of speaker mode.
"Where are you?" she asked, grabbing her bag and slipping her feet into a pair of black sneakers as Loki rattled the address. "See you as soon as I get there."
.
.
.
"So, it seems we have a serial killer on our hands." Darcy told Loki as they sat to the side while other police personnel sealed the crime scene. "Think we can catch the bugger before his next hit?"
Loki stared in confusion for a few seconds before responding, "I don't know. There's something odd about this one." Darcy smirked dryly and muttered under her breath. "No, listen. This guy seems to have something personal against each of these women. The problem is that besides the red hair, they have nothing in common."
"Could be a religious freak." she offered hesitantly. "Wait! The index finger." Darcy said and took a moment to think. "Did any of these women take archery classes at any point?"
"Archery? Of course. I think they did mention this about Miss Karg." Loki uttered, awe creeping in his voice as he made his deductions. "What was that about religion?"
"Well, in the middle ages people with red hair were considered evil or something like that. I remember speaking in a history class, a few years back, about this but I haven't retained any important details." Darcy explained as she pulled out her phone and took a note to look more into it. "What do we do now?"
"I thought it'd be obvious Darcy." taunted her dark haired partner. "We'll look over all the data again."
"Goody!" answered the female unenthusiastically. She was feeling a bit queasy seeing such a mutilated body. "I'll have nightmares about this for a long time." The prediction wasn't even unfounded. She tended to think too hard about the cases that popped her and Loki's way, thus incorporating them in her dreams.
"Don't worry, love, I'll chase those night terrors away." he reassured her and slipped an arm around her waist. "Come on. Let's go home and look over those files."
The prospect of having Darcy and Loki as a crime-solving couple was just too good to pass up. Anyway, I hope you find this as enjoyable to read as it has been for me to write.
Do tell me your thoughts.