Yao glanced at the young girl lying dead on the ground, her body was wrapped in a white blanket that was starting to stain red. A poodle of blood was forming on the carpet where she was placed. She had dark skin, caramel eyes, and long dark brown hair. He immediately noticed the ligature on her neck, that purplish mark surrounding her neck that seemed familiar, much like Emma's, but he couldn't see where the bleeding was coming from since she was covered by a blanket. The detective slipped on his rubber gloves to lift the blanket and roll it out from her, revealing a gunshot on the chest, just like the one on Emma's, making the Chinese man gasp with the similarities. He then looked at her attire: high-waisted jeans, turquoise turtleneck, and a pair of LA Gear white and purple sneakers. He also noticed that one side of her hair was tied with a red bow while the other was loose. She was most likely wearing twin-tails but someone had snatched away the other bow, it just seemed very odd. She also had colorful plastic bangles around her wrists, 3 of them on each hand, all in neon tones.
"I don't want to jump to conclusions but this-"
Ivan was interrupted mid-sentence as he watched his partner discover the body of a young girl with very similar wounds on a body they have seen not long ago, just that the place was different and he wasn't sure if she had been planted or killed in the jungle as well if they were talking about the same murderer of course.
"I know, it's the same ligature mark on the neck and the same shot on the chest, we just need Natalya to confirm if it's the same bullet and wire on her neck."
The Chinese man explained, now he understood why the chief wanted them to come here, it was a similar case, almost identical but they would have to verify some forensic evidence first to confirm it and then decide if it's a pattern made by the same killer.
"Do you think she has the mark too?"
The Asian glanced at the girl, he could go right now, lift her shirt and verify it right then but there were rules to follow. He couldn't just do that, Natalya had to because she was the forensic pathologist and he was the homicide detective.
"Maybe, your sister would have to check that for us."
Detective Wang always worked with facts, so despite the many similarities, he couldn't just assume they were chasing after the same killer. But as soon as Natalya gives him the forensic report and he can confirm those similarities then they would be looking after a possible serial killer.
"Do you think-"
Ivan was cut off again by his partner who was walking by the corpse and following the bloodstains on the carpeted floor that led to a room where the door was also left with bloody finger marks.
"We can't assume things, at least not yet."
The Chinese man needed to concentrate now and be oblivious of the resemblances of the Abelsson case. He needed to treat this girl's murder as a completely new one, going back to square one as if they had never seen a corpse with those mutilations before. Yao entered the bedroom, there was blood smeared all around the floor but most of them were on the bed. It was a full double bed and the covers were disordered, clean white bedsheets much like the one the girl was wrapped with and found in the hallway of the second floor. Did the murderer kill her and then wrapped her around to drop her at the entrance of the second floor? If they were talking about the same murderer of Emma then it seemed very likely since he left her body in the basement with the purpose of being discovered.
"This body wasn't planted in the house, right?"
The Russian walked into the room as well, with his gloves on and careful to not contaminate the evidence that was in the room. Staring at the bed where there was more blood than in the hallway. So there was no doubt that she got killed in her bed and was then carried to the hall, or at least that was what his observation indicated.
"Correct, she got killed in this room, on this bed."
Yao replied before looking around the room. It wasn't as big as Lily Zwingli's room but it was decent, the walls were painted in a pastel blue, a big bed with all-white covers, some stuffed animals on the floor that could have been on the bed but fallen. She had a vanity mirror and around it, little polaroid photographs were decorating it, all were pictures of her and friends hanging out at the beach. Beside her mirror and dressing table was the bureau, she had a cassette player and beside it was the Like a Virgin cassette album by Madonna. There was a walkman beside it as well, it seemed like she enjoyed the music. He then turned to her ivory-colored closet that the doors were almost completely covered by magazine and newspaper cuttings of celebrities, movies, fashion, and others.
"Come on Ivan, let's find out who she is."
Detective Braginski nodded and followed his partner, walking out of the room after the Asian took some time to take a good look at the room. He did as well, observing the decoration in hopes of finding anything interesting but most of them were just personal belongings. Soon they were going down the stairs and leaving the crime scene. Yao and he were back at the living room where the Chinese man noticed the same man that was crying in the kitchen surrounded by other cops, that had to be her father, right?
"Excuse us-"
Yao spoke and the other officers began backing away when the officers entered, what he did not expect was to be interrupted by the French man that ran towards Ivan's arms while sobbing.
"Ivan! Ivan, you're here! I'm so lucky that you're the detective in charge."
The man cried out while still holding onto the Russian for dear life. Ivan didn't know what to say, he didn't remember this French man at all but he seemed to know him.
"D-da, I'm here to help."
Yao raised an eyebrow, did they know each other? It seemed like the father knew Ivan and knew him very well but his partner seemed very clueless while the man hugged him. Why did all the crying they had to interrogate hugged Ivan? Antonio did the same too and at this point, it was starting to become a pattern, perhaps it was because the Russian seemed very huggable.
"I'm sorry, do you two know each other?"
The Chinese man decided to rescue his partner from the awkward situation he seemed to be, also because he wanted to know what kind of relationship they had.
"Oui, Ivan is the brother of my son's wife, we met at the wedding. He walked Yekaterina down the aisle too, it was such a beautiful day and Michelle was one of the bridesmaids along Natalya."
The French man calmed down a bit more while talking and picking a napkin from the kitchen table to blow his nose,
"Mr. Bonnefoy! Yes, of course the wedding, I remember."
Ivan did remember who this man was since he was sober until he walked his sister down the aisle and then all the memories were a bit fuzzy.
"Please Ivan, we're family, just call me papa."
The Chinese man still needed a minute to process everything. It was a huge coincidence that Francis' son was married to Yekaterina and now the son's sister was dead and they happened to be here investigating, it was a small world.
"Um, alright, this is detective Wang, my partner."
The Russian was so uncomfortable, he was never going to call that man papa, ever, and that was his final word.
"Nice to meet you, sir, and we're very sorry for your loss."
Yao shook Francis' hand and the very affectionate French man had already pulled him into a hug. The Chinese man froze, much like Ivan when he was embraced so suddenly.
"Could you tell us more about your daughter, please?"
The Asian asked now that the man had finally let him go. Ivan immediately pulled out his little notebook as always to write down every detail Francis could give them.
"Michelle is my smallest daughter, her big brother is Matthew but they're half siblings as well as with Mona, the second oldest."
Francis paused for a moment, taking his napkin from the table and drying his tears before breathing deeply and talking again.
"She was 21 and was studying marine biology, she was a very smart girl, always has been and I was so very proud of her. She was my little daughter and I adored her and I spoiled her terribly too. She never fought with her big sister and has always been a sweet loving girl"
Ivan wrote all that down, he didn't know Michelle very well either, having only met her once at his sister's wedding just like he didn't know Francis well either.
"Could you tell us what happened?"
The French man nodded, it had passed less than two hours of the discovery of Michelle's body and he could hardly believe it was real, he didn't want to talk to anybody if being honest. He had already been dealing with other officers but he knew that talking with the detectives was the real deal, plus Ivan was there so if he collaborated then the investigation would be much easier.
About 8 that night, Francis had left his work, which was a luxurious hotel for about 25 minutes from his house where he worked as the head chef. He left the hotel at the same time as always and drove back to his house where Michelle was supposed to be since 4, that's when her last class ended. Mona wasn't home either, she went on a week-long internship and would be returning the next day.
"Ma fille, papa is home!"
The French man opened the door but found no one and all the lights were off, which was pretty odd since by this time she would be watching Full House in the living room, and Michelle never missed an episode.
"Michelle?"
He called again, but there was no answer, he turned the lights on and walked to the kitchen but she wasn't there either. He found it very odd but supposed that she might be asleep in her room. After all, she was in exam week and had been pulling many all-nighters, she surely was tired.
"Mon cheri, are you asleep?"
Francis called again, now going up the stairs to the second floor, turning on the lights of the stairs as he got up. The hall was all dark as well, then he paused in front of his daughter's room.
"Michelle? Are you in there?"
He asked, knocking on the door, hoping to get a response. He was thinking that she might have gone out for a while, but in that case, she would have called, she always called! He had taught his daughters well to always call him before going anywhere even if both of them were college students.
"Michelle, I'm going in!"
The French man announced, pushing the door open, it was in complete darkness so he immediately turned on the lights on his right-hand side since he couldn't see a thing. Then he saw her, lying on that bed, bleeding badly, and Francis had never run faster, holding her already cold body in his arms.
"Mon dieu, Michelle!"
He held his baby girl against him, not caring that the blood was staining on his work uniform. He wanted to believe that she was still alive, he couldn't believe what he was seeing. His daughter, hurt, wounded, and possibly bleeding to death on her bed when she was perfectly fine that morning, having breakfast with him and kissing him goodbye before going to classes. Francis grabbed one of the bed sheets and wrapped her sound with it before carrying her in his arms and walking out of the room.
"It's okay mon cher, papa is here, oui?"
He tried to sound calm but he was shaking in fear, this couldn't be happening. He stumbled while walking on the hallway, staining the walls with blood from his hands before dropping her on the floor and hurriedly ran down stairs.
"911 what's your emergency?"