Chapter 10: Revelations in Rage*
Marie slammed the door of the sheriff's office so hard that the frosted glass rattled in its frame. Her blood boiled as she stormed down the hallway, each step echoing like a war drum in the quiet precinct. The other officers didn't even bother to hide their smirks as they watched her go, leaning back in their chairs like vultures circling a wounded animal.
"Suspended?" she muttered to herself, clenching her fists until her nails dug into her palms. "For the rest of the week? Are you kidding me?"
The sheriff had just handed over the latest murder case to Officer Green—a rookie so green behind the ears it was practically in his name. The body of another girl had been found near the docks, and the sheriff had dismissed the case like it was just another statistic, another "high-risk" death, with no connection to the others.
Marie wasn't buying it. Not for a second.
But the sheriff had dug his heels in, like he always did. His words still rang in her ears: "You're too close to this, Kanker. You're not thinking straight. Take the rest of the week off—consider it a vacation."
Vacation. She snorted in disgust. Another girl was dead, and he wanted her to take it easy. Worse, she knew he was giving Green the case just to keep her off it. He didn't believe the murders were connected, didn't care that the bodies were piling up. Or maybe he cared too much—maybe he knew exactly what was going on and was doing everything in his power to make sure no one got too close to the truth.
But Marie wasn't about to let another girl's death get swept under the rug. Not again.
She reached the parking lot and leaned against her car, trying to gather her thoughts. Her mind was a storm of rage and suspicion, thoughts swirling too fast for her to make sense of them. The girls—prostitutes, addicts, homeless women—they were all being written off as collateral damage, their deaths buried beneath excuses and red tape.
And now another girl was dead. Another victim no one cared about. No one but her.
As she paced by her car, her phone buzzed in her pocket. It was Green.
"Hey, Kanker," his nervous voice came through the line, "I, uh, heard you got… sidelined."
Marie rolled her eyes. "What do you want, Green?"
"Look, I know you've been pushing this whole 'serial killer' thing, and I know the sheriff doesn't buy it, but…" He hesitated. "I'm not sure I do either, but something about this case doesn't feel right. The girl at the docks? Her tox report came back. The lab found something… weird."
Marie's pulse quickened. "Weird how?"
"Steroids. Huge amounts of 'em. Way more than a normal dose—enough to send her into a serious rage before she died."
Marie's blood ran cold. Steroids? That was new.
"Green," she said slowly, "do you still have access to the autopsy reports for the other girls?"
"I think so," he replied, sounding more unsure than ever. "Why?"
"I need to see them. All of them. Meet me at the coroner's office in an hour."
There was a pause before Green answered, his voice laced with uncertainty. "I… okay. But if the sheriff finds out—"
"Don't worry about the sheriff. Just get me those files."
--
An hour later, Marie stood in the sterile, fluorescent-lit morgue, her breath coming in shallow bursts as she scanned through the autopsy reports of the recent victims. Green hovered by the door, looking as though he might bolt at any moment, but he had followed through on his promise. He'd gotten her access to the reports, and now she was poring over them, looking for the connection she knew had to be there.
And then she found it.
"Here," she said, pointing to a section of the report from the latest victim's autopsy. "Steroids. The same kind, in the same astronomical levels, as the girl found by the tracks three weeks ago."
Green's eyes widened. "No way."
Marie flipped to the next report, her pulse racing. The same drug again. And again. Each of the victims had been pumped full of the same anabolic steroid, in doses high enough to turn a mild-mannered person into a raging beast.
"They were all given this drug," she said, her voice grim. "Right before they were beaten to death."
Green ran a hand through his hair, clearly struggling to keep up. "But why? Why would someone pump these girls full of steroids and then—"
"Think about it," Marie cut him off, her mind whirling with the implications. "These girls—homeless, addicts, sex workers—nobody would miss them, right? Nobody would care if they ended up in the ER or dead on the street. But what if this wasn't just about killing them?"
Green stared at her, wide-eyed. "What are you saying?"
Marie swallowed, the pieces falling into place in her mind. "What if they were being drugged and thrown into fights? Raging, out-of-control brawls. A fight club. Someone's running an underground ring, using these women as fighters."
Green looked horrified. "That's insane."
"Think about it. The steroids, the brutal beatings, the secrecy. It all fits. These girls weren't just murdered. They were used. And when they couldn't fight anymore, they were disposed of. The drugs make sure they lose control, become violent, and then… it's a spectacle for someone. A twisted game for people with too much money and no conscience."
Green took a step back, shaking his head. "But how could they get away with it? Someone would have to know."
"Someone does," Marie said coldly. "The sheriff knows. Kevin knows. Hell, half the city council probably knows. And they're covering it up, protecting whoever's running this operation. They don't care how many bodies pile up as long as they get their cut."
Green looked sick, the reality of what Marie was saying sinking in. "What do we do?"
Marie squared her shoulders. "We keep digging. We find out where these fights are happening, who's involved, and we expose every last one of them. But we have to be careful. If they find out we're onto them…"
She didn't finish the sentence, but the implication was clear. This wasn't just a conspiracy anymore—it was a death sentence if they got too close.
Green nodded, the fear in his eyes undeniable but tempered with a newfound resolve. "I'm with you, Kanker. Whatever you need."
Marie gave him a tight nod, grateful for the backup, even if it came from a rookie. They were getting closer, and the closer they got, the more dangerous this would become.
But she wasn't backing down. Not now. Not when she could see the truth so clearly.
As they left the morgue, her mind was already racing ahead. She needed to meet with the Eds, share what she'd discovered. They had their own connections, their own way of getting information from people the police couldn't touch. Together, they could blow this thing wide open.
And then, maybe, they could stop the bodies from piling up.
