Ryan could feel the blood freeze in his veins when nobody greeted them on the other end. Instead, the eerie stillness was back, luring him into the old apartment.
"What's all this ruckus about, gentlemen?", a voice said, seemingly coming from nowhere.
Looking over to his partner for help, he noticed that Javi's gaze was lowered, a peculiar frown on his face. Following the motion, Kevin looked down, surprised when he saw an older man on the other side, barely standing three feet tall.
The midget seemed less than amused and eyed the two detectives with discontent, waiting with his hands crossed over his chest.
"Mhm? What's it going to be, NYPD? What was worth waking me from my nap?"
Struggling with the unexpected situation, Kevin was glad when his partner stepped in, flashing the man his credentials.
"Sorry to bother you, Mister…"
"Ellis. It's Mister Ellis."
"Right, Mister Ellis. I am Detective Esposito, this is Detective Ryan. We're looking for a young girl that might be living with you? Is she with you right now?"
"A young girl?", the man asked and rubbed his thick jowls, "You must be talking about my niece Kristen. She only stops by on the weekends. She left a couple of days ago. Why? What did she do?"
"Nothing.", they both replied in unison, before Javi took over again, "We have reason to a believe that a young woman in this apartment building is in grave danger. We're trying to find her before something might happen to her. All we know is that she is currently in the building."
The blatant lie had rolled off his tongue effortlessly, and Ryan was grateful when the other man nodded in understanding, blissfully ignorant to the truth.
"No, Kristen is not here. You might want to check with #11. There's a young woman living there and I thought I heard a commotion earlier when I did laundry."
"Thank you, Mister Ellis…", Javi said, then reached for the knob to close the door again, just to have the tenant stop him.
"I can do this, you know? Just because I am this size doesn't mean I can't adjust…"
Deciding to ignore the remark altogether, the older detective spun around to head for the next apartment, leaving Ryan to cordially nod at the irate man before following his partner.
"You had to pick the door with the midget…", he said in feigned lightheartedness, hoping to slow his furiously beating heart as they arrived at the next door.
"Midget, murderers…they all sound alike these days.", Javi countered ill-temperedly and positioned himself next to the frame again, waiting for Ryan to do the same when the door opened without the slightest touch.
Sharing a worried glance with his partner, he peeked his head around the corner, trying to see what little he could through the crack.
Ultimately, it wasn't what he saw but what he smelled that let him know they had found the latest murder scene.
The thick scent of fresh blood had filled the entire apartment, and slowly began to drift out into the adjacent corridor.
With his left hand, Javi reached for his phone, texting the apartment number to Beckett, before grasping the grip of his Glock tightly once more.
A quick nod was all Kevin needed to signal that it was time to enter, doing so in the most cautious fashion.
There was a good chance that Danny was still around here, relishing in his terrible deed. Or perhaps this was only the murder scene and he, along with his victim, had left the premises already.
Either way, it made the gun in his hand shake slightly as he used his right foot to pry the door farther open, allowing them to see the entry area.
At first glance, nothing seemed disturbed.
Off to the right, a fan was running in one of the back rooms. The curtains were drawn, which in turned created shadows that sprawled across the wooden floors, obscuring his vision.
With a cock of the head, Javi signaled that he was starting off to the left, leaving the right quadrant for him to search.
Swallowing hard, Kevin nodded and pushed his shoulder around the doorframe, his gun drawn and ready to fire, his breathing shallow and subdued, trying to make as little noise as possible.
The strong scent of blood led him to the adjacent bedroom, the door wide open, a crimson handprint near the handle where their victim had tried to lock herself in.
Kevin saw the disheveled sheets partially on the ground before his eyes fell on their latest casualty, sprawled out nude on the bed in a huge puddle of her own blood. Her right forearm was missing, a tail of heavy crimson drops leading from the body toward the kitchen.
From his angle, he counted at least a couple dozen stab marks in her chest, abdomen and neck. Dangling off the bed was part of a scarf or undergarment, used to strangle her.
Breathing through his mouth, Kevin walked deeper into the room, careful not to step on any blood, taking a moment to glance over the body again, his heart aching for another soul lost to their killer.
By the looks of it, she had put up a significant struggle. Some of the curtains had been torn off the rods, a couple of books and a broken lamp littered the area around the bed. The mirror in the corner of the room was cracked and lying on its side.
After he circled the bed and made sure there was no room for their killer to hide, Kevin headed back to the kitchen that was facing the outside of the building. The fan they'd been hearing was over the stove, still running even though no other appliances were turned on.
A spacious island featured a sink and small bar area that were cluttered with grocery bags and newspapers.
The smell of blood seemed stronger here, mixed now with a distinct sweetness of male cologne. Had their killer gained entry as a charming salesman? Or had he claimed to need help? Needing to make a phone call? Whatever phrase he'd used on his unsuspecting victim, Kevin sure hoped it would be the last chance he'd ever get to strike.
The noise of something rolling across the floor caught his attention and he spun around, his eyes searching the area frantically.
The distraction was efficient enough that he never saw evil strike until it was too late.
