I sat on the office chair and I looked at the picture taped to the board. The body, the note, the place, everything on one board. The detectives had their notes out, and Greg and I sat a bit away from the main table. Captain Anderson walked in with a file in his hand. "Before we start anything, we need to thank Officer Loud for recognizing where the excerpt was from," the detectives turned their gaze at me. "I know you fuckers won't be able to figure it out, I know none of you read American literature," He mocked the detectives, and they laughed. "It's not a laughing matter..." He said and all of them stopped laughing. "I don't know much about this literature thing too, so I'll let Officer Loud tell us what she knows about it," He said. I'm not even out of probation yet. I stood up and I walked in front of the board.
"I'm not an expert in this matter, but I'll tell you what I know. The excerpt is from The Oblong Box, written by Edgar Allan Poe. The story goes that a man brought in a box onto a ship, claiming to have a valuable painting inside. In truth, inside that box was the embalmed body of his dead wife. The ship they were in sunk near Cape Hatteras, and the man had tied himself to the box, not wanting to leave his dead wife," I said. "He died," I said.
A detective chimed in. "We're in Michigan, the dead body wasn't in a box, and there was no drowned man,"
"I believe that the vic is likely a person from Cape Hatteras, Dare County North Carolina, and that the oblong box in question refers to the-" He cuts me off.
"You're not a detective, you were told that you just need to tell us the info on the excerpt, not to make assumptions." He brashly said. The other detectives looked at him. He looked at the board and saw the star-shaped missing skin on the woman's back. "What the fuck does that mean?" He pointed at the picture whilst his eyes stared at me.
"I'm not a detective, I was told that I just need to tell you the info on the excerpt, not to make assumptions." I retorted, emotionlessly. The detective reacted rather poorly as he grunted at my comment.
"That would be all Officer Loud, thank you," Captain Anderson said. I sat back down in my seat. "Any questions, suggestions, assumptions? Everything's accepted right now," Captain Anderson offered. No one raised their hand, no one chimed in. I have my theories but I'm not a detective. He sighed.
"You managed to piss off Vernon," Greg whispered into my ears. "Good job, I fucking hate that guy,"
"Until forensics could identify the victim, that will be all we could work with," Captain Anderson looked at me, "I'll try contacting Dare County's PD to get some info on any missing person's case, but until then, we'll have to work with what we have, you're all dismissed, Officer Loud stay here," He stepped aside, all the detectives left. Greg patted my shoulder and left too. I stood up and I walked up to him. "Officer Loud, I apologize for Detective Jacobs's behavior, I hope you didn't take any offense to what he said,"
"None taken, sir," I said.
"I think you and I know that our Jane Doe here isn't our only victim," Captain Anderson said.
"Yes sir, that's what the MO suggests, the killer is too meticulous, too calculative, he wanted us to find that corpse,"
"And none of those assholes made a note of that," He sighed. "We're a small department, we don't have the brains, the resources to do this shit, I want to send this to county, but proof right now only proves one murder. Why the fuck did I transfer here?" He grunted. "Sorry about that, fucking hell, 6 detectives in this entire department, and none of them made a deduction that a rookie still on probation could make, we're a fucking joke," He banged the table. "I'm lifting your probation period, you and Greg can go home for the day, you're dismissed," He said.
"Thank you, sir," I said as I walked out of the meeting room. Just as I entered the corridor, Greg pulled my shoulder. "What is it?" I asked.
"I heard what you two talked about,"
"So?"
"I'm too tired for this shit," He said, I walked past him, heading towards the locker room. "Now, where are you going?"
"Home, the captain said we can go home for the day," I said.
"Then, wait the hell up," He said. I didn't.
I twisted the door knob and I entered. "You're back early today," Pop-pop said as he entered the living room with a cup of coffee. He sat down on the couch in front of the TV and he sat the cup on the coffee table. I sat my bag down beside the table and I sat down with him. "How's your first day back?" He asked.
"It was alright," I said. He chuckled. "Where's Luan and Lynn?" I asked.
"Luan is at the comedy club, and Lynn is at the high school coaching football," Pop-pop said.
"I see," I replied.
"You know Luna, it doesn't hurt to get a hobby," Pop-pop said as he took a sip from his cup. "Reading is just something people should naturally do,"
"What would you suggest?" I asked him.
"I don't know. Music? Maybe singing?" He said as he shrugged. "Your sisters are big enough, you can't make your entire life a shield, live a little, they won't be mad, hell, they'd support you,"
"I see... So you think I should try music?" I asked him. He looked at me and patted my head. I leaned closer and he placed his arm on my shoulder.
"Yeah, you have a good voice, really reminds me of that lead girl for the Cranberries," He said. "Live your life, Luna."
I lay down on my bed, staring at the ceiling. Pop-pop, Luan, and Lynn are already asleep. I couldn't. I sat up and I went to the toilet. I looked in the mirror and I saw myself. My hair is getting a bit longer. I opened the medicine cabinet and I trimmed it. Cut hair fell in the sink. I twisted the faucet on and I laid my head below the stream of water, washing away the access hair. I pulled up and I saw my hair shorter now. It's better that way. I placed the scissors back inside the cabinet and the moment I closed the cabinet, I saw that dead woman in the mirror. Staring at me with dead eyes. "Help me... He's coming," She cried. I don't care. Blood dripped down my nose and the girl was gone. I grabbed a wipe from the cabinet and I wiped the blood off my nose. I've been seeing too much blood, I need to stop this.
15 years ago...
Octal General Hospitals. I sat on the bed, staring at the nurses treating my wounds. I stared at them blankly. I wanted to cry, but I couldn't, something was stopping me. Something didn't want me to cry. The nurses were smiling and saying nice things but I know they were all thinking the same thing; "This kid is a freak,". They took the glass shards out and stitched it shut before wrapping it in a bandage. I just stared at them. Luan and Lynn came to me the moment those nurses left. They hugged me, crying as they did so. I just looked at them and I asked them emotionlessly, "Are you alright?" They didn't answer, they just cried. They probably had their arms wrapped around me for hours because they fell asleep. I couldn't. I looked out the window and I saw that it was night. I slipped away from them and I slowly made my way out of the bed. That was the first time I saw them—the dead.
"My baby girl, take care of your siblings..." Mom said and she disappeared. I know I wanted to grab her and hug her and cry begging for her to come back, but somehow I didn't. I just stood there. I walked to the door and I opened it. It was a long corridor. I needed to go to the toilet. I looked to my right, and I saw a man, his arms weren't there and his head was split open. I wanted to cry and scream and shout but I couldn't. It was like fear never existed and I was trying to fake it. It walked past me, wheezing out of his jawless face. I followed him and I arrived at an open space, I saw the sign for the toilet so I went in, there was a girl, she was crying in front of the sink. I didn't care. I went inside the toilet and did my business. When I got out, she was there, still crying. I washed my hands and I looked at her. She turned her face to me and I saw that in place of her eyes were two large knitting needles.
"I can't see... I can't see..." She cried.
It wasn't my problem, so I went back to my room and lay down on my bed. That next morning, Pop-pop came. He was in his navy uniform. We had to stay in the hospital for quite a while before we got out.