Wild Fire

"BREAKING NEWS: An unidentified body was found in an alleyway with a makeup brush stuck in one of its eyes. The witness on the scene said to just be walking down her path to her work when she smelled a rotting body in the alleyway nearby. She curiously looked at the source when she found out that it was the body of a dead person she screamed for help. No other witnesses on the scene giving police little clues as to who is the victim."

x-x-x-x-x

"Another body?" One of the detectives said as he cleans his desk filled with reports for other crimes. "Is it from the same killer?" Another one asked, drawing himself to the small TV screen as they listen to the news. "How many victims it has been?" Another detective asked.

"46 in total. 24 males and 22 females. Our body that was found today in Ms. Number 22," the chief of the police said. All of the detectives assigned to this case sighed in defeat. "It has been years since this killer's crime has been reported to us but how come we haven't caught this motherfucker?" One of the detectives frustratedly said.

It has been years since the first crime by their mystery killer. His crimes were a shock at first, leaving his victims obscure and unidentified, making it hard for detectives to name them, also making it his mark.

His first crime is personal and brutal since the victim is shot almost 79 times in his torso. The memory of that first crime remains in their mind as they try to solve the other crimes that kept on increasing rather than decreasing.

"I understand your frustration, Detective Lilibush. But even I don't have enough clues to find this killer." Their chief said. "There must be something, right? Like a pattern or a connection between the victims?" Another detective asked.

"In most crimes, yes. But in this crime, I am afraid there is no such thing as a connection. It's as if the killer just kills for fun." Detective Lilibush said. "This is bullshit. How are we going to answer the people's questions if we don't have anything? This is so frustrating." One detective said while frustratingly rummage through the paperwork over the past several months.

"Is it just I or the killer is making a fool out of us?" Detective Lilibush asked. "Could have been. You know what let's just examined what we have gathered yesterday from the crime scene." The chief said.

Frustrated groans and rummaged papers can be heard from the conference room as the detectives' works hand in hand to solve one of the mysterious crime ever been done in their city.

Reading past reports of bodies, searching the pictures from the forensic team, and writing down all the details of past crimes took them almost half of the day to be compiled. In their minds, they knew that this crime will never be solved.

But that changes when Detective Lilibush saw the bloomed flower found at the crime scene. "Major," he calls. Major, one of the detectives looked up and answered him. "Yes, Detective." Lilibush looked at him straight in the eye and showed the flower.

"Care to tell me what is this for?" He asked. Major confusedly looked at the flower, when he recalled that he interviewed with every flower shop around the area to ask what it meant. "Oh, that's the flower Carenlodge asked me examined," he said.

"And what did you find?" Lilibush asked. "It's a primrose, blue one to be exact. According to one of the flower shops that I interviewed yesterday, it is known to symbolize youth," he explained. Lilibush looked at the bloomed flower with piercing eyes.

"Which flower shop did you ask?" The chief asked curiously as he thought there might be something about the flower that could lead them to the killer. "Astera. Its owner's name is Chrys," he answered.

Lilibush and the chief looked at each other. When they realized they are thinking the same thing, the chief asked Major and Lilibush to go to the flower shop and interview the owner once again.

As they went out of the station, Major saw someone familiar to him. "Detective, wait," he said and ran in that person's direction. Major was right when he saw the person walking towards him. It's one of the florists that he interviewed yesterday.

"Detective Major, hello," the florist greeted. "Mr. Sage, what are you doing here?" Major asked. "Oh, another detective went to my shop yesterday then asked me to come over so he could ask a few questions. I am a bit nervous because I haven't been to a police station before for an interrogation." He nervously said, smiling to the detective who is somewhat experiencing a lovestruck from the florist.

"You'll be fine. Just answer honestly and truthfully." Major suggests, smiling back at the florist while rubbing the back of his head, hoping that the florist will not deem him weird as they talk. The florist smiled and said goodbye to the detective. Major went back to Lilibush and said his sorry for delaying their investigation. Lilibush just chuckles and they went to the flower shop.

"Who is that fella?" Lilibush asked out of curiosity. "One of the florists I interviewed yesterday," Major replied. "From what shop?" Lilibush asked. "Primula." He simply answered.

Lilibush hummed without thinking much about it. A few minutes later, they arrived at their destination. Major went inside first to ask for the owner. Lilibush came afterward as soon as he enters the shop, one of the florists greets him with nervousness. "Detective Lilibush." He introduces himself while he shows his badge to them.

"Can we ask for the owner?" He asked. The florists looked at each other. Lilibush looked at Major with confusion. One of the florists named Leanne approached the detective. "Sir, the owner hasn't been home for 3 days. The last time we saw her was when he dressed up for a party," she explained. "What party?" Major asked.

"The grand party for Julius Crantylle," the florist replied. Major looked at the florist as if finding out if she is telling the truth. "Can I ask what is she wearing at the party?" Lilibush asked while taking down notes for possible clues. "Knitted long sleeves with a long floral skirt, her favorite tied heels. She has curly hair and gold sunglasses."

Major took down everything that she said but one thing struck him. The floral skirt that the owner is wearing was the same floral skirt that Jane Doe has. "Can I ask for her name?" Major said. "Yes. It's Chrys Sorrel." The florist answered.

Both of the detectives took down every note possible. After the interview, they say their thanks and went on their way. As they arrived at the police station, Major saw Mr. Sage once again. He waved goodbye to the detective and went on his way. The detective just smiled at him and went to the conference room.

Both of the detectives smiled as they sat back down, and the chief went inside to know their further investigations. "So, I just finished interrogating Mr. Ren Sage, a florist and the owner of Primula. A flower shop a few meters away from Astera." a detective introduces.

The chief asks him to proceed with the information. "According to Mr. Sage, the night before the murder, he is with his last customer and about to close down the shop. I asked him if he could identify his customer but apparently, the customer did not provide him with any names. Then, I asked him if he recognizes the victim on the picture which is our Jane Doe. He replies to me with a name," he explains.

"Is it Chrys Sorrel?" Detective Lilibush asked. The detective explaining looked at him with wide eyes and asked, "How did you know, detective?" Lilibush stood up from his chair and approached the board, the other detective sat back down and listens to their senior.

"As you know, the chief asks Major and me to interview the owner of Astera. It turns out that the owner has been missing for three days now. None of the florists filed a missing person report for the reason that the owner usually does this type of thing at every party she attended.

But what caught our attention is the fact that the owner and our Jane Doe have the same similarities," Lilibush explains. He wrote all of his notes on the board for the others to analyze and won't get lost during his explanation.

"If you can see here, one of the florists provided us some vital clues; one is their owner, Ms. Sorrel, is wearing a knitted long-sleeved shirt and a floral skirt just like our Jane Doe, the second one is that she is in fact wearing a gold sunglasses just like our Jane Doe," he added.

"So, there is a big possibility that Ms. Sorrel is in fact our victim," Lilibush concludes. The chief hums and Detective Lilibush sat back down. "Any other information from Mr. Sage, Detective Quill?" The chief finally asks.

"Mr. Sage did say that Ms. Sorrel lives in an apartment building near his shop." The detective added. "Okay, if there's no more information to be added, let's start our thorough investigation and find out who the hell is this killer," the chief of police announces.