Chapter 11

"Hell is empty and all the devils are here."

The murders were getting more and more frequent; people have been more and more cautious about the people that have been coming to and from the houses. Instead of a duo that would patrol on the grounds, there would be a group that would go instead, and under no circumstances were any of them to split up. If there were any disturbances or things that were considered out of the norm they were to report it to the head maid or butler immediately.

In the coming days, there was nothing out of the ordinary. But that was what unnerved the household staff the most was the normality that settled back around the household again, they felt as if there worry about nothing but they had every right to be concerned, two murders had happened, but they were starting to slack off. It was tedious work. To try and manage everything and people get tired of the constant vigilance.

It seemed as if the murderer also grew some brains, there was no hide nor the head of the murderer after that, no more funny letters addressed to one of the lady's of the house, nor any more cryptic notes that were given to the police. It seemed like everything was going back to normal; well, as normal as a household can be after three murders, in total, anyways.

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Adam went through the files again, and it was tiring. There was not much he could do, the autopsy of the bodies and there was no residual clues or anything that could have given them a lead. He walked out of the main building, he walked for a few minutes with Cayenne by his side chattering on about the potential outcomes of where the leads could have led, he hummed in agreement with some of the ideas but mostly focused on trying to examine the body himself.

Cayenne pouted slightly as he was ignored by his boss, although he stopped immediately when Adam smiled at him and urged him to carry on. Adam didn't find the others chatter annoying, he just didn't have much to say and would normally prefer to just listen to others when they speak. They continued their little dynamic until they reached the morgues reception. It was bustling with the free workers that worked there.

The sterile environment made Cayenne uncomfortable, his chatter ceased. Adam observed the other from the corner of his eye and gently rested his hand on the other shoulder before grabbing the key and waiting for one of the workers to take them into the mortuary. They continued to wait for the next four minutes, before the body was put onto the examining table and Adam went over to look around it, leaving his partner in the corner of the room, grimacing over the corpse.

Adam examined the woman's corpse, the stab wounds have been sewed up but he understood the stabbing was done violently, that they know, but there was nothing else on the corpse. He looked up at the coroner and motioned quietly for the other to pass a pair of gloves but a pair was already placed in his open hand. Adam smiled and whispered a thank you to Cayenne who just shuffled back to the corner where he was originally standing.

As he moved the body around gently he brushed the hair away from the victim's neck and examined the neck to see if there were any signs of bruising, but there was only slight postmortem lividity on the neck, then something caught Adam's eye, gently moving the ear forward he found a combination of numbers and a letter, 4312A.

"Hey, Cayenne. Come and note this down."

Cayenne hurried over to Adam's side with his notepad out and pen ready, he saw the combination and jotted it down.

Adam looked up to see the coroner staring unnervingly at them, he looked hollow, a dull look in his eyes that set Adam's nerves on edge. He stared back until the other seems to come to and smiled awkwardly before leaving the room. Grabbing Cayenne, Adam dragged the other and raced back into the reception and gave back the key, checked out and raced back into the precinct where they headed into the captain's room to request access to the archives, where old cases are being held. Old, cold cases that are held.

"Tell me the combination I told you to note down."

Skimming through the cases of the 4000A section, Adam finally came across a dust-covered case, pulling it out and opening the file only to find that the contents are missing. The file has been emptied and only the case was left there.

Adam looked around in alarm, he tried to browse through the rest of the section only to find that all. the other cases were there and files and details were there in full. Only 4312A was empty; glaring a hole into the wall, his mind raced. This meant this case held significance to why and could be a potential lead to why the killer is killing the way they are. Sucking in a deep breath, meant that the killer has an insider and within the police force there was a mole.

Adam turned around to ask Cayenne for the others thoughts until a damp rag was put across his face and he struggled, breaking out of his assailant's grip before feeling a pinprick in his neck, stumbling out of the room Adam tried running down the hallway before he was tackled to the ground and the damp rag was placed on his face again.

This time he didn't get up, and his attacker dragged him back into the file room.