Chapter 3: Pieces of the Puzzle

Already in the car, the conversation between James and Samuel began.

"So James, we have until tonight, so I'd like to take you on a tour of the places that fit the criteria I've drawn up," Samuel said and then handed me his notebook.

I quickly read the contents of his list. There were four criteria in total:

Places remote from people.Places with poor lighting.Places abandoned or used as animal cemeteries.Places must be near crime scenes.

There aren't many places in our town that fit the description unless, of course, you go outside of town. The only thing that seems unclear to me is that the victims were not found in such places but rather on the streets of the city.

"Samuel, I'd like to clarify. The victims were not found near such places," I said.

"Given your tone, you must have guessed such a place," he said.

"Yes, there is, but it's about a mile and a half from the last victim. I should check the others," I said, taking out my notebook.

"You don't need to do that, James. I checked, but I couldn't say which one fits my description, so I'm gonna go with those three," Nats said, pointing to the map on his clipboard. "Which one fits my description?"

"That one. There used to be an animal park there, but they closed it down later. Then they started storing their animals there, and the place turned into an animal cemetery," I said, pointing to the central point on the map.

"I thought so. If you take this place as a starting point, the average distance to the crime scene is 1.2 kilometers. The closest occurred at a distance of 500 meters, and the farthest at 1.8 kilometers," he said, showing me the list on the clipboard.

The list provided had coordinates for 5 different points, each with distances from point A, B, and C. The distances were as follows:

From point A 800, from point B 500, from point C 1000 From point A 1500, from point B 900, from point C 1200 From point A 1200, from point B 1300, from point C 1800 From point A 400, from point B 1800, from point C 2200 From point A 1800, from point B 1500, from point C 1900

Samuel had already calculated the distances and was surprised that James had not looked for common ground. However, Samuel suggested focusing on other evidence that could lead them to the perpetrator. He then asked James about the manner of the murders and what kind of wounds were on the victims. James responded by saying that the blows were erratic, and one medical examiner had suggested that the victims did not defend themselves, which led James to believe that the victims were stunned before the killing was done.

Samuel had some doubts about the case, and explained that it was not uncommon for serial killers to have copycats. However, he believed that the killer was likely a girl between the ages of 27 and 32, or a young boy between the ages of 17 and 21. He also thought that the killer had prolonged contact with the victims and that they may be part of an occult club, which would make it easier for them to establish contact with potential victims. Since such clubs have a constant influx of new members, it would be difficult to keep track of them.

Finding our suspect among them will be difficult, as he could have been in the club for more than 3-4 months, since his last crime was committed in the east of the country more than 5 months ago.

We arrived at the location that was supposedly the main point where rituals were performed after which the victim would die. We entered a park that looked ordinary, but after walking a little further for about 20 minutes, we came to a place under a small slope where small tombstones with engraved pet names were raised. A barely noticeable altar was located a minute's walk away. Old red stains were visible on the altar, presumably dried blood.

As soon as we approached the altar, Samuel began to examine it, making small notes in his diary and occasionally saying, "Hmm, I see, maybe." I immediately realized that he was fully immersed in this investigation, but not to this extent. He seemed to have forgotten that I was next to him, although it may have just been my imagination.

"Okay, James. From what I see, this altar was used more than 3 days ago, and the dried liquid looks like chicken blood, which is often used in rituals. Unfortunately, there are too many shoe prints here, so we won't be able to guess the suspect's height and build. But there's one plus: we can request all available camera recordings in this area. Perhaps we can find the victim and her killer through the cameras."

"Yes, I'll ask my friend to send the recordings to my laptop, then I'll transfer them to you. Do you think we should move on to another location?" I asked Samuel.

"Yes, we can move on. As I said, this is the best location that combines all the crime scenes, but we can't dismiss the other places. It's time to go, James," he said in the manner of old detectives. He didn't look tired at all.

About 25 minutes later, we were at another potential location where fatal rituals were performed.

Entering the abandoned medical facility, I felt a sense of tension. Although I am no longer a young man, the fear from such a oppressive atmosphere stayed with me. We walked through several floors until we found words written in red paint.

"FIRE" "PROTECTION" "SPIRIT"

Further, we saw a huge red pentagram on a completely clean white wall. The red color was very bright and juicy. It looked as if someone had summoned a spirit here for some evil deed. "James, do you know what this pentagram means?" Samuel asked me. "No, but it feels like someone summoned a spirit here for some dark purpose," I said. "You know, when I first started this case a year ago, I studied the basic symbols used in occultism. So, this symbol on the white wall is used for protection. A red pentagram on a white background. The white color is associated with protection and purity, so it can be used to enhance the protective properties of the pentagram. This version of the pentagram can be used to protect sacred places and objects. That's their magic. But unfortunately, this pentagram was drawn more than a month ago. So, this is not the place," he said with some sadness. We quickly went downstairs and headed to the last potential location. There, we found the same place as in the pet cemetery. A gloomy altar, covered with chicken blood, several pentagrams, and that's all, but there's one thing. The last time it was used was when the first body was found, which means this is the place where it all started. And knowing the thinking of criminals, there is a high probability that he will plan to commit his last crime here. We just need to find someone who will invite someone from the occult club here.