Chapter 37: The Fury That Unites Us

Rutven Shepperd recounted to us that he had seen a girl with Riley. He said that during their first encounter, she appeared very frightened, to which Riley made an excuse. Samuel then proposed to him,

"Then why don't you describe her to me, and I'll recreate her appearance with the help of the program, and you can confirm the resemblance."

Rutven, after some thought, began to describe the girl's appearance.

"As far as I remember, she appeared to be around 22 to 25 years old. I think she was about 23. She had long, curly, red hair that fell just below her shoulders. Her eyes were large and frightened. I still remember her fear. She wore a small cross around her neck. She was short, about 160 centimeters, and appeared to be very thin. Her clothing covered almost all of her skin, but the exposed parts were very pale, almost sickly white," he said.

Samuel took notes of his description, and the AI produced a series of photographs of different girls that matched Rutven's description. Rutven scrutinized them carefully and pointed to one of the photos.

"That's her, yes, that's her. She looks so much like her. It's as if someone photographed her back then. Technology has come so far. Her clothing was different, though," he said.

"Her clothing doesn't matter; the important thing is that it's her, right?" I clarified.

"Yes, it's her," Rutven nodded confidently.

I looked at Samuel with a bitter expression. Perhaps the theory that had driven me to despair had come true. There was a high chance that she was the victim he had used in that city. I asked Samuel to check her in the database through the AI.

Samuel uploaded a photo to our database and submitted a request to the AI. After a few seconds, the AI produced a result that hit me hard in my heart or rather, my soul. I felt sadness and sorrow, as well as a strong anger and rage that I couldn't suppress. I slammed my fist on the table in front of me with force, causing Rutvin to flinch, and Samuel turned to me.

"Your anger won't help her. We need to find and punish her killer," he said.

"What? Killer?!" Rutvin yelled.

"What does that mean? Is she dead?" he continued to shout.

"Calm down," Samuel said.

"But... how did she die?" Rutvin asked.

"She was killed," he said.

"How? Why?" he continued to ask questions.

From his face, I could see deep shock and sadness. Seeing his emotions, I can say with certainty that I now believe that he performs exorcisms with the faith that the ritual will help the person. Therefore, letting go of my prejudices about him, I began to calm him down, although my anger towards Riley grew tremendously.

"We will catch whoever killed her. They will receive the punishment they deserve," I said.

After my words, he brought his fist to his nose and exhaled slowly into it. He said in a church-like calm manner, "How did our sister die?"

"Was her death cruel?" he asked.

I was surprised by his change in demeanor, but he continued.

"Our faith tells us that the soul continues its journey after the body's death, and we must respect that. May God take her into his mercy and allow her to find peace and rest in her new home. However, my pain is not limited to her loss only; I also feel the pain and anger of the injustice inflicted upon our sister. I want to know what happened and why she was taken away from us so early," he said firmly. I saw the same anger in him that was in me.

In him, I saw myself and a heart that burns with the fire of justice just as brightly as in many police officers in our country.

In him, I saw myself and a heart that burned with the fire of justice, as bright as in many police officers in our country.

"She was killed brutally, I don't even want to talk about how brutal it was," I said, holding myself back.

I read a note about her. She disappeared for several months, and then was found dead. She could only be identified by DNA. Everything was removed from her, leaving only a pile of unidentified remains. Even from this short report, I understood the cruel death she had met. The handwriting was similar to what I had seen in that video. Anger filled my mind again, but the hand that patted me on the shoulder helped dispel it.

Samuel, who patted me, said, "We should all calm down. We're close to catching the bastard who did this. Once we catch Riley, we can track down the person who killed her."

"What do you think he did? Why?" Rupert almost shouted.

"We suspected you were involved in the killings of occultists. But now we can say that you didn't help him," said Samuel.

"You suspected me of the killings?! Especially the killings of occultists? As a priest of the church, I adhere to the doctrine that only God has the right to judge us for our sins. Although these people could have committed sins, it does not give me the right to take their lives," he said angrily.

"We apologize for our hasty judgments about you," I said.

"I would also like to cooperate with you in investigating this crime and help as much as possible. If my testimony is needed, I am ready to provide it," he said.

"Thank you," I said. "We will reach out to you when we need your help."

"I promise to pray for the deceased so that her soul finds peace," he replied.

"Rest assured that I will also pray for the victim and her loved ones," I said, after which we bid farewell.

Rutvin stayed in that room. His face showed that he was painfully affected by the news of the girl's death, despite having seen her only a few times. Perhaps he blames himself for not helping her when he saw that she was afraid. I can only hope that he can get through this and that his faith will not be shattered by what happened to her.

Feeling disgusted by what had happened and angry at the girl's killer, I walked to the car as if I were powerless. Samuel, on the other hand, walked calmly beside me. Not long ago, I would have thought of him as an insensitive monster who miraculously became an FBI agent. But after learning his story, I can only remain silent about his behavior.

As I sat in the car, I turned to him.

"Should we still go to the other suspects on the list if we already know that Riley is the killer?" I asked, holding back my anger.