Chapter 1

The trees let out a sigh, letting their leaves sway to their now free breath. A man, clearly in his early 30s sat at the edge of the beach, his feet drowning in the ocean. He closed his eyes as the water carefully caressed his feet, slowly opening his eyes he stared at the sky, the moon was a full one shining on the sighing trees, illuminating their leaves perfectly, the stars were just enough to create a beautiful sky, he closed his eyes slowly absorbing the beauty of the scenery. He took in a deep breath soaking in the night air as he rose his feet still partly in the water, his ears twitching to the whistles and whispers of the leaves, he let out the breath as he turned to the body behind him. He smiled as he went closer, he bent down to caress her cheek, his thumb stroking her lips, his eyes like that of a manic as he pecked her cold lips. The owner of the body, a woman in her early 20s, a brunette, wearing a lace bra with matching pants, dried blood all over her with a hole in her chest. He ran his hands through her body, gently feeling her cold skin, he stopped at the hole in her chest drawing circles round it before finally circling on the edges of the wound he pierced the hole with his index finger carefully fingering it, his eyes closed as he felt shivers run through his veins, he gave her another kiss, this time letting his tongue linger, he slowly drew a line of kisses down to her chin, dragging it to her neck, he kissed her neck slightly nibbling on it, his hand already cupping her breast, he took his mouth to her breast and sucked on her nipples through the lace, he bit it, tearing a hole big enough for her nipple to breathe, he caressed it's stiffness with his tongue, a smile growing on his lips as he tasted the blood on her, his left hand working its way to her pants, rubbing her clit with his thumb, it's plush warmth now cold, he smiled again, his mouth still on her breast, he took his head between her legs and sniffed, his eyes manic, he put two fingers inside her, his breathe increasing as he felt her stiffness, he caressed her clit with his tongue, the cold taste sending tingles to his body, ha pulled out a condom from his pocket and put it on as he slowly entered her, thrusting slowly, his thrust following the sounds of the silent waves, he quickened his thrust as she stiffened more, feeling her as rigor mortis stepped in, he pulled out and stood up, his eyes closed, he looked down at her as he tilted his head he gave a satisfied smile. He moved towards his car and took out the alcohol inside with a rag, he walked back to the body lying on the ground and cleaned her with alcohol. He looked down at his masterpiece and smiled as got into his car and drove off.

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In the violent crimes unit of the riverside police department, Detective Ryan Sterling stood, his eyes glued to the board, he looked frustrated and the dark circles round his eyes showed that he hadn't had much sleep, his other two teammates didn't look any better,. His teammates were a man in his late 30s Detective Horace Parker and a much younger woman, who was obviously in her mid 20s, Detective Nora Grey, on the board was the clues they had gathered from the past few weeks since the serial murders started. The clues seemed to take them farther away from catching the killer, the victims were all women, thirty of them to be exact, all killed differently, the only thing they had in common was that they were all raped after they died. It drove them mad as they couldn't get the killer's DNA from any of the victims, it was either he never existed or he was just plain good, too good. They victims had all been killed using different methods, it was either drowning, poison, or stabbing. They had been trying to find a pattern, but nothing seemed to make sense, none of the victims had a connection with each other. It was obvious that the guy was just a sick bastard that had a thing for killing. "just give up and close the case" a guy at the other side of the room muttered, loud enough for them to hear, his head resting on his arm, he was obviously older than them. "it's not like you would ever catch him", he said as he raised his head from the table, "you could either close it as a suicide, and if that is too much for you, you can hand it over to me and I would do it...."he gave them a mocking smile. Sterling moved forward an annoyed smile plastered on his lips, "I am sorry sir, but I can't do that, I am not a corrupt detective who would do anything to get out of work and still get paid, that is with all due respect to you sir, as my senior". His other two teammates chuckled under their breath, the other guy was obviously their senior and he led the other team, team two, in team two it was Detective Philip Williams, the old guy that just spoke, Detective Sheldon and Detective Lance. They never completed their cases and closed most of them as unsolved or suicide, the older guy was ready to snap back when the phone rang. One of Sterling's teammate, the woman picked up the phone, she let out a frustrated breath as she dropped the phone down. "there's been another murder….the body was found at the beach".

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Detective Sterling stood outside the mass of yellow crime scene tape cordoning off the area. The bitter scent of death hung heavily in the air, he felt a sense of familiarity as he stared at the dead body that was being shielded by the tape. He took a deep breath before slipping on his gloves and stepping under the tape, he made his way to the body and looked down at it, he was already used to the smell of death, detective Parker was crouched over the woman, "she was stabbed", he said as he turned to look at Sterling. "what of the corpse, was it abused?", Sterling asked. "I think so, but I'm not so sure, I can only say because of the bite marks on her neck, plus what she's wearing, but it could also be from a steamy night out". "I doubt….Sterling said as he joined Parker on the ground….if it was, there would be two bodies, unless her date had other plans...apply for an autopsy". He said as he stood up.

"who found the body?", Sterling asked his eyes casing the place for cameras.

"Nora is questioning them, two of them, and you wouldn't find any, it was the perfect site, I doubt they'd be witnesses". He answered as he rose to let the forensic unit take the body.

As they got out of the yellow tape, Nora walked towards them, "they are just a couple who came to have a date on the beach and happened to find the body as the strolled towards here". She reported to the others.

"any idea who she is?", she asked

"no, but I've sent a picture to the unit, see if anyone recognizes her", Parker answered. "we still have to make sure their story checks out"

"I've gotten their IDs I'd check it out" she told them.

Sterling's phone vibrated, he looked at the message that popped up, their autopsy had been approved it was time to move to the next step. The hunt was on.

Sterling, Parker and Nora were the only ones left, they stayed back trying to figure out who the victim was, her blood was already being analyzed by the forensic unit and they were waiting for the results. They watched they tapes from the cameras on the roads leading to the beach, nothing seemed unusual and there were no clues, it was like the killer was invisible. "we should check for blind spots for the cameras tomorrow", Sterling said, they nodded. Nora stood up and walked towards the investigation board, she tilted her head searching for something similar to each of the victims, Parker stood beside her, his eyes searching the board, "I can't believe that the only clues we have are that they are all women of the same age bracket, we only figured out his type of women", Parker face palmed himself, disappointed. "that's something at least, he also kills one at a time", Nora said positively.

"wait a minute….Sterling said his eyes widening with realization.....we've never considered where he gets them, Parker find out if where each of the girls where seen last matches any of the others, we might have a pattern"

"we tried that, there's no pattern, its either a bar, or a club or somewhere else and each of the persons they were seen with last had an alibi", Nora said

"we should try again, there has to be something we've missed, tomorrow I'd visit the victims family, we should know who they are by the morning, Parker, you'll stay here and check out the footage from the cameras and find out if those couple's statement checks out, find out if they have an alibi, Nora you'd go to the beach and find out if there is anything we've missed, and check if there are blind spots round the cameras range"

"what of the autopsy?", Nora asked

"wed all meet up there when I'm done talking to the family, anymore questions?"

"no sir"

"good" Sterling smiled a twinkle of hope spread through his body.

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Sterling stared at the front of the police department, he had been doing this ever since the serial murders started, he sat in his car and grabbed the steering wheel rethinking coming to work, he closed his eyes and took in a deep breath, letting it out he walked into the police department, dragging his feet as he walked to his unit, he stopped at the door, letting out another frustrated breath he opened the door and went in, team one wasn't in the office and neither was Nora, it was just Parker who was glued to his computer, Sterling walked towards Parker and asked, "where's Nora?"

"where you sent her to….Parker said his eyes not leaving his computer….we've found out who the victim was, here is her background report", he said his eyes still not taking his eyes off the computer.

"what are you doing?"

"do I really have to answer that?" he asked, finally taking his eyes off the computer and giving him an annoyed look.

Sterling rolled his eyes at him. Sterling was their superior, but they had worked together for a long time, they were basically family, Nora and Parker respected him enough but they were so casual with each other, they had each saved each other during one investigation or another, "I'm going to meet the family", Parker nodded his eyes back to the computer.

Nora sat in her car exhausted, she had been searching for hours, there were no blind spots, nothing the camera couldn't see, it was like their killer really disappeared, she was about to give up and head back to the precinct when she noticed something, she got out of her car and walked towards the bushes it was thin, she used her hand to separate the bushes, she walked into the bushes and noticed that there were Tyre marks that led to the beach, she called Parker, "I've found something"

"what is it?"

"Tyre marks, he must have used a short cut to dodge the cameras, I'm going to follow the marks, I know that one end leads to the beach, I'm going to find out which road the other end leads too, I think we finally got our lead", she smiled.

"I also found something, I think he picks them up from either a crowded space or he picks them up after they leave their company, I re-watched some of the footage from the other cases, the girl from the club was talking to a guy in a hoodie"

"doesn't sound like something you'd wear to a club"

"exactly, but none of the cameras caught his face, for the some I tracked the victims movements from when They left where they were seen last and a guy in a similar hoodie was behind them, same thing with some of the others, he uses the same hoodie and its plain so I cant track it down but most of the victims followed him willingly".

"finally we've gotten something, I've found where the other end leads to, its a cut from the road to the beach, I'm heading back to the precinct, Sterling would be happy to hear this".