12 Burning Red Cold Case

Eighteen Years ago, night on October 30th.

Muffled screams beneath a plain white pillow were dismissed by a strange, dark, unknown figure. The anonymous trespasser pressed the wide pillow harder against the covered face of a panicked woman. The woman's dull red hair spread all over a bed comforter decorated with tiny pink tulips that matched the light pink interior of the woman's bedroom.

The woman's flushed face was soon let out from the suffocation of her own pillow, taking barely three heavy breaths to relieve herself, soon before the unknown figure's shadow returns to block out the light of the room from her sight. He grabs another white pillow from the side of the woman's bed, grasping the soft material, before forcing it down against the woman's face. The back of the unknown figure's head is covered by a black hood, turning their head to look at the first white pillow that was used on the squirming red-head. Seeing the excess stain from the woman's red covered lips on the pillow, the current pillow on her face was forced down even further.

Right after three minutes have passed, the pillow is lifted off the unconscious red-head's face. The sweat mixed with the woman's tears have made strands of her dull red hair stick to her forehead, along with the sides of her pale face. A lowered voice comes from the unknown figure beside her bed, "What a shame. There's one last pillow left to use those pretty lips on." The voice was both unfamiliar, and normal at the same time. Yet, you wouldn't be able to tell if the words came from the mouth of a man with an average sounding voice, or a woman with a slightly lower speaking voice than other women. The red-head continued to be unconscious on the bed. When the unknown figure takes out a cool red lipstick from their pocket, opening, and twisting the used lipstick, before hiding it again inside their pocket.

The shadow of the unknown figure comes to cover the unconscious red-head's upper body, as their pair of hands reach for the third pillow on the left side of the woman's bed. Grabbing the last pillow on her bed, and forcing it down on her face again. Pressing further, and further, to collect the left over color of red on her lips. Placing the lipstick stained pillow back on it's proper place, 12 loud slashes from a sharpened weapon can be heard throughout the creaky old house. The rest of the neighborhood was overshadowed by dim houses next to each other.

The sound of heavy footsteps become very faint, leaving the now motionless pale red-head's house. Several stab wounds on her chest, down to her ribs, led to bright red blood pooling down her drained body.

Her mouth left opened, with burnt paper ashes stuck on her blanch tongue that was affected by the fire that burned the once whole paper.

Present time, Eighteen Years LATER.

Abella Dahlia Jones has been filling in for her good old friend, Detective Gideon Biddings, and not to her surprise, the old fella was retiring at the age of sixty-eight. Papa Gideon had been cunning little Abella's play date, long before former Detective Biddings was her superior. The wise old man had all his belongings collected in boxes, passing his job down to the currently mature Abella, as well as the cases he never got to finish. Some cold cases, and a few more that Abella was able to solve before any newfound evidence is dismissed mindlessly by the court.

Before Gideon left his office without any future plans of returning, a dejected Abella coming from her newly inherited office from Gideon, had made her way to properly see him off. Even now as she sits in her office, and looks over file cases on her desk. She thinks of how different things will be now, without her favorite person around to help. The old yet wise man had been working as a detective managing in homicide cases for more than forty years, it was time he gave his position to the brilliant student he practically raised as his daughter. Gideon had lost his wife to breast cancer, and it was just before they could have their own child.

Abella started to arrange the case files on her desk by her preferred order. The way she always does before taking a case she's particularly curious about. Right before, three knocks were heard from the other side of her office door. Abella stood up from her desk chair, striding her way to the door, and placing her hand on the door handle to open it.

Seeing the new intern in the homicide division, Daryll. The friendly intern was only three years younger than Abella. And to the twenty-eight year old Abella, the bright face of the guy who was eager to learn, was understandable to her. Daryll seemed to look up to Abella as his superior. He seemed to idolize her capability to rise to a respectable position, and figure out cases quickly, yet she wasn't one to solve them mindlessly. To the bright intern way above her height, she worked efficiently, and gotten respect from everybody.

So it seems Daryll had more case files to give Abella. His hands were full with the files stacked up to his chin, and coffee he must have recently bought from a particularly popular cafe that's a street ahead. The lid of the coffee, touching his chin dimple as he grins. His chin was turning slightly red from the heat of the coffee, Abella just tilted her head towards the inside of her office. Daryll quickly got her approval of crossing her personal space, going into the inside of her dim office. He placed down the case files on her desk, along with the others he had left earlier. The cup of coffee was still on top of the files, he steps aside, letting Abella sit back down in her office chair.

Abella lets out a sigh, opening her mouth. "Jenkins, I appreciate that you thought of bringing me coffee-" Until Daryll chimes in between her words. "But? Detective, please. I assure you that I just finished my work for the day, really. I know it'll be different for everyone now that Detective Biddings retired. And I just wanted to let you know that you still have your little intern to boss around. Not entirely bad isn't it, detective?"

A frown appears on Abella's bothered face, as she listens to Daryll interrupt her talking. The continuous display of Daryll's mischievous grin on his undeniably appealing face, made her glare at the audacious intern even more. Abella slams her hand down on her own desk, the cup of coffee on the case files, wobbling around.

"I meant to tell you to not put any liquid near case files, or my things. Right before you decided to cut in when your superior was talking to you!"

Daryll grabs the coffee from the case files, preventing it from spilling. He was already getting scolded by Abella, and he didn't really think she would lash out on him this quickly. A rather irritated sounding groan escaped Abella's throat, practically getting ready to raise her voice at Daryll, as if it was like every other day. But she felt too physically, and mentally drained of her own strength, to even scold Daryll right now. Abella reaches to grab the coffee from the clearly worn out intern. She couldn't yell at the innocent guy, as much as he was always annoying her, Daryll had it just as hard as she did today. Gideon leaving the department had made matters worse than usual. Daryll wasn't doing anything wrong to frustrate her, atleast not in obvious ways.

"Here, I didn't really mean to bother you right now. I mean I did want to, but only because seeing you around looking so down, just made it even depressing." Daryll handed her the coffee, and lowered the volume of his voice, trying to make his words as soothing as possible. He brushed a hand through his dark black locks, which was unusually unkempt today. As if he didn't have the time, or the thought to even style his hair like he had done every day.

Just as Abella started to habitually analyze Daryll. He did the same thing to her, glancing over at his exhausted superior's face, checking her well-being. Abella couldn't tear her dark brown eyes away from Daryll's facial features. The young conventionally attractive man had tanned skin, a flattering dimple on his chin, and cheeks that he'd show everyone. His refined jawline, and dark blue eyes, only made Daryll a bigger target for the single women in the office. If Abella didn't know any better than to trust a man who would flash a persuasive smile exactly like his, then she'd be an accessible target to all the fools trying to woo her.

"I'll leave you alone for now, detective. I repeat, just for now. Keep in mind that I'll be back to bother you though!" Daryll backed away from Abella's desk, grinning at her again, as he raises his hands with the intention of giving up with the teasing. Abella admired Daryll's ability to make anything better, in every situation. Even when he's not supposed to joke around. Daryll Jenkins has the guts to try, and make Abella Jones laugh inside while maintaining her composure.

Daryll looked over at the occupied Abella sitting in her desk again. His dark blue eyes roamed around her face, trying to stop his superior from coming into his dreams, and ruining his brain. Abella Jones had crept into the young intern's thoughts, the face of a focused, and annoyingly beautiful detective. Daryll couldn't keep his thoughts to himself, let alone stop his eyes from observing her. Just as he continues to watch Abella's focused face, the busy detective stops her work, and looks back up at him.

"Aren't you leaving now, Jenkins?" She gave him a bothered look, raising an eyebrow at Daryll's presence. And so, Daryll nodded repeatedly to respond to his superior.

His observant eyes left Abella's face, as he leaves her office with a click from her door. Abella continued to look over at the case files he brought to her office, taking occasional sips from the coffee he bought her.

She could hear Daryll's heavy footsteps walking further, and further away. But Abella continues to be unaware of the striking young intern attracted to her. Not like she would know about his dreams being related to her. Daryll found Abella the most interesting when she's curious about cases, focused on work.

The lingering thoughts of Abella's pointed nose, her dark brown eyes that she swore were not brown but black. But Daryll knew for a fact that they had a very visible hue of brown in them, because observing her during his free time was to keep him from becoming even more curious about her. Yet, more thoughts of Abella's serious resting face just got further engraved into his mind, his private sanctuary. Daryll could barely stand seeing her observing him with her deep eyes, those captivating eyes were the only thing that would give him a clue about what that detective was thinking.

Abella flipped the switch for her lamp. Though she left the blinds open, the sun's almost down, almost ready for the moon to take it's place. She looked over at the remaining case files on her desk, finding a particularly odd case. A case she still remembers from her childhood.

It was the same one that former Detective Biddings couldn't solve, and had left him traumatized for God knows for how long. Abella recognized this case, because it was her who got the death threats. Not Gideon, but the TEN year old Abella who was the bait. Former Detective Gideon Biddings had been the one to work on this cold case, and he was unable to find out who the serial killer was.

Gideon couldn't dig further into the case, not when the killer threatened him multiple times with a different way each time. The unknown serial killer had left boxes at the difficult, and strong-willed detective's front porch. But the things that were in those boxes, were never truly forgotten by Gideon, or Abella.

It was that time when Abella's hand-working parents used to leave her with Gideon. Abella's parents were both cops, they were friends, and neighbors with Gideon.

On one unfortunate day Eighteen Years Ago, the former Detective was letting little Abella run around in his house, while he worked at his home office. He was investigating a particular case, one that he wishes he had solved. But the reason why Gideon couldn't dig further into the truth. Is because on that same day that little Abella was in his house running around..

There was a delivery at his front porch again. Those same boxes were left at his doorstep, by three knocks on his door, and he had a working doorbell that the neighbors loved to abuse for a cup of coffee, or some cookies.

But whenever Gideon would wait inside his living room to have a glimpse of the unknown person leaving him threats by his door. Another kid would be caught leaving the boxes, and sent into questioning.

The FBI would ask all the kids used by the serial killer to deliver the boxes, and they would get the same answer from all of them. 'They couldn't remember the face of the person who made them do it.'

Like, they couldn't see anything worth remembering about the one who asked them to deliver the boxes filled with dead cats, with cockroaches eating the corpses in the boxes. But what was even more horrifying in those threats, is that the corpse of a cat gets eaten by the group of cockroaches, and those same roaches get snacked on by the ants that fill the box. Further down the box, there's a letter that's always meant for Gideon.

The one who was working on the case. Which had printed words that told him to quit trying to find out who the killer was, or he would die in the process of finding out.

But that same afternoon, Abella was there playing around with her dolls that she brought from her house. After hearing the three knocks on Gideon's front door, she took a few steps closer to the door, holding one of her little dolls in her arms.

Gideon hurriedly ran out of his home office, going to the front door, and placing a hand on the top of young Abella's head. The kind old man knelt down, hushing the little girl with a finger to his lips, gesturing for her to be quiet.

"Listen to me, Ella. Don't ever answer the door when you hear someone knocking. Promise me?" Gideon whispered lowly into Abella's ear, before she finally nods.

After taking a heavy breaths, Gideon opened the front porch door, and saw the another box with no labels, or logo. He grabbed the box firmly into his arms, placing it on the desk of his home office. Abella continued to play around with her toys, letting Gideon work. But hearing a rumble come from her tummy, Abella set her dolls down, running to go find Gideon in his private space. She finds his office door slightly open, and calls for his name, hearing no response.

The little girl goes into the home office, looking around for Gideon who's not around.

Young Abella walks up to the desk towering over her head, seemingly curious about what's in the box on the desk.

Christmas was coming up soon, and Gideon had promised Abella that he would get her a gift that she'd love. The curious little girl looks at the box again, wanting to sneak a peek at what she thought was Gideon's gift for her. Young Abella gets on her tiptoes, trying to lift the almost opened box in her arms, she shakes it around to get an idea of what was inside of it.

Suddenly, Gideon comes back into the office, and yells at the frightened little Abella whose eyes had gone wide seeing him come back.

The box gets dropped on the wooden floor, cockroaches, and the corpse of a cat comes crashing down with the little insects.

Along with the letter meant for Gideon.

A loud scream comes from Abella, "AAHHHHHH!!!!" Gideon grabs the little Abella to keep her away from the insects. Comforting the crying child, before letting her play around the living room again. He tried to get rid of all the roaches, along with the corpse of the cat on the floor.

Gideon sneakily grabbed the letter in the knocked over box, opening the paper.

He reads the lines printed on the small note.

"If you aren't threatened enough if I kill you, then why not let little ABELLA JONES come with you to heaven?" The old man was frightened of this monster, an unknown monster that would bother to involve a little girl into the mess, a little girl he cared for like his own daughter he never had.

Present time, Eighteen Years LATER.

Abella thought of that horrifying moment that led to Gideon stop investigating the case. Gideon had warned her not to go anywhere near his house again during that time.

He didn't want to involve her in the situation, and eventually stopped to dig around for the truth of who was behind the killings of twelve red-headed women, eighteen years ago.

The last red-head who died from the hands of an unknown serial killer, had been gone since eighteen years ago. The killer was nowhere to be found, and it seems they had stopped long ago. But if Abella opens up the case to investigate it again, will that same brutal killer come back to threaten to kill her again?

Abella brushes her hand on the case file,

"The Twelve Burning Red Case."

The serial killer had stabbed the twelve red-headed victims the same amount he had killed each one. An organized serial killer who never let their impulsiveness ruin a crime. They stabbed the last victim twelve times, and then stabbed the one before, a number of eleven times. The monster liked to relive the same situations where they had to kill the past red-heads, never leaving a trace behind. And managed to avoid all sorts of CCTV cameras in the crime scenes. Abella had been curious about the case since it left good old Gideon in a very dark hole for years.

She wouldn't know if the serial killer who threatened to kill both her, and Gideon, is still alive, or dead now. The only thing Abella knows is that she can't let anything harm the only person left that's able to protect her.

Not after her parents died seven years ago.