Chapter 2(pt-2)

Alex did not mutter any word of gratitude; instead, he took the coffee while his eyes focused on the crouching figure a bit further inside. He took a sip of the hot coffee and quickly drained it before giving it back to the girl standing at his side.

“Give me the details fast. Samantha” His hand was edgy. Samantha Thompson was the assistant to Alex. She somehow managed to put the rack in the right position on the cup at the right moment when Alex put it on. The cup was light and empty, but it was still hot. Orion and Samantha watched Alex with broad eyes.

“Did that not hurt you, Alex?” Alex made a face and then moved to take more puffs of the cigar from the middle of his finger.

“That can only be too hot for you amateurs.” His eyes moved from Orion’s full coffee mug to Samantha's.

Samantha almost had her mouth drop in shock but then quickly fixed her composure and cleared her throat.

“It is as I have sent to the main server. The killer might be the one we are looking for.” She lifted her glasses and pulled out her mobile phone.

Her fingers scrolled through the notes she made.

“It seems that you still have a long way to go. Trusting a gadget like that to save your work when we need to make sure it is safely hidden. This can be breached.” Alex scolded her but kept his voice low enough only for Samantha to hear.

Orion poked him on the side. “Paper and notepads can also be stolen at last; this will be hard to crack. Do not give a hard time to the young one so much, Alex.”

Samantha pressed her lips at the comment from Alex but relaxed a bit when Orion took her side. It was popular knowledge that Alex was not happy with the changes of the new generation.

“Why don’t we think of how late we are at the crime scene now instead of finding the things that bug us, Alex?” Alex frowned at Orion again, but this time he grunted as he dropped it. Samantha took this as a cue to read the problems. She raised a hand to lead them to the crime scene.

“The victim’s name is Liam Foster; he is the CEO of Porters Central Construction Company. There was no missing report. The victim left the office at the same time only to be found here. There is no sign of other body torture except for the stab wound in his heart. He quickly bled to death lying in the position he is found.”

“There was no missing report from the family?” Orion rubbed his chin, looking at the body, then turned to face Samantha.

“He does have a family, right?” Samantha nodded.

“Yes, a wife and two sons; both of them are in schools, though.” They moved closer to the cold body. He was lying on his side on the dried, blackened blood from his blue shirt on the ground. His legs were at an awkward angle, which would make people think they were broken.

“No other body damages?” Samantha shook her head.

"No, signs of such; however, there are creases on his shirt, which indicate there might be some struggle or an act of defense from the victim’s side. The murder weapon, however….” Samantha led them to the gray trash container on the side.

A white circle was drawn around a mask and the knife on the side.

“The knife was kept here to be found; there does not seem to be any contamination, but the use of such a small knife….” Samantha turned around to look at the fallen body.

“You would be surprised to know how different it is when it comes to what small things can do here,” Alex replied. This time he did not have any hostility in his voice. There was senility, but there was continuous pressure on his cigar. Alex seemed to be pissed at the case. “It is the same way he used to display before.” His pressured voice revealed itself.

“Is it that famous one? The famous 100 faces?” Orion felt his jaw almost drop. This is the first time he has come to such a case. Orion has been Alex’s partner for some time. While the other cases are treated as normal, mundane cases, this one was something he showed rage about every time.

The case was as such as well. A serial killer targets his victims and leaves the murder weapon and the mask as a clue as to why he has been killed. Orion’s eyes went for the body. The face of the victim was left in shock as the eyes were still open. He then carefully noticed the mask on the side. The white masquerade mask carried a straight-faced look. No smile or cry face.

“Does this make any sense?” He pointed to the mask and looked at Samantha. The expression on the face of the mask did not make sense to him. Samantha took out her phone and scrolled again. A smiling face meant he was happy to do the crime; a sad face meant he was forced to. This one is new.” She dropped her shoulder as she explained, although her fingers kept on scrolling on the screen as if to search for something.

“This expression means the man was not interested, just following the orders of the boss,” Alex grumbled.

He was not too happy with the situation. Just like before, he has memorized all the cases related to the 100 faces. A killer who has evaded him for years now. Alex has been determined to get the so-called 100 faces, but there is, after all, failure. No matter how much he tried, even getting the clues working day and night, combing through anything within the cities, there was always something missing, and the killer disappeared. Alex put his hand slowly inside the side pockets.

“What are you trying to do here?” A mutter escaped his mouth as he crouched down. His hand raised over asking for the gloves. Samantha quickly passed one at him and then another pair to Orion. Flashes of pictures were taken by an officer on the side to be saved as evidence. Alex took the mask and turned it around. He frowned at the expression for a bit.

“Who are you, and what are you doing here? What is your motive?” his voice scolded the mask.

“It will be easier to find that out if you don’t contaminate my crime scene.” A voice made all of them jump except Alex; he knew that voice.

“Dr. Emily Hayes, it is good to see you again.” Orion quickly moved from the murder weapon to the side of a female medic sitting close to the head of the dead body. Her short black hair was neatly combed on the side with small curls at the end. There was a bifocal glass resting in the middle section of her nose as her light grey eyes peeked on the top, observing Orion coming towards her, and went back to writing on the notepad. She was wearing a gray dress and plastic yellow gloves, with one of them holding a napkin.

“It is good to see you as well, Orion, but unfortunately I cannot say the same thing about your partner.” Her voice did not share the enthusiasm; rather, it was mostly irritation.

“You don’t seem happy with the idea of me being in the same cases as you.” Alex took his time to get up. He passed the evidence to the nearby officer. The young officer took the mask and put it in a plastic bag. The pictures were already taken. He took the knife as well.

“I would be happier if you had stopped all those bad habits.” Emily peeked again, watching his expression and sighing, and pointed to the cigar in his mouth.

“While I don’t mind the coffee, that thing should not be around my crime scene.” Alex wanted to argue back, but her eyes were giving a piercing look. She did not move at all. Instead, stayed in a sitting position with one knee kneeling and the other one used as a table for a notepad.

“I am not going to talk to someone who does not listen. So you either throw it in the bin there or you can just put it in the pocket while it burns; who knows what you have ruined here.” Samantha took this chance to get closer to Alex. She raised a hand with a white napkin in front of him, offering to take the cigar away. Alex hesitated for a while, but his eyes browsed the faces of all the others looking at him, waiting for the cigar to be thrown.

“You all are betrayers.” He grumbled but took out the cigar and passed it to Samantha, putting it on the napkin.