wasn’t
with the Baltimore Police Department either, but he did work nights frequently,
though his entire focus was always on whatever his investigation might have
been in then.
His
newest investigation was dubbed the ‘Cladis Investigation,’ based on the
assumed alias of the killer. The detective had a total of nine murders
connected to the villain with a tenth victim on the way. What made matters
worse was the completely bare list of suspects. Forensics failed to find any
concrete evidence that managed to lead to any positive suspects. What
fingerprints or trace hair particles they ever found always belonged to a
family member or friend, all of whom had solid alibis, not that anyone’s
genetic material was ever found at more than one crime scene.
Detective
Sage added Caroline Reynolds’ information to the case file, which happened to
be scattered across his desk and office chair. Photos of her body, the scar on
her forearm, and the bloodied sheet of paper from her notebook were pinned to
the corkboard mounted on the wall behind his desk. On the wall adjacent to the
corkboard was a map of Baltimore, which had a total of nine pins across the
map, the most recent at the residence of Carolyn Reynolds’ parents. The deaths
of all of the victims were spread across the city, with no migratory pattern in
the slayings and without any sign of where in the city the next attack would
occur.
The
rate at which the killer, Cladis, murdered was erratic at best, from what
Detective Sage could see. At times there were only four or five days between
deaths while sometimes there was only one day, and in one instance a span of
nine days. There was also a complete lack of shared traits in the victims; some
were male and others female, young and old, a variety of races, varying social
and economic standings, married, single, widowed or divorced, along with a
plethora of other differences. The only connection he knew was that the current
target of Cladis would meet the following target before they died, between the
window of when the previous victim perished and when the target would be
killed. Beyond that highly abstract lead, Detective Sage was at a loss
entirely.
Sergeant
Geoff Murdock knocked on his door and walked in. He set a small stack of papers
on Sage’s desk. “They asked me to bring these to you,” he said with a glance at
his work. “They finished up with the diary and there’s nothing that indicates
anyone other than the girl or her family had contact with the journal.”
Sage
frowned and asked what the documents were.
“Photo
copies of the pages for the past few weeks,” he told him. “I took the liberty
of looking through the journal once forensics was finished with it and found a
few notes that might help.”
“Did
they check the handwriting?”
Sergeant
Murdock nodded and told him they confirmed it was Caroline’s. “As I was saying,
I leafed through the last few pages and found something, though I think it
might be a load of bull.”
“What
was it?”
“Super
powers.” Murdock folded his arms across his chest and explained, “Caroline Reynolds
recorded in her diary that she accidentally dropped a glass on the wood floor
of her parents’ house and caused it to shatter, however when she started to
pick the pieces up to toss the glass out, the shards reformed and the glass was
whole again.”
Detective
Sage frowned and checked the documents himself.
Aug. 10,
…the
weirdest thing happened today. I dropped a glass on the floor in the kitchen
and broke it, but when I gathered the pieces up in my hand, the glass fixed
itself. It was completely fixed as if I hadn’t dropped it in the first place! I
told my parents but they just assumed I was lying about it, that or they
ignored me…though I have to admit, I’m not sure I’d believe it myself if I
wasn’t there.
Sage
put the pages down and repeated, “‘The glass fixed itself…’ Do you think–”
“No,”
Murdock cut him off. “There’s
with the Baltimore Police Department either, but he did work nights frequently,
though his entire focus was always on whatever his investigation might have
been in then.
His
newest investigation was dubbed the ‘Cladis Investigation,’ based on the
assumed alias of the killer. The detective had a total of nine murders
connected to the villain with a tenth victim on the way. What made matters
worse was the completely bare list of suspects. Forensics failed to find any
concrete evidence that managed to lead to any positive suspects. What
fingerprints or trace hair particles they ever found always belonged to a
family member or friend, all of whom had solid alibis, not that anyone’s
genetic material was ever found at more than one crime scene.
Detective
Sage added Caroline Reynolds’ information to the case file, which happened to
be scattered across his desk and office chair. Photos of her body, the scar on
her forearm, and the bloodied sheet of paper from her notebook were pinned to
the corkboard mounted on the wall behind his desk. On the wall adjacent to the
corkboard was a map of Baltimore, which had a total of nine pins across the
map, the most recent at the residence of Carolyn Reynolds’ parents. The deaths
of all of the victims were spread across the city, with no migratory pattern in
the slayings and without any sign of where in the city the next attack would
occur.
The
rate at which the killer, Cladis, murdered was erratic at best, from what
Detective Sage could see. At times there were only four or five days between
deaths while sometimes there was only one day, and in one instance a span of
nine days. There was also a complete lack of shared traits in the victims; some
were male and others female, young and old, a variety of races, varying social
and economic standings, married, single, widowed or divorced, along with a
plethora of other differences. The only connection he knew was that the current
target of Cladis would meet the following target before they died, between the
window of when the previous victim perished and when the target would be
killed. Beyond that highly abstract lead, Detective Sage was at a loss
entirely.
Sergeant
Geoff Murdock knocked on his door and walked in. He set a small stack of papers
on Sage’s desk. “They asked me to bring these to you,” he said with a glance at
his work. “They finished up with the diary and there’s nothing that indicates
anyone other than the girl or her family had contact with the journal.”
Sage
frowned and asked what the documents were.
“Photo
copies of the pages for the past few weeks,” he told him. “I took the liberty
of looking through the journal once forensics was finished with it and found a
few notes that might help.”
“Did
they check the handwriting?”
Sergeant
Murdock nodded and told him they confirmed it was Caroline’s. “As I was saying,
I leafed through the last few pages and found something, though I think it
might be a load of bull.”
“What
was it?”
“Super
powers.” Murdock folded his arms across his chest and explained, “Caroline Reynolds
recorded in her diary that she accidentally dropped a glass on the wood floor
of her parents’ house and caused it to shatter, however when she started to
pick the pieces up to toss the glass out, the shards reformed and the glass was
whole again.”
Detective
Sage frowned and checked the documents himself.
Aug. 10,
…the
weirdest thing happened today. I dropped a glass on the floor in the kitchen
and broke it, but when I gathered the pieces up in my hand, the glass fixed
itself. It was completely fixed as if I hadn’t dropped it in the first place! I
told my parents but they just assumed I was lying about it, that or they
ignored me…though I have to admit, I’m not sure I’d believe it myself if I
wasn’t there.
Sage
put the pages down and repeated, “‘The glass fixed itself…’ Do you think–”
“No,”
Murdock cut him off. “There’s
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