- Good morning Eric - said detective Clark with a note of desperation. - How are you today?
- Same old Linda. I'm doing my best on this case, having sleepless nights, hoping for something to come out of nothing and help us to find this guy. - Eric Adams was looking almost like a zombie, with big dark circles under his eyes, the color of his skin was mixture between white, light blue and yellow, his eyes were red, his hair was dirty and not combed for days.
- Get yourself up Eric. You don't have to surrender to this guy. We'll find him.
- Linda, what else we could do? You know that we've made everything we could. We've checked every single clue over and over again and still we are standing in front of the same list with suspects and asking ourselves the same question “Who is the killer?”.
- Come on Eric, you didn't become a detective to give up on cases like this. We've revealed more convoluted cases. Just remember that the mayor gave us a medal for merit in fighting against the crime in the city. You are still the best detective in our department and this guy will end up in prison, I believe in you.
These words gave a note of confidence to detective Adams and he almost smiled. Linda noticed that and immediately grabbed the momentum: - Eric, come with me. Let's talk again with the delivery man Henry Turner. I think there is something he is not telling us. It was a hard month. Day after day the media was shooting with leading pages and leading titles:
The nerves and the pressure in the police department reached enormous level. It's been a week since the chief was just coming in the department, slamming the door of his office and staying there until the late hours. His phone was ringing almost whole day, every day. All of the detectives were contacted by different media in order to give interviews. Even the work on simple cases became exhaustive. The police telephonist received a call:
- Police department. How can I help you?
- I want to signal for a murder. I found a cashier killed. I think it's a victim of the cashier killer.
- OK, mister. Could you give me the location and we'll send a team.
- The body is in a garage on 25th Maple
. - Could you tell me your name? - said the telephonist while the man on the other side hung up the phone. She opened the door and shouted out. - Listen up. There is a signal for a new murder by the cashier killer, on 25th Mable, in a garage. The call was made from a street phone. I'll give you more details for it in a minute.
Eric Adams and Linda Clark left the office for seconds. It looked like this was the thing that they have waited for. Ten minutes later they arrived on Maple. Linda made a phone call to identify the street phone, while Eric was making a view of the perimeter, which was already secured by the police officers. The detectives entered into the garage and found a familiar look. Lying body of a stabbed woman with a lot of blood all over the place, there were note and coin on the dead body. They have started investigating the crime scene, collecting the clues and making photos.
Later that day the news was already spread on radio and television, when the chief was waiting in the meeting room in the department. His personal phone rang:
- Hello chief.
- Hello, Mr. Mayor. - said the chief.
- You know why I'm calling, right?
- Yes.
- Is there any progress on the case?
- I have a meeting with the detectives, which will start in a minute. I hope we'll have some progress.
- Hopes don't calm the citizens chief and you know it. We need the killer, or at least someone arrested. The situation will go out of control if one more cashier is killed.
- OK, mayor. We'll do our best and you know it. Adams and Clark are working twenty four seven on this. I think with the new victim we'll have more clues.
- Chief, I'll call you tomorrow and then you will have a suspect to arrest.
The chief put his cell phone in his pocket. He was concerned, a few drops of sweat appeared on his forehead. He faced a lot of hard cases since he was appointed for a chief of the police department, but this time he had the feeling that the killer will escape from the hands of the law. The door of the meeting room was opened and the chief heard the voice of Linda Clark:
- Hello chief. We have good news and bad news.
- Take your places detectives - said the chief, trying to hide his concerns. – What are the news?
- OK chief. We have some suspects, three known and one new - stated Adams.
- Linda, could you present me the whole situation?
- First of all let me present you the good news. We found a street camera, situated on the other side of the street. On the tape we saw the murderer, but as you could imagine, he was well prepared. He arrived with a car, we could identify only the model, but we could not see any registration number. He took the body out of the car, opened the garage door, placed the body and then stabbed it. Obviously he drugged the victim and killed her while she was still drugged. The pathologist found drugs in the body of the victim. Finally the killer put the note and the coin on the body and escaped from the place leaving the door opened. So the good news is that we made a physical profile of the killer and using it we eliminated two of the suspects - Bruce White, the husband of the first victim and Harold Edwards, the owner of the brand. I'll continue with the suspects. We have our favorite and it's Carl Baker, the client. It's very suspicious that he was a client in three of the markets in the week before the death of the cashiers, but at the interrogations he had an explanation, which was confirmed by other people. He had an alibi for the first and the third murders, but strangely both times it was confirmed by his mother. There's something more, we have checked why he was in prison and guess what? The documents from the court were missing. The next one is "the flirt guy" Raymond Mitchell. It's completely strange how this guy has a connection whit every victim. Mitchell was working in this store, before being transferred to the store where the first victim was working with for disciplinary offense. Henry Turner, the supplier, was our favorite until the last murder. The psychological profile of the guy was leading us to that. He is very temper and had problems with every store where the victims worked. He had troubles with his employer too and is very close to dismissal. The last one is a young boy, something like a journalist. He is writing in his personal blog. So this guy Fred West is investigating along with us, but the strange thing is that in his articles he admire the cashier killer. He said that he was impressed by his perfectness and the way of beating us in the investigation. Eric mentioned that this could be a murder made by a follower of the cashier killer and this guy West is suspicious enough. We suppose that this could be done by a follower, because this time the victim was murdered when she was drugged, while in the bodies of the first and the second victims there were no signs of drugs. That's it chief. - OK guys. I have to tell you something. I really trust you and I hope this won't come out of this room. I just had a talk with the mayor and he wants someone arrested until tomorrow. So the plan is to have one more meeting tomorrow morning and three of us will decide which of the suspects will be arrested.
On the next morning the pressure grew even more. The city wanted a culprit. The syndicate of the cashiers started a public protest right in front of the police department. There were banners, people gave interviews and the protest was on every local TV channels. Even the national televisions sent reporters. The crowd was shouting: "We don't want to be killed, who has the guilt?”. At the same time the chief was standing in his chair thinking of his future acts, while the voice of the mayor was sounding in his ears “you will have suspect to arrest”. He ran his fingers through his beard, then he stand up, walk to the door, put his hand on the handle and freeze for a moment. The chief was standing there trying to gain the needed confidence.
- Ok guys. Listen up. - said the chief, while closing the door of his office - I want everyone focused. Me, Linda and Eric will have a meeting and then will give a press conference, because the city wants answers. We are pressed against the wall, so there is no way out, except revealing the killer. We need his identity. Give me something guys, give me someone. From now on, it's us against the killer, justice against crime.
So, could you help the city, could you help the detectives, could you help the chief…
Could you guess who is the cashier killer?
Become serial: new victim of the cashier killer
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