The Number One Star in the Interstellar Era

Chapter 796: THE SHADOW WITHIN (V)

WHEN Detective Lewis reached the scene, the body was already gone.

The coroner’s team had to transport the victim as soon as they finished the first round of documentation. That was standard procedure. What was left now was the preserved scene itself. Small markers sat on the ground where evidence had been found. Portable lights stood around the empty lot where the body had been discovered. A few officers still moved carefully along the edges, collecting trace material and taking pictures of everything.

The location was part of the old factory district on the edge of Greyhaven. Most of the buildings in the area had been abandoned years ago when the city’s industrial sector collapsed.

Lewis stood near the edge of the evidence markers. He held his Terminal open in front of him.

A high-resolution image of the victim’s body filled the screen.

The Forensic Scene Unit had uploaded the image on his screen. They were the ones in charge of recording the crime scene before anything was moved. The lighting in the photo was bright and harsh, showing every detail the investigators had captured.

The victim was male. It was difficult to say exactly how old, but looking at his appearance, he was probably somewhere in his thirties or forties.

Just like Miranda Kessler, the man’s chest had been cut open from his stomach all the way up. His ribs had been pushed apart and the space where his heart should have been was empty.

Lewis studied the image in silence.

Even without seeing the official autopsy report, he already knew what it would say. The method would match the first killing, the chest cut open in the same way, the heart removed with the same care.

The same killer did this.

The details of how Miranda Kessler died had never been made public. Only the police, the coroner’s staff, and a few people connected to the case knew about the state her body was found in. That made the possibility of a copycat almost impossible. Unless the killer was someone inside the department.

Lewis pushed that idea aside for the moment. There was no reason to think someone inside was responsible yet.

He moved the image to the side and opened the short field report attached to the file. The victim’s personal Terminal had been found at the scene, but it was locked. Tech division had already started trying to break into it. For now, they didn’t know the identity of the man.

Lewis fell into a deep thought. If the same person was responsible for both deaths, then gender was not a factor in how they chose their victims. But there had to be something connecting them.

Serial killers rarely chose victims completely at random. Patterns existed even when they were difficult to see at first. Occupation. Routine. Location. Personal history. Somewhere between Miranda Kessler and this unidentified man, there had to be a link.

Lewis lifted his head and looked around the crime scene. The ground had already been searched for blood and fiber samples. Small flags marked the spots where technicians found something worth collecting. One thing caught his attention right away. Unlike the first location, there were no drops of blood scattered anywhere near where the body had been placed.

With Miranda Kessler, small drops of blood had marked the ground along the path where her body was carried. That trail showed that blood leaked while she was being moved. It pointed to someone who was not careful, or maybe someone who had not done this before.

Here, there was nothing. No trail of blood. No accidental drips. The person who moved this body had done it cleanly. That meant the killer was learning.

Lewis was still examining the area when his Terminal rang. An incoming call notification appeared across the screen.

Chief Marcus Hale—Greyhaven Police Department

He answered immediately. ”Lewis.”

***

Lewis stood in front of the desk while the door clicked shut behind him.

Chief Daniel Hart sat behind the wide desk with several files open on a virtual screen in front of him. One of the displays showed a still image from the second crime scene report. Hart glanced at it briefly before turning his attention to Lewis.

”I read the preliminary report,” the chief said. ”Walk me through what you saw.”

Lewis gave a quick summary of what they found at the recent crime scene. Hart sat and listened, not interrupting.

”So at this point we can’t fully confirm the two cases are connected,” the chief said after a moment.

”No, sir. Not yet,” Lewis replied.

”But the possibility is there.”

”Yes. There’s a very high possibility it’s done by the same person.”

The chief leaned back in his chair and folded his arms. ”If it turns out to be the same person, then we’re looking at something much larger than a single homicide.”

Lewis nodded slightly.

Hart studied him for a moment before speaking again. ”We need information before we draw conclusions. Victim backgrounds, movements before death, people they were in contact with. Anything that could explain why they were targeted.”

Lewis informed him that the second victim’s identity was still pending because the victim’s Terminal was encrypted. The tech division had already begun working on it.

The chief gave a curt nod when he heard that. ”Good. The sooner we know who he is, the sooner we can start building a profile.”

Lewis agreed.

Hart tapped the edge of one of the files with his finger, thinking. ”In the meantime, prepare for the possibility that this won’t stop at just two.”

Lewis understood what the chief was saying. If these two cases were connected, there was no reason to think the killer would stop. They had to find what connected the victims before more bodies showed up. That was the only way to catch whoever was doing this quickly.

”That’s why we can’t afford to wait,” Hart continued. ”Pull everything you can from both cases. Work with forensics and tech. If there’s a connection between the victims, I want it found.”

Lewis straightened slightly. ”Yes, sir.”