I spent the next week and a half tracking down police officers that seemed too fit in too well, that were too gifted, that tried to hide their flaws from society and faked normality. After all, what professional killer acted suspicious? He probably spent his days trying to be liked, trying to hide in the shadows. In the end I came up with nothing, but just as I was ready to give up my search a little detail caught my eye.
An officer on the floor above me was arranging the room for briefing when I noticed the distinctive way she was handling a pen. She twirled it around her fingers as if that object could be used as a self-defense weapon. It was just so distinctive.... such a tiny object seemed so deadly in her hands.
Though just a silly suspicion, I asked her where she had developed that quirk, and her answer surprised me.
"I must have picked it up from my brother... he's just always telling me to be careful and stuff. Guess I'm starting to copy him..." the officer said while laughing.
Her brother? Could it be him? I decided to ask around, see if anyone considered him to be just too normal,..
"Dexter? Aw, he's never locked up in his office, he loves to help us out. If you need a favor, feel free to ask em and he'll help you" said a superior.
"Morgan is just twisted, I tell you. Don't listen to anyone saying that he's sweet or whatever, the man is off. I'm not sure why, but he's off..." whispered another officer.
He was off... So there was a little flaw in the man's perfectionist mask... I had to dig deeper, find out what he did, if he was involved, his past. A man in homicide helped me sink a little deeper into the mind of Mr. Morgan.
"He works in blood-spatter analysis, he's our only guy that's in this field, so he's a bit help. To be honest, blood makes me sick, I don't know how he can stand around it all day..."
My killer had an unhealthy obsession with blood, it seemed. Probably developed even before he started killing... That must have been his drive to murder. So the pieces were finally in order: the profile, the motive, the precise stabbing, the cuts on the victims... a way to collect a few drops of blood from each victim? Everything was falling into place. All I needed to do was follow my killer on one of his hunts and catch him.
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