Partners

Chapter 3 : Without Flaws

The alarm clock went off.   Detective Genevieve 'Jane' Eastoft groaned, rolling onto her left side.  The alarm clock was off and the other person on the bed rolled Jane to him.

"Good morning!" he said.  His hair was dark.  His eyelashes were dense and long.  His brown eyes were always softer in the morning.

"Hey." Jane whispered.

It was always a pleasure to see a pretty face when she woke up.

"If I could have a day off, I wanna lie in bed with you." the husband cooed.

Jane sat up, "Come on, Roge!  We both have a lot of cases to solve."  She then went to the closet to dress up.

*****

Jane had met her partner, Donnter, at the station and then they went to the crime scene together.

"So sweet..." Donnter said, "Husband drives you to work every morning."

"He also drives me home every evening." Jane added, making Donnter jealous.

However, Donnter didn't show his jealousy, "Good for you then."

*****

"Oooooooh!  Stop the car!  Stop the car!"

"Wait till I park!" Fetcher snapped back.

"Stop it!  I want to look at the body!"

Fetcher sighed, shut down the engine, and got out of the car with Chase.

"Hey, Harold." Fetcher greeted the CSI team leader.  "Vera." he nodded at the other CSI.

Harold Perez was the leader of day shift CSI.  He had much experience.  His partner, Vera Paige, was a blood-spattered specialist.  They were both humorous and easy-going.

"Why covered the body?" Fetcher asked as he unraveled it, "Wow, Jesus!"

"What?" Chase rushed over, "What does it-oh!" she was super surprised, "This must take a hell lot of patience."

The body was skinned and all the skins were scattered around the body.  Without face, without hair, without clothes, all was fleshy bloody red.  This was insane.

"Guys!"

Chase turned and met Jane's eyes.

"There's a body 60 meters away!"

*****

When Chase and Fetcher arrived at the second crime scene, they saw the same scene.  Skinned naked body.

"Oh man," Fetcher sighed, "Whoever did this was seriously disturbing."

Doctor grimaced at this fragile body, "The killer is a perfectionist.  Each slice, each angle, each size, needs to be perfect."  Cedric pulled his gloves away, "The two bodies' conditions are the same.  Same treatment."

Fetcher backed off a little, "So," he said, "It's a mass murderer?"

Cedric shook his head, "No.  Judging from the decomposition, this one here has been dead for three days and that one over where you came from, has been dead for 18 hours."

"Good." Fetcher nodded and then called out loud, "Officers!  Could you help me search this area, please?  Maybe we can find more victims here!"  He tried his best not to make it sound like he was holding a treasure hunt.

*****

The police ended up finding three more bodies.   All skinned, without flaws.  Angela Blackman, 23.  Victor Magdaleno, 54.  Thomas Burton, 67.  Ray Fisher, 18.  Evan Clover, 37.