Stalked

Anthony's morning tranquility shattered with a disruptive phone call, signalling the demise of his anticipated day off. It was Eva, his partner.

"Why does this have to happen on my day off?"

Eva chuckles and replies in a teasing voice, "Well, criminals don't take day offs. You have to come in. This is brutal."

"Is it that bad? How bad on a scale from 1–10?!" he asks, putting down his French toast and taking a sip of orange juice from his glass.

Eva sighs. "It’s a 20. Just get down to the station before the chief asks where you are. You know how Rosa can be. You have to see this for yourself."

Anthony picks up his dish and glass and places them in the kitchen sink. He rubs his forehead and replies, "I'm on my way. Duty calls. I'll meet you at the coroner's office. I want a report about the victim before I get there."

Eva says hurriedly, "Yes, Sir." He chuckles, knowing fully well she did a salute.

Anthony drives into the station's parking lot, glancing at his side view mirror to see Eva waiting with a file in her hands.

"That was fast," he murmurs to himself.

"I got the file you asked for ready, Sir," Eva says.

"Don't call me that. Just call me Tony. How many times do I have to say that, Eva?" he says, groaning.

Eva nods and hands over the file. "Tony, this is her file. Her name is Imogen Denver. She's 29. She works at a bar as an attendant. She has multiple cuts and bruises. You’ll have to hear a detailed version from Ravi about the cause of death. He keeps saying words I don't understand."

Anthony nods and says, "Let's get to the coroner's office so I can get a descriptive cause of death and all the other details we might have missed."

In the coroner's office, the coroner Ravi seemed to be having lunch.

"Uhn, Ravi, how in the world do you feel comfortable eating here? It still baffles me how you eat right in front of corpses who died in grotesque ways," Anthony says, placing a handkerchief on his nose and mouth.

Ravi, who was stuffing his mouth with a turkey sandwich, chuckled and said in his British accent, "You know, the study of corpses takes a long process, but the art in it is how much secret the dead can actually tell," he said before stuffing the last piece of the sandwich in his mouth and dusting his coat.

Anthony sighs. "Does that mean you need more time? How much time are we talking about?"

Ravi strokes his chin. "About 4 hours. I should be able to tell you all you need to know by then."

"We will be back by... 2 p.m. then. Thanks, Ravi."

"I need caffeine in my system before we go to the Chief's office—and maybe get some donuts on the way. I'm starving. And if I go see her on an empty stomach, she might make me feel nauseated because of her scary glare," Eva says, shuddering at the thought of seeing Chief Rosa cross-legged behind her desk, hands intertwined, her amber eyes staring deep into your soul.

"She scares you, doesn’t she? I just don’t know what part of her is scary. True, her eyes are intimidating, but scary? Nah," Anthony says, pushing open the glass door of the café and signalling for Eva to get in first. "Kinda reminds me of Oliver, who was scared of her own mom," he mutters.

Eva orders a cappuccino, some donuts, and an iced tea. She hands over the cappuccino to Anthony with a face that makes it seem like she’s about to pass out.

"Woah, Eva, are you really that nervous to see the Chief? You get like this every time."

"Well, I’m sorry. I just think she doesn’t like me. Was she like this to Oliver? How is Oliver, by the way?" she asks, taking a sip of her iced tea.

"Well, there is nothing to be nervous about, and..." He pauses, taking a sip of his cappuccino. He opens the door to the station, and Eva walks in.

"And...?" she asks, raising her left eyebrow.

"Let’s go see the Chief before she gets impatient," Anthony says, heading towards the Chief's office.

"You get like this every time I ask about her," Eva says, frowning and placing the box of donuts on her desk before picking up the case file and jogging to catch up with Anthony, who was nearly out of sight.

Chief Rosa was already waiting for the duo to give her a debrief on the pending case. Her impatience hung in the air as they entered her office, making Eva cower behind Anthony.

"Any progress, Tony? I know it’s a new case, but you must have at least one lead, because we need to maintain the town’s trust, and we must prove we can provide the required protection they need," Rosa said with a death glare.

Anthony assures her, "Don’t worry, Chief. We will get him this time. But you and I both know this case seems familiar."

"It’s a new case because that one happened years ago, but if all evidence points to the Silhouette case, then we will have it reopened. But you better keep your partner this time," she says, taking a glance at Eva.

Anthony felt the weight of the task bore heavily on him and Eva, but Rosa was right. He has to keep his partner. Eva sighs, she looks at Anthony and takes another sip of her iced tea.

"Why don’t we head over to forensics to see what they found on the victim’s belongings?" Anthony says, rubbing his forehead.

"I’ve always wanted to ask, why do you rub your forehead so much?" Eva asks.

"It helps me concentrate. Let’s get moving."

In the forensic lab, Sara was noting her findings. "I have been expecting you," she says, facing Anthony and Eva. "We have a ghost killer no fingerprints, no shoe prints, and no murder weapon either."

"Anything else?" Anthony asks.

"We didn’t find anything solid. She doesn’t have any personal belongings. He must have taken them as a token or something. That means he’s likely to strike again," Sara continues. "There is something far more troubling. According to this, she has multiple materials on her dress. There are pieces of paint shavings. Also, a piece of her cloth got torn off maybe by a nail or something. No sign of blood though, but there are traces of ethanol on it. We didn’t find her phone or purse, so either it’s with him, or we didn’t sweep the actual crime scene."

"How did we identify the victim if we didn’t find her personal belongings?" Anthony asks, staring at Eva.

"She filed a case. It was about a stalker. You said to offer her protection until she feels safe or we catch somebody." She hands over the stalker case file, and Anthony flips through it.

"Seems she had our protection for two weeks. That was two months ago. Why did he wait so long to strike?" he says, closing the file.

"You seem determined it’s the stalker, Tony. Do you really think it’s him? We don’t even have a suspect on that case," Eva says.

"No, but this all seems familiar," he replies.

"The absence of a murder weapon and personal belongings already gave hints that he is a meticulous killer with a potential lair. We should prepare for his next strike," Sara concludes. The urgency in her tone is felt like a dagger aimed at Anthony’s resolve.