CUTIE-PIE

CHAPTER ONE: THE BLOOD TRAIL (LO

He was already dead when Brown arrived.

The warehouse stood on the edge of the city like a secret — its walls blanketed in ivy, its windows long broken. The silence inside was absolute, broken only by the steady drip… drip… drip of blood onto concrete.

Detective Elliot Crane hung upside down from a rusted ceiling beam, wrists zip-tied behind his back, stomach slit clean and wide like something from a slaughterhouse.

But it wasn’t the gore that froze Brown.

It was the thing sitting neatly on the floor below the corpse.

A cherry pie.

Fresh. Golden crust. Still steaming in the cold air.

And next to it, a note — folded in the shape of a heart, soaked lightly in blood, laid dead centre of a child’s paper plate.

He crouched slowly and read the new message:

“The crust breaks first. Then the filling spills.”

No signature. Just that.

His stomach turned.

Another pie. Another body. Another riddle dressed in sweetness.

Cutie Pie.

That was what the press called the killer now — a mockery of innocence. But this wasn’t innocent. This was ritual. This was a statement.

This was personal.

“Same M.O.,” Officer Hensley muttered behind him. “No struggle. No witnesses. No trace of entry or exit. And… yeah.”

He gestured to the pie like it was some kind of bomb.

“Same recipe.”

“Crust has a lattice top,” Brown said absently, still reading the note. “Same as the last three.”

“They say she—sorry, whoever it is—uses real ingredients. Home-baked. Fresh.”

Brown stood up slowly. “It’s not just a kill. It’s a message.”

“You think she’s taunting the department?”

“I think she’s playing with her food.”

Later that night, Brown sat in his dim-lit study, the note unfolded in front of him. His fingers hovered above it, tracing invisible lines across the words:

“The crust breaks first. Then the filling spills.”

A metaphor? For what? Trust? Pain? Secrets?

He didn’t know. But something about it dug into him deeper than a threat ever could.

Behind him, soft footsteps approached. His wife appeared in the doorway, hair tied in a loose bun, robe wrapped around her like a secret.

“You didn’t come to bed,” she said gently.

He pointed at the paper without looking up. “New scene. Fourth body.”

She walked in and read the note silently. No change in her face.

Then: “It sounds like a proverb. Or a recipe gone wrong.”

He finally looked at her. “Do you think it’s someone with a culinary background?”

She smirked. “Murder and pastry don’t usually mix. Unless you’re into poisoned apple pies.”

He didn’t laugh. He was still thinking about the smell at the warehouse — cinnamon, sugar… and something faintly floral.

She leaned in, kissed his temple. “I’ll keep the bed warm.”

She disappeared down the hall.

The door closed softly behind her.

Brown didn’t move. He just kept staring at the note.

“The crust breaks first…”

He thought he saw movement in the window’s reflection again.

But when he turned, there was only the empty chair across from him.

And the scent of cherries still lingering in the air.