“Lisa!”

The second victim was found dead in her own home. By the time Scarlett and the homicide unit arrived at the scene, the victim’s parents and close circle of friends wailed, grieved for their loss next to the cold body.

The situation overturned when the homicide unit took control. Spectators and onlookers were pushed back, gaining suspicious frowns and disapproving looks from the audience. Some protested, allegations made at the unjust fairness privileges displayed by authority officials.

Edward turned to the person who found the body, the housekeeper. The housekeeper was astounded, pale white. She was fidgety and nervous, surprisingly quiet and silent. Compared to the victim's circle of acquaintances, Edward concluded her strange behaviour an outlier from the group.

“Can you describe to me what happened?” Edward questioned.

The housekeeper slowly nodded. “I…” her voice croaked; hints of panic manifested on her shabby expressions. She unconsciously held her breath, her biological mechanisms kicked in when the sudden low levels of oxygen in her lungs was detected. She spluttered and wheezed for fresh air.

Edward smiled comfortingly. “Calm down. You’re not in trouble. Your statement will be a big help for us. So, tell us. What happened?”

“To tell the truth, I don’t know.” The housekeeper blurted. “Madam and Sir are always away on business trips, leaving me and Miss Lisa in the house. Miss Lisa comes back home from school every day, takes her bath, and eats her dinner. Last night, she was still so healthy and happy when she wished me goodnight before going to bed. I can’t believe she’s gone!”

“Did you notice anything strange last night?” Edward probed. “Like a strange sound or something out of ordinary. Anything will do.”

The housekeeper shook her head.

Edward snapped his handheld notebook and tucked it into his blazer pocket. “All right. Thank you for your time.”

After leaving the broken-hearted and traumatized housekeeper with the company of two female patrol officers, Edward joined Scarlett in the victim’s bedroom. Lisa and the housekeeper lived in a three-bedroom apartment five blocks away from Hawthorn Avenue.

The Willow Residence were renowned for their tight security and peaceful lifestyle. It was the perfect choice of residence for a family of four. In addition, the luxurious facilities that it comes with, no one would say no.

Lisa’s misfortune traumatized many, fellow neighbours and residents alike. People were affected by the morbid incident. Positive views of the said residence plummeted. Several were terrified they would be next. Current residents made plans to move out, future clients cancelled their contracts and deals. It didn’t take long for Willow Residence to make the newspaper headlines the next morning.

The guards were confused and puzzled, considering that there were no visitors that night. It was the third time when Scarlett instructed them to replay the footage one more time. Scarlett had frowned with annoyance when a child managed to get past the patrol officers at the entrance. The child had stepped into the crime scene with his muddy footprints, and was attempting to grab the intricate wooden tinker box on Lisa’s dresser.

“Who are you?” Scarlett had scowled, her brows arched in puzzlement. She was petrified when their eyes met. The child had the same appearance of a woman she once called sister. The sight of the child had brought back bad memories from the past.

“See! Mummy, I told you! That sister is dead!” the child had wailed. Scarlett turned to the patrol officers, unhappy that they had let a child slip past. She scanned the crowd of spectators and onlookers, possibly distinguishing for the child’s parent.

With his unique amber-colored eyes and hair, it wasn’t difficult to locate the child’s parent. Scarlett was rendered speechless when she pulled the child’s mother out of the many people from the crowd. She was faced with an older version of the woman who looked like Ko Qing Ran, the woman she once welcomed as her sister.

Scarlett was stricken with astonishment. She calmed down when the child’s parent apologized profusely for her child misbehaviour. It was something her half-sister would never do, not in her entire lifetime. As she scrutinized closely, Scarlett came to a conclusion this woman was not her evil half-sister.

“Hey,” Scarlett kneeled to the child’s height. She smiled at the child warmly. “What do you mean by that? Did you see that big sister last night?”

The child nodded. “I live in a house across the road. I saw her when I and Mummy were on the way back from the convenience store. She has the shadow of ‘death’ around her! The grim reaper took her! They killed her!”

“Rick!” the mother reprimanded. “I’m so sorry, officer. My child was still hallucinating. He can’t seem to differentiate dreams and reality.”

The child protested. “No, I’m not lying! It’s not a dream either!”

The mother sighed. “Okay, okay. C’mon, it’s time for your music class. You’re going to be late.” The mother pulled the son away from the crime scene, leaving the officers dumbfounded.

“Hey… do you believe in that wishy-washy nonsense?” Edward questioned, equally appalled from the child’s odd response.

“Who knows.”

It was past lunchtime when the forensics unit was finished with the crime scene. The detectives decided to get some coffee and some sandwiches for lunch. On the way back from the crime scene, Edward and the crew stopped by their favourite restaurant in town, The Dusty Johns. The restaurant owner was Edward’s old friend. The variety of food offered ranged from sandwiches to pasta and rice sets. Due to their close relationship, the restaurant had become the police’s number one hangout spot.

Scarlett’s impassive stare bore Edward’s squadron. Many of them were curious and intrigued why their captain, Major General Edward treated Scarlett as his equal. Being the major general of the police force, anyone could tell their captain has a higher status. And yet, Scarlett was provided special treatment.

Sir Edward even went out of his way to drill out Scarlett’s undercover, camouflaged among students at Ridgeway Institute. They had seen their captain’s exasperated sigh every time they had walked into a dead end.

“Not again…” they would watch him wallow in dejection. However, the Gods of Fortune have not abandoned their hard-earned effort. A case had appeared in a certain high school, which gave Edward the golden opportunity to seize the renowned combat specialist.

Scarlett and the homicide unit parted ways at the hallway, claiming there was something she must do. Waving the crew goodbye, Scarlett took the lift to the basement. She walked out of the moving box when the doors opened. Scarlett halted, feeling the cold air coming from the end of the hallway. It was where dead bodies were kept.

The morgue.

Reluctantly, she pushed the door, stepping into the cold room. Two bodies were laid on the autopsy table, standing between them was the presumed medical examiner. Dressed in his white lab coat and his gloved hands stained with blood, the man looked up.

Scarlett stared at the coroner with her usual impassive and vacant expression. The coroner was disappointed she didn’t fall for his tricks. His crestfallen expression earned a snort from an individual perched on the coroner’s desk in the corner. The sound of the uninvited guest had startled Scarlett.

Scarlett frowned when she identified the familiar face of Dr Martin’s visitor.

“Lucas,” the words left her mouth like dried salt water. “W…what are you doing here?”

“You didn’t tell me you were coming back.” Lucas huffed, making imaginary quotations with his slender fingers. He dismounted from Dr Martin’s table and loomed over Scarlett’s petite figure. “Don’t you remember our promise? The day we swore our vows.”

Scarlett’s eyeballs darted sideways. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.” She protested.

Lucas was amused. “Oh, really.”

He cupped Scarlett’s cheeks in his hands. He pulled her towards himself, closing the proximity between themselves. He locked Scarlett in his firm embrace. What comes next startled the daylights out of her and was petrified on the spot. Lucas had kissed her. A passionate kiss, stirring bottled emotions resurfacing. The evidence was the erubescence colors tinting Scarlett’s pale skin.

He was the same man she met on the prison rooftop on Wisteria. Ash-blond hair and golden irises. This was the man who was once a renowned prosecutor in Wisteria. He was her savior, her hero and her knight. What surprised her was the heritage they shared. The golden eyes that Wisteria condemned as ‘cursed eyes’ of the devil, was hailed and revered as descendants of the great celestial being who descended onto Earth, Archangel Mikhail.

Dr Martin cleared his throat loudly, startled the pair of lovebirds. The medical examiner was a young man with refined features. His most distinguishable feature was his golden-rimmed glasses which had chains hanging down the sides. This man was the chief medical examiner of Amestris.

“I know the both of you missed each other very much, but please refrain from making out in my office.”

“We’re not making out!” / “Why, thank you.”

Lucas’s sarcastic remark earned a whack on his skull.

“Snide comments aside, here’s the report you asked for.” Dr Martin handed Scarlett a file. Scarlett opened the file without any hesitation. She frowned, a foul aftertaste was left in her mouth when the scientific evidence proved her ridiculous speculation correct.

“My deduction was spot on,” Scarlett sighed, shutting the file with a loud snap. “These victims were runaways of human trafficking. They were former assassins of True Cross.”

All of them were poisoned and died from arsenicosis. The killer watched them wither and suffer from excruciating agony until their last moments. Then, the criminal stabbed them, bled them and hanged their cold bodies on stakes. Scarlett further discovered that the words written in blood left at the crime scene which was deemed meaningless was not a dying message left by the victim.

Dr Martin frowned. “Then, it must be the killer.”

Scarlett nodded. “The killer is provoking us. As if telling us ‘catch us if you can’.”

“Ellie Smith and Lisa Brown,” Lucas stared at the two reports. “I wonder if there’s something they share in common.”

“Sir Edward and his men are doing all they can. The killer is extremely careful and meticulous. There won’t be any need to summon Scarlett back from her journey if all it takes for the homicide unit is to catch a mediocre hitman.” Dr Martin wore a solemn look, staring at Lucas and Scarlett’s surprised faces. “I’m not a detective, but I work for the police. I would be an idiot if I didn’t know this much.

Lucas sighed. “You’re right, Dr Martin. The one behind these murders is the notorious psychopath who was responsible for fifteen deaths ten years ago. We call him ‘Midnight Ripper’.”

“That’s such an odd name,” Dr Martin commented.

“Just like the name says, he’s a criminal who attacks his victims when the moon shone the brightest, midnight. Because of his obsessed tendency to rip apart his victims and display his ‘artwork’, hence the ripper.” said Scarlett without a second thought, earning pale looks from Dr Martin and his assistants.

Straightforward and ruthless as ever, Lieutenant Scarlett Ko.

The crime lab staff shared Dr Martin’s prejudiced views. It has been three years since they last saw Scarlett, yet she was the same as ever. It couldn’t be helped, all of them smiled fondly. The only person who could stand toe-to-toe as her equal was the man who was rumored to be the worst prosecutor in history, Prosecutor Noh Eun-Ho, otherwise known as Lucas Steinhart.

“However, we can’t rest and take our own sweet time. He’ll not stop. He won’t stop until all his targets are eradicated. That’s how the Cross Order operates.” Scarlett frowned. “We need to catch him before he gets his hands on another victim.”

She glared at the reports, unconsciously started biting the end of her thumbnail. Lucas sighed, pulling her nail away from her teeth. It was a bad habit of hers. Every time she was immersed in her own world, she tends to gnaw on her nails. “Stop biting your nails, little one.”

Scarlett and people around them were startled when Lucas blurted the nickname. They were intrigued by the invisible connection they both shared.

“Stop calling me that!” she stammered.

Lucas just grinned and pulled her into another embrace. “What are you thinking about? Let me in!”

Scarlett was obdurate and headstrong. She clicked her tongue. If only we had the victims’ last remains.