“Alright boys and girls, gather up.”I heard Charles calling each and every one of us. I stood up and watched everyone focus on the chief’s presence. With folded arms and a strange anticipation in my guts, I waited for what he had to share with us.

“It has been over a week, folks, and I need you to tell me that you all found something. Come on. Anything that can help us step closer into finding that scum.”

My eyes scanned the room and everyone as well. They seemed like kids that were about to get scolded by the teacher for not doing any homework, only in our situation, the homework was finding any possible leads and the main project to catch the murderer. It wasn’t slackness holding us behind but more like the absence of a single evidence.

“Fanworth,” he called out, “Anything new from the autopsy?”

  The man stepped forward, straightening his uniform and looking around, just like I did a moment ago. He cleared his throat and with a deep breath he replied.“They are still waiting for the toxicology results, sir.”
I saw desperation in Charle’s face, yet he seemed to be expecting this kind of news. Such reports were taking a long time to be finalised and ready to be shared. It could be a week, a month or even worse; months.  

“Unfortunately they are our only hope for now.”

“Damn it,” he cursed under his breath. “Dandeline, you visited them the other day, what did they tell you?”
It was my time to shine. “Nothing more from what we already know. As Fanworth mentioned, they hope to get some answers from the toxicology reports. We don’t have the means to fasten the process I am afraid.”

“And what about the missing reports?”

“The list is endless.” I exhaled. “We need to start visiting the families because no one seems to be picking up their phones.”

He nodded, “Good. Start doing that, then. Take Stevenson with you and start looking around.”

“We could also revisit the bars that were open that night, see if anyone remembered anything else from then. See if their memories have been refreshed somehow.” Wyller replied and many voices agreed in sync.

“Gentlemen, we are in a tight place right now. We have four dead people and no one yet to even question. We have hit rock bottom and those souls out there won’t tolerate it any longer. As long as the killer is on the loose, fear will consume them and God forbid their trust in us will shatter.  All we need is that push to resurface us. I need every single one of you to use your brains as hard as you can. Harder than you ever did before. We can’t wait until the next hit; until the next victim. Get up your asses and do some good ol’ work!” He clapped his hands as hard as he could and chaos unfolded all around me.

“Dandeline, come with me for a moment.” Charles pointed towards his office and I followed.

“I was informed of your little late night visit.”

“Mr Soar insisted on observing the bodies. He wanted to make sure that no detail was left unnoticed..”

He fell on his chair, exhaling and pushing himself closer to the desk, before leaning closely to it and penetrating me with his strict eyes. He wanted to know things and I still had to find the necessary answers. However, it was amazing how we could read each other’s minds.

“It’s too early to tell. Although, the train of his thought makes it clear that he is a very capable and intelligent young man. He knows exactly how the minds of those mentally unstable people work and there is potential.”

“Good. Because the least I need is a boy walking around and causing more trouble than what we already have. I am already having a hard time with the Press. I don’t need more burdens.”

  “May I ask something?”

He waved at me.

“What happened to officer Olivier?” My question was as blunt and straightforward as the answers I was expecting to get.

Charle’s face went blank. He threw a glance over me and then averted his eyes away.

“The poor man lost his life during an investigation.”

“Regarding the dead junkies?” This was my best shot.

“You really have a knack of getting involved everywhere, don’t you?” he sighed. I can only guess that he was both irritated and impressed, however I still don’t know whether that was good for me or not. “Yes, he was investigating that dead-end case. As a matter of fact he had lost his mind over it. The man was obsessed. I had to give him a few days off to cool off, but that didn’t stop him. He died and nothing good came out of it.”
I was about to question the manner of death but Charles read my thoughts and with an even heavier sigh, replied to me: “There was a fire close to where the bodies were found, near the swamps. He didn’t manage to get out in time and the old man was burnt alive.”

“But why would he go all the way over there?”

“You tell me. I thought he had some kind of a lead, but to be honest even to this day, I regret not following him. I had to trust my gut, William. Perhaps I'd be able to drug him away, save his sorry ass. Anyways, the fire was put out and we found his body like an old stake on a Sunday’s grill. It was awful to watch.”

“Didn’t that make you more suspicious though? An officer, losing his life when he was after that case?”

“Everything stinks around those deaths, Dandeline. But without the right information and leads I can't just keep on hunting down ghosts. Also, don’t forget where you are stationed. In this town, superstitions and magic and ghost shit exist for these people. What their great-grandparents believed  is still stuck in their brains. Those junkies, to them they were victims of some curse or a terrible beast and they had to cleanse the dirt where they were found. Fires, sacred rituals with livestock being sacrificed, all of these events take place outside the city and near the swamps, during night. He knew that, yet he risked going there.” Charles sighed and shook his head, I felt like watching my old man, giving up and being a little disappointed in my stubbornness. I would recognize that look everywhere. “I don’t want to lose any more of my men, so please, for the love of God, forget about it and focus on the task at hand; the missing people and catching the killer.”

“Alright,” I was getting more and more drawn in this case, like a moth into the fire, but I had to keep that to myself.

“Now be a good lad and leave me. I need to make some phone calls.”

I stood up and left. My mind was  a true hazard. My gut was screaming at me that there was something awful going on with both cases, but Charles was right; it was no use sacrificing the lives of these men for nothing. Yet, I wondered what Olivier had found that led him all the way to the swamps. If the first investigation had nothing to report from there, why go back?

“Ready, William?” Stevenson approached me and I nodded, grabbing my coat and heading out. The past month we had a handful of reports, yet none of the relatives ever answered our calls or updated us. So, we had to drive all around the town and inspect so just in case there was someone that could identify our victims. In the meantime, I had contacted Valentine and kindly asked him to speak with the university for any possible absences.

The worst thing about cases like this one was not the brutality of the murder, but the waiting we all had to endure…