‘She must be with the body’ stated Jack.
The pair walked side by side along the tiled floor, the age showing as the pattern was visibly faded. The copious amounts of shoes traipsing back and forth had reduced the colour to a pale brown, some patches of white could be seen where the colour had vanished completely. The walls either side held mounted pictures of the human anatomy, parts which neither men had seen or heard of, many items were given an obscure and lengthy name, the ones they would attempt but couldn’t pronounce. They stopped at the door labelled as the Operating room. The door offered a hollow sound as Jack tapped the centre with his knuckles.
‘Come in Jack’ the female voice faint from inside the room. Jack flashed a smile to Nathan as he pushed down on the handle.
Inside the room was well lit. Large four bulb panels were scattered across the ceiling lighting every section of the box they stood in. Doctor Brough stood at the far end of the room behind a long metal table.
‘Morning gentlemen’ she greeted with a small smile
‘How did you know it was me Sal?’
‘Come on Jack, I can tell your knock anywhere. You obviously spend too much time here……..I’m just wandering if it’s me you come to see, or the bodies?’
Nathan stood to Jack’s side awaiting an introduction. He remained silent whilst observing the awkward chemistry between the two.
‘Hi, you must be the famous Nathan Cawley…….it’s a pleasure’ her hand stretched out over the corpse waiting for Nathan to grab it and commence shaking. He chose not to when he noticed the surgical gloves she donned were splattered with red.
‘Pleasure’s all mine’ he winked.
‘So, Sal, what can you tell us so far?’ asked Jack
Sally moved from behind the table and stood next to Jack.
‘Well what I do know is that she didn’t die from the cuts the killer gave her in the movie. See here!’ her finger hovered above a deep cut on the girl’s right cheek.
‘This was the first slice he gave, multiple incisions in fact, looks like several razor cuts. The wounds are shallow and the skin is finely cut, a knife would have dug deeper and ruptured the muscle around the cheek bone…..which it hasn’t in this case.’ She moved back around the table.
‘Now this is what killed her. It looks like he removed the heart, badly. It was hard to determine when as the body was frozen, but this morning this hole was filled with a dark red blood, even after de-frosting, it held its colour……the blood had pumped from the organ and filled her lungs……that tells me she was alive when he began removing it.’
‘You said he?’ asked Nathan
‘I did. Two reasons why……One, the bruising on her skin is in large sections, hands to be exact and bigger than a female…..Two, to remove the heart meant breaking through the rib-cage, not an easy job. So power and force would be needed to do so.’
‘Fuck’ Jack whispered
‘Yep, one sick puppy you have here Jack. On a better note I couldn’t find any indication of forced intercourse, there are no signs…..which would be visible as bruising on the inner thighs, normally found there as that is where the attacker grips the legs to open them.’
Nathan couldn’t help but stare at the gaping hole where her heart had been, the skin was sliced so bad it appeared to have a criss-cross effect at the edges.
‘Did you find the heart?’ he asked her with suspicion
‘No’
‘So he keeps a memento then………..maybe to eat, or possibly just keep sake’
Sally left the table and moved toward a grey locker, the door screeched as she opened it. From inside she removed a coat hanger. Hanging from it was a Red Cloak.
‘This was under her body, frozen to it actually……it had soaked up a lot of her blood also, so I think he killed her when she was wearing it!’
‘Hey there little Red Riding Hood……………….’ Nathan sang to himself. Jack and Sally both heard it and waited for an answer.
‘He thinks he’s a Wolf……….he made the girl dress up as Little Red Riding Hood…….dragged her through a wood and sliced her up, removing the heart.’
‘Your point is?’ asked Jack, the same question floating through Sally’s head.
‘My point is he’ll do it again…….and soon. The preparation this man has gone through, the ritual he will have set himself, the copious amounts of rules he must obey. He is obviously a fan of the story, could be a good place to start. He removes the heart but for what purpose? We need to concentrate on what he is telling us, but it won’t be that easy, otherwise he wouldn’t send the images our way!’
The red garment was hung away in the locker. The cold weather had created the stiff board effect as the blood, soaked up by the fabric, had frozen.
***
Tonight was the last night. The last time he would see his Abby in her safe place. The last time his Abby would sleep, eat and breathe in her safe place. The van sat a few spaces further back than the last time. He tried to avoid suspicion from any prying eyes. He sat with his face to the passenger window. No rain to play with tonight, although a slight snow fall had begun as the forecast predicted. The pink room had been dark since he had arrived, which proved disappointing to him. The last thing he needed was to have missed his girl while she sat at her little desk, his ideal viewing point.
‘Please be awake………Pleeeeeeeease’ he begged.
The light remained extinguished and the timer on his stop watch was approaching ten minutes. He felt an uneasy twang in his stomach, the possibility that he may miss her slowly dawned on him. He deemed the lack of viewing as bad luck and suddenly he began to doubt the chance of abduction for his scheduled date. But everything was planned for tomorrow, everything was ready to go.
The trickle of sweat agitated him and the smacking sound stung his ear as his palm connected with his cheek, dispersing the droplet as it did so. He felt a fear pulsing within him, the fear was not welcome…………..a wolf does not feel fear.
He began clenching his fingers into tight fists, the knuckles cracking and skin fading as it was stretched. He attempted to keep his anger under control, a wolf would have self-control………a wolf would wait patiently, stalking the prey……waiting to pounce.
The invisible guest spoke words of encouragement into his mind, aiming to calm him. Wait patiently, you WILL become, just be patient.
The light caught his eye as he began to inhale deeply and exhale slowly, his chest expanding as the lungs inflated like balloons. The room was empty, but the light was now on. Seconds, he told himself, just a few seconds more.
He watched as the mother of his new girl walked across the room, he noticed the bundle of neatly folded clothes in her arms. His eyes darted back and forth, looking for Abby.
‘Where are you my princess? Where, oh where oh where have you gone?’
Her mother had stopped by the window and kneeled over. She placed the kiss on her daughter’s head and gently stroked her light brown hair. Abby climbed up onto her chair, her hands scrambled over the desk as she located her chosen coloured pencil.
‘Hello Abby………….my sweet, sweeeeeeeeeeeeet Abby’ he felt himself calming. The built up tension escaped his body. Checking his watch he noticed that only a few minutes remained of his self-allocated observation time. He had another scheduled stop to make, one that would put the wheels in motion for tomorrow’s activity.
He smiled as her hair was flicked to one side displaying her neck, he peered through the binoculars. Her skin looked smooth………her neck looked inviting. He noticed the way her throat moved as her head tilted either way. The blood pumping through her Jugular veins began to arouse him, your sweet, sweeeeet blood. The beeping from his wrist distracted him and the previously relieved stress began to creep back into his body. Knowing that he neared the end of his viewing time annoyed him, but he had to stick to his plans, a change now would surely cause problems in the future, he didn’t want problems……especially when so close to the taking.