A serial killer, technology, and a detective determined to find the truth. Come along on a murder mystery adventure, with The Murder App – Chapter 8!
Ella walked through the open door of another house. Another crime scene, another body, another life robbed of potential. As she moved into the kitchen, the struggle for this killing was evident. Jessica Town had put up a fight.
‘I see you made it,’ Steve said as he stood upright from his crouching position beside the body. They hadn’t cleared it away yet, and Jessica lay with the classic red tie around her neck. Bruising was already forming, and her face was forever halted in a position of rage and fear. She had fought to come out on top, but ultimately the man who killed her was stronger.
‘Yes. What do we have? Leave any evidence this time?’
Steve shrugged with a small shake of his head, ‘Nope. This guy is still leaving no forensic evidence behind. And we checked the dating app for Jessica Town, but he’s already removed any and all communications and profiles for himself. Again.’
Ella dropped down to look closer at the woman. The woman who thought she was just meeting up with someone for a date. Someone who could have potentially been the one for her. The one that would complete her – if that was even possible. She struggled to find her breath, but a small splash of red caught her attention just underneath the sink cupboard doors.
‘What’s that?’ she asked quietly. Most of the other officers had already moved out of the room to inspect other aspects of the property and log their finds. Behind her, Steve had heard her question and joined her. ‘What’s what?’
‘It looks like…’ she pushed her face closer to the spoltch, then nodded as she decided it was what she thought. ‘It’s blood.’
‘Probably the victims I suppose,’ Steve said with a sigh as he stood.
Ella shook her head, ‘I don’t think so. She has markings under her fingers from a fight with the killer, but the hands look clean. Almost as if someone bleached them right before he left, plus I could smell it halfway down the block.’ She stood and pulled out her phone. ‘He drenched the place.’ As she was dialling, Steven put a hand over hers and smiled with sad eyes.
‘Ella, go home. I’ll call this in.’ He shrugged and motioned to the woman on the ground between them. ‘I know how hard you’re taking this one, so let me handle it from here and get some rest.’ She was about to argue when he held up a hand. ‘I promise, if you want to you can go back to the office, or go home, or do whatever you want. I will keep you fully updated, and make sure you’re in the loop if anything urgent comes up.’
Reluctantly, Ella thanked her partner and left. Driving to the office, she wasn’t quite ready to go home yet. Ted had been amazing to arrange everything, but the murder had put a damper on her mood. She may as well try to get some work done while she could. Pulling up her dating profile on the office computer, Ella checked her messages. Most were from obvious hook up attempts, a few genuine seeming contacts, but the final one caught her attention.
A new profile, looked like he hadn’t been on the site for very long. His answers made him look perfect, his pictures made him look perfect, but something was off. Something about the look in his eye looked staged. Something about the answers felt forced. Ella clicked onto the message again and read through it carefully.
He’d seen her profile and thought they’d hit it off. He wanted to meet for coffee, as he preferred face to face contact over silly online dating. Would she meet him tonight?
Carefully considering the options, Ella finally sent him a message and agreed. As she was emailing her boss, she got a response. He would be there in an hour, and was excited to meet her. Ella sent the email and let a few officers around her know about the meet up, and that she was going home to get ready. Now she just had to tell Ted.
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As she walked into their house, Samson slammed into her in an excited greeting. Ted was hanging back until the dog had been given enough attention, then kissed her and smiled. ‘Nice to see you home again so soon. I thought with another body you’d be holed up in the office for the night.’
She hesitated, but decided ultimately she needed to just blurt out the truth as soon as possible. Noting her pause, Ted raised an eyebrow and crossed his arms. ‘What is it?’
‘I’m going on a date tonight.’
He raised both brows at the statement and she smiled softly. ‘It’s not a real date. It’s a sting for the Murder App killer. I think this is the guy. I think we can end it all tonight.’
‘You’re meeting up with a serial killer for a coffee date? That seems safe,’ Ted said, moving away from her. His back facing her, Ella felt a familiar guilt settle over her. Ted would never outright ask her not to put herself in danger – he respected her and her job too much – but she knew he was concerned. Any rational husband would be.
‘I know. But the team has been notified, and they’ll be running surveillance. It’s all perfectly safe.’
‘I suppose Steve will be in the surveillance van outside too,’ Ted said with a soft chuckle.
‘Actually, he’s seeing some evidence to the forensic lab, so he might be a little late. But we have a good team besides my partner, Ted.’
With a small shrug, Ted leant over and kissed her again. This time, it was lingering and mixed with emotions. The one he gave her when he was truly worried if he’d see his wife again. She exhaled deeply and moved towards the bedroom. ‘I have to get changed.’ Turning, she waited until her husband was looking into her eyes before she added, ‘I promise I’ll be safe.’
I hope you enjoyed this instalment of the Murder App.
Come back next time for another chapter!
See You in The Adventures!
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