detective – Christy Grace Scarlet Pen

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!
Christy Grace

Chapter 1

Ella Strong stood from her crouch beside the victim’s body. The smell was getting stronger, but she stopped breathing with her nose and turned towards the medical examiner. “It looks like the others,” she said.

Sandra Ellis – The Medical Examiner – gave a short nod. Deep crease lines etched in her forehead. “Yes. Same as the other women. All strangled with a red tie, which was brought with the killer.”

Ella sighed, scanning the living room for the victim’s phone. She was hoping the same evidence that was on the other victims’ phone, wouldn’t be there. If it was the same as the others, she had failed another woman.
“Do we have an ID from her purse yet?” Ella asked aloud. Her partner, Steve Evans, was still searching through the victims’ handbag. He looked up from her wallet and nodded. “Yup. Her name is Lisa Renner, 27 years old.” Steve stood with the wallet in hand, joining Ella and Sandra. “Have we found the phone yet?”

Ella began to shake her head when her eyes glimpsed the floor beside the couch. A black phone casing lay just underneath it. She sighed, tucking her notepad into her pants pocket, and heading towards it. The gloves on her hands were necessary, but they made a squelching noise when she moved her hands and fingers.

She leaned down and picked up the phone, pushing the home button. The display lit up and as the screen sprung to life, a picture of a smiling Lisa at Disneyland appeared. The phone was locked, but her latest notifications weren’t hidden. Ella scrolled past the social media notices until she reached the one that she was hoping not to find.
“Mark up Lisa Renner as another victim of the Murder App,” Ella said softly. Steve appeared at her side and looked at the phone over her shoulder and sighed.
Lisa had a notification that her latest ‘love connection’ was on his way.

The ‘Murder App’ name wasn’t from the police. Somehow, the information about the app had been leaked, and the media had dreamed up that little classification; Murder App Killings. The victims had joined on the app and were all awaiting their ‘Prince Charming’ when they were killed. The accounts of the suitors were deleted without a trace within an hour of the deaths.
“Is it too macabre to say, ‘at least we have new leads’?” Steve asked. Ella frowned and shook her head, turning away from him and ignoring the comment. She knew he was right, but the death of another woman wasn’t a good thing – no matter what leads they now had. She was going to catch this guy and make sure he was put away where he belonged. “Let CSI know they can do their final sweep. We need to check out Lisa’s ‘Love Connection’ profile to see if her Prince Charming has deleted his account like the others.”

Ella drove back to the station in silence. She was grateful that the call to Lisa’s house had been late. It meant she could drive by herself, instead of sharing the ride with Steve. Her partner was a great guy, but this case was personal for her. She needed time to think.
The first victim had been her roommate from uni. They hadn’t seen each other in 17 years, and it was too late to reconnect now. Four victims in with this lunatic, and still no solid leads as to who he was.

As she pulled into a parking space out front of the station, she closed her eyes and pulled in a deep, lingering breath. A pounding on the hood of her car flicked them open again, and she frowned at Steve. He grinned at her like a 12-year-old. She shook her head and tried to hide a small smile as she opened the door and followed him inside.

Night shift meant the building wasn’t as lively, but the officers on night shift were still buzzing around with work. The atmosphere always seemed darker on the night shift, and Ella didn’t like to stick around too long. Her husband Ted was probably putting the leftovers in the fridge by now. He used to her late-night working, but she felt guilty when she had to rush away. Ted had been amazing when she’d announced her switch from paralegal to cop ten years ago. She’d gotten through training and reached detective, but the job was already taking its toll on her empathetic heart.

After briefing their boss, Ella and Steve returned to the large office that they shared, and went over the facts again.
“We need to get this guy,” Ella said once they were done recapping. She was already feeling the weight of the latest murder as she read over the preliminary information.
Steve exhaled and gave his classic impish grin. “I know we do.”

I hope you enjoyed the first Chapter of my newest ongoing CGSP series – The Murder App. I’m letting this story take me where it takes me each month – just like how HCC started.
Keep checking back every month for another part to the story!

See You in the Adventures!
Christy Grace