Tag: technology

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Fiction The Murder App

The Murder App | FOUR

A serial killer, technology, and a detective determined to find the truth. Come along on a murder mystery adventure, with The Murder App – Chapter four! 

Ella Strong stared at the scrolling men as she flicked through her options. This dating app was like all the others. The only difference was that a killer stalked this one for his victims. Or her victims. That had been a consideration early on; that women could murder women. They’d quickly moved past it with the discovery of the ties at the crime scenes.

Her profile donned an actual image of herself, but the rest was fictional. They’d looked at the other profiles, and tried to include things that the killer would want in his next victim. Her likes and dislikes contained things like hiking in the outdoors – something she hated – and adventure sports, but also things like baking and dancing in her living room. That last one, she had to admit, was something she liked to do on occasion.

The keys jingled in the door, and Ted called out for her. She told him she was in her home office, and a few moments later, he popped his head through the door.

“Hey, hon. How was your day?” He moved the rest of his body into the doorway.

Ella sighed. “It was okay. How was yours?”

Ted frowned and crossed his arms over his broad chest. “My day was okay. It didn’t sound like yours was.”

She rolled her eyes and went back to her screen. “It’s just this murder case. It’s taking a toll.”

He moved into the room behind her and kissed the top of her head, wrapping his arms around her and leaning his chin on her shoulder.

“Oh, come on, I can’t be so annoying that you’re looking for another husband already.” The false whine made her giggle and she shrugged, bouncing his chin off balance as she did.

“I’m just checking my options, in case.”

 Ted scoffed and stood straighter. She turned and smiled wide as he put his hand over his heart like he had been struck by an arrow. “Ugh! That got me, right here.”

She chuckled then shook her head. “I’ve set up a catfish profile for my killer. We’re hoping he’ll take the bait and we can catch him when he goes after me, instead of another innocent woman.”

Ted dropped his hand, and his smile and frowned. “Is that safe?” The humour was gone from his tone, but his voice was still soft and caring. One of the things she loved about him.

“As safe as any other sting I go on. We’ve got things in place to make sure of it. We need to catch this guy, and this could be the best way.”

Ted stood for a moment, staring at her, then finally nodded slowly. “You know what you’re doing.” He moved over to her and kissed her gently, then pulled back and smiled. “I trust you. Want some dinner?” he asked over his shoulder as he left the office.

“Love some,” she said, the smile still on her face. As he moved out to say hello to Samson and start on dinner. He was a better cook than she was anyway.

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 She turned back to the screen, just as her phone buzzed with her partner, Steve Evan’s number.

“Strong,” she answered.

“Hey Ella, we got a hit on those ties.”

Her eyes shot up. “Really?”

“Yeah. You were right about bulk orders. There were only a few in recent months leading up to the first killing. Two were from clothing houses, and another was a personal buyer. We’re heading to the store where he purchased the order tomorrow. We can question the staff and get a clue as to who it was.”

“Maybe they’ll still have security footage,” Ella said as she processed the information.

Steve scoffed, “From months ago? I doubt it. At the least, we as for a description.”

She nodded and was about to request a lift to the store when a notification on her dating profile dinged through the computer.

“Hang on Steve, that’s my profile notifications.”

Steve was silent on the other end, waiting as she clicked onto the icon and sifted through to the right section of the program.

Clicking onto the notification carefully, Ella sucked in a breath.

“What?” Steve asked.

“Someone just sent me a wink.”

“Is it him?”

She rolled her eyes. There would be at least a few normal people to sift through before they found the killer, but this would be a start. “Maybe. I guess I’ll have to wink back.”

Come back next month for chapter five, in The Murder App! 

See You in The Adventures!
Christy Grace

Categories
Fiction The Murder App

The Murder App | THREE

“Detective Strong, nice to meet you.” The detective from cyber crimes shook Ella’s hand with a sweaty pump. She smiled through the grimace and subtly wiped her hand down her pants when he’d turned to her partner Steve.
“You too, Detective Smith,” she replied as they sat across the conference room table. Now that the Murder App case was getting more traction, her boss had wanted to shift it completely over to cyber crimes. Ella had successfully petitioned the case to remain with homicide, so long as they worked with cyber. The rumblings had confirmed they guys over there hadn’t been too happy with that decision. She had to tread carefully.

“Well, we’re still sifting through the dating app the killer used. We’re also broadening the net and checking on other ones, just in case he decides to shake things up.” Smith pulled a thick file from his briefcase, spreading out the contents on the table.
“We’ve already confirmed that the profiles used to hook in the first three victims have been deleted. Hopefully, if we can use trends and a few good catfish profiles, we can hook him ourselves. Before another girl gets hurt.”
The sentence felt like a dig, but Ella wasn’t sure if she was reading into it too much. She felt wiped after the last day, and the fitful sleep she’d managed to get at home, hadn’t done much to suppress the exhaustion.

“Thanks, Paul, we appreciate the work, and the data,” Steve said with a taught smile. Smith nodded then started rambling through the particulars of the cyber evidence they’d rounded up so far. Ella let her mind wander. She wanted to consider the puzzle. The clues that the killer left behind at every scene.

There was always a tie. Red. The women lived alone, and he seemed to bring it himself. Why would a killer do that? Bring a particular tie, a particular colour.

There had to be a reason. They’d done tests and found that the first three ties were the same. The same brand, colour die – even the same batch of ties. Which meant the killer not only brought them to the scenes himself, he bought them in bulk.

When Detective Smith had left them alone with all the data, Ella turned to Steve. “I think we need to do a search for sales of the brand of ties found at the scene.”
Steve frowned. “We did that already. They sell too many of those ties to get a good-“
“No. I mean bulk orders.” She stood and started pacing the room. “If these are all the same brand, same batch, they could have been bought in bulk, at the same time. Right?”
Steven shrugged. “I guess. Plus, a guy buying four or five ties that are exactly the same could seem unusual.”

She nodded and looked down at the information on that dating app. “I have another idea too.”
Steve looked up the page that he had been reading. “What?”
Ella drew in a deep breath and leaned her hand on the table, the other on her hip. “I think I should be one of those catfish profiles. I want to make a profile and draw the killer in.”

I hope you enjoyed my latest chapter of The Murder App. I’ll be posting another chapter next month. So if you want to know what happens next, check back again in October! 

See You in the Adventures!
Christy Grace

Categories
Fiction The Murder App

Murder App | TWO

Ella pushed the door open and dropped her bag in the entryway of her two-story home. Finally home at 9 am. Ted would probably be at work by now, so she had some time to decompress on her own. The sounds of paws clattering across the wood floors grew louder as their golden Labrador barrelled towards her.

She smiled and reached out her arms for the welcome unconditional love.

“Hey Samson,” she cooed as the dog nuzzled into her, then ran towards the kitchen. Samson was still a puppy at one year old, and his spatial awareness was non-existent; something they were often reminded of as he knocked down tables, chairs, and anything else that wasn’t nailed to the floor.

Ella closed the front door and shuffled towards the kitchen. She hadn’t slept since yesterday, so her boss had insisted she ‘grab a few winks’ then report back later this afternoon. She wasn’t sure if sleep was going to come; not with another Murder App victim currently in the morgue. When she’d heard about Lucy, Ella had been in danger of spiraling. After 10 years on the job, her heart broke a little more with each devastating case that came her way.

Lucy had been her roommate and best friend, and the guilt about not seeing her before it was too late, was starting to eat her up inside. It was only when her boss agreed to waive the conflict and let her be involved in the investigation when the flutter of anxiety settled. She could focus on making it right, instead of only blaming herself for doing nothing to stop it.

Ella opened the fridge and the aroma of spaghetti, which ordinarily made her salivate, made her stomach flop over. She closed the door and shook her head at Samson, standing over his food bowl. “No buddy. I’m sure Daddy’s fed you already.” The dog whined in protest, then stuck out his tongue in that way that made it look like he was smiling. She smiled in return and rubbed behind his ear as she moved into her bedroom.

The bed was made, and a pair of her pajamas were set out on her side of the bed with a handwritten note. She chuckled and shook her head as she picked up the note and read her husband’s neat scrawl.

‘Thought you may need to crash, so I fed the dog and laid out some comfy PJ’s. Get some rest, I’ll see you later.”

Her husband’s thoughtfulness was overwhelming. Combined with the emotion of the Murder App case, it was too much and she allowed tears to silently trickle down her face as she collapsed onto the bed. Samson trotted into the room and licked her arm in support. She smiled down at him and wiped her nose on her sleeve before standing and changing for the fitful sleep she was sure would come.

She hid under the covers and let Samson snuggle up at the end of the bed.

They had to find the man who was killing these women. Lisa Renner made three, and he was killing one every two weeks. His cyber skills gave her boss cause to bring in the cyber division, and she had a meeting with them at 4 pm. Hopefully, she’d get enough rest to not look like a drunken raccoon by then.

I hope you enjoyed the second 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

Categories
Fiction The Murder App

The Murder App | ONE

the murder app serial blogging series cgsp crime murder writer author

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