Chapter 3 The Arbiter file
Cassidy couldn't move for half a second. That… that girl on the other end was… was she just killed? She jerked up rushing towards Draco. “Someone has been murdered!”
Draco raised an eyebrow. “Murdered? Where?”
“Two… two blocks down the town hall,” she replied almost immediately.
Draco stood up instantly. “What the hell are you guys waiting for?”
The team immediately moved out, Sam was at the wheel.
“Can you drive faster, please.” Cassidy begged him, praying silently that she would still be alive. Sam stepped on the pedal without a word.
They arrived at the scene in minutes and she jumped out, it wasn't a factory but a dilapidated school. She didn't wait for any instructions before racing up the staircase.
“Please hang on… please be alive… please,” she pleaded, tears shimmering in her eyes.
As she approached the last floor, she began hearing a beeping sound. She quickened her pace and soon arrived at a classroom.
Beside the right window was a woman arranged like the body from yesterday's crime scene except that the woman was on a broken class desk and her eyes were blindfolded with her own hair.
Beside the left window was another woman leaning against the wall, her hands and feet were both handcuffed. There were countless knife stabs on her body. Her eyes flashed with something other than pain when she saw her.
Cassidy's mind snapped back to the call. A timer was beeping in the room but she didn't have the chance to look for her. But just as she took a step forward, the timer beeped loudly and from nowhere, a blade suddenly decapitated the woman by the left window.
Her blood splattered everywhere touching her face. Cassidy's heart stopped for half a second, the horrifying scene before her leaving her numb and unable to move.
The rest of her teammates rushed in at that same moment.
Draco glanced from the scene before them to the stiff Cassidy. “Take her downstairs,” he ordered, stepping into the classroom.
Sam and another of her teammates quickly helped her downstairs.
Cassidy couldn't explain how she got back to the station, all she knew was that she was currently sitting on her desk and staring blankly at the Arbiter file.
The scene from earlier replaying continuously in her mind; the woman's helpless eyes, the way the blade decapitated her head and… she gauged, rushing outside the station.
Outside the station, she bent over and almost threw up her intestines too. ‘How can someone be so cruel with no empathy for…’ the tears she has been holding back finally fell.
“It's not too late to turn back now,” Draco said, stretching forth a bottle of water.
Cassidy took it without a word and began watching her face. Giving up was the only solution now but what about her late father… What about the victims that died… Are the locals meant to continue leaving in fear because someone wanted to act like a god?
She shook her head, returning the half-empty bottle to Draco. “I'm doing fine, Captain. Thanks for your concern.”
“Just as stubborn as her father,” she heard him say as she headed into the station but didn't turn back.
‘Yeah, she was going to be more stubborn than him and bring the Arbiter to justice.’ she swore under her breath, stepping into her unit.
The rest of the hours at the office passed by so quickly as she immersed herself into the Arbiter's file. The pictures in the file were so sickening and the worst part, none of his murders had the same time or place, everything was different except for the way he always kept the bodies.
But in circumstances like today… bile rose in her throat again but she forced it down, where one of the victims had to go through something atrocious.
There were not many witness statements as few or no locals knew the victims. It was as if he always lured them from somewhere and killed them here.
The victim's record was much worse because there were no similarities, no pattern in the way he chose his victims but one thing was clear they mostly weren't from the town, it was only two out of his more than fifty victims were from the town.
Sam suddenly tapped her shoulder, earning a flinch from her. “Time to clock out, you will need more than just your determination to catch him.”
Cassidy swallowed nothing when she saw it was Sam. Her gaze scanned the room and she discovered there was no one else in the unit except her and Sam who was already walking out. She massaged the bride of her nose gently, ignoring that throbbing pain from her head as her eyes met the clock on her desk, 5:34 p.m.
With a soft exhale, she closed up the file and stood up. ‘It’s going to take time but I promise we'll meet soon, Arbiter.’ She promised, walking out of the unit with the file in arm.
It was already dark when Cassidy killed the truck's engine in the building's garage. She grabbed the file and headed straight towards the coffeehouse, her throat scorching for a cup of coffee.
She dropped onto the seat in front of the counter, placing her jacket and the file on the counter itself. “Black dark roast, no sugar—”
“Here you go,” Arthur said, placing a cup of coffee before her.
Cassidy tilted her head slightly, eyes narrowing as she stared from the cup to him, her detective mind running wild.
“I saw you drive in so I thought you would stop by for a coffee,” he explained like read my mind. “I'll make another one if you don't mind,”
When Cassidy didn't say anything, he grabbed the cup of coffee and emptied it into a sink before preparing another one.
Cassidy watched him for a heartbeat then something clicked her mind. “What made you think I would get a cup of coffee?”
Arthur smiled, placing the cup of coffee before her. “You had a pretty rough day so you would need a coffee to calm your nerves.”
She chugged down the cup of coffee in one go. “This is exactly what I needed,” she mumbled, leaning back into her chair.
“A new case?” He asked, refilling her cup.
“Much worse, saw the most horrific scene in my life.” she replied, chugging down another cup.
“If you knew the woman was going to be decapacitated, would you have raced up first?” he asked, refilling her cup again.
“Of co—” the words choked in her throat. Her unit had kept it from the locals so how the hell did he know that there was a murder. How did he know the victim was a woman? How did he know she was decapacitated?
She had began this conversation to get something out of him so why does it feel like it is the other way round?
She lifted her gaze slowly and met his grey eyes, they weren't glinting as usual instead they had something like a dark gleam behind it.
