West Haven, 17th March, 501.
The next morning, the West Haven police station hums with activity. The patrolmen communicate with each other discussing the case. The killer killed the woman, cut the body into parts, and threw them into different places. After they found one of her hands, they also found two other parts: a leg and a torso. It is not proven that the three parts belong to the same woman, but they think it is very likely.
Their chatters fall silent as Detective Thorne walks inside the station. Before walking into the meeting room, he walks and knocks on the police chief's door. He hears." Come in."
Throne pushes the door to step inside. With his gruff voice. "Good morning, Chief." Chief Mason is not his direct chief as he works in another station. His whole life is spent in the town, and for the better part, Chief Mason was the Chief of the West Haven police station. And earn respect from him and almost all the town's people for his work.
Chief Mason nods." Good morning, Throne."
Chief Mason continues." Throne, what do you have for me?"
Throne shakes his head with his lip pinched tightly. "Nothing for now. If the girl's identity is identified, then we can start."
Chief Mason nods." Throne, do you think one of our town people could be the killer?"
Throne says," Chief, anybody can be a killer if the situation demands. So, I cannot say to you that the killer is not among our people." The Chief wanted to hear from Mason that the killer is from outside the town.
Throne continues," Nobody from our town reported that a female family member or friend is missing. So, the killer may not be from our town."
Chief Mason nods with some relief. "Ok, you can go. The lab must have sent the DNA report by now." Glancing at the clock on the wall.
Throne walks out of the Chief's room and gently closes the door, and starts making his way to the meeting room. He pushes open the door and steps inside. He finds everyone on the case already present in the room. They glance at him for a brief moment and then return to stare at the projection displayed by the projector.
He looks at the projection, an image of a woman on one side and the other side displays her details. He takes his seat and carefully looks at the image of a young woman, vibrant and smiling with vibrant honey blonde hair framing her face and her large blue eyes. The young woman is beautiful and he doesn't recognise her. That means she doesn't live in this town; otherwise, he would recognise the woman.
He looks at her details.
Name: Sofia Rodriguez.
Age: 27 years old.
Occupation: Nurse.
Home Address: House No. 347, Street name- Old Brick Street, Town- Greenglass Town.
Work Address: Hemingway Hospital, Brodwin City.
"As you all know," Inspector Davies began, his voice crisp, "yesterday morning, Mr. Silas made a rather unfortunate discovery. We recovered a torso and a leg later from different places."
Another Inspector Bryan mentions." The leg was in the old playground inside the park. A homeless man came across it under the slide."
Carl, a patrolman, speaks next." The torso was buried in the ground. Mr. Hanson's dog found it in the woods at the back of his farm."
Davies nods and gestures to the screen. "We didn't find the rest and also the head, which would make identifying her difficult. However, luck was on our side. A DNA match came through late last night. Sofia Rodriguez. No prior record, clean slate."
Carol, the medical examiner from the Outbound Station. "Yes, we are very lucky; her DNA was present in the system, otherwise it would be difficult to identify her so quickly."
The rest nods. Vance looking quizzical." For her family, she must be missing more than a day. But till now, no missing report for her."
Davies (the inspector who was inside the alley). "She is a nurse. Her work time is not routine, and they always works overtime. Sometimes the shift lasts for a whole day; her family may have thought she is working or resting someplace."
Throne nods, agreeing with Davies. But full details can only be known after communicating with the family and the hospital. "Now we have a name. The next would be to find everything about her."
Detective Vance leaned forward, his elbows on the table. " We have to find the rest of her body to find out how she was killed." He looks at Carol." Or you can find out from the body part we have."
Carol looks at the file on the table." Dr. Sander examined the torso last night, and according to him. The girl died by suffocation. And no large amount of water was present in her lungs. So, her death could be by strangling her neck or covering her mouth and nose. Without the head, we cannot confirm it."
Throne nods, his gaze on Sofia's image." So, we have to find the rest of her body parts. Inform her parents. Inquire about her at the hospital. And find out where she was at last moment with her life and with whom."
Throne continues after seeing his team member nod. He looks at Bryan and gestures." Bryan, you are responsible for finding the rest of the body parts."
Bryan nods." Yes, Detective."
Throne then looks at Davies." You go to the hospital." Davies nods. He then says to Carl," You call her phone company to find what her last known location was." Carl nodded," Yes, Detective."
Vance speaks then," So, we will go to her parent to inform." Throne nods.
Seeing this, Vance crunched his face." Take someone else in my place. I don't like to be the bearer of bad news."
Throne shakes his head." You are going to make senior detective soon, then you would have to be the bearer of bad news."
Vance nods." Ok. But I will remain quiet and you will tell her family."
Throne nods at him and then looks at the rest of his team members." The meeting ends. Now let's start our day." Except for him and Vance, everyone present stands up to leave. When Carol walks past him, Throne says," Carol, inform me if Dr. Sander finds anything." Carol stops to nod at him for a moment before she leaves the room.
After everybody left, Throne and Vance also walked out of the room and the station. Outside, they enter one of the cars and Vance drives it out of the station onto the road. Their next stop is Sofia's home at Greenglass town.
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During the drive to the victim's residence, both of them remain quiet. Because of their personality, neither of them don't likes unnecessary small talk. It took a couple of hours to reach the victim's residence. They meet the victim's parent and sit facing them. The parent looks at them uneasily. Throne breaks the news of their daughter's death.
First, they are shocked and don't believe. But Throne and Vance remain silent with a sad face. Noticing this, the mother starts crying loudly and, in a minute, has difficulty breathing. Vance goes to their kitchen to bring water for her. While Throne and her husband console her. After drinking the water from Vance, the victim's mother cries softly.
Her husband asks with tears in his eyes." How did she die?"
Throne says." She was killed."
The mother falls silent and the father asks." By whom?"
Throne says." We are investigating and will catch the culprit shortly."
The mother asks." Where can we see our daughter?"
Throne falls silent; he is unaware how to answer. He glances at Vance. The father watching this asks." Is there any problem, detective?"
Throne says with hesitation." We… found only some of her… body parts."
The father says in surprise. "What?" He can't believe what he heard.
Throne says." We found only a hand, leg, and her torso."
The mother thought, hearing this, they mistakenly identified her daughter's identity with these parts. But her hope is dashed away when the detective mentions that the parts match with her daughter's DNA. The detective even mentions they can submit their DNA, if they wish for confirmation. The Detective then asks why they didn't report her missing before this. As a day has passed without any type of contact with her.
The father answers, "The reason behind this is her job. Her last shift was a two-day shift. And they didn't think strange when she didn't pick their calls or call back. As this happened before, where she would spend the next day after a heavy shift sleeping."
Vance speaks for the first time. He asks. "Did they know where she would stay if she didn't come home?"
The father answers, "It would be her dorm room near the hospital."
Throne and Vance, before leaving, ask if Sofia had a boyfriend and if she had an enemy who could kill her. The answer they get for the boyfriend is no. But Sofia has someone in her life, but she cannot tell said to her boyfriend. Marcus Walker, a trucker and Sofia's high school boyfriend. And they get together when Marcus returns home. And they couldn't think of anyone who would kill Sofia.
After that, the Detectives leave the house. Vance, while getting the driver seat, says," We have to visit Marcus. If he is home."
Marcus Walker is a familiar name to them. Throne doesn't know him personally but had seen him in the town. Marcus Walker is also a resident of West Haven. But Vance used to know him; they went to middle school together. But after they went their separate way, he stayed behind while Marcus went to another out-of-town.
The reason Marcus had to leave because that at that time, his parent died in a car accident, and Marcus was sent to the orphanage in town. And the orphanage sent Marcus to another school for whatever reason.
They get inside the car, and Vance starts the car. At that moment Throne's phone started ringing. Davies is calling him, and Throne picks up the call. While Vance starts driving, he listens to Throne.
"Her phone was last active in our town." Vance starts having a bad feeling hearing this.
The next confirms his feeling." It was in Marcus Walker's residence." Vance put his foot down on the accelerator.
"Yes, bring him to the station if he is present. And obtain a search warrant from Judge Harris to search his home."
And then Throne puts down the phone." What do you think? Could Marcus be the one?"
Vance, while keeping his eye on the road and put on the accelerator." I am not sure anyone can be a killer. But I don't think Marcus would cut and throw the parts in the town. He regularly leaves town and could throw her anyplace outside, and we may never have found her."
Throne nods but doesn't answer. He looks out of the window as the scenery outside speeds away.