Investigations

They were at the police station in a square study with a huge window and a wonderful view. Inside was a wooden table and a comfortable black leather chair. The graduation diploma hung right behind him.
And such an adorable dark-purple couch was located right under the window. On the opposite side stood a whiteboard and next to it a bookcase with framed photos and professional literature.

She wanted to see old crime scene photos. The police photographers did a really excellent job. They thoroughly documented everything that was relevant, even the people standing around behind the yellow police tape. Patricia pinned all the important photos to the bulletin board.

She wrote the girls' names on a piece of paper, their ages, and the way they were killed. She pulled out a map and marked with red dots where their bodies were found. The most important photos were in the center and the rest of the less important ones were around.

She took a step back and began to hypnotize the board. Marek was pleasantly shocked at how quickly she was able to adapt to such a situation and just watched her from a distance. She held the elbow of her right hand with her left hand and supported her chin with it.

She hoped the bulletin board would now reveal its secrets and where they should look for the killer. Her eyes fell on the last kidnapped girl, Victoria. Maybe she's still alive and wishes to at least save her. She stood there in the same position for another hour.

Marek brought her a hot "Turk". "You should rest. It won't help if you exhaust yourself unnecessarily at the start." She sat on the couch with both hands clutching the cup, staring into the dark reflection of the drink. She saw only herself in the coffee. She has worked on similar murder cases in the past, but she has never been involved in solving a case where someone was kidnapped and still alive.

"How can you resist pressure in such a serious situation? We know the girl is still alive and there's nothing we can do about it." Marek wanted to support her, but he had no idea how. He never had a partner to work with. He was a lone wolf. He thought that maybe he should be more strict with her so that she would give her best.

"If you came all the way here just to talk, then go back. You're here to help me, not to whine about it." Patricia was uncomfortably surprised. She did not expect such a reaction from Marek. She thought things were settled between them. Maybe she was wrong. She took a deep breath and looked him straight in the eye. She slammed the mug on the table and went back to the bulletin board.

Marek immediately regretted what he said. It was the first time in a long time that he started talking to someone of the opposite sex again, but he recognized that there was no way to back down and so he wanted to stick to this "strict" strategy.

Patricia continued to stare at the blackboard. After a few minutes, she realized something. The same people appeared in those photos over and over again. "Hey! Mr. Grumpy?! I found something interesting, so now I will need your help. Can you identify these people? Even if it doesn't seem like it, they are the same ones in these photos as well."

Marek stepped closer to check the photos and it was true. Patricia waited for this moment to take revenge on him. She slapped him on the back of the head and pointed her finger at the bulletin board. "How could you miss such an important detail?" Marek got angry holding the back of his head and growled at her. "What the hell got into you?! Why did you do that?!” Patricia was satisfied with her mini revenge. She smiled and jerked her head in that direction.

Marek grabbed all the photos of suspicious persons and went to his desk. He picked up the phone and called his colleagues. After two minutes, two young men appeared between the open doors of his office. Marek handed them an envelope with photos and ordered them to find out the names and addresses of those people. Now they were only delayed by waiting.

The case started moving again. After the men left, they decided to revisit the crime scenes. Marek drove them to the first place. It got cold outside. Autumn has already visited that small town. The leaves glowed in different colors and the animals were preparing for a long winter sleep. The air felt colder and the dark night was coming earlier and earlier. All these facts made this time of the year more dangerous for teenage girls.

Victoria, the last to be kidnapped, was still somewhere in the hands of a mad killer. I guess, time and police efforts will tell if they will be able to save that fragile young life before it will be too late. The original scene of the crime was well cleaned, the sad reality was only evidenced by the flowers brought by the family and by the mourners, so new evidence will certainly not be found there, but still, Patricia wanted to see the place with her own eyes.

They went back to the police station. The coming hours spent rummaging through the documents in Marek's office yielded nothing. When it was really dark outside, they decided to go home. In the car, Patricia took off her wig. She was irritated and itchy all day. On the way home, they also stopped at a store to buy something for dinner.

Although they had no idea that someone was watching them inside the food store. Marek's tinkering continued even after the job. He acted like a little boy who likes a girl. He was picking on her and trying to get her to express sympathy for him. In fact, Patricia was just annoyed. She didn't even know what to think about him anymore. She expected a more mature attitude and behavior from him as he was older.

They finished their shopping and went back to the car. As they left the parking lot, a dark silhouette watched them from afar. After arriving home, Marek went straight to the shower, while Patricia started preparing dinner. She made pasta with broccoli and cheese sauce.

After a long shower, dinner was already prepared at the bar, but Patricia was not there. A strange feeling came over him. He ran all over the living room and the kitchen and then ran into Patricia's room. She lay there. She was sleeping quietly in her bed.

He moved closer to cover her. The nights were already colder in his apartment. As soon as he bent down to cover her with her duvet, his towel fell to the floor and it was at that moment that Patricia woke up.

When she saw him standing naked next to her bed, clutching her duvet, she got scared. She shoved him, grabbed whatever she had on hand, and threw it at him. First, it was a pillow, then a book, and her cell phone. “What the hell do you think you're doing? Were you going to rape me? Get out!”

She jumped out of bed and hurried to slam the door. Marek remained standing in front of the door, red as paprika and ashamed. He aimed it straight into the room. After a minute, he wondered if Patricia was out, crept slowly through the living room, grabbed a plate of pasta, and ran back to the room. They both stayed in their bedrooms for the rest of the evening. The next day, the first Patricia woke up again. She had already gotten over what had happened the night before.