Chapter 2
I really didn't want to waste any time.
From my analysis, the killer was a cold-blooded genius. He'd been keeping himself totally off the radar for three years, bottling up all that darkness with nowhere to let it out.
And now that he was doing it again, I could bet he was even more dangerous than before.
So we had to move fast.
I got into the zone pretty quickly.
During the discussion, Jessica turned off her livestream.
At first, I thought she had finally started to behave.
But as time went on, I started to notice that something was off.
Jessica's supposed expertise was nothing like what we'd expect from a profiler.
She said nothing the whole time, just staring at us with big, innocent eyes. Whenever someone asked her, she'd just prop her chin up with one hand and answer with a couple of hesitant noises.
"Uh-huh," and "oh" were the best words she could come up with.
The day flew by.
That evening, I went to the cafeteria with the rest of the team.
I have to admit that a Caldrisian like myself could never get used to foreign food no matter how long I'd been abroad. The moment I walked through the cafeteria doors, my heart almost melted with nostalgia.
I was just digging into my food when Jessica strutted over with her streaming setup in hand.
"Hey, guys. I know you're all dying to get the inside scoop on Nina, so here's a little treat for you," she announced.
"Honestly, Nina's not just gorgeous. She's a total genius. Our cooperation is seamless. Today went well, and we've already narrowed down our suspect list. Trust me. I'll be able to sketch out a pretty dead-on portrait of the culprit soon," she added.
Jessica plopped down next to me, angling her camera down at a perfect 45 degrees, and threw her arm around my shoulders like we'd been besties.
Her perfume instantly smothered the warm scent of potato curry wafting from my plate. Honestly, it totally ruined my appetite.
I frowned and pulled away, keeping my expression icy.
The comments scrolled by in a blur.
[What's up with Nina's expression?]
[Come on. You can't be rude to someone who's all smiles. Jessica's so lively and friendly. Why is Nina having a long face?]
[Not gonna lie. Nina looks kind of cool with that icy look.]
Jessica's face stiffened a bit, but she quickly pulled her arm back and bounced right back with a bright smile, trying to smooth things over.
She said, "Don't get the wrong idea. Nina grew up overseas, so she's not really big on local social cues. But trust me, she's a total pro at her job.
"Today, we broke down all the victim info from three years ago, and I already have a pretty solid sense of what the killer looks like.
"But honestly, a big shoutout goes to Charlie Ryan from our team. He was the one who rescued the last victim from the killer back then, which gave us a ton of extra clues."
As she spoke, Jessica swung the camera over to Charlie, the young plainclothes officer sitting at our table.
The screech of a chair dragging across the floor cut through the cafeteria noise.
Charlie got up, left his seat, and ignored the camera.
Three years back, he was the one who arrived just in time and snatched Emily from the edge of death.
But in the end, Emily still couldn't be saved.
What was really chilling was that it wasn't the killer who took her life. It was gossip and the venom in people's words.
I gave Jessica a sidelong look and asked, "Did he grow up overseas too?"
[Is Jessica getting mocked?]
[Not gonna lie, after hearing Nina's question, I'm starting to think Jessica's words are kind of throwing shade.]
[Oh, please. Just stop already. Nina's so arrogant just because she studied abroad. Who's she trying to impress anyway? Jessica's always looking out for her, but what does Nina have besides her pretty face?]
[She has an amazing figure too.]
Jessica couldn't keep up her cheerful front anymore.
But before things could get any more awkward, Ethan strode over and broke the tension.
His face was like stone, and his voice was deadly serious as he ordered, "Move out, now. The killer struck again."
As soon as we got there, Jessica covered her mouth and ran out gagging.
The victim, a girl, was stretched out on a bed blanketed with roses. Her hands were tied together and held in front of her like she was saying a prayer.
Her face was contorted in pain. Her body was covered in cuts. The air was thick with the heavy, suffocating stench of blood.
The fatal injury was a tiny, deliberate cut to the carotid artery. It was done on purpose. The killer let her bleed out bit by bit.
The whole thing was twisted beyond belief.
From a criminal psychology angle, the killer must have been ignored in the family during his childhood. Even now, he was probably still scraping by at the bottom of the food chain.
Sure, maybe he had a decent job on paper and a picture-perfect family.
On the outside, he might look gentle, even a bit refined, not exactly young but always tight with self-control. To most people, he was just some harmless pushover.
I watched the scene closely, quietly analyzing everything in my head.