Low winter sun sent waves of warmth upon Edward as he made his way to the station. As with every other day, all faces that he met on his way to his desk lingered on him a second longer than he wished that they had. By now, Edward was the talk of the station. The honest, unbiased cop who was sole in his so-called surreal sense of justice, the same one who made headlines as the person who tried to take Blackburn down all by himself, and was now the lead investigator in the Tri-Surgeon case. There was plenty to talk about Edward around the offices of APD's station in Morth City. Never before had Edward wished to be anonymous as he had at those past days.
Lately, the Vice Chief of Police, Archell Sherwood, has been making a lot of appearances in the media. He's been interviewed both on television and radio and had quite some mentions in the newspapers. Most of the times he talked about the heinous Tri-Surgeon and the valiant officers who are working restlessly to capture him. When asked about Blackburn's failed case he usually dodged the questions with a playful smile and innocent eyes. Another Dillard in the making, Edward summed up the man in his mind.
Leading the Tri-Surgeon case proved to be a blessed distraction and worthy goal. More than anything at that moment, Edward wanted to catch the serial killer and bring him to trial. A part of him knew that it wasn’t just the officer of justice in him that wanted it, but also the man who wanted to stop being the disgrace of the force and talk of the day.
"Tough morning?" Officer Trisslin Long met him as he made his way towards his office.
"Just like any other," He replied with a sigh.
"Have you made any progress using the files I've sent you?" she asked. Edward knew that she was doubtful.
"Well, I haven’t figured out if there was anything the victims had in common, but I DID find something else."
"Really?" she seemed surprised. "Tell me about it."
"Well," she started saying. "Like I said, I went through the case files and I'm still not sure what the link between the victims is. The two in Basilham were the wife and daughter of the mayor of Basilham, the two in Canstow were a porn actress and the brother of a major contractor and the three in Exumber are the son of a retired politician and two members of Lady Dread. Age doesn’t seem to be a factor for the killer since our youngest victim is 18 years old and our oldest is 40."
"Yeah, yeah, I already know all that. Tell me something new," Trisslin rudely interrupted him.
"I'm getting there," Edward fought her back, looking agitated. "The locations of the bodies seemed random at first as well. We had an old warehouse, a distillery, and even a metal factory. But now I've found out that there is something that connects these locations. All of the owners of those lands used loan-sharking money to build those building and facilities in the first place, and there's only one group of people who deals with this kind of loan-sharking."
"Lady Dread," Trisslin said. It was a well-known fact that other than human trafficking, Lady Dread also dealt in loan-sharking. Many times, when business owners or such seek money for their business development or structure build, they would turn to Lady Dread for a loan. Usually, they would do it when the banks would refuse to give them any loans, and they would be left with no other choice. Lady Dread would lend them the money they need, and they would have to return it with interest later. The interest rate would usually differ, depending on the loan's size and nature of the business, but would always be outrageously high. The deals were often made through the Nucleus, but the money would always get delivered in person, to avoid anonymity. This was necessary because those who failed to return their debt had to pay the price in blood, and not always just their blood, but their loved ones' too.
Closing his eyes in frustration, Edward carried on. "That's right, Lady Dread. The only reason I'm able to know this is because all of those land owners were horribly murdered after failing to return their debt to Lady Dread and the police investigations discovered that they used the Nucleus to make those loan deals. To be more specific, we're talking about loans deals that were made through the four crown jewels of Lady Dread. Samuel Butler, Richard Lane, Jeffery Carter, and Sunyula Trife. The ringleader and her three lieutenants."
"You’re kidding me." Trisslin couldn’t believe it. The three lieutenants… better known as Samuel of the Shatter, Richard of the Dementia and Jeffery of the Ravage. Since Lady Dread's organization is known for using brutal violence against their enemies and debt-owners, each of their title describes their methods of torture. Physical torture, psychological torture and sexual abuse. Their involvement in the case means that the killer's actions don’t have something to do with Sunyula alone, but with her entire organization.
"Clearly, whoever the Tri-Surgeon is, he has some kind of connection to Lady Dread," Edward said. "The thing is, this isn’t about making them lose money. Some of those loans were made years ago and are no longer relevant."
"Which means he's just trying to send them a message," Trisslin concluded.
"Right," he agreed. "He's trying to get their attention, I guess."
"Well, what—?" Trisslin's words were cut as the door was suddenly opened, and an officer stood at its front. He was breathing slightly heavily, suggesting that he at least paced fast to the room to deliver his message. Edward could already tell what made him rush to the investigation room, and as soon as the officer spoke the news, he saw that he was right.
"Another body was found," The officer said. "It's the Tri-Surgeon. Eyes, heart, and arms. Same method."
"Where?"
"Right here, in Morth City. 22nd Mayflower Street."
"Let's go," He walked out of the room, along with his partner. "Trisslin, you're coming with me. Get a team of forensics to arrive at the site." He turned to the heavily-breathing officer, "I need you to get on press duty. Take any calls from reports or journalists and calm them down. I'm sure it won't be long before someone here tips them off for some cash. Make sure they understand that we won't be releasing any information until we're ready." The officer nodded with a blank face.
Edward and Trisslin made their way to the parking lot and got into the police car. "Another day, another body," She whispered to herself as she sat in the passenger's seat.
As he drove towards the murder scene, Edward found himself slightly paranoid, as he checked his rearview mirror several times during the trip. Knowing that Code Sanguinary's soldiers are after him, Edward had become more careful than usual. This situation… this must be exactly what Dillard wants, he thought to himself. By making me lead investigator, he made sure that there was no way I would be able to stay in the station forever. A body was bound to be discovered, and even if not, a press conference is very likely to happen, and I'm going to have to be the one to speak in it. Dillard made me a target for Blackburn, and he's basically forcing me to be outside, where I'm exposed and vulnerable. I wouldn’t wish anyone to be on Dillard's bad side.
Two officers who kept watch on the site so far awaited Edward and Trisslin as they arrived at the scene. The murder site was at an abandoned building that was scheduled for demolition. Deserted and lifeless the building stood, surrounded by officers of APD, as Edward and Trisslin made their way inside.
The walls looked dried and an intense humidity was in the air once the two were inside. It wasn’t long before they met another officer in the building, standing over a body that was covered with a white sheet. Edward already knew what to expect, and yet once he lifted the sheet and revealed the corpse, he recoiled upon seeing the staggering image. The body's skin appeared gray and a severe, ghastly stench was reeking out of it. It had gaping holes where the eye sockets were, as well as in the chest, where the heart should have been, and wide, rough wounds where the arms were cut off. All of those wounds had an almost brown shade to them and looked horribly rotten. With the smell and picture too much for Edward, he dropped the white sheet back on the body and stepped back.
"Who is it?" Edward asked the officer.
"We're not sure yet. We're waiting for the forensics to tell us," The officer replied. This is definitely the Tri-Surgeon's work. Such brutality. Such mercilessness.
At the corner of his eye, Edward noticed that Trisslin was looking at her SmartWrist. A worried expression appeared on her face.
"This is weird," Trisslin said.
"What is it?" Edward asked.
"This building… 22nd Mayflower Street… I've been looking it up and… neither Trife nor her lieutenants have any ties to this place, not now or in the past. The land owner of this place is still alive, and there's no record of him ever getting caught making a loan deal through the Nucleus."
"What?" Edward looked perplexed. "That… doesn’t make any sense. Every place the Tri-Surgeon murdered in so far had this kind of connection to Lady Dread. How—?" a sudden noise from outside interrupted him. Edward could hear that it was a shout, yet he couldn’t make any sense of it.
"Did you hear that?" Trisslin asked Edward.
"Yeah," He said. "What the hell's going on outside?"
Edward started pacing towards the exit door, with Trisslin and the other officer on his tail. A bad feeling already hovered over him like a dark cloud, yet by the time he let any thought of it come through his mind, he was already opening the door, and the gun was already pointed at his face.
Four Justicars stood outside, wearing full sets of Elastics, with their faces hidden under the white masks. Two of them were pointing a gun at the two officers that were waiting outside. The two officers stood on their knees with their hands behind their backs. The other two were aiming directly at Edward, Trisslin, and the third officer.
"Glad you could join your friends, Officer Elwin." One of the Justicars said.
