Serial Killers

Chapter 3

Chapter 3

Lisa sat alone in the evidence room, the door shut, the stale scent of paper and old cardboard filling the air. The three case files were spread out in front of her, each one marked with crime scene photos, autopsy reports, and scribbled police notes.

She flipped through them again. And again. And again.

I should read each case at least a dozen times, she told herself. Somewhere in here, there’s a thread I can pull.

Her mind worked in overdrive.

Possible MO?
First victim: brown hair.
Next two: blonde.
All three? Heavy drinkers. Found with high blood alcohol levels.
Young women who party... Maybe that’s his hunting ground.

But something didn’t fit.
How do I confirm that theory?

Then another detail surfaced: the poison.

First kill—cyanide.
Second—common rat poison.
Third—a custom blend, one she suspected he’d made himself.

He’s experimenting, she realized. Testing methods. Evolving. There’s a chance he could even kill himself mixing chemicals like this. And to get his hands on them… he’d need access. Chemist, doctor… maybe a student in one of those fields.

She wrote this all down in her notepad. Keeping her mind clear without having to memorize tiny details.

Standing, she crossed the room to a wall map. Three pins marked the known murders.

3.2 miles between the first and second.
1.4 miles between the second and third.
5.7 miles from the first to the third.

She grabbed a marker and traced a rough circle connecting them. The radius was too large to draw firm conclusions.

That was three months ago. He could have left this area… but maybe not. If he still lives here, we focus inside this circle. Universities with chemistry programs. Hospitals. Apartments near either.

Lisa jotted down a potential search plan, then glanced toward the stack of reports on medical deaths.

If this killer was still active, she wasn’t looking at just three murders anymore. She was looking at dozens of bodies—most of them never labeled as murder.

Lisa sat in the evidence room, combing through medical files in search of anything that might crack her case.

Across town, Alan was in class, sitting stiffly in his seat, but not listening to a single word. The lecture droned on about pharmacology; in his head, the real work was happening.

What if I shake things up? Bring back the toxin of Riverdale?
No. That’s arrogance. We can’t win in a head-on fight with an entire organization. Even a hundred idiots will stumble on the right answer if they know the question exists.

His fingers drummed silently on his desk.
So we change the way we kill. Not just the poison but the entire pattern. Make it so even the geniuses don’t know there’s a question to be answered.

A darker thought slid in.
But what about this sudden spark in the investigation? Someone’s looking directly at me.

He answered his thought by adding.
Probably just some rookie detective chasing glory. Best case: they wear themselves out and get nothing. Worst case: they start to get something and begin to actually close in.

So what do we do?

Alan didn’t hesitate.
We kill this new detective.

That thought settled into his mind like a loaded gun on a table.

He was still savoring it when a voice broke through.
“Hey, man… I’m sorry about Anya.”

Alan blinked, pulling his gaze up from his notes. Adam stood there, awkward but sincere.
“It’s okay,” Alan said evenly. “It’s been a couple of days since… her heart attack. I’m starting to pull myself together.”

Adam nodded, sympathy softening his features. “If you need anything, anything at all. Me and the guys are here for you, dude.”

Alan nodded again and walked past him, head bowed as though in grief.

Inside, there was no grief — only mild irritation. Adam meant well, but he didn’t care about Alan. He cared about the idea of what Alan had supposedly lost, because he couldn’t imagine that kind of pain himself. It was empathy born from fear.

Alan didn’t feel that fear. He didn’t feel loss. Only a faint, pleasant aftertaste from the morning he’d taken Anya’s life.

Thank you for reading, I hope you enjoyed it. This is chapter 3, so if you are interested in how this story continues, hit subscribe. And all stories are better to talk about with friends so please share the story. thank you again, hope to see you soon.

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