Chapter 11 - The Mind Of A Killer

Halia parked her car in the parking lot of her apartment block and headed upstairs.

As soon as she opened the door, there was a bark to welcome her home. A little brown toy poodle ran up to her with its tail wagging happily. Halia picked it up and sighed. This was the big and protective dog that she told Isaac about; this little thing couldn't even hurt a fly!

Halia put the little dog back on the floor and it quickly ran to fetch a ball.

"Not today," Halia said as she walked straight into the bathroom. She was completely exhausted.

But, even when she was standing under the shower and she knew it was time for her to relax, she still couldn't help thinking about everything that happened that day.

It was just her first day and she had already experienced two episodes of paranoia. First, she thought Jackson Wu poisoned her. Second, she thought Isaac Yan was trying to stalk her. But, neither happened.

After her shower, she walked into her bedroom and lay down in bed. 6 suspects. What was the motive? It was currently March 28th. According to the killer's pattern, he wasn't killing again until April, so she had 3 days to hone in on a final list of suspects.

She turned on the television and the news was playing. The police chief was being interviewed; they were finally announcing the death of Sara. Obviously, he did not identify her as an undercover detective.

"At 4pm yesterday afternoon, we were called to the scene of a horrendous crime. A young nurse lost her life to the same killer that has been terrifying our streets the last 3 months. The police urge anyone with information to contact us as soon as possible and, until we find the killer, please don't wander around on your own at night."

Sara's photo showed up on the television screen and Halia felt a little emotional. Although they had never met before, she felt a deep connection to her. After all, she had been experiencing her memories.

"Don't worry, Sara, I'll definitely get justice for you."

Halia pulled out a box hidden under her bed and took out the case files that the police chief had given her earlier. 6 victims, 6 suspects.

Halia looked at the pictures of the 6 victims. What did they have in common? It couldn't have been a random killing.

As she read the files, she understood why the police suspected a doctor. It was because of the precision of the cut on these women's necks. It was one clean and deep cut from ear to ear (no jagged edges or hesitation). It went in just deep enough to sever the carotid artery on both sides of the neck. The pain would have been unbearable, but death would have occurred within a couple of minutes.

The killer knew what he was doing. He wanted them to die quickly. As soon as his knife went in, there was no chance of survival. There was no mercy! His cut was fast, accurate and confident; almost arrogant in a way.

Halia shook her head and closed the files. What would drive a person to such extremes? And why these particular women?

The women were found half n.a.k.e.d, but there were no signs of s.e.x.u.a.l activity. Did the killer simply enjoy looking?

...

Halia woke up early the next day. Unlike the day before, she was on the morning shift.

Mornings were a lot quieter in the emergency ward. After all, people were still waking up and weren't out and about getting themselves into trouble. As a result, most of the staff were gathered in the coffee room, fueling themselves with caffeine for the day.

As soon as Halia walked in, she heard some nurses discussing the news of Sara's death.

"She was only here for 3 weeks so I didn't even get a chance to really talk to her."

"She was a bit of a snob, to be honest. She only ever talked to the doctors; it was like we didn't exist."

Halia walked over to the three nurses that were chatting and introduced herself, "Hi, I'm Halia, I'm new here. Was the nurse on the news from this hospital?"

"Yes she was, in fact, I'm pretty sure you're her replacement."

Halia acted surprised, "Did she offend anyone? Why was she killed so brutally?"

"It's hard to say. We didn't know much about her. She only ever stuck around the doctors, especially the male ones. I don't mean to be disrespectful, but she seemed like quite a flirt," one of the nurses commented.

"Do you know which doctor's she spoke to the most?"

The nurse lifted her head and pointed to four doctors in the corner with her nose. She then asked curiously, "Why are you asking so much?"

"Just small talk. I'm new here, so I thought I'd join in the conversation."

The three nurses giggled and walked out with their coffees, "You're going to fit in fine. If you need any help, let us know."

Halia nodded before she turned back to look at the four doctors. There were three men and one woman. She decided to walk over to see what was happening. As she got closer, she realized it was Lily Lin; she was crying and three young doctors were comforting her. One of these doctors was Isaac Yan...