The Hunt

"The Hunt" is a short story about detectives Cross and Crane investigating a double homicide. It was written in response to a prompt about a detective story.

The Hunt
Detective Joseph Cross had just walked into a crime scene. He was greeted by a fellow detective, Thomas Crane. They stood over two bodies, one male, one female.

"The victims have been dead for about 2 hours" Thomas said. "COD for both is multiple gunshot wounds to the chest and abdomen."

Joseph looked around. They were in an isolated area under a bridge.

"The woman was the intended target." he said.

"How do you figure?" Thomas asked.

"Look at how they're positioned. The woman is closer to the road, while the man is more out of sight. My guess is that the killer shot the woman, then noticed the man and wanted to avoid witnesses."

Joseph looked around again. The woman's pants don't have pockets, yet I don't see a purse anywhere. I think the killer stole it."

"This looks like a robbery gone wrong." Thomas replied.

"I'm going to take prints from the victims. Hopefully we can ID them that way." Joseph said.

Joseph and Thomas returned to the police station, where they got the results of the fingerprint analysis.

Thomas read the report, "The female victim's name is Christine Walter. She has an arrest record. Charges include prostitution and assault. The male victim wasn't identified."

"I think he was homeless." Joseph said, "That would explain why he was under the bridge and the state of his clothing."

"Good observation, doesn't tell us who he was."

The detectives went to check out the analysis. They were greeted by a CSI tech.

"The killer used a .357 caliber gun." She said, "Analysis of the bullets shows that a single gun was used."

"We didn't find any bullet casings on the ground." Joseph said, "Also, six shots were fired in total. I think a revolver was used."

"I only counted five shots." Thomas said.

"There was one in the wall behind the male victim. The killer missed once."

"So the killer shot Christine twice, then noticed the male victim and emptied his gun shooting at him." Thomas said.

Just then, Joseph and Thomas got notifications on their phones. The autopsies have been done.

The detectives entered the morgue and looked at the bodies. The M.E. began talking.

"Christine was shot twice in the chest. One shot pierced her left lung, the other straight through the heart. Instant death. John Doe on the other hand was shot three times. One shot pierced his kidney, another his liver, and the third his lung. He bled out pretty quickly after that."

"This information doesn't really help us." Joseph said.

"Well here's something interesting." The M.E. replied, "There is a tan line around John Doe's ring finger, and the skin is slightly torn."

"He was wearing a ring." Thomas said.

"Yep," The M.E said, "and the skin tearing was post-mortem. The killer must have taken it."

"Kind of weird that a homeless guy had a ring." Thomas said, "And it's even weirder that the killer took something from an incidental victim. I'd imagine that he'd want to get away from the crime scene as quickly as possible. Especially since the gunshots could have been heard by someone close by."

"It was a compulsion." Joseph said, "The killer had to take that ring. A trophy."

Joseph thought for a minute, "I think this is a serial killer."

"I think that's a leap in logic." Thomas said, "I'm going to talk to Christine's family and friends. They might know something."

"Well I'm going to look for similar murders." Joseph said.

Thomas later approached Joseph while he was doing research on his computer.

"Christine's family said that she didn't have any enemies, but they also admitted that they weren't very close with her."

"Well I've made progress." Joseph said, "Over the few months, there have been two other homicides with a .357 gun within a mile radius of our crime scene. No shell casings were found in either crime scene."

Thomas looked at Joseph's screen.

"The ballistic analysis doesn't match, these murders were all committed with different guns."

"All that means is that the killer isn't stupid. He knew that if he used the same gun the crimes would be easily connected. Look, the first victim was missing his necklace, but still had his wallet on him, and the second victim was missing one of her shoes. This is consistent with my trophy theory."

"Or the killers just grabbed whatever looked valuable."

"A shoe is valuable? We should check nearby gun stores to see if anyone bought the same type of gun multiple times."

"I doubt that someone smart enough to use different guns would leave a paper trail like that. He could obtain a gun in a myriad of untraceable ways."

"Well then we should talk to the families of the other victims, see if there's any overlap."

"Those other murders have already been investigated thoroughly, and I'm still not convinced that it's a serial killer."

"I'll investigate on my own." Joseph said, "I won't allow this killer to evade justice."

"You don't care about justice as much as you're afraid of failure."

"What are you talking about?"

"You constantly have to win at everything." Thomas said.

"That's not true."

"You spent over twice the allotted amount on your Secret Santa gift because you needed to make sure yours was the best!"

"How did you know which present was from me?"

"Because you asked me where you could get a good Smart Toaster, remember?"

"Whatever. Look, I'm going to investigate all these murder with or without you."

"I'm going back to the crime scene. Maybe we missed something."

"Very well." Joseph said, and the two detectives parted.

Joseph's investigation into the second victim didn't give him new information. She was a drug dealer/addict who had been found shot three times in the chest. The first victim however intrigued Joseph. The other victims where poor and lived near the area they were killed. Alan Morgan on the other hand was a well off man who lived in a much more wealthy part of the city. Investigators at first were confused as to why in was in a poor neighborhood, but an autopsy showed that there were narcotics in his system. He had been there to buy drugs. What interested Joseph was the violence of the murder. Alan had been shot six times in the neck, abdomen, and chest. Joseph considered that it was a revenge killing.

Joseph pulled into the driveway of Alan's brother, Kevin Morgan. Joseph knocked on the door, which was opened by Kevin's wife, Anita.

"Hello ma'am, I'm Detective Cross. I'm investigating the murder of your brother-in-law, and I was wondering if I could as you and your husband some questions."

"Alan was killed months ago. There was already an investigation." Anita said.

"I have reason to believe that Alan was the victim of a serial killer. That's why I reopened the case."

"Oh god." Anita said, " Well Kevin is on a business trip but I'd gladly answer your questions detective. Please, come in."

Joseph and Anita sat down in the living room.

"Do you recognize any of these people?" Joseph asked, showing her pictures of the other victims.

"Sorry but no."

"Did you know about Alan's drug problems?" "I had my suspicions," Anita said, "but his problem didn't seem to affect his life."

"After his death, was there anyone who seemed less affected then they should have been? A close family member indifferent to it?"

"No, it seemed to me that everyone acted how you'd expect."

Joseph asked a few more questions before getting up.

"Thank you for your time ma'am." he said.

He was disappointed. He hadn't learned anything new. As he opened his car door, something caught his eye. There was a piece of ground next to the house that was altered. Joseph walked over to examine it. There was a hidden door in the ground. It was very hard to see, and Joseph felt lucky having noticed something when he did. Joseph looked around to make sure nobody saw him, and opened the door to see that is covered a hole in the ground. Inside, Joseph saw something shocking, a cheap cloth purse. He opened it, but there was nothing inside to identify the owner. However, Joseph did find a tube of lipstick, unmistakably the same shade Christine Walter was wearing. Joseph looked back into the hole and saw a women's sneaker, a silver necklace, and a golden wedding band. Joseph picked it up and looked inside it. "Nicholas and Michelle Anderson" was engraved inside. Joseph was sure that he had just found the killer's trophies. He was a bit confused as to why they were hidden outside, but he decided not to worry about that now. Joseph noticed that there was a nail sticking through the bottom of the door. There was dried blood on it. The killer must have cut themselves on it. Joseph took a sample, but he needed something to compare it to. Joseph saw the trash can next to the house. He grudgingly rolled up his sleeves and began digging through it. Finally he found something, a pink toothbrush. It must be Anita's. Joseph took it as well.

"So let me get this straight, you illegally snooped around the house, and then dug through their trash?"

"Well, technically the trash part wasn't illegal." Joseph said, "you believe me now right? This has to be a serial killer."

Thomas sighed, "I've got to admit, you were right. Those definitely sound like exactly what was taken from the victims."

Joseph received a notification.

"The DNA test is done. This could prove that Anita is the killer."

Joseph looked at his phone surprised.

"Not a match huh?" Thomas said.

"No, it's a half match." Joseph said.

Thomas logged onto his computer and did a quick search.

"Anita and Kevin's adult son, Alex Morgan, still lives with them. It has to be him."

Joseph nodded, "That also explains why the trophies were hidden outside, Alex couldn't keep them in the same house as his parents."

Thomas sighed, "Unfortunately, our only evidence was obtained illegally, so there's no way we can get a warrant to arrest him."

"Maybe we can bluff, and trick Alex intro incriminating himself."

Thomas thought for a minute, "I've got a better idea."

"Good afternoon Mrs. Morgan. This is my partner, Detective Crane. We're here because we have strong reason to believe that Alan's killer lives in this house."

"That's ridiculous." Anita said.

"Maybe, but we're here to you if we can search the property. If we can't find anything, we'll leave you alone."

"I guess that's ok." Anita said, "I've got nothing to hide."

"Thank you so much." Thomas said, "We'll start with the outside of the house. We promise this won't take long."

Anita went inside. Thomas and Joseph then went to the hole and bagged all the evidence. They also took another sample from the bloody nail. They then went to see Anita in the living room.

Josepha spoke to Anita, "Mrs. Morgan, we found a secret compartment next to your house filled with items that look like objects stolen from the victims of our murder investigation. We got a DNA sample of the compartment, and we would like to ask you to consent to a DNA test to check with the sample."

Anita was shocked, "How could this be? There's no way anyone in my family could have killed anyone!"

Joseph held up Alan's necklace, "I'm sorry, but it looks that way."

"I'll give you a DNA sample if you want." Anita said with a shaky voice.

"Oh shoot." Thomas said, "I left the sampling kit outside. I'll go get it." Thomas exited the house and picked up the kit, but as he turned around he was facing down the barrel of a gun.

"Who else knows?" Alex asked.

"Everyone." Thomas said, "The police already have all the evidence they need to put you away for life. Just tell me, why's you do it Alex?"

"Everyone thought my uncle was a great guy, but for years he'd go into drug fueled rages and beat me. Nobody knew about it. So I followed him to the place he bought his drugs, and I killed him. For the first time in a long time, I didn't feel like a victim. Killing made me feel good, so I kept…"

Just then, Thomas grabbed onto Alex's gun. There was a struggle for it and the revolver fired. Thomas managed to knock the weapon out of Alex's hands. Thomas drew his own firearm, but as he did Alex grabbed a large stick off the ground and struck Thomas over the head. Thomas fell to the ground. Alex then started sprinting towards the woods behind the house. Joseph ran out of the house at that moment and took aim at Alex. However, Alex was already far away. Joseph fired, and hit Alex in the shoulder. Alex kept running and disappeared into the woods. Joseph called for backup and ordered for patrolling officers to be on the lookout. Joseph helped Thomas sit up.

"Take it easy, you could have a concussion."

"I think I'm ok. Sorry I couldn't stop him."

"No, it's my fault. I should have been faster. Or more accurate."

"It's ok. His identity is exposed, it's only a matter of time before he's caught."

"No, it's not ok. I let a serial killer get away. Someone else could get hurt because I wasn't skilled enough."

The paramedics confirmed that Thomas didn't have a concussion, just minor injuries. The police were on high alert city wide, but Alex managed to slip under the radar. That night Joseph and Thomas went to a bar near the station.

Joseph drank a glass of whiskey.

"A drink to failure." he said.

"This is what I'm talking about," Thomas said, "you can never leave good enough alone. We solved the case, well actually you solved the case, and the killer's face is being broadcast everywhere."

"The only way to guarantee that someone is caught is for them to already be caught."

"Why can't you just take a partial victory?"

"It probably has something to do with my mother."

"Not all psychology is Freudian."

"No, I mean my mother always pushed me to win at everything. She would never be happy if I won second place. She would accept no less than perfection."

"That's kind of disturbing. Look, you insisted on investigating your serial killer theory. Now, thanks to you, two cold cases were solved and four families have closure. You did great."

Joseph smiled, "Thanks Thomas. Maybe I should take what I got."

"They also identified the homeless guy thanks to the ring you found. Nick Anderson lost his job and home after his wife died. And now he ended up at the wrong place at the wrong time. Kind of a tragic end to a tragic story huh?"

"Wasn't this all tragic ends to tragic stories? A closeted junkie beat his nephew and made him feel so weak that he resorted to murder to feel strong. A woman lost all her money to her addiction and resorted to selling drugs, then ended up getting shot three times. Another woman ended up resorting to prostitution then was shot to death under a bridge. Not to mention Anita and Kevin, who have to live with the fact that their only child murdered four people."

Thomas sighed, "This job can make you see the world as a lot darker than it really is, but it's important to remember that there is still a lot of good in the world, like alcohol."

Joseph laughs, and Thomas orders another round.

"Look, a lot of stories end tragically, it's inevitable. But we have to make sure that tragedy strikes as few as possible. And hey, even though you won't win every time, you can still try to make sure that your story has a happy ending."