CARVED IN

Harroway wasn’t a big city but it wasn’t exactly small either. It was one of those towns in the middle of nowhere that seemed to be growing in population and infrastructure due to a recent oil boom. Unemployed men and their families from nearby towns were moving to Harroway to work where the starting pay was decent. The sun barely peaked across the horizon as the early morning mist settled upon the crime scene, detectives Landon Fletcher and Marissa Holt were surrounded by police officers, surveying Tapstone Hill Park. Barricaded from the public eye, yellow tape ran across the perimeter of the park and a red tape circled the epicenter of the crime itself. Their medical examiner, Dr. Eugene Wright, stood among the chaos, shaking his head grimly at the sight.

“What do we have Doc?” Landon asked slipping under the red tape that surrounded the already decomposing body.

“A grisly murder is what it looks like to me,” Dr. Wright mused. He walked over to the two detectives and grimaced. “It’s too early in the morning to be around a body.”

“What’s the estimated time of death?” Marissa questioned, wincing slightly at the ghastly smell that invaded the air.

“Taking into account the heat and the rate of decomposition, I’d say about 3 days,” Dr. Wright answered.

“You’re not going to like this… but I found something.” He said, motioning them to follow him as he turned the victim’s left arm over. A gruesome ‘M’ was carved on the inside of the victim’s left elbow, clotted blood haphazardly surrounded the jagged lines emblazoned the victim’s body.

“That’s the fourth one this month,” Marissa murmured as she looked over at her partner.

“But there were no consistencies between the first three victims except the ‘M’,” Landon argued.

“You thinking what I’m thinking?” Marissa questioned.

Dr. Wright cleared his throat, “I’m not sure what either of you are thinking… but I think you may have a serial killer on your hands.”

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While the detectives at Harroway were busy canvassing their crime scene, less exciting events were taking place outside the local bistro. Hailey and Rachel were preparing for an upcoming rummage sale.

“Thank you so much Hailey, you’re an angel,” Rachel praised as they finished sorting through the last of the goods. “Here, just wipe down that antique desk and put these newspapers by the glass counter, and then we’re done!” She exclaimed handing over some newspapers.

Hailey took the newspapers, looking through them as she made her way over to the antiques stall, the headlines splashed across the front-page reading:

“KILLER ‘M’ STRIKES AGAIN”

Paying no mind to the papers, she placed them by the counter moving on toward the antiques stall.

With a sigh she began emptying out the contents of the desk, wiping it thoroughly and polishing the faded wood. As she reached toward the bottle of wood polish, she dropped her cleaning rag, with a huff she bent down to retrieve the cloth when she spotted it. Concealed by the dark wood, a secret compartment beneath the main part of the desk.

“Now that’s unexpected,” she speculated.

The compartment was jammed shut. Grabbing a pencil she managed to shove it open, cracking the very frame of the hidden drawer, before the compartment itself succumbed to gravity and its contents spilled out. Amongst the dust and wood fragments was an olive green leather journal held tightly shut by a piece of string. It however was untouched by dust, unlike the other contents of the drawer and seemed to be weathered by use and age, an elegant ‘M’ embossed on it’s cover.

Curiously she unwound the leather journal, her fingers skimming over the neat penmanship as she read the first entry:

15/8

Greetings Dear friend, Today I murdered a man.

Joanna