5

36 hours before recent events.

- Hey Blake! To the challenge! Urgently! shouted a short, stocky man in a police uniform.

- What happened again? said the young man. Dark hair, above average height, very muscular.

- You won't believe it: we have murder again!

Blake sighed heavily.

- This is the fourth one this week. At this rate, I will soon form a blockage.

- Don't worry, you're one of the best detectives in our district! So pack up and let's go!

"All right," he said doomedly, rising from his chair. - Do you know anything about the victim?

- Nothing, except that it's a girl again. Fourth girl this week. I wonder who needed to kill them in such a cruel way?

- I do not know. He shrugged, spreading his arms slightly out to the sides.

The men left Detective Jonathan Black's office. The best in the business. On his account there was not a single unsolved crime for all four years that he worked in the police.

Many of his colleagues were surprised: how does he always manage to find the culprit?! But Black did not reveal his secrets to anyone. Nobody ever.

By the way, how are you feeling? - asked his partner.

Steve Cole - John's partner, short, heavyset, with a bald patch on his head. A round face, with plump cheeks, a slightly crooked nose, apparently someone broke it in his youth, a narrow upper and slightly plump lower lip.

He himself was a cheerful and benevolent person. In general, it was surprising how he ended up in the police, and even more so how he was put as a partner to John, because Steve could not stand the sight of blood, and their work is not the most pleasant: sometimes there is too much blood, not to mention severed limbs.

Steve was dressed in a police uniform. Although he was John's partner, he preferred to wear not civilian clothes, like Black, but corresponding to the status of a defender of law and order. And after all, he absolutely couldn’t prove that it’s not about how you look, but about what you do for people. A man stubborn in some things.

John, on the contrary, preferred to wear civilian clothes, fortunately, the title of the best detective in the district allowed him such liberties. Now he was wearing a black T-shirt that hugged his muscular body like a second skin; jeans of the same color, emphasizing the muscularity of his thighs; comfortable sneakers, also black for some reason. In general, John always preferred this color. And almost his entire wardrobe was just like that. But, of course, the main attribute was the detective badge that hung around his neck. His pride and burden at the same time.

- Feeling good? he asked Steve. - Yes, no change. All the same. It's been five years, but I still can't remember anything. I try every day, but to no avail. I think it's time to end this, because if after so many years the memories have not returned to me, then most likely they will never return.

- I'm sorry, John. I'm really sorry that this happened to you. You've been in our department for four years now, two of which we've been partners, but seeing you torment yourself every day is hard, even for me. And what can we say about you? You're probably right, maybe it's worth letting go of this situation. Who knows, maybe when you relax and get distracted, stop constantly exhausting yourself, trying to remember at least something, the memory will return?! - supported his partner Steve.

"Yeah, that would be nice," John said wearily.

They had just left the building and were heading to their company car.

- You know, Steve, on the one hand, I really want my memory to return to me, but on the other hand ... - he trailed off, and Steve did not interrupt him.

They silently got into the car. John is behind the wheel, and Cole is next to him. Fastening his seat belts and starting the engine, Black finally finished speaking:

- On the other hand, maybe it's not for nothing that I lost my memory? Who knows what happened to me if part of my consciousness refuses to remember it? What if in the past I did something so terrible that...

“I don't think it was really like that, John. In the two years that we've been partners, I've gotten to know you well. And I'll tell you what: you're a good person! And you definitely could not have done something out of the ordinary in your life. You are a responsive, responsible, reliable friend and comrade! I couldn't, do you hear me? Such a person could not do something bad. So take it easy! And the memory... Well, if it still doesn't come back to you, then it's destined to be! And you have a chance to start your life from scratch!

Steve frowned and folded his arms across his chest, signaling to John that he didn't want to talk about this anymore.

Smiling warmly at his partner's reaction, Black said:

- Good. Let it be the way it is. I won't try to remember anymore. If it is destined, I will remember everything, but if not, then ... So, so be it. Now let's go to the crime scene.

- Here, for a long time so! - cheered up, exclaimed Cole.

And they drove away from the police building, heading for a call. To where the body of another murdered young girl was waiting for them.

Forty minutes later the men were in the right place. The outskirts of the city, the backwoods, into which rarely anyone climbs. There is not a single residential building nearby, but there were about ten abandoned ones, and all were distant from each other.

Good thing it was the middle of the day. If it were night, it would have been difficult, because the lighting here was tense.

John turned off the engine, and he and Steve got out of the car and approached the crime scene.

There was already a duty group on site, which reported the murder.

- Good afternoon, officers. Whats up? Steve asked, not even looking in the direction of the corpse.

He knew that there was a lot of blood, the sight of which made him uncomfortable. John at this time was already examining the corpse.

- Good afternoon, Detectives Black and Cole. We've got the body of a young girl here, about twenty, twenty-three years old. No documents were found on her. Judging by the nature of the wounds inflicted, she was first cut with knives, because the cuts were of different diameters and depths, and then some animal, most likely a dog, was set on her. Moreover, a dog of a large fighting breed ...

"No," John said confidently. - They didn't cut her. These are the claw marks of some large predator. And what is surprising: on the body of the victim, like the previous ones, there is a bite in the neck, on the artery itself. It was definitely murder, but...” John paused for a moment, nervously rubbing the bridge of his nose, “it wasn't a human who killed her.

- What do you mean by that, Black? That she was attacked by a well-trained animal? This is nonsense! Not a single animal will do to a person what was done to all the victims, Cole objected to him.

“But did you notice that all the injuries on this girl’s body are similar to the wounds inflicted on previous victims?” Exactly the same marks from the claws and in the same place a bite in the cervical artery. Steve, this beast has been specially trained to kill, or it's not a beast, but a person who is trying to disguise his crimes as a large predator.

- Is that what a moral freak you have to be to do this to girls? Steve was indignant, still not looking in the direction of the dead woman.

I don't know, but I have a feeling that I've experienced this before. Long ago, even before he lost his memory. The corpses of these girls clearly remind me of something, but what?! - Black squatted down next to the body of the murdered girl. - We need to call forensic specialists here so that they thoroughly examine the body and report the results to me personally. I think I'm right in my assumptions.

"I don't even know which is better... A beast that is trained in a certain way, or a person trying to imitate a beast?" - Steve said quietly, nevertheless looking back and looking at the body of the murdered woman.

The sight of the mangled body and the huge pool of blood around her made Cole feel sick, and in a moment he was already turning inside out.

“Yes, Steve, you need to train your stomach,” John said with a grin, getting up from his haunches and moving away from the body. - And yes, it would be better if we were both wrong. Let it be just a large predator that came out of the forest strip in search of food. Otherwise we have big problems. Very big.

Steve somehow recovered and, wiping his mouth with a handkerchief, which he took out of his inner pocket, said:

- How nice it would be if everyone lived peacefully and amicably. No violence, no murder! Oooh, this is just my dream!

Let's get to work, dreamer! Black said cheerfully. - We need to try to find at least some witnesses.

- What? - Steve asked, rounding his not very expressive brown eyes. Are you out of your mind, John? What witnesses? Yes, here is the wilderness!

- So what? You need to check out the surroundings. After all, no personal belongings were found with the corpse! There is a possibility that the killer could have taken them. Well, if it was a person. In short, this possibility should not be ruled out. You never know.

Steve looked at Black with displeasure.

- Okay, you can see. After all, it's you we have here the coolest and blah blah blah detective.

"Cole," John replied mockingly, "don't be angry. You see, you yourself know everything!

“Yes, you,” his partner said, also smiling. - You're like that all the time. Well, here's how to talk seriously with you, if you're trying to translate our, mind you, serious conversation into a joke.

- A joke? John's expression was as if he didn't understand anything. - Who's joking here? Show me this man! I will arrest him immediately for inappropriate behavior during the investigation!

He pursed his lips, frowned, at the same time raising his right eyebrow up and began to look around in search of, apparently, the very violator of the order. At the moment, he did not look menacing, but rather comical.

- Where are you?

- John, - already frankly smiling in his entire mouth, Steve said, - well, that's enough already. Okay, you got it, let's test your theory. Suddenly, we really find something!

Black immediately returned to his normal expression.

- Well, here it is ... - he did not have time to finish, as he was distracted by the noise that came from one of the abandoned houses.

- What is it, John? - immediately alerted his partner.

"I don't know yet," he replied. - All right, let's split up. You will go in that direction, and I will go there, - the man said, pointing in the very direction from which he heard the noise. The most interesting thing was that no one else, except John, heard this noise, because no one had the feature that Black had: to hear what other people cannot hear unless they are near the noise being made; see even in pitch darkness, without having a flashlight with you; the reaction of his body, which was much faster than that of an ordinary person, and the strength that any man could envy. He could do what others could not. And that is why he has always been the best in the entire police department.

"Okay," Cole replied, and they split up and went in different directions.

John went towards the abandoned houses. He had the feeling that something was leading him there. Intuition told him that it was dangerous there, very dangerous, but it was there that he could find answers to very important questions for himself.