02

The piercing ring tone from her mobile phone made her jump, stubbing her toe against the glass table right in front of the couch she had fallen asleep in. She looked around hesitantly, confused about how she got on the couch, how she was still in her working clothes, and why her phone sounded so utterly violent in her ears. She felt the immediate ache in her head, something she was used to waking up to, but the pain she felt at the time threatened to split her head. She put her hands on both sides of her head and squeezed her eyes shut. She answered the call. 

"Hey, kiddo, what’s up?" --- 

"Hi...umm, Chief Tador is asking for you, and he’s boiling with rage". --- 

"Huh? Why?" 

"There's been yet another... Angel of Death" incident." 

"Huh? Wait... what? Already?" 

"Hmm... yes." 

"Alright. Text me the location" 

"Oh-don’t worry about that; I’m parked right in front of your house" --- hangs up. 

Shirley dropped the phone and sighed hard. She stood up and knocked over an empty wine bottle as she staggered towards the refrigerator. 

"Wine...?" 

She wondered as she approached her target. She reached for the top of the refrigerator, pulled out an aspirin container, and popped three tablets into her mouth. She grabbed a bottle of water and finished it in one gulp. She took out her mobile phone almost immediately. 

"I see you’ve been drinking wine without me." --- She texted Gehrig. 

"Oh-hmm... What can I say? "Last night was a long one."--- He replied straight away. 

"I know, right? " 

"Ha… Wait a sec. What are you doing up? You should be sleeping like a baby right now. Get back to bed!" Gehrig ordered.

"I really should be sleeping. My head is killing me! But there’s been another homicide. " 

"Wow... I wouldn’t want to be you. LOL." 

"I don't want to be me sometimes, but I have to catch the bastard. Anyways, I have to go. " 

"Okay, babe. Catch you tonight." ---------------------------------------------------

Shirley took a hesitant look at herself; to her, it felt pretty wrong to go to work with yesterday’s clothes, and, more importantly, without taking a bath. But what choice did she have? She had been sent for by her raging boss. She raised her arms high and directed her nose to both sides of her armpits. 

"Oh..." she said and smirked, and nodded --- feeling impressed with herself. 

Shirley came out of the house after a few minutes. She had popped a couple of more aspirin pills before leaving the house. Her head still throbbed. She could barely look at anything for more than five seconds without feeling light-headed. 

"You look… awful, Agent Shirley," Az said as soon as Shirley approached her. 

"Oh well... thank you, Az Cap," replied Shirley. 

"No, no. I didn’t mean it like that. I intended to say -- " 

"I understand what you mean; don't worry. I know I look awful, and I feel awful as well. " 

Az Cap chuckled lightly: Shall we? 

"You're the boss," Shirley responded amusingly.

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Azriel Capoue, or as Shirley liked to call her, AZ CAP, was able to charm the entire police force the moment she was recruited. Everyone had taken a liking to her even before they knew her name – not only because she was a beauty whose hair was like a massive black curly bush that surrounded two unbelievably deepcolored blue wide eyes; or the faintly dotted freckles on her cheeks, only visible in the sunshine; or the cute pointed nose; or the neatly arranged white teeth in her mouth; or her voice which sounded like a caress of a rose petal around the concha. All of these were indeed factors that admittedly helped, but mainly, it was because she was humble and respectful --- the true definition of a peaceful and pleasant young girl. Everyone in the force took her as their little sister, always trying to provide support and protect her, even without her asking for it. They didn’t allow her to carry out certain cases that they felt were too dangerous until she was assigned to Shirley and Ackermann. Even with that, she was like an agent in training, because she was monitored by the two. Someone would easily mistake her for their daughter. There was always at least one person who would bring her a caffè latte every morning; one day, she got so many lattes that even after sharing with everyone else at the precinct, there were more that went to waste. But more kept coming as the days kept passing. During lunch, she’d have to decide who to go out with, because almost everyone had already asked her. But she rotated the roaster frequently so that she could spend time with everyone. Azriel was practically the “Princess” of the precinct.

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Azriel and Shirley got to the crime scene after about half an hour. Azriel parked the car in front of the jewelry store, which was directly opposite the apartment building where the homicide took place. The front of the apartment was swarmed with reporters who were ready for questioning and drama. 

She tapped Azriel on the shoulder and pointed to the jewelry shop: That’s our next stop.

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They both passed through the press almost unrecognized until someone realized that the white-haired detective with the red scarf was in their midst. 

"Special Agent Mortis...! Special Agent Mortis...!" --- He cried. Shirley quickened her steps immediately after she heard her name being called. She got to the officer guarding the barricade, showed him her badge, and crossed hastily as if she was running for her life. 

Azriel followed. 

"They almost had you there!" she jested. 

"I know, right? I barely escaped my execution", Shirley joked. 

"I saw how quickly you bolted -- The funniest thing I have ever seen in my entire life," Azriel laughed hard. 

"Oh, shut up. It wasn't that funny". 

They spotted Chief Tador and an officer having a silent chat down the hall, in front of a wide opened door. 

Shirley: Chief... Sorry for keeping you waiting. 

Chief Tador: What have you guys been up to during these past years? 

Shirley: um--I don't get the question...

Chief Tador: You've been looking for this psychopath for years and haven't found a single lead. All you do is clean up his mess for him. With your talents, I thought you were the right one for the job, but that seems not to be the case. 

Shirley: Sir… What’s there to do? He leaves no trace, he does no mistakes. 

Chief Tador: I know that, and that’s why I gave this case to you. You and Ackermann are the best in the force, and I expected more from you guys. 

Shirley: Sir, we are trying… 

Chief Tador: Well, try harder! Before I take you both off the case. Shirley: …. 

Shirley sighed.

Chief Tador: Now, let's go in and tell me what happened. 

The chief walked into the room angrily.

Shirley understood how the Chief felt, and she wasn’t at all pissed after all the yelling. But it wasn’t like they weren’t doing their job right, or just being lazy. The killer made absolutely no mistakes when he was on his tasks. There’d been only one report of the killer’s sight since he started his killing, and even that report was just the night before, from Matilda Amber’s neighbor. 

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"The mother put her two-year-old daughter to sleep and goes into her room to get some herself. She sleeps peacefully for some time but starts to feel uneasiness, which causes her to wake up. She finds herself in an unbelievable situation the moment she opens her eyes. She'd been restrained in a chair behind the dining table. She sees someone standing at the other side of the dining table, holding her daughter and glaring at her. She gets frightened. She tries to scream for help, but can’t get her lips to part. The more she tries to get her mouth open, the more unbearable the pain became. The killer had glued her lips together. She starts weeping because she has a fair idea of what is about to happen, but she doesn’t know why. She stares hesitantly into the killer's eyes, trying to get an explanation from him, but he most certainly doesn’t feel like chatting --- he only came to perform his task. The killer sets the baby on his side of the table, and goes into the kitchen; the child still sleeping, peacefully. He returns a moment with a rope and one of her own kitchen knives. He Puts the knife beside the baby and starts winding the rope around the neck, unhurriedly, so she doesn’t wake up. The mother starts struggling --- forcefully making efforts to get free from the constriction; trying to let out a scream, but all her strives prove futile. Loads of tears dripping down from her face, She tries to use her eyes to plead, but the killer isn’t moved, because that’s what he wants: to see his victims in pain and torment. The killer throws the other end of the rope across the ceiling fan after he’s done winding it around the baby’s neck. The mother again starts struggling, unable to believe what is about to happen to her two-year-old daughter. The killer grins at her and forcefully pulls down the robe. The baby gets startled and wakes from her sleep in mid-air. The child is frightened and unable to breathe, her face and eyes start reddening. The mother begins to part her mouth forcefully, trying to scream and get help. She manages to part just the corners of her lips, but that’s not close to being enough. She tries harder, and the layers of her lips keep tearing and she bleeds angrily. The pain was unbearable, but she wouldn’t mind. She finally manages to part her mouth, but she’s a little too late --- the girl had already stopped struggling. The woman even after trying so hard, didn’t find the will and strength to scream for help anymore; she kept staring at her daughter’s lifeless body. The killer picks up the knife and gets behind her. He pulls the mother's head behind so that they face each other; her eyes upwards and his’ downwards. She stares into the killer’s eyes for a moment and then closes her eyes. The killer places the sharp edge of the knife at the corner of her cheek and starts cutting. He cuts from the left cheek to the right side cheek, making her lower jaw almost fall. The mother, even in pain remained still. The killer then dissects her and takes his trophy; the heart, moments after she dies. He writes on the wall as he always does.” Shirley described after careful examination+. Everyone in the room remained quiet after her vivid description of what happened. It was the very first time the Angel of Death had killed a child, and that left them very disturbed and shocked. She had fully understood why Chief Tador was so angry; because she was filled with rage and disgust. The Angel of Death had gone too far