Episode 6: Total Blasphemy

Blasphemy:

-the act or offense of speaking sacrilegiously about God or sacred things; profane talk.

••••

Detective Inspector Michael Fox walks out of the church's double door uncomfortably while the two agents, Agent Violet and Agent Eric, walk behind him.

"Detective Inspector, I would like to ask, how was every Saint's statues at the Church of Eden shot in the head? By whom?"

"We don't know yet. We have been looking for this matter but we have to (inaudible)," the detective's voice was muffled by the reporters' voices, eagerly wanting to get a scoop for the crime scene.

"But Detective Inspector, how was the priest killed? Was that a crime made by a man or it's the spirits? Was he possessed by the devil?" said the other reporter as he spoke simultaneously with the Detective.

"But what about the mass killings? All of the people who went to the mass were killed, and the suspect runs free. Are the people safe, Detective Inspector?"

"We don't know yet." Detective Inspector Michael Fox gave an exasperated sigh. There were no traces of the killer so the police were stressed out. "There's no suspect we have found yet, but we're looking for him...or her-- there has to be one."

"Actually, we have a lead." Violet intervenes. The detective looked at her and Agent Eric as Eric just smiled smugly. The reporters went silent for a bit.

"What do you mean you have a lead?" Detective Inspector Fox quoted his hands in the air.

"Was the case passed to the FBI?" one of the reporters asked.

"Uhm, what are you doing here?" the detective asked, ignoring the question of the reporter. He's not really convinced with the FBI taking part in the case.

"Clear the scene. We have to investigate." Violet instructed the police, showing her gold badge. The police officers get the reporters away from the crime scene and they walked towards their car. Eric handed her a pair of blue protective gloves from the glove box.

"Oh, come on!" The detective inspector threw his hands in the air in frustration. "You can't just walk around the crime scene and show-off your golden badges! Why are you here and who is the suspect?" He half-shouted, half-whispered to the two agents.

"Take a guess, Mr. Fox. Come on, you're better than that," said a teasing Violet to the young detective.

"What are you talking about?" The confused detective asked.

"Observe, my dear Fox. Take a look at your surrounding, and you will know. You should sleep." She tapped his shoulder encouraging him to go. Violet can see the eyebags under his eyes, then she looked at what he's wearing. "You have been wearing those clothes since yesterday, you don't bother changing, considering the coffee drippings that stained your black shirt underneath that coat." She looked at his slightly bent down back, "You have been sitting on your desk all night because you can't get up and go home due to the paperwork you have to pass." Then she looked at his lips. "You only have burnt toast since this morning. The dark crumbs at the side of your lips and the rumbling of your stomach said so. Go on, grab a sandwich, then get back to me."

"Mr. Fox, why don't you go ahead and bring us some coffee while we investigate? After grabbing some late-night brunch and dinner, of course." Agent Eric stopped Detective Inspector Fox from following them. He looked at the retreating back of Violet going towards the altar, he then faces the detective. "We will be taking over for this case. Thank you for nothing, and goodnight."

"What?" Detective Inspector Fox was confused. "Tell your partner that she has to stop doing that and stop showing off!"

"Always be the smartest guy in the room, Detective Inspector," Eric smirked. "That's what agents do-- show-off," he tapped the detective's shoulder and jogged towards Agent Violet.

"So, based on the blood splatters that I have seen, my analysis is that our suspect shot everyone's head from back there," Ari, the forensic scientist, points to the church's double doors and walked towards the aisle in between the seats, "then walked towards here; to the altar; shot the priest's head; shot the statues' heads and walked out of the church."

"The bullets fired. Have you sent it to the lab?" Eric asked Ari as she fixed her glasses.

"Yes. It was sent to the lab and hopefully, we'll have the results later in the morning," answered Ari.

"You missed something, Ari." Violet looked at the small piece of ceramic that was on the foot of the altar. There were also crumbs of ceramic that were far from where the statues are.

"What? What is it?" Ari asked.

"It's the crumbs. And this piece of ceramic that was left behind." Eric pointed out. "Looks like someone fought back to our suspect and threw a piece of statue made out of this ceramic. And from the direction where it landed, that someone is him." Eric pointed to the young man wearing a white dress that some altar boys wear during the mass. The white clothing was now painted red with his own blood.

Violet walked towards the side doors of the church. She noticed a small smear of blood on the sliding door's handle. "Ari," she called for the forensic scientist. "Get me a sample of this and take a look at it. Give me the result as soon as possible. This will lead us to the true killer."

"Okay." Ari hurried to grab her things and get the sample of the blood from the door's handle.

"The fuck?" Eric swore. He noticed strange lines that were written with black ink on the statues' necks. "I think it's morse code."

"Interesting." Violet took a look at the lines. Every statue has it. She stuck her nose closer to the statue's neck, sniffing and smelling the ink that was used to write the morse code. "The lines were written with black broad marker."

The codes written on the statues were like this:

-.

-

....

--

..-

--

.

-.--

...

.-

-.-.

....

.-.

NTHMUMEYSACHR

Violet smirked. She turned her head and looked around. Her gaze landed on the chrysanthemums that were lying on the feet of Jesus. She walked towards it and held the chrysanthemums in her hand. A white card was tied with a brown string on the flowers' stem. A quote was printed on the card.

Where there is no belief, there is no blasphemy.

-Salman Rushdie

"Montenaro, do you remember Siobhan Clarke?" Violet asked Eric.

"The one who killed every family member that lives at the house his father owned? The one we haven't caught?" Eric asked to which Violet nods in agreement.

"Oh my God, the serial killer?" Ari asked baffled.

"Yes. This was so him. That's why I said we have a lead. Only Clarke can make this kind of heinous crime. I know the man."

"Hey! This is a crime scene. You shouldn't be here!" They all turned their heads to the back door that swung open. Walking out of the door was Siobhan Clarke himself.

"Hi!" the Irish man said with a sing-songy voice. "Oh, I see you've seen my message." Siobhan walked towards them.

"Hey! Don't go near. Hands up!" Eric held his gun pointing to where Siobhan is.

Siobhan comically nods and held his hands up. You can see the gun that was stuck on his waist at the side of his pants. Police quickly grabbed Siobhan's gun.

"Long time no see." Siobhan smiled.

Siobhan had a huge cut on his forehead. Violet looked at him and started her analysis.

Huge cut on his forehead and cheeks, from the blunt force of the ceramic that the altar boy throws at him. Dry skin, wrinkles, and acne were visible on his face. His clothes are all black including his shoes. She can't smell alcohol and drugs from him. He just kills not because he's stoned or drunk, but because of the fun. A thrill kill. A premeditated or random act of murder that is motivated by the sheer excitement of the act.

"Have you turned the card over, Agent Violet?" Siobhan spoke as he was handcuffed by Eric. Eric looked at her with confusion as she flipped the card over.

Aren't you a pretty flower?

Деймон Иванов x

Just as Violet was about to say something, Siobhan Clarke magically removed his handcuffs and run with Agent Eric and Agent Violet rushing hot in his wheels.

Siobhan jumped at the fence and the two agents ran after him. He turns left at the narrow street and jumped at every house's fences, rolling and tripping at every house's lawns.

Violet kept her pace and grabbed her handgun, aiming at Siobhan's leg. She shot his leg and the suspect tumbled to the ground. Agent Eric removed his tie and ties Siobhan's hand on his back. Violet gave him her handcuff and Eric put it on the suspect's hand. He did not remove his necktie that was tied to Siobhan's hand, for assurance that he will not magically free himself from the handcuffs.

Violet's hair loosens from running. "Fuck," she mumbled when she can't see any hair tie inside her pockets.

Eric looked at her. Violet looked hot. He imagined what she would look like in sexy lingerie.

He shook his head and erased Violet's sexy image on his head. He treats Violet like a friend. But yes, he is attracted.

"Why? Why get yourself involved with Damon, Siobhan?" Violet asked Siobhan, interrupting Eric's wild imagination. Violet just let her chestnut brown hair flowing with the night's cold air.

Siobhan looked at her and smugly smiled, "Elementary, my dear agent. He wants you. He wants to see you die, Agent Violet. He wants your attention. And I want it too, besides the money, of course. Every single head that I'll blow has a counterpart of 5 grand. Imagine how much would that be if I killed a hundred? I've only killed forty. Damn."

Eric punched Siobhan's face and blood comes rushing out of his mouth and leg. FBI now took care of the serial murderer.

"No need for the laboratory results. We've got the killer." Eric laughed as he draped his arm on Violet's shoulder. "Wasn't chrysanthemums symbolizes encouragement? Why did he use it for relaying the message to you?"

"For us, chrysanthemums symbolize encouragement. But in Europe, chrysanthemums are viewed as a symbol of death. Damon has been annoying me these days. I can't get the fucker out of my nerves. He just sent me a letter lately saying that I should catch him if I can. He uses cryptography when sending messages. He wants to be mysterious and I don't bloody know why he does that. It looks like he was setting these crimes up for my attention. He knows I love a good crime. And now we wait. We'll wait for his next move." Violet sighed and sat on a bench outside the church. The police were still there, clearing up the crime scene and stopping the reporters from crashing.

"We'll catch him, Violet. I know someday we will." Eric assured her, wanting to protect her, wanting to protect the world.