Chapter Text
"Kat, I don't know if I can put this on you. This case is more...intense...than a wafer clock hand. People have died, Kat."
"Inspector, I've dealt with murder before. Please don't underestimate me."
"Fine. Just... please be respectful when interviewing them, alright? They're broken. They've lost everything."
"Of course. Good luck on your side of the case, inspector."
Katrielle was met with a quick click on the other line as she set the phone down. She took a deep breath before regaining her usual chipper smile, her default 'professional' expression. It was 9:30 AM as of now, the early hours of the agency's opening time. Ernest should be in the agency's kitchen by now, preparing some tea.
Sherl was asleep on the main room's couch, snoring, yipping and growling in his slumber.
"Good morning , Sherl." Kat spoke. Sherl grumbled quietly before popping his head up, one of his floppy ears flipping over his head.
"Morning, Kat." He said tiredly.
Katrielle leaned over to straighten his long ear.
"Have you had breakfast?" She lifted his ear up and whispered, earning an annoyed bark from Sherl as he jerked away from her.
"Can't do that in my sleep, can I?" He said, free from her annoying touch.
"I beg to differ. I've done that plenty of times." Katrielle giggled a bit. Sherl huffed.
"You're more abnormal than a talking dog, Kat. You need to curve your habits."
"I'll consider that, Sherl." She chuckled.
"Ah, Good morning, Miss!" Ernest's voice rang as he opened the kitchen door with his hip, holding a tray of tea and
scones. Right on cue, just as Kat liked.
Katrielle smiled as she looked at him. "Good morning!" She chirped.
"Have you eaten?" She asked as she took a scone.
"Haha, of course, Miss!" Ernest set the tray down on the table in front of the couch.
"Perfect. I have some news." She said as she grabbed today's newspaper.
She unrolled the paper and revealed the front page of the paper to Ernest and Sherl.
"We'll be investigating this!" She grinned.
Ernest raised an eyebrow and tilted his head.
"The Valentine's day sale at the bakeshop, Miss?" He asked in confusion.
Kat blinked and looked at the paper.
"Oh, how did that make front page? Hold on." She flipped through the pages.
"Ah, this." She held out the paper again to the other two and Sherl nodded.
"Ah, that seems more illegal."
"Indeed. Wait, murder?!" Ernest gasped.
"Murder indeed, Ernest." Katrielle nodded. "Specifically, The 'Star-Crossed' killings."
Ernest swallowed. "Star crossed killings, Miss?"
"Mm-hm!" Katrielle nodded. "A series of murders committed by 'The Matchmaker', a killer who abducts individuals who have had difficulties with their significant other. For instance, if a married couple had been arguing for sometime, The Matchmaker would kidnap the husband or wife. The Matchmaker seems to see it all as a game, sending tapes to the individual that contain threats that if the person doesn't rescue their lover, they will be left to rot after endless means of torture." Katrielle rolled up the paper as she explained. Sherl was wide-eyed as he listened, while Ernest looked distressed.
"Good God..." Ernest whispered. He seemed to be in horror.
"So... We'll be interviewing some victims today. Some kept the tapes, considering it has their lover's voice on them, so we'll be listening to those during the interviews." Katrielle said as she bit into another scone.
"That's...horrible..!" Ernest spoke up.
"A tragedy, repeated over and over again." Sherl mumbled.
Ernest stood up to pour a bit of tea into Katrielle's cup.
"We'll be leaving in half an hour, so prepare yourselves." Katrielle set a scone next to Sherl, who devoured it quickly.
—
Ernest knocked on the dark red door that lead into the small green house.
There was the sound of shuffling on the other side, like someone had been sitting close to the door. There was a clicking sound as a lock was turned, and a quiet creak as the door opened. Katrielle, holding her notebook to her chest, tilted her head to look in the small crack in the door.
"Mia Lavender?" She asked softly.
The short woman, in her forties, had short brown hair and green eyes with dark circles underneath. It looked like she hadn't slept in days, presumably because of the murder of her fiancé only days before.
"Yes." She croaked. Her voice was quiet and dry
"Hello. I'm Katrielle Layton. The police told you we were coming, I trust?"
"Yes." She spoke again.
"Lovely. May we come in?" Kat put on her soft smile.
The woman nodded, opening the door a bit more.
"Come in."
Mia lead them into her front room, where she sat on a loveseat by herself. The sight was heart-wrenching as she stayed on the left side of the seat and put her hand on the pillow on the right, as if the area where her lost love had once sat gave her strength.
Katrielle sat down on the couch with Ernest as Sherl sat quietly on the floor.
Mia swallowed. "We'd been fighting a lot." She started.
"Anyone in town could confirm it. We were bickering more and more. In the shops, on the streets..." she sounded regretful.
"I just...He came home so late every night... He never wanted to talk, or watch movies, or cuddle. I thought he was cheating." She covered her face.
"He kept postponing our wedding. I thought... I thought he was tired of me. So I just snipped and snipped at him. I got angry over the littlest things." She sobbed.
"He just wanted to make enough money for our wedding. He was working until his back broke just for me. Why am I so stupid?" Her crying was close to a wheeze, with her heaving breaths.
"If I'd just been more understanding and supportive, she wouldn't have taken him from me!" Her voice grew louder and Sherl flinched his ears.
Katrielle reached out her hand and gently set it over the crying woman's balled up fist that rested on the chair arm.
"Couples argue all the time, Mia. It truly isn't your fault." She spoke.
Mia hiccuped and tried to hold back the seemingly endless flow of her tears.
"Why would God let this happen..? I met him so late in life. We were going to be happy."
Katrielle held her hand supportively. "Breathe."
Mia took a deep breath and slowly straightened up.
"Do you... Do you want to hear the tape?" She asked.
"If you can handle it, Mia." Kat nodded.
Mia stood up and walked out of the room, soon coming back with a tape player. She sat down with it in her lap. She ejected the tape to show it to Ernest and Katrielle.
"It showed up on my front doorstep the day after Lucas went missing." She informed.
The tape had a label on it, simply reading 'From: The Matchmaker'.
Ernest shivered quietly as she put it back into the player and rewound the tape.
She hit play.
There was the sound of muffled panting and groans, supposedly from a man. The groans sounded tortured, the clear sound of fear and pain in his voice. There was a sudden gasp, as if whatever had been muffling his voice had been torn away.
A few moments of his panting.
"Talk, Lucas." A woman spoke. She sounded cold, yet excited.
"Mia.." he groaned weakly. The woman's voice giggled.
"Hear him, Mia? He's waiting for you. Let me give you a bit of information, sweetie. He's been loyal to you and only you. You must feel awful. Why don't you clean up your act and pick up your poor little baby? Unless, of course, you think he deserves...this."
There was a silence, before a panicked yell was heard from Lucas, followed by pained groaning and shrieking.
“STOP! STOP IT! PLEASE, PLEASE! MIA, MIA ! I’M SORRY, MIA! I LOVE YOU! I LOVE YOU, MIA! I’M SO SORRY!”
His pleads and cries were almost drowned out by a metallic clang, followed by a crack and a final pained scream, followed by panting and whimpering.
Ernest covered his mouth, his eyes wide and teary. Sherl shook his head and put his paws over his ears, barking timidly.
Katrielle's face was drained of color, listening to the man's weak crying.
Mia was covering her face and sobbing.
Once the man's sobbing quieted down, the woman spoke again.
"Aww, didn't mean to break anything. Don't want that happening again, do you? You have thirty hours. Find me."
The tape stopped, the gears of the player going silent.
It took a long time to calm Mia down, who seemed to be reliving her first listen to the tape. She screamed and cried out Lucas's name, pulling at her hair. She'd accidentally shoved Ernest and sent him tumbling and that was when she snapped out of it and only cried quietly at the chaos she had caused. After half an hour of talking casually to calm down the mood, the trio left Mia's home.
—
They had been up and down london, interviewing twelve victims in total. A few new bits of information had been gathered.
The Matchmaker apparently plays her own 'game' unfair, sometimes. She'll kill a lover randomly and claim that an individual got a 'bad end' to her little story.
She'd sometimes threaten to keep the hostage all to herself, claiming that they were just her type.
Katrielle went from calm and chipper to calm and cold throughout the day. When they had gotten back to the agency, it was late at night.
"This is one of our more...intense cases, isn't it?" She said as she sat down on the couch.
"I'd have to agree." Ernest said, his voice quiet. Sherl flopped down into his bed, eyes wide. He remained silent.
For the next few days, Katrielle denied every other case that had been presented to her. She'd been talking with Inspector Hastings a lot over the phone, and she'd be focused on her theories and notes at her cluttered desk.
Ernest grew worried for her as she started to eat less, trying to concentrate more on the case.
"Miss." Ernest started, setting a croissant on her desk.
"Please eat. You need to take care of yourself." He said.
"Don't need any distractions." She said quietly, hunched over her desk.
"You can think and eat at the same time, Miss. Sherl and I are worried about you."
"You're not a detective, Ernest. You don't know my brain. I need to concentrate."
"Miss-"
"Miles." Katrielle stood up and yelled, staring daggers into his eyes. Ernest flinched and backed up a bit.
That name.
That awful name that she promised she'd never call him again.
Ernest swallowed a lump that crept into his throat and took a deep breath.
"I've...stayed here too late. I'm sorry, Miss." he said, looking at the clock.
"I should be heading home. I-I..." he stuttered and shook his head at his own words.
"I'm sorry." He mumbled as he rushed to the coat rack and grabbed his coat off the hook. He rushed out the door, and he was gone.
Sherl had been watching ever since Katrielle yelled. He looked to Kat with disapproval.
"Low, Kat.” The dog grumbled gravely. “Very low.”