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Lewis groaned as he looked over the case files again. This is the 6th murder this year, all of them having the same MO. The victims are all people without any enemies and no valuables missing from their home, all done in by a hatchet strike to the head. With how messy the crime scenes were they had expected to have the killer behind bars by now but despite all the DNA left behind it led to nowhere. There were some victims that reported being stalked shortly before their murders, stalking didn’t match up with the level of aggression that went into these murders, maybe the murderer had an accomplice?
None of this made any sense! There had to be something he was missing.
Lewis got pulled from his thoughts by his phone ringing. The forensics lab? At this point they only called whenever they found something really important otherwise they'd just quietly submit their findings to the online database. Lewis picked up, a bit unsure of what to expect.
“Lewis Maguires, did you guys find anything new?”
“Yes, we found a DNA match from the most recent crime scene, Crowley Wise.” a female voice responded
“Crowley Wise…? Thank you Eileen, call me back if you find anything else.” Lewis responded before hanging up the call, scrambling to look through the cold case files.
That name sounded way too familiar but there was no way that could be right… Soon enough he pulled up the file belonging to Crowley Wise, the kid disappeared from his home five years ago and has been missing since. He should be 23 by now and yet police have yet to find a trace of him. It's odd, he was long presumed dead but recently trail cams have started capturing footage of a guy matching his description. If he had run away on his own it would've made sense but according to the missing persons report Crowley is blind and suffers from a severe cognitive disability, the parents only provided medical records for the visual impairment but with how distraught they were the police hadn't asked for any other records, maybe they should've.
It all didn’t make sense, someone like that shouldn't be able to survive all by himself and he definitely shouldn't be able to get involved in a murder. Did the murderer hold him hostage?
Maybe he should sleep on it, return in the morning with a fresh look at the whole situation. It was getting late anyway so he got some late night takeout before returning home.
That night he didn’t sleep well, maybe it was the stress of everything, it had been a while since a case truly stumped him so when he woke up at 5 in the morning he opted to get dressed and go to the local diner instead of catching some more shut eye. Maybe some shitty coffee could make him feel a little more at ease.
Lewis sat down in a quiet corner and ordered his usual eggs and coffee. It wasn't long before he got his order but as he picked at his eggs he started feeling on edge again, it was like he was being watched. He tried to look around, find a source for his discomfort but he couldn't find the cause. Despite sitting in a more quiet corner of the diner the place was still bustling with people, making it impossible to see if anyone was staring at him. Maybe he was just paranoid, this was a public space with lots of people, there was no way this killer was ballsy enough to stalk him here. What was he even thinking? No way that the killer was after him, the murders were random, not targeting detectives.
With a sigh he finished his food and after paying his bill he left for work. He was still a full hour early but he didn’t care, the extra time might help him find a clue he missed before. When he got to the office he dug through his pockets to get his keys only to find the front door already unlocked. Did he forget to lock it last night? Something in the air felt off and he hovered his hand over the pistol he carried with him on the off chance anyone did sneak in. He wasn't about to get ambushed here of all places.
Everything seemed normal until he got to his office, the place was ransacked. The files on his desk had all been taken, even the ones irrelevant to this case and someone had tried to burn the cabinet where they kept all the other files and there was something written on the wall in messy bold letters “STOP LOOKING!”
Maybe he wasn't being paranoid after all, whoever was behind the killings had somehow figured out they had a lead and now they were trying to scare him into dropping the investigation. Lewis grit his teeth, he wasn't going to let some punk scare him into not doing his job, especially with more lives on the line. They had a digital copy of all the files anyway, clearly this was nothing more than a scaring tactic.
Sadly the perpetrator was smart enough to disable the cameras so there was no way to know who they were, they'd just up the security and tell everyone to be on high alert. They'd catch this guy eventually.
Most of the day was spent cleaning up the mess, saving whatever paperwork wasn't burned, informing his coworkers about what had happened and making a bunch of phone calls to report everything. It's not how Lewis had hoped to spend his day, he wanted to look more into the killings.
At the end of the day when everyone else went home he finally found time to work on the case again. He couldn't afford to let the killer run amok like this for long, they already felt emboldened enough to threaten a detective surrounded by police, no doubt they'd kill again soon.
No matter how long he looked over the files or tried to come up with possible motives for the killer, absolutely nothing made sense. If Crowley was kidnapped by the killer then why didn't they ever ask for ransom, why keep him alive at all if it wasn't for money? Crowley couldn’t be a reliable accomplice in his condition, hell he’d actively make it harder to get away unseen.
Defeated, Lewis decided to call it a night, he couldn't stay here mauling over the case without any sleep and it was already past midnight, it would be best to return in the morning.
—
That night he was woken up by a noise.
Click... Click...
That was odd, there shouldn't be anything in his room that clicks. Slowly he opened his eyes to see what was making the noise only to be met with a figure standing in the corner of his room.
Click... Click... Click...
The figure was making the clicking noises and now he was looking straight at him. Despite the darkness Lewis recognized that face…
“Stop looking into the murders.” is all the figure said before turning to leave.
Lewis wasn't going to let him though, this was his chance to finally solve a cold case.
“Crowley Wise, why did you-”
He was cut off by the figure turning around and running towards him, pressing a dagger against his neck.
“You do not call me that, my name is Crow. Last chance, stop looking into the murders or else bad things will happen to you.” That was all Crow said before leaving properly, only making a few more clicking noises before disappearing into the night.
Lewis could feel his heart beating out of his chest, a missing person just broke into his house like it was normal and those clicks… was he echolocating? The report did say he was visually impaired so that made at least a little sense but the way he broke in without making a sound and was very clear in his demands… he didn’t have a cognitive disability did he? Not in the way it was written down in the original report at least.
Lewis didn’t sleep for the rest of the night. Something wasn't right with Crowley's- no- Crow's case and he needed answers, this extra information could be a breakthrough!
He went back to his office the next morning, Crow’s warning long pushed aside, they had only tried to scare him. If Crow left on his own and didn't wander off blindly like the original report said there was a chance he might actually be involved in all this. More importantly, why didn’t the parents tell the truth? Do they have something to hide?
A whole day was spent looking for clues, the smallest bit of evidence that could reveal the full story but the only thing he could find were small inconsistencies in the parent's statements, why wasn't there anything more? There had to be something he was missing! Is the murderer a childhood friend of his? But the report said Crow didn’t have close friends. This didn’t make sense!
Lewis was pulled from his thoughts by a familiar clicking sound. It was dark out and the clock pointed past midnight. He had gotten so caught up in his work he hadn't noticed how late it had gotten. His coworkers never stayed this late so he was alone, safe for the person roaming around the hallways.
Lewis reached for his gun, if it was indeed Crow like he was suspecting he'd easily be able to subdue the guy. Crow looked like a twig and there was nothing he could do to dodge a bullet if worst came to worst.
The clicking stopped and so did the footsteps. Was Crow debating if this was a good idea or something? Just when Lewis was about to lower his gun the footsteps continued and Crow rounded the corner as expected.
“Don't move.” Lewis kept his gun pointed at Crow even if the guy didn't seem like much of a threat, it was better to be safe than sorry.
Crow held up his hands in a placating gesture, he looked surprised, maybe even scared.
“P-Please don't hurt me… I just want to say sorry.” He started, something was off about how he acted. “I've been bad, I just wanted to scare you little, like a little joke but dad told me that's bad, I'm not allowed to do that. I'm really sorry. Please don't be mad at me…” He looked at Lewis all teary eyed.
It caught him off guard, whatever Crow was saying didn't make any sense, he was talking as if he was a kid that just got scolded, besides he shouldn’t have had any contact with his parents, just yesterday they were on TV for another interview looking for their lost son.
Maybe Crow did have a cognitive disability, maybe someone was making him do this. He sounded so genuine he lowered his gun.
As he did Crow slowly inched closer and closer, all the while crying and hiccupping, he really did look like a lost child and Lewis couldn't help but pity him.
Eventually Crow got close enough to lean in for a hug, it felt unnatural having a 23 year old sob into his shoulder like this, maybe he should’ve been more aware, maybe he should've cuffed Crow at gunpoint instead but he just seemed so harmless. Crow genuinely didn’t seem like a threat, he was just a lost kid he reasoned.
That was until Lewis felt a sharp pain in the back of his shoulder, making him drop the gun. Crow was still holding him close but he was no longer sobbing.
“I told you bad things would happen if you didn't stop looking into us, now you're going to have to die.” Crow's voice was cold and distant, nothing like how it was just a moment ago.
The guy really didn't have a cognitive disability, he was just using his parents’ lie as cover to come across harmless and Lewis had fallen for it head line and sinker.
Crow pulled the dagger out of the other man's shoulder and Lewis took the opportunity to push Crow away and run, he didn’t have his gun anymore, nothing to defend himself with so the only thing he could do was run and hope he could make it somewhere populated enough to scare the other guy off.
Usually he would attempt to subdue the suspect himself but not this time, Crow might not look like much of a threat but he had a weapon and Lewis was already injured, it was safer to just run for help.
As he ran though he could hear clicking behind him, it was disorienting how it echoed through the empty streets. Maybe it was the clicking, maybe it was the mix of pain and blood loss but at some point he had made a wrong turn and ended up in the middle of the woods. Shit.
It was too dark to see and he stumbled and tripped as he tried to get away before eventually the adrenaline wore off and the pain and exhaustion caught up with him, forcing him to sit down at the base of a tree. All he could do now was stay quiet and pray Crow wouldn't be able to find him.
It was a lost cause though, slowly the clicking was getting closer.
Click... Click... Click...
It was getting closer but it was impossible to see from which direction, even the footsteps were hard to tell apart, they weren't alone were they?
Suddenly everything stopped, the footsteps, the clicks, even the animals seemed to quiet down.
“You should've just stopped looking.”
A familiar voice spoke coldly before everything suddenly stopped and his body went limp.
—
The next day the newspapers were full of the story, a detective killed in the woods, done in by a stab wound in the shoulder and a hatchet blow to the head.
He didn't have any enemies and nothing of value was stolen. That made him the 7th victim this year.