MONSTER

Investigation

AUGUST 31

        The police had now documented all health issues, personal issues, and any connection between Ellis and "Slender Man". In terms of medical issues, the only one was that Ellis was allergic to cats. Ellis wasn't married and had no romantic relationships that ended rashly enough to be considered for murder. There was also apparently nobody close to Ellis who seemed in a psychotic state to write "SLENDERMAN" in blood.

         At the police station, police had gathered from street cameras that four days prior to his death at 5 PM, while Ellis was jogging on a sidewalk, someone was following him. However, the stalker was partially obscured as most of his/her body was outside the frame; probably done on purpose. The police consultant noticed the shadow of the mysterious stalker was extending 32 feet long, slender but large, comparing to the fifteen foot long shadow of the five-foot ten inch tall Karl Ellis. So the cops spent the entire day watching tapes from street surveillance, but they never saw anything except the surprisingly long shadow, that revolved counterclockwise around the egg-shaped sidewalk as the day progressed into dusk.

        Some speculated the killer was between five and seven feet. But beyond speculation, there was only one thing that registered. Luck was on their side when they saw via street cameras that the figure used a black Ford Mainline. The license plate,"218NR-0", was registered on a account of a user named Dan Nermsle. However, there was hardly anything on his profile. No location, phone number, family, workplace, or birth date. 

        "Come on, there has to be something about this guy that connects him to the "Slenderman". He has no confirmed info on his profile, that's conspicuous," the police analyst complained.

       "That's the problem. We don't have evidence, other than he's just a name in cyberspace," the police chief remarked.

         "It's a pseudonym," a cop realized." An anagram to be more specific. Try scrambling the letters."

       The analyst obliged and hit a button; the computer showed it was loading all possible results, 200 of them, the top result being "Slender Man".

        "See? It's definitely him. Which means, we can be sure this is his car, which means we find that car, we find The Slenderman," the cop said.

        Within twelve hours, stretching into September first, much of the area where Ellis lived had been searched for the car. But by the end of those dragging hours, the search's purpose wasn't accomplished. Nobody else in the area had a black Ford Mainline, as it was a decades old car. Much to the dismay of homeowners, several of them had to have their garages searched, done with a warrant, of course. There were the usual threats as a result of this, but police had more troubling matters.

        The police had a meeting with a psychiatrist, who would try to profile the killer. Around 5 PM on September first, Dr. Raymond arrived for profiling.

         "Chief Lenard," the chief introduced herself.

         "Dr. Raymond," the doctor replied."First killer in...ever?"

         "That's right. This one is a true psycho. He's killed one person and wrote in blood "Slenderman" at the scene. He was also stalking the victim days before death. A car the killer used linked to a false profile, Dan Nermsle, a anagram of "Slenderman"", the chief said.

         "And?"

          "That's it."

      "Not much to go on then. Well, if he used an anagram for a false persona, that obviously suggests he has an alter ego," Dr. Raymond said.

           "Obviously," the chief said sarcastically.

         "But he chose "The Slenderman", a fictional creature, a fictional monster. If he's using this as his alternate personality, this suggests he has a psychological and/or sentimental connection with it. Certain physical traits of the actual fictional thing may be a clue to the kind of person we're looking at. The Slender Man, the character, is faceless, monstrous, and a type of Mephistopheles. I think that's a place to start," Dr. Raymond said.

           "How so?"

       "I'll get back to you on that. I'm going to need to see all files, digital footage, and theories revolving this guy, ASAP," Dr. Raymond said.

           "You got it," the chief replied.