The Face Thief

Chapter 2

Lake white street was about a thirty minute drive from the police building. We'd used Marcus's car since his was more of age--than mine.
   "Where're we going?" I asked,tensed a bit.
Marcus just shook his head. He stopped along the road and we got out.
     From afar,I could sight those yellow caution tapes from detective movies. A young man was walking towards us.
   "Good to see you detective Marcus" he shook Marcus. I on the other hand,just kept staring at the tape.
   "We've got another body on our hands" the word body drew my attention.
   "Body as in dead body" I asked. Marcus just gave me the just-listen-for-a-sec-and-don't-say-anything-stupid look.
    "We got an emergency call, looks like this one's quite the victim" the man nodded at the corpse. A few officers were on stand-by. "Who made the call?" Marcus asked. "A young man,he's crying his eyes out in my car" I couldn't join in the conversation,so I just peered around for clues of any sort. Until I saw it--a long strand of hair. I always knew I had eyes for details.
" Hey,ermm boss Marcus,you should see this" I tapped him lightly in his shoulder. He gave me the look again.
   "It's a strand of hair" Marcus paused,his eyes followed the direction I had pointed to. I made way towards it,Marcus followed behind.
   I sheathed my hands with a latex glove and held up the hair strand.it was blond. Marcus was already at my side. He looked at me,then at the officer he was chatting with earlier,then at me again. "This is the most leads we've had so far" he had on his latex gloves and took the strand from me. I went over to the car and pulled out a kits box. I opened it,taking out a small Ziploc bag,I handed it over to Marcus. He put the strand inside. "Let's take a look at the scene" Marcus urged my forward.
The woman's body sat on the raised pavement in a very weird position. The police officers had already taken pictures of the scene. I stared at the body. Same MO. I thought. The woman's limbs were missing,except the middle of course. Her facial bone was bruised probably due to the cutting.
   "Hey,can I have that?" I asked another officer. He handed me the UV lamp. I looked at the woman's neck. There were no strangulation marks there. Weird. The other two victims had this marks. I shone it at her wrist. Gotcha. It was bruised,just the same as the others necks. And then the smeared blood on the pavement. I took a swab and quickly got a sample. Marcus was still discussing with the man from earlier. "New detective huh?" I turned around,just in time to notice the blonde walking towards me. I glanced at her breast-pocket for a badge of some sort. Nope,not a cop.
    "Selena Meryl" she extended her hand. I pulled off one of the latex and shook hers. "Tom Bradford".
"I'm new around here"I added sheepishly.not like she asked!(slaps forhead--you get the picture,laughs)
     "I'm a reporter" she finally said.
    "What you got on the body?" She had almost the same British tune to her voice as the man from the office.whatever was his name.
   "A really smooth killer" I muttered still taking swab samples. She laughed. Ha! Very funny. "When did this whole--i made some sort of overall emphasis with my hands---thing start"I asked,almost absentmindedly.
     "About a week or two ago"she started. "The woman was pretty scarred. Same as the others" she sighed. I felt like bad-luck was kind of my thing. I had been happy getting a job in a small town. To me,it had meant, not much trouble and enough rest---lots of it. But then, just a week before I grace the town, a madman is going, stealing people's faces.sighssss. Marcus walked over to my side.
  "Anything?" I shook my head.
"God damn!" He cussed lightly. To be honest, I felt we were never going to catch the killer. His cuts were smooth,leaving no evidence. Selena was already along the intersection. I studied her. She seemed so intent,focusing on something. "Is anything wrong?!"I called after her. She waved her hands at me. "I think you should---"those were her last words before she sailed high in the air. And then--Crack! She landed with a heavy thud. Blood was sleeping continuously from her lips,her eyes were in a daze. that's when I noticed the car--shiny with lots of speed. I couldn't get the plate number. But,I'd know one thing---I'd kind of glimpsed the driver