31 Days, 31 Murders

Murder 24

October 24th, 20XX

It was 4 in the morning when Leo and Phoenix were having a meeting when a knock on Leo's office door was heard. Their heads turned as Leo spoke, "Come in." A male officer walked in, with his head down and was clearly nervous.

"S-sorry to disturb you, Chief Blackw-wood...I have some urgent news for you," the officer stuttered.

"Yes? What is it?" Leo rose an eyebrow and he placed the documents that were in his hands down onto his desk.

"I-it's about your younger sister...R-rosetta BlackWood, s-sir."

"Is there something wrong with her?!" Anger and panic rose in Leo's voice.

"S-she collapsed in front of t-the department."

Leo jumped up from his seat, his eyes glowed with multiple emotions. He growled, "Where is she?!"

"I-in the break room...." Leo ran out, with an aura of an angered lion.

"Rosetta!" Leo opened the door to the break room to see Rosetta on the couch, her face pale and her eyes widened in fear. He ran up to her, "What's wrong?!"

"I s-saw a dead body t-this morning a-at the high s-school w-when I was w-walking by," Rosetta cried, her fear had caused her to stutter.

"Why were you there at 4 in the morning?!"

"I woke up and needed a breather and d-decided to walk all the way to the h-high school when I-I saw t-the b-body," tears rolled down Rosetta's cheeks as she continued to explain. Leo's eyes narrowed.

"I told you not to go anywhere at night! There's a killer in this area! I don't want you to be killed!"

"I-I know b-but I didn't want to stay at h-home!"

"Leo, go easy on her. She saw a corpse a few moments ago. Let her rest. We should go check it out," Phoenix suggested as she stood at the door, and was clearly listening to the siblings' conversation.

"You're right," Leo sighed. "Rosetta, you stay here. Do. Not. Move. An. Inch. Out. Of. This. Building. Got it?"

"Y-yes," Rosetta whimpered.

Phoenix, Leo as well as a few other officers headed towards the high school, where Rosetta had saw the corpse of Lucas Settineri that morning.

"Oh....," Phoenix grimaced. "That's....interesting." Seeing a body that was stretched to the point it tore was not a site she thought she would experience. But there she was, looking at a stretched, already rotting corpse. She slowly walked towards the body and when she took a small breath, a rancid scent took over her senses. Phoenix jerked her head back, as the scent was indeed strong, but continued to walk to retrieve the note the Midnight Murderer left.

Before the female detective had reached the note, she had stepped on something squishy. Phoenix froze as she slowly realized what she stepped on.

Hoping that she was wrong, she glance down. Her emerald eyes widened and she paled. Her stomach turned when she saw that she had stepped on the corpse's liver, which had fallen out of the body and off the platform Lucas was killed on.

Phoenix was unable to speak. The organ was making squishing sounds and when she shifted to step backwards, white, squirming bodies gushed out. Maggots.

She felt vomit rise in her throat, but she kept it in, and attempted to not look at the squirming bugs as she walked around to the other side, and reached for the note.

"Are you alright?" Leo questioned as he saw Phoenix's pale expression.

"Sure I totally am!!" Phoenix screamed sarcastically. "I totally didn't step on a liver with maggots crawling in it to retrieve a note from the killer and had to endure the rancid scent the corpse gave off!"