Kill You Again

Chapter Five

Ayesha unlocked her door, and instantly kicked off her boots as she entered her apartment. She padded through her spacious lounge in her socks, ignoring the large television, and entered the smaller kitchen to the left. She walked straight to the gleaming silver fridge and pulled out a bottle of wine. She poured herself a glass and leaned against the granite counter.

The headache she had suffered with throughout the day had only gotten worse the longer she stared at old case files. Lockwood had left the station almost three hours before her, but she had remained at her desk reading through every single page of every single case file. She was successful in figuring out the killer's preferred subject- well-built, early thirties to middle aged men with black hair and brown eyes, but she couldn't see how the killer picked his victims. They had spent hours combing through every detail of each victim's life, trying to find a similarity between them, a point that connected them all. Other than their age and physical appearance, there were no other similarities. These men's lives did not intersect in any way. Each victim lived in a different area, and each engaged in a different profession. The first victim was a car salesman from Wolfspyre, the second was a teacher who lived in the town centre, and the victim before Dr Perera was a businessman on holiday in Rosetown from New York. How do you pick them? She wondered. Did the killer know all these men? That seemed quite unlikely. It was improbable that they all frequented one store or gym- and Ayesha had manually triangulated the areas between their homes, work and the local malls to make sure of that. The results showed that each man lived in a totally separate sphere. She considered the idea that the killer picked his victims at the larger malls of the three towns, as they all could have visited them at some point. If so, it would be impossible to find the killer or his next victim- malls were teeming with all sorts of people. Maybe, she thought bitterly, I'm out of my league here.

Ayesha had only left her desk when she happened to glance down at the clock on the bottom right corner of her computer screen. She was shocked to find that she had worked well past midnight. She had driven home in a daze, with her mind more focused on the case than the road. It was barely a day old, and already the case was consuming her.

Her microwave beeped as the hour turned to two o' clock, bringing Ayesha out of her reverie. Her headache became almost unbearable as she stood there, pondering the case. She placed the glass down, and reached up to open the cupboard behind her. She felt around until her hand closed around the plastic container she kept her medication tin. She took two pain killers and washed it down with a sip of wine. As she was placing the lid back onto the container, Ayesha saw the little bottle of sleeping pills hidden under everything else. She took out the bottle of Alzam and bit her lip, her mind conflicted. The little blue pills had become Ayesha's crutch during the months that followed her sister's disappearance. The depression and emotional pain had consumed her, and sleep seemed like the only respite. Ayesha had become a non-functioning human being, and these pills were her unhealthy escape from the world. She was always hesitant to take them now, but her sleep was always fitful without them. Still, she tried to stay away from them. Suffering through sleepless nights was better than living in constant mental darkness. 

The headache had worsened though, and Ayesha really needed to sleep well for one night, at least. Resolving on a good sleep, she shook out one of the little pills and swallowed it with the rest of her wine. She would be fine- it was just one. She wouldn't begin to lean on them again. She placed the glass in the sink and walked back into the lounge, turning all the lights off on the way. Sitting down on her couch, Ayesha leaned her head back against the headrest and closed her eyes. She willed the headache to go away- she wanted to shower and be well rested for the challenges she knew she would have to face when she got to work.