Cold As Steel

Chapter 9: The Bodies In The River

"Are your allergies acting up again?" Pierce asked while picking up Shawn. 

"I apologize, but my son seems to feel unwell, so we are going to leave first. Dinner is on me, you can order more food if you like. Pierce said while getting up

 He quickly walked out with Shawn in his arms. The father and daughter duo only felt a gust of wind on their face and sat there stunned.

"Pierce really lives up to his reputation. Even if there is cooperation between our companies, he is still a mystery to me!" Mr. Gold sighed if he could really keep this cooperation with the Steel family then the prosperity of the Gold family would be ensured. However...

"Daddy! I don't care if he is married! That woman can't be better than me! Since the Steel family kept her hidden even their weddings were kept a  secret. Imagine how terrible of a person she is for the Steel family to avoid showing her to the public. Pierce doesn't even mention her much! I don't believe that there is anyone else more worthy of him than I am! " Said Bethany Gold dreamily. 

As soon as Pierce placed Shawn into his car seat, he gently patted Shawn's chubby cheeks.

 "I have a slight feeling that you dislike the father-daughter duo," Pierce smiled.

Even though the father and son duo haven't been together for long, they felt like they have known each other for a long time. So, Pierce has been noticing Shawn's small habits.  

 "Daddy, they are really annoying. Don't you think they are weasels who don't have good intentions?" Shawn says with a frown. 

"How do you know they have no good intentions?" Pierce asked surprised.

"I just know! I heard you talking to Jack about them. You said that Mr. Gold was an old fox. Just because I'm a kid doesn't mean I don't understand what you guys are talking about." Shawn said proudly. He had confidence written all over his face. 

Pierce's mouth slightly twitched. He knew Shawn liked to over-exaggerate many things; however, it wasn't until now that he really felt Shawn's exaggerated personality. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Melanie quickly left the military headquarters in a car. While on the road, she received a text message from Colonel Blake.

 "Melanie,  it has been five years since you have visited your parents, I can go with you if you want."

Melanie leaned back into her seat and closed her eyes, her head felt messy and muffled. She slowly massaged her temples to try to clear her mind, however, it didn't help.  She left New York five years ago, and after coming back the whole city felt different yet familiar.  Kevin, who was driving in the front, peered in the mirror to see that Melanie has fallen asleep. He lowers the volume of the radio. However, a quick news insert wakes Melanie up. 

"Breaking news! The Steel Corp. has just reached an agreement with the Gold Corp they will collaborate with each other's airlines. This is an interesting combination and we are excited to see what this agreement will bring!" 

Melanie opened her eyes and quickly leaned forward to close the radio. Melanie makes eye contact with Kevin.  Kevin knew what she meant and handed her the files for the next case. Kevin has worked with Melanie for almost 1 year and he knew there was beef between Melanie and the Gold family. 

Chief Steven from the NYPD,  received a phone call from Colonel Blake notifying him about the arrival of Melanie and her assistant. He waited patiently outside of the station with his assistants. There were also a few other people who worked in the forensic department wanting to take a glance at Melanie since she is considered "famous" in the forensic's industry. 

As soon as Melanie, stepped out of her car she was greeted by a group of people from the station. Although everyone is very familiar with Melanie's information on Wikipedia, she still looks way too young to be a well known forensic scientist. Steven slightly frowns because even he thinks Melanie looks too young for this job.

Melanie's hair was in a bun and she was wearing barely any makeup just some mascara. However, she still looked very beautiful. Some of the male scientists even stopped to stare in awe. 

"Hello, Dr. Steel! I appreciate you coming to help us with this case! Here follow me I will show you to the room. " Steven said while walking Melanie into the building. 

This case has been hanging for a long time, and the state government is starting to notice this case because of how big it has become. Due to the internet, this case has been reported on multiple news outlets and many people are discussing this case. If this case were not to be solved as soon as possible then more innocent lives will be lost.

"This case is the first thing that happened in February this year. The deceased was found in an abandoned river. The deceased was only six years old. There were obvious signs of lacerations on the lower body, and there were no other wounds on the body except for the fatal wound on the neck. The killer did not leave any strong clues, and there were two incidents one after another, less than four months apart!" Steven described to Melanie. 

Melanie picked up the files and started to tap her finger on the table. She has seen the photos of the victims, there were three and all of them were girls.  The youngest was only five years old, which is one year older than Shawn. Since becoming a mother, Melanie has always paid special attention to these cases related to children.

"How come nothing valuable was found from the site? " Said Kevin, he was confused because this wasn't the only case and it is obvious that it has been the same murder making it a serial killer case. 

"No, it's not that simple. You have to go to the autopsy room and look at the bodies to understand why."  Steven said with a sigh.

"I will try my very best to help you guys with the case, Steve. I have already seen the general information of the case when I came here and found some clues.  Are there any suspicious refrigerated Uhaul trucks in the city recently? Like the ones that can be rented out at any times of the day?" Melanie asks as she walks into the autopsy room.

"I will go look into that!" Steven says urgently and leaves with a gust of wind.

"Melanie, are you trying to say that the bodies might be transferred with refrigerated trucks? " Kevin asked while zipping the back of Melanie's suit. 

"It can by that that the bodies of those children can be hypothesized from the photos alone that they were refrigerated after death, however the time of the death can only be calculated after the autopsy. With my calculations, the time of death must have been earlier than what they have calculated... Hurry up Kevin and suit up you can help me with this autopsy this time." Melanie said as she also helped Kevin suit up.