Chapter Three
Harrison
I drove my truck to the scene and turned on the lights when I got close so the uniforms would let me in. I made detective about four years ago, and I loved it. Homicide was what I was made for. But the scene of a body lying on the ground, covered with a sheet—I just never got used to it. I thought that after all this time, I would become more accustomed to all the death that surrounded my job, but I hadn't. Every case still bothered me, but none like this one. It was just so consistent. Another kid who looked no older than seventeen. Her insides had been carved out just like all the others. What the hell was this sick bastard up to?
“Harrison! Took you long enough.” Sarge looked me up and down.
“Sorry Sarge, you know waking me up from dead sleep is a little difficult. Hibernation and all that.” He and the rest of the guys laughed. All the same, every detective in my precinct was a bear shifter. The outcasts from all the other precincts. Some people still felt uncomfortable around us, but not Sarge. He had taken us in completely. He was the only one who wasn’t a bear in the whole precinct, besides the uniforms. Most of them were human, but not Sarge. The lone tiger shifter.
His kind was really uncommon. I liked working for him; he was respected. I appreciated that he kept us busy, but he let us for the most part do our own work. But he had been showing up to a lot of the scenes recently. Since we hadn’t found the killer, I could tell that the district attorney was starting to turn up the heat. Enough people had been stopping by the office for us to realize that things were getting serious downtown. He needed to close this case. Every time we felt like we started to get even a little bit closer to finding out who was behind all of this, another body would show up, and we were right back to where we started. I always felt like this guy was one step ahead, and I didn't like anyone to be in front of me.
I watched as Grady bounced up behind him. He was a nice kid, the newest detective on our force. He only came to the precinct about six months ago. But he was eager, sometimes annoyingly so. I remembered what that was like, when I first came to the force. Wanting to solve all the cases by myself, forgetting what teamwork was like. Bears made it even tougher, since we liked to work on our own. I hadn’t even asked him where he was from yet, what precinct had kicked him out once they realized what he was. They weren't allowed to, of course, as we were out in society for the past decade. But that didn't mean that people treated us like they treated humans. Even though there really was no difference between us. Sure, I had a bear that lived under my skin, and a few times a month, I would go out in the woods and spend a day camping with no gear. Fur would sprout out from where my skin was and I’d catch some fresh salmon. Besides that, I was just like everyone else. I went to work, I slept in a bed, and at the end of the day all that I wanted was to settle down with someone next to me.
That hadn't happened yet.
Actually, all the bears in the precinct were alone. Only Sarge had met his mate years ago. Which was kind of weird, because tigers had some serious issues finding mates. Tigers had particular needs, and Sarge sometimes had some OCD for sure. But now he had Natasha, and I was happy for him.
But that didn’t mean I wasn’t lonely. Sometimes I wished I had someone to spend my time with, someone to go out with on Friday night. Watch football games on Sundays. But right now I went home to my lonely apartment and did the same thing over again the next day. And as much as I hated to admit it, it was damn depressing.
There had only been one girl that I'd let get close to me. Penelope, a delicious little dish that I had met at a diner. She was a waitress there, and as much as I wanted to go back, she left in such a rush the next morning that I figured she wanted nothing to do with me. I understood, shifters weren’t for everyone. Maybe she just couldn't get over the bear that was inside me. I hadn't heard from her since.
Sarge pulled me out of my train of thought. “I need you to close this case, man, the district attorney's office is breathing down my neck. I received a call from the mayor this morning, and you know that I don't like to deal with politicians. So where are we with this case? Anything new?”
Gavin stepped in. “Not much Sarge, this girl looks just like all the others. There are marks everywhere, insides completely destroyed, like test subjects or something. We've looked into every lab in the area, and no one is sneaking in there using anybody's instruments to torture their victims. Whoever this guy is, he knows what he's doing. Like we said before the profile, some type of previous doctor, or maybe even a veterinarian. They definitely have medical experience. And it's not just a thing for young people. His victims don’t fit any profile. He’s abducted men and women, various ages, between five and thirty-five. No race or gender preference whatsoever. It just doesn’t make sense.”
I turned to Sarge. “Have you sent a picture of this latest victim to the psychologist yet? Maybe she can shed some light on the subject.”
Sarge nodded. “Yeah, I gave her the wakeup call. I think she was really happy to hear from me again. She wants us to wrap this up just as bad as we do. She's tired of looking at dead bodies. I swear she mentioned vacation this time.”
We all mumbled an agreement. Whoever this asshole was, I couldn't wait to nail him to the wall. But we had to catch him first.
“I gotta say though, he's dropping them in different locations all the time. He’s always a step ahead of us. How long has this body been here?” I asked the group.
“Coroner said about two days. Can't believe nobody found her before then. This is a busy street, but the body was behind the dumpster, and nobody sees that until the garbage man. People only see what they want.” Grady sounded older. The job was wearing on him too.
That only pissed me off more. “So he’s dumping bodies in various locations, and he knew that the garbage men wouldn’t find her until today. So is it possible that he's got some ties to local government? Or that he pays attention enough to know when the garbage men would've seen her? I mean last time we found the body it was over three days old. And he’s dumping them fresh. There's blood on the sidewalk, we've got a drag trail this time. He drives, empties the trunk, stashes the body where he thinks it’ll be found, and moves on. You know what this means: a dead body means he’s already picked up another victim. I can't imagine what he's doing to that poor soul.”
We broke apart as we all searched the grounds and brick walls for clues. We knew it was futile. This guy was good, clean. He always picked up after himself. There wouldn't be any fingerprints on the body because he used gloves. All the instruments were medical grade, so they didn't leave any marks that shouldn’t be there. It pissed me off how good this guy was. Just made my job a little too hard for what I liked to do. I saw Gavin calling me over and thought maybe he found something.
“What's up?”
He lowered his voice to just above a whisper. “You know I've been thinking about something with some of these bodies.”
“Yeah, what are you thinking? That this guy has to die? Because I've been considering that myself.”
“No man, don't you smell that?”
I cocked my head at him. “Smell what? All that I smell is garbage.”
“Exactly. He keeps dumping the body near garbage, underwater, he left a couple in the river for us. Nowhere that bears would pick up the non-human scent. I think these people are shifters.”
“Are you serious? Someone is abducting shifters and killing them for sport?”
He nodded solemnly. “I really started to think it after the last victim. And do we ever see bodies turn up looking like this? No way. Nobody dissects people like this person. I think these people are being tested on.”
I watched as the coroner peeled back the sheet to show Sarge the face of the girl. Her eyes were still open, but even glassed over, she looked terrified. If someone was testing on shifters, I had to find out who. And soon.
Before they start coming after me.