Morbo - in editing

Death. Fascinating? Satisfying?

They are among us. Inconspicuous, coy, men, women, blue-eyed, brown-haired, long-legged, wearing glasses. They have secrets. Neighbours, friends, the closest people in our lives. People who live a decent life, who recycle, who have healthy lifestyle. And one day you find out that you live next to a serial killer, the one you ask to babysit your children back then when you wanted to go out with your friends over night.

Is it a failure to ask for help from the one who was pleased to cause pain?

"What do you want?" the man sitting by a white table asked coldly. A killer. A killer of twelve girls who were all younger than seventeen.

"Your help," said the man sitting in front of him.

His black hair was neatly combed, and his black suit did not fit into the white room. A white-collar? Maybe. A general manager? Possibly. But not today. Ely was just a policemen today, a criminologist.

"My help?"

"We found a few murdered women in their apartments." Eli closed his eyes.

"A copycat?" Jack straightened up.

Ely was amazed how this information has awakened the man's interest. He shivered on the chair, it scared him a bit. Or? He admired how cold Jack could be, capricious, everyone felt strange in his company, even at the most secure prison on the continent. So why he doesn´t?

"Do you know who could it be?"

"He, or she, wants to be like me. You've already figured out by yourself that it´s someone who knows me. But there is no on in this city, and the state, who doesn´t know me. "

"You're right, your brutality is famous." Jack laughed in amusement. His laughter was freezing the bones, especially when the echo of the laugh seemed to be never ending.

"How did you choose? Was there something they had in common? Something special?" Ely knew the answers, but he wanted to see Jack´s face. He wanted to see how fascinated he is when he talks about his past.

"Quite a lot questions for an old man. Let´s start from the beginning. I have answered all these questions already, but you seem to be really interested," Jack leaned on the chair and smiled. “Firstly, I was just roaming around the streets, watching. I was watching your girls. Short skirts, deep necklines, the innocent look was the only thing that revealed their age. I had to have them, the innocence was killing me. One evening… I´ve decided that I will take the innocence from her.”

“Her?”

“They all have names, here,” Jacked pressed his finger on his temple. “I followed her through the park, and I talked to her. When I stopped her, her desperate gaze expression entertained me. She wanted an attention, but when she made it, she was startled. While she was lying underneath me, she wasn´t a young woman anymore. She was only a child who realized her mistake way too late. Others were the same, their eyes, I'd give anything to see them again..."

"Stop." Laughter.

"There´s something on it, isn´t it?" Jack looked at Ely with amusement. "Their look is mesmerising," he added.

"You are an animal. Perverted animal. "Ely wanted to leave, but he was stopped by Jack's question.

"What does he do to them?"

Ely turned around. There was a sparkle in Jack's eyes, like a child when it knows there´s a treat coming. He walked to Jack, picked him up from the chair and threw him onto the wall. He stood in front him and spat in his face. "Is it funny? Do you find bodies of young girls covered in blood exciting?"

"And you don´t?" Jack's voice echoed in the room.

Ely looked at him in disgust and he hit him with his fist. There was a loud thud and blood sprayed from Jack's mouth onto the white wall. A few drops ended on a white chair, and a white table. Ely suddenly realized how frustrating this room was. White chairs, white table, white walls, white door. Even the usual yellow light from a basic bulb was replaced by a milk-white bulb. Everything was white. Jack´s wish?

Jack smiled. "You are also satisfied when you see blood, aren´t you??" Ely left. He knew that if he stayed there a little longer, he would have done something he would regret.

He took the keys from his pocket and opened the door to his apartment. He took off his coat and put on the Jack's file on the table. He opened the drawer and took out the file of unsolved murders of women that were killed in their apartments. The killer always chose a woman that had a roommate. To make sure someone would find them.

In a while, he looked at the picture on the wall. He frowned and put it down. He took a red wine from a refrigerator, and he span the bottle in his hand a few times. He stretched his hand and threw the bottle against the wall. The explosion of the bottle wasn´t loud, and the shattered glass covered the floor. There was a significant wine red stain on the white wall. Ely walked to the wall, and gently touched the stain. The wine left his fingers wet. He looked at his hand, and he was staring at the wine red droplets on his fingers. When he washed his hands, he sat down and stared at the stain on the wall. He opened both files on the table, the Jack´s finished case. And the unknown killer case. Jack's victims were found in the park, the other ones in their apartment. They were all left somewhere easy to find. Jack's victims were found with a rose, the other ones with a dice. White dice with black dots. They tried to find a connection, or a meaning of the numbers on them, but they couldn´t find anything.

5, 3, 6, 1, 1, 3, 4, 2, 2, 4, 6, 5, 1, 1, 3, 2.

The number of victims was different. Jack has killed 12 girls, the unknown killer 16 already. Ely went to the last page of Jack´s case file. He was re-reading the last row. / One victim survived. Lilly Nashwood. 17/

Ely reached his phone and called his colleague. After a few seconds, she picked up. "Hi, Amy. Listen, I'll come for you in a few minutes, I found someone who could help us."

The second she said “good”, Ely took his coat and locked the door behind him.

~

"Why do you think that she might help us?" Amy and Ely were standing in front of Lilly´s apartment.

"She's the only one who survived. And since the killer does exactly what Jack was doing, she might help us to find him. Or she can give us some information.”

“You saw her file, you read the hearing. She said everything she knew.” Amy wasn´t really sure how the girl can help their case.

“You don´t believe she said all she knew, too. Nice shirt by the way.” Ely knocked on the door.

Amy looked at her wine red shirt and smiled. “A gift from a friend, from India.”

They heard a sound of keys in the lock. A tall girl with red hair appeared in the doorway. "How can I help you?"

"I´m Ely Stevenson, and this is my colleague Amy Sanders. We would like to ask you some questions about the rape a few months ago. "Amy was in shock, this is not the way they should ask questions, especially in these cases.

"I have nothing new to tell you, I´ve already said everything I knew." The girl answered quickly. "We know that this is hard for you, but ..." Amy did not manage to finish.

"Go away. I do not want to go through it again." Lilly shut the door. "I think this helped us a lot." Said Amy when they were standing on the street.

"I have to be somewhere else, see you later, okay? Do you want me to take you to work or back home?"

“No, thanks. I need to go to the post office, my mum sent me something.”

“Ah, okay.” All of a sudden, Ely disappeared in the dark.

“How is it possible that someone who made everything perfect made such a mistake that he left one of his victims alive? Getting old already?” Ely laughed.

“No. I had a bad day, it wasn´t the way I wanted it, but now I´m smarter. I´ll be more cautious next time.”

“There won´t be a next time I´m afraid.”

“Don´t you believe in the afterlife?”

“Sure, and also unicorns and fairies.”

“Everyone is different. But when everyone knows she´s alive, the copycat won´t let her breathe for a long time now.”

“Do you mean, trying to fix what you messed up?”

Ely was happy when he realized Jack is now angry. “It´s late, I´m going to bed. I don´t want to talk to you anymore. We have more in common that you think. More than others know. But you won´t get inside my head Ely. And make sure you won´t make the same mistake as I did,” Jack was smiling, and he left accompanied by a guard.

Ely was confused. What the hell was he talking about?

~

Death. Fascinating? Satisfying?

They are among us. Inconspicuous, coy, men, women, blue-eyed, brown-haired, long-legged, wearing glasses. They have secrets. Neighbours, friends, the closest people in our lives. People who live a decent life, who recycle, who have healthy lifestyle. And one day you find out that you live next to a serial killer, the one you ask to babysit your children back then when you wanted to go out with your friends over night.

Is it a failure to ask for help from the one who was pleased to cause pain?

"Hey, we've got another victim. Lilly is dead. In her apartment. She was found by her roommate." Ely didn´t say a thing for a few seconds when Amy called.

"Again?" "Yes. I am in her apartment, and yes, there is another dice."

"If she let us go inside…" Ely sighed while he was leaning on the door.

"How did you ...?"

"I was on the other side of the street when you called me," said Ely and entered the room, passing by the technicians. He stood next to Amy, who gave him suspicious look.

"What is it?" Ely seemed confused.

Amy grabbed his collar. Red dots. "I was opening the wine, and you know how clumsy I can be. I guess I did not notice I made my shirt dirty."

Amy smiled. "If I didn´t know you, I'd have to take you to hearing. Where have you been?"

"I visited Jack. I asked him about the roses." "And what did you find out?"

“Innocence. But I have no idea what he tries to say by the dice.”

"Me neither," Amy was watching Ely picking up the dice. "Listen, are you in hurry?" She asked. "No, why?" Ely put the dice back on the table.

"I made a roasted turkey for Thanksgiving, don´t you want to come over for dinner?"

"Yeah, why not." Ely was smiling. He came to her house around nine. He was wearing a dark blue coat, white shirt, he left the tie at home. Amy opened the door, and he handed her a bucket of white roses.

“This is a really bad joke,” she laughed.

“I knew you´ll be happy about it.” Ely put his coat on the chair. "Do you live alone?"

"No, with my sister, she will come back in three days," Amy was yelling from the kitchen.

Ely smiled, reached into his pocket, pulled out a dice and he put it on the table.

4.