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An unexpected gift from a secret Santa arrived; I had come to expect this every year, but I never knew what it would be. This year it came in the form of a knife. My chest tensed as I examined the body, although it took no effort at all to know that he had returned. Every year, for the last five years, the same man would strike. Never with the same weapon twice, he’d done everything from shooting to poisoning and now stabbing, but I always knew it was him. He had a calling card, every victim he left in his bloodied path was found missing their eyes.After failing to catch him so many times, I’m surprised they still give me the case when he turns up for his annual holiday homicide. He’d become quite famous in the local community, even though the street had been blocked off, I could still here the vultures flocking, hoping to make the eleven o’clock news. I caught sight of one man who’d reported on this crime every year. He always dressed in a finely tailored suit, perhaps he thought that people would be too distracted by it to listen to him lie about the details of the crime. If I didn’t think it would end up making national news, I’d more than happily swing for him on sight. I turned my head away from him, lest I do something that I would regret, however enjoyable it would be. Finally, someone useful arrived after. I saw her tight black ponytail pierce through the crowd, it was hard for her to clear a space, being much shorter than most all of the vultures. Although as soon as she reached the barrier, she ran towards me as quickly as she could, clutching a camera in her latex gloves.“Ellie, God, I’m glad they sent you.” Knowing she was there to help, already eased the tension in my chest.“Yeah, they want the people with the most experience with this guy.”“Well, we’ve got a combined eight years on the case so let’s hope that helps, not that it did last year.”“Yeah, but last time we only had a combined six years.” How her optimistic smile was yet to become grating, was beyond me. “I love your hair, love the highlights, ooo and your Christmas nails, you should really do them more often than once a ye-”“Ell, please focus.” That may be a first.“Sorry. Stab wound to the chest, there’s splashes of blood over there, he must’ve stumbled back after he got stabbed.” She reached for his hand which was covered by his long sleeves, he rolled it up and nothing, then the other hand had five rings on.“Five gold rings.” She looked at me solemnly. “It matches with the four birds from last year.”“What can you tell from it while we’re here?”“He’s been dead for a while; I’d say at least a few hours.” She looked almost confused. “But I’ll learn more when we get him out of here. We’ll bag the knife, see if we can pull some prints.”“Given the last few years, I’m not hopeful.”Every year he drops us with another body and leaves no trace of himself. I hate when criminals are smart. The stench of blood had long since lost its effect on me, but the stench of failure wasn’t something I was used to. While the case may be open, half a decade of failure was about four years and eleven and a half months longer than I was used too.“Come on Liz, it’s been five years, he’s gotta mess up eventually.”“I hope so Ell, I don’t want to know what’ll happen when he needs twelve drummers.”The increasing swarm made it hard to get the crime scene cleared and the evidence collected. Hours had passed before I was back at the station, the board of evidence that I’d become so used to seeing. Although I loathed adding the latest victim to it. I found myself staring for hours holding the course string in my hand, tearing it into shreds as my frustration grew. No two victims had any links to one another. Why did he target them? There was not even an acquaintance they shared. But there was something about the man we found today, something familiar, but what… what was it? I know I’ve seen him before, but for the life of me, I couldn’t think where. “Hey Liz!” Ellie woke me from my trance.“Ell, what do you want?”“I’ve been calling on you for five minutes.” Ellie cracked a smirk. “I guess your version of justice isn’t just blind, it’s deaf.”“Wait… that’s it, that’s where I know him from.” “Wait what, who?”“The victim, he was arrested last week, for running a prostitution ring. He was released a couple days ago due to lack of evidence.”“Do you want me to pull the files for the others?”“Yes…” My chest tightened, the first time I’ve had hope for this case in years. “If I’m right, I think our killer thinks he’s fixing what we can’t.”“What do you mean fixing it?” Ellie lay a hand on my shoulder. “I know what people like him did to your sister, but you don’t really think that… do you?”I thought long and hard before answering. “No… O-of course not.”We spent hours mulling through every victim’s file, every single one had been arrested but never charged. Two drug dealers, a drug supplier, an assault case, and the pimp I found this morning.“Jesus, Liz, I just realised, you’re supposed to be at your Mom’s in half an hour.”“SH-”“I got it from here, come back tomorrow and I’ll fill you in on anything I find.”I didn’t have the time or the patience to deal with a lecture from my Mom, so I ran for the door, thanking Ellie on my way out. I drove like a bat out of hell out of the city, coming to a skidding holt outside my Mom’s house. “Just in time.” I hated coming back to this towering house, I could never put my finger on it, but for the fragments of my childhood I could remember, there was little good in it. I jogged up the steps and the second she saw me, it started. “WHAT are you wearing?”“I just came from work.”“Well go upstairs, I’ve left a dress in my room for you to change into. For God’s sake, you can’t be seen like that!”I was too tired to argue with her, for what little effect it would’ve had anyway. I went upstairs and saw a dress which was far from what I would usually go for, it was a long black dress with a slit up the left leg and a gap on the stomach. It was a very good-looking dress but not the sort I’d ever have worn. Although were it a brighter colour, I could see Ellie wearing something like it.I found my old diary in amongst the half-folded clothes, I smiled at the thought of what I might find in it. I was only just finished getting changed when I noticed that there was a letter clumsily stuffed into one of the drawers. Call it detective’s curiosity but, I couldn’t help myself. I pulled it out and saw the date at the top, it must have been delivered when I was a child. I trembled as I read it.‘Dear Mrs Giulia,Our psychological evaluation of Elizabeth has led us to determine she has dissociative identity disorder. It appears her alter has a large sense of attachment to her sister, which might explain her violent outburst in school. It appears that certain stimuli can trigger the alter. Some triggers we found were strobing lights and Tosylamide.’I couldn’t read any more, how… how could she do this to me. How could she keep this from me for all these years. The only thing that kept me sane was seeing Ellie’s name flash up on my phone. I quickly answered. I needed something. Anything to distract me. “Hey Liz, listen I know I said I’d catch you up tomorrow, but I just found something big. All of them were arrested at our precinct but because all charges were dropped, and they weren’t connected, the only person who could’ve known about them was one of our officers.”This wasn’t what I was hoping to hear, so much… so much all at once, but then I caught the scent of, what was it? Nail polish…

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On the Fifth Murder of Christmas

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On the Fifth Murder of Christmas

RandallWrites

Jack Randall

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On the Fifth Murder of Christmas

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