The Traveling Killer and Jason Smith

by S Jay Starring

  But what if Thomas sent to the court, he would have received the death penalty anyway. It could say that he died in advance.

  “You guys have to see this,” a staff member called them to went inside and led to another bedroom. “This doesn't normal, right?”

  The thing that caught their eyes first wasn’t the carpeted luxury bedroom with a four-poster bed, but it was on the wall in front of a writing desk inside.

  There were pictures of hexagram, both hand-drawn and images from printers and photos of three women’s bodies from other parallel universes were pinned together by scotch tape that were overlapped on the pictures of young women. One of them was the last victim that was being killed, Jessie Lee from B13. There was a binary code written on them to show which parallel universes they came from.

  “I found this too,” The same officer brought something like a desk lamp and a small notebook computer for Jason and Kate to take a look.

  Kate immediately recognized it was what she saw in the killer's room before passed out by an electric shocker. “Carry wormhole connector, this looks like a self-made prototype. This guy was so awesome,” He continued with excited.

  “Don't be amazed by what the criminal used to commit the crime,” said Kate. She immediately made that officer pale. Things in this room would be a guarantee, this Thomas Ivan was the man who kidnapped, raped and killed many of the same women in other parallel universes. Meant Jason and Kate's job were over.

  They returned to B07 when the team finished collecting evidence. Thomas' body was contained in a corpse bag and took into the wormhole for autopsy at B07. All the evidence gradually sent into the wormhole until the last one.

  “Do you get hurt, Kate?” Emma asked when she saw Kate was full of bloodstain.

  Kate shook her head. “This is Thomas Ivan's blood, Emma,” She replied.

  “Oh ... I'm glad he died. He's dangerous,” Emma said relieved.

  “Why you so quiet, Mr. Smith, normally in this situation I thought you should talk non-stop,” She turned to Jason, who seemed not happy, although they could catch the criminal.

  “I don't know, Emma. I just feel that there is something stuck in my mind. The case is over, but I still don't know why Thomas doing this. What's his motivation and what things happened today, it seemed too easy for his end,” Jason said, pondering, his eyes still confused.

  Emma and Kate looked at him. “You think too much, Mr. Smith. You'd rather see him punished than seeing him commit suicide like this. Yes, it seemed too easy after you two have been doing this case for weeks, but you know, it made me feel relieved quicker. About his motivation may not be as important as the murderer is dead, and he keeps that secret forever,” Emma said.

  “Maybe she's right, Jess. You may think too much. If you are still curious about his motivation, then we will find the female group in B03 that the cause of everything later,” said Kate. Jason could feel that Kate was also not happy with closing the case either.

  “You guys go to take a rest, tired all day. It's almost time to get off work. I won't tell anyone,” Emma said and winking at them. Jason and Kate looked at each other. Then they saw the lively and energetic eyes of the other party that immediately rose.

  “So let's go to find something to eat,” Jason whispered to Kate with sparkling eyes. They haven't eaten lunch yet because they were busy working, and had to watch Thomas die in front of them made the hungry gone.

  @@@@@@

  “You look quiet,” Kate said. She looked at Jason slowly chewing BBQ rib with absent-mindedly. They went back to their room to take a shower and changed new clothes before came down to the restaurant. They didn't want other people in this building to panic or think that it's Halloween because their clothes were full of blood.

  “I don't know, Kate. I feel there is something strange about Thomas' death,” Jason replied. “His eyes when he was dying like… he was very scared,”

  Kate pondered following what he just said. “Even though he was a cold-blooded killer but he’s a human being, Jess. He must have some fear, especially death,” she said.

  Jason thought about what has happened today, he stopped slicing the BBQ rib in front, gathering concentration and all the information about Thomas.

  “When I aimed the gun at him at the passageway. Thomas didn't seem to be afraid at all. He even approached me and he slashed his throat like that, which means he was strong-willed. He shouldn’t show the eyes of fear like that when dying. You know, he's too arrogant to show it,”

  “He knew that the sonic gun couldn’t make him died, Jess. It’s not strange that he didn’t scared. Listen, I also feel that there was something strange. But I don't know what it is. I think it might be the same as Emma said I want to see him be punished and it's true,” said Kate.

  Indeed, the sonic gun couldn’t make him died but it could be extremely painful as well. A normal person should avoid anything that could hurt them. At least he should scare a bit.

  Jason sighed couldn’t argue with her at this moment. “Okay, I might think too much, Emma was right, you and I wanted to see Thomas be punished, so I’m not happy because the case was over like this. But you know what I’m thinking? I'm just wondering, what kind of people of other three Thomas,” Jason said.

  “What? What do you really want to say, Jess?” Kate frowned. She stared at him with wide eyes.

  Jason looked at her face seriously. “I know you may not believe me but my mind just protest,”

  “Protest?”

  “I think, we may get the wrong Thomas Ivan?” Jason said seriously.

  @@@@@@

  After dinner, they went to Jason's room.

  Kate sat on the sofa and looked at the messy hair young man in front of her. He still quietly and said nothing since they were at the restaurant.

  “Jess, can you explain more why you think like that?” Kate said, broke the silence.

  “I already told you that he looked strange at the end of his life. And I feel he was intended to show us that he was a criminal. Everything was too perfect, hearing aid, bruise on the nose, strange behavior, diagrams and photos of the victims on the wall. My gut told me there was something not right,” Jason answered seriously. He looked at Kate and wanted her to believe him.

  “If this feeling happens, then I’ll listen to it and you should listen to it too,” Jason said. “What kind of person that running from being arrest showed us clearly like that. At least he should cover that headbutt bruise,”

  Kate sighed, “He showed us clearly that he was the criminal because he was too arrogant to hide what he did, he was so proud of it,”

  “I don’t argue that he was arrogant. But what’s bothering me call sense, Kate. We have to listen to it,” Jason said.

  “But I'm sure it's him, Jess. You had seen when we were in the living room, he always stared at me. Because I was his survivor victim and I ... I was with him that night, I remembered that feeling, never forget. And today while I was in the kitchen he made me shudder. He scared me like that day,” Kate said with a trembling voice.

  Jason looked at the brown eyes that filled with terror. He knew that when she came out of the kitchen to tell him that a man in the kitchen was Thomas they were looking for. It was a real fear and he could feel it too.

  “I know, I'm not saying that your instinct about this was wrong. I see that you can talk to other Thomas as usual and also swear at him, but with this one, you trembled. But once everything has ended, I feel there is something wrong. You know, when you tried to stop the bleeding for him, his eyes were asking us for help,” Jason explained in a firm voice.

  Kate only pondered what Jason has said. She thought that after looked for the killer for months, today the whole thing was over. But when she tried to think of Thomas' eyes at that time, it caused her to sway by Jason's words

  “This means I still can't sleep tight tonight, right?” She said disappointed and confused.

  Jason looked at her sullen face. Having survived the kidnapping i
ncident, she hasn’t been able to sleep well for many days and she would continue to be paranoid or have nightmares until they could arrest the right Thomas Ivan.

  “You can stay here. My bed is wide enough for two of us,” he said and blinked at her.

  Kate looked at his face while sighing. How could he still joking around like this? She threw the cushion at him before got up from the sofa.

  “Please enjoy your porn book. Good night, Jess,” She walked out of the room unhappy and closed the door loudly made Jason startled.

  Jason laughed pleasantly. He knew his words would upset her, but at least she could forget her fear of Thomas Ivan for a while.

  Chapter 21

  The evidence from Thomas' room was proven. The cause of Thomas' death, the devices that found in the room, a knife, a needle with a thread, high performance binocular, fluorescent ink and the hearts of all 16 women that were chilled in the refrigerator. What did he plan for those hearts? Eat? ... Hope not...

  “His carry wormhole connector doesn't work. I've tried to use it since last night then I disassembled it and realized that it lacks some important parts such as the frequency emitter for opening the wormhole,” Ted said. He was busy after the staff of forensic science sent a strange device from Thomas' room for him to check.

  “Means, it’s a fake. I looking for this kind in wormhole connector catalogs but there’s no such thing like this at all. Probably he modified for open illegal wormhole by himself. The spare parts can buy from the black market, but must know the source. We have tried to find and close it for many years but the new black market open instead twice,”

  “But I saw this thing in the room with the killer that night. And when the forensic science staff brought the evidence to return, there was none of this item. This means when he fled from B13, he had to use this stuff,” Kate said.

  Ted made a thoughtful face and frowned. “It may already have broken and he was trying to fix it, but you all found him. He couldn’t use it for escape and he was afraid of guilt and therefore he chose to commit suicide,”

  “Or that’s for tricking us,” Jason said.

  “Tricking?” Ted asked surprisingly.

  Jason shrugged, “Maybe it's the props, Ted. The props for making us thought that he was the killer,”

  “Then, who props the scene?” Ted asked.

  “Another Thomas Ivan,” Jason replied. “He might use another device to escape when he locked himself in the bedroom,”

  “But that's only a few minutes before we broke the door,” Kate said. She still disagreed with Jason's thoughts.

  Jason nodded in agreement. “Yes, but that's long enough for wormhole connection, isn't it? If you already set the coordinates in advance. And if combined with the time to kill another Thomas in the room, I think it should only take 30 seconds. He escaped without a trace. His bedroom was carpeted. It would be difficult to see small dust marks from opening wormhole. And when we tried to help Thomas who lay down on the floor with gasped, we might brush it all out,”

  This was an interesting comment. Ted also nodded in agreement and amazed at the same time. That’s so strange, usually, Jason never saw Ted would agree with him even just a little thing.

  “I think Thomas' body could tell many things,” Jason said.

  It was a good idea and Kate agreed. She led Jason to the autopsy room on the three floors below. They met a young medical examiner who was working.

  “Hi, Paul,” Kate greeted him.

  “What's up, Kate. I heard the news that you were attacked by this guy. How are you today?”

  Doctor Paul Runner friendly greeted her and Kate smiled and blinked at him as an answer. He was a good-looking man with black hair, dark eyebrows, and a prominent nose. Same age as Jason “Oh ... Hello, Mr. Smith,” he said while rising his glasses that slit to the end of his nose.

  Jason smiled back. But Dr. Paul's voice sounded like he didn’t care to see Jason. He looked at Thomas’s body lied on the autopsy table. "Have you finished the examination?" Jason asked.

  Dr. Paul shrugged, “Not yet, but as you can see clearly, Mr. Smith. He died from a very rapid blood loss. His throat had been slashed in deep through the veins and trachea by something sharp. I can see his trachea. He could stay alive only 2-3 minutes after the cut,”

  “His ears were normal?” Jason asked.

  “I saw him with a hearing aid attached. And from his hospitalization history, his right eardrum broke through since childhood. The robber did it,”

  Jason made a curious face. “Right ear? But I saw him wearing a hearing aid on the left,”

  “Well ... I don't know. The history may have been incorrect, it happens sometimes. I'll check it one more time,” Dr. Paul shrugged.

  “Could you examine him in detail? Blood test, lab test, bruises, body injuries and what the causes?”

  Dr. Paul looked at Jason with a flat face. He turned to Kate who was standing next to him, asked for the opinion “Seriously, Kate? I’m not an intern,”

  “Could you please do what he ask, Paul. Thank you in advance,” Kate confirmed.

  After that, they let Dr. Paul continued to work alone, and they went up to the office to see the photos of Thomas's luxury apartment.

  “You see, Kate? His bedroom doesn't have any space under the door,” Jason said after see the bedroom photos that Thomas died in. There was a rubber seal under the door. “It means the light from traveling with wormhole may be blocked by this. And this supports my theory,” he continued confidently.

  “But it just your theory, Jess. Nothing proves it,” said Kate. It seemed like she still didn't believe that this Thomas wasn’t the real killer.

  “Nothing proves it yet, Kate. Come on, you have to trust your own sense. I know you also feel something strange about this,” Jason said while shrugging.

  Kate sighed, “I never say I don't believe my own sense, Jess. But sometimes it can't be proved. We should wait to see the evidence report before thinking anything further,”

  “I’ll find more evidence to prove my sense and my theory, Kate,” Jason said confidently. While actively read the information of the case over two hours.

  “Hey, guys ... what about this evening?” Todd's voice came from afar. Today was Friday, and they had an appointment in the evening.

  “Whatever you decide, Todd. We still have the case to do,” Kate said tiredly.

  Todd frowned. “I thought the serial killer case was over. The criminal is dead, right? I would like to celebrate for you two,” he said disappointed.

  “Jess think we got the wrong Thomas,” Kate said. Jason nodded firmly.

  Todd made a puzzled face. “Got the wrong Thomas? But he committed suicide ran for his guilt. I heard the forensic science staff talked about this,”

  “We are waiting for the autopsy report,” Kate replied.

  “Yes, and you know what, I think the diagram and pictures of those victims are strange. You see, the scotch tapes that put on those pictures were too new,” Jason said, pointed it for Kate and Todd to look at the evidence from the criminal's room.

  “You use too much imagination? His room was clean, then there was no dust on the glue from those scotch tapes,” Kate argued and Jason tried to explain.

  Then for a moment, the autopsy report of Thomas's body had sent by Dr. Paul who came to them by himself.

  “I have performed an autopsy him thoroughly, Mr. Smith. His right eardrum was break. The left side was normal. He has a slight bruise on his wrists, hard to see but from my experience, I think his wrists were probably being handcuffed. I’ll let the forensic science lab analyze it again. And he has a little dehydration, almost nothing in his stomach. Inside his mouth was a piece of cloth attached. The fibers were like nylon from sock. But the forensic science staff didn’t find those sock in the room. And his left cheekbone was a bit bruised like it happened many days ago,”

  “He wouldn’t inhabit to bite a sock in free time, right, Kate?” Jason whispered at Kate’s ear sarcastically
. “And his bruise could move from the nose to the cheekbone,”

  Because this report could prove his theory.

  “Ready to listen to my full theory?” Jason asked and no one answered but ready or not he would begin.

  “This Thomas has been locked up for some purpose, for example, to die for someone who looks like him. Or can say that another Thomas who fled, tried to make his own face look like him; the Thomas bite socks. The killer gagged him with socks and handcuffed. When we entered the room so we couldn’t hear his voice. The killer takes Thomas’s place and slashed his throat, then removed the handcuffs on his wrists, ankles, removed the socks before fleeing by wormhole along with all items that could be evidence,” Jason continued confidently.

  Jason remembered the picture of Thomas or Tom Lightbulb from a security camera in the hotel, he had long hair but the Thomas who died had short hair. It was easy to just cut the hair and pretended to be Thomas B03. And Jason hasn’t seen any handcuffs or socks that restricted Thomas in that bedroom.

  “He can watch his victims for weeks. Then why can't he watch us. He knew that we were searching for Thomas Ivan in other parallel universes. He knew we got evidence that could identify him because Kate survived. He, therefore, caught himself who looks like him the most. Of course, it’s not Tossy but Thomas Ivan from B03, a programmer and has a hearing problem. And hoping someone with less experience taken in his tricks and think the history from the hospital was wrong,” Jason said sarcastically while using his mouth to point at Paul.

  “Well, well…I think I don't like this Jason Smith,” Dr. Paul murmured through his teeth with a sullen face.

  “Wow, you're great ... no wonder, Kate has chosen you to help the case instead of me,” Todd exclaimed excitedly. Jason nodded and took that praise.

  “Alright ... time to get off. I’ll go, now, have an appointment. I hope you satisfied with the autopsy report from a less experienced doctor like me, Mr. Smith,” Dr. Paul said sarcastically before quickly left the office didn’t care about Jason's answer.