From Murderer to Conqueror

by Jeff S.

  “So who found her? And did they know what killed her?” She examined the body for anything that she didn’t leave. She knew exactly what was left on her and where it was; she was the type to pay extra attention to detail.

  “A woman in town found her on a run. The chief was the first on the scene though. And we’re not sure about the ‘how’. Some people are saying it’s self inflicted and others are saying it was a very meticulous killer.”

  “Do you have any history of random killings in town? Did anyone talk to the girl’s friends and family? Maybe it was self inflicted. There is clearly no blood on the body.” She knew the answers to her questions, but it distracted him from paying too much attention to what she was doing.

  She found a small piece of paper, a napkin maybe, with the letter H written on it in calligraphy. Eloise sucked her breath in, keeping her body still as much she could.

  Her birth name was Heide Lindauer.

  Maybe it was a mistake. A coincidence. She pulled the paper open, the words don’t get caught written in German were scrawled across it in neat handwriting. Eloise tucked the paper into her sleeve as easily as she could, switching to moving around to the girl’s shirt and jacket.

  “Is everything okay?” She hadn’t realized that he stopped talking. He sounded like he was moving closer to her, his voice sounding louder and more stressed.

  “Yeah, I guess it just kind of hit me.” She lied, clearing her throat. “I remember her from the Diner down the road. We never spoke personally, but she was always nice as a server.”

  She remembered the day their eyes met and the lines clicked into place. The women nearly dropped her pot of coffee, running to the bathroom. She threw her apron on the counter when she came back, obviously distraught. Her nametag clanging against the marble, her chosen name Linda gleaming against the maroon of the apron. Eloise went on as if nothing had happened, Linda knowing that she was caught. If she left, Eloise would follow her. If she tried to tell the police, or any authority for that matter, Linda would be hunted and killed without mercy, her identity “coincidentally” ending up at the front step of the FBI.

  There were safeguards against getting outed, things set to keep the organization alive and untouched. They knew how to retaliate if necessary.

  Eloise had injected the girl with a poison that she had created herself; something lethal to the heart but untraceable unless you pulled it right from the ventricles. Subtlety was her specialty. Peter was now right behind her, watching her move around the body in search for clues. Whoever moved the body was as good, undeniably so, if not better, than she was. It was a thought she pushed away, her ego standing tall.

  “What are you seeing? You’ve been in the same place a while.” She turned to see him tucking his hands in his pockets, looking everywhere but at the body.

  “Here,” She pointed to a tree to the left of the body, a small marking in the bark of the tree.

  “It’s just tree bark. It was probably from the deer.” He looked at her skeptically, taking out a camera to take pictures of the scene.

  “Look closer. It’s too precise to have been made by a deer.” She was pulling things from her mind, only guessing. She needed him to leave her so she could look more in depth at the scene. She needed to know how they moved the girl. Peter walked to the tree, getting close to the bark for examination.

  “I don’t see anything strange about it.” He got close enough that his face nearly touched the tree.

  “Maybe I’m wrong, I haven’t looked too far into it yet.” A black van pulled up the street behind Peter’s cruiser, a handful of men getting out wearing white hazmat suits, a black bag ready to cart the body away. She was surprised they left it outside for so long, deciding that it was cold enough to the preserve much of the integrity of the body itself.

  She watched the men zip her into the bag, take her to the van, and drive away, all while Eloise and Peter stood watch. She spent several hours checking the scene with Peter’s watchful eyes. She didn’t find anything she could use. It was as if the girl was killed right in that spot by someone from the trees.

  The trees.

  “Peter. Help me up.” He looked perplexed, but hoisted her into the tree. She searched the tree extensively, knowing that something would be up there. She spotted the white of more paper poking out from under a piece of bark, somehow staying untouched from the snow and wind. She kept her eyes moving, memorizing where she saw it, not letting Peter suspect anything. “Hey, can you grab me a flashlight from my bag?” She had only a few seconds before he would turn his attention to her.

  She snatched at the paper, shoving it into her sleeve with the other, feeling the two scratching against her skin. A small blue fiber stood out against the brown of the trees. Peter handed her a small bag, Eloise placing the fiber into it and sealing it back up. She could feel the bark pressing against her back, freezing her skin on contact. It was much colder than she remembered it being.

  Peter helped her back to the ground and pack up her things to leave. She left a mental note of where she had found the two pieces of paper.

  Chapter. 4

  “So it was a challenge for you too? I hear you found something.” The Chief stood in her doorway, a look on his face that she could not place. It looked hardened by force and forcibly soft. Something was plaguing his mind.

  “It was a small blue fiber in the tree and a couple drops of blood that I’m guessing will come back to be the victim. But other than that I have nothing. No footprints, handprints, blood spatter, nothing but things that should be there naturally.” She was just as stumped as he.

  “Okay,” he nodded his head, looking at the ground in thought. “Tell me, how do you think she really died?” She knew what the look was now; he knew more than he was willing to give away. She pretended not to notice, suspicion coursing through her veins like molten lava.

  “Honestly? The evidence says that she just died. It looks like she was standing there, died, and fell.” She made motions with her hands as she talked. “But there is no way it’s that simple. I think she was killed somewhere else and put there. Maybe someone forced an air pocket into her veins, or poisoned her, or suffocated her. I can’t come up with anything solid. Without blood and without any traces of anything on her, there really is no way to tell until you open her up.” She looked over her notes- leaving out the part that she knew about the injection sites- trying to find something that she could have missed.

  “Very good Miss Park. Have you worked in Crime Investigation before? You seem to know quite a bit.” He stared at her with cold eyes.

  He knew.

  Somehow, he knew what she was. His eyes gave away everything.

  “I don’t have a whole lot of friends sir, so I watch a lot of TV. You saw my test scores from the lab, I’m good at science. I watched a lot of crime shows and I loved a good mystery book when I was younger.”

  It was no lie; she loved crime shows. However she hardly watched them. She wasn’t allowed to watch TV when she was a girl and once she joined the Organization all other forms of media just got pushed to the background, being saved as a reward.

  “I see. Well,” he brought his hands down to clasp them together, looking at the ground for a long moment before meeting her eyes, not letting his gaze go. “Let’s see how you work with this case and maybe, maybe, you can join our team.”

  Eloise let her excitement get through her shield, not caring who saw it.. She needed the chief not to suspect her of anything. It was part of the game.

  “Good. Get to work. The autopsy is scheduled for tonight, so we’ll see what we can come up with. One of us is right about this Miss Park.” His gaze lingered, a hard look in his eyes, before he left her alone in the dark of her office.

  The game just got a whole lot more interesting.

  Chapter. 5

  Eloise sat at her home in silence, pulling the paper from her pocket. It read Hint of Blue in German. It must be for the fiber she found in the tree. She placed the two
small paper fragments together on the table, noticing a watermark underneath it. There was more parts to a larger piece; meaning things that she had missed.

  She knew that she wasn’t going to be able to sleep that night so Eloise crawled from her bed and slid on her black bodysuit as well as her red gloves. She put a jacket and jeans over her suit, masking that which she did not want public. There was snow falling from the sky, just as last time, as she made her way to her car. This time it melted before it could hit the ground, leaving nothing behind her.

  She made her way to the park without seeing another car on the road, something that worked in her favor. Taking off her jacket and jeans, she ran the rest of the way to the crime scene, erasing the steps she had just made. She stopped where she had laid the body, remembering exactly how she had put it. The snow had mostly melted away, revealing the icy outline of her original placement.

  There were small indents around it from footfalls, ones that were too big to be hers. She measured it and took a picture of them. Eloise noticed a trail of leaves leading from the body to another cluster of trees. It was subtle to most eyes. The thing that drew her attention to it were a handful of green leaves. Spring was just around the corner. Green leaves should not be here at this time.

  She followed it as far as it would lead her. At the end of the trail was an arrow made out of green leaves, pointing to a piece of paper dangling from a branch. It looked to be about the same size as the other. Eloise opened it to reveal a blank piece of paper. She recognized the watermark though, mentally placing it with the other two.

  There was a feint drop of blood in the partially melted snow, hidden beneath a brown leaf. She took a DNA testing kit from her bodysuit, dabbing the cotton swab on it as best she could before replacing it in her pocket. The pocket was not large, but it could fit the necessary things.

  A couple more drops littered the area, leading in the direction the body had been placed in. She could see the outline of more footprints captured by ice in the snow. They were the same as the ones she had seen just moments ago.

  She pushed past the thicker treeline to where the body had been moved to. From this new vantage point she could see that Linda’s hand was placed so that it was pointing to something in the distance.

  Eloise got down lower to the ground, remembering which way Linda’s eyes had been facing, trying to recreate it. And that was when she noticed it. It was small and subtle, not easily noticed. But now it stood out against the browns and whites of the forest.

  The last piece of paper was stuck under a mushroom growing out of the base of the tree. She covered her tracks, heading to the tree to grab it. There were bloody prints on it, none of which were big enough to be able to get a print scan off of. This person was good. She opened this one, nearly falling on her backside after reading the words.

  From which I watch Was written in German, a childlike drawing of a tree with a person in it. She looked up, noticing the spot where the person would have perched. A pile of bark and twigs lay on the ground in a circle. But in the tree there was a larger branch broken in half. The end that had been broken off lay across other branches, keeping it from hitting the ground.

  Nimbly, Eloise climbed the tree. Mud was caked into the grooves between paths of bark. It was light mud, probably mixed with sand of some sort. The only place she could think that would have come from was near the pier. It was the only place that was not riddled with snow this time of year. Whoever was watching her had been in this spot for a long time; she had taken almost an hour to scout the place before needing another hour to prepare the body and hide the evidence of her presence. The felt violated in a way, and more so a failure at her primary job. She was supposed to be the best, how had she failed to recognize someone watching her?

  Eloise climbed back down from the tree, erasing her presence on the crime scene. She ran back to her car, riddled with thoughts, questions running rampant through her mind. The night was her prefered time, it was when she came to life. With feet pounding into the ground and her breathing growing hard from running, she let her mind wander. The chief knew something, of that she was certain, but he could not know what she thinks he does, otherwise she would be on the other side of the steel bars in the basement.

  Maybe she was the target. She was the one being hunted and screwed with. But why in this manner? It seemed as if she couldn’t be at fault now.

  I will win this game. She repeated to herself, reassuring her own nerves. Even if I go down too, I will know who is playing with me.

  Chapter. 6

  She sat in the lab with the other techs waiting for the results from the autopsy. They all talked amongst each other, making faces at her and pointed insults. She heard bits of their conversations, none of them better than insulting.

  ...that bitch from the Genetics lab… she thinks she’s better than us… that haircut doesn’t even look good on her… I hope she gets removed from the case…

  Eloise stood, forcing her chair to scream as it pushed from behind her. All conversations stopped, every eye pointed at her.

  “None of you are quiet, maybe it’s your mouths that keep you from being good at your jobs.” Eloise left the lab, pushing through the glass doors and letting them slam behind her. She was never one for outbursts, but this case was seeming to transform her normal behaviors.

  Plopping her body into her chair, she let out a loud sigh, tipping her head back so her hair would fall behind her head.

  “Rough morning?”

  Her body shot straight up, looking into the eyes of a giggling Peter. She got dizzy, having to close her eyes to calm her mind.

  “You can’t even imagine.” She rested her head on her desk, talking into the papers.

  “Try me. I’m a cop, I’m used to being hassled.” Peter sat down on the edge of her desk, looking intent. She explained the other lab techs, feeling like a child.

  What is this kill doing to me?

  She remembered Linda from before, working alongside her for one of her kills. It was a quick in-and-out. It was also the last case the other woman had worked. They had targeted an older doctor who was slowly poisoning his patients to gain more money. Linda- who was Katelyn at the time- told him she had the flu so he could start treating her with false drugs. It didn’t take much to subdue him and start treating him much the same. Katelyn drove the scalpel into his arm, cutting open his vein and letting him bleed out. The work was genius; the pair made it seem as if he had fallen onto his equipment. Eloise and Linda hadn’t seen each other again, until nearly two years later when she was sent to kill the other woman.

  “Just ignore them, they’re just jealous because you’re much more attractive than they are.” Peter smiled, a glint in his eye.

  Eloise hadn’t been paying attention to the other words he had said, tuning in at the right moment. Heat flushed her cheeks, leaving her choking for a response. She found that he caught her off guard more often than not.

  “Miss Parker.” The chief pushed past Peter, brushing his shoulder slightly. He glared at the chief, making a motion of punching him. Chief held a folder in his hand, slapping it down on her desk with a loud Slap! “The results from the autopsy have just come in. I would have wished to seen you in the lab with the other techs, but I suppose you are the one most concerned with the results.” He avoided eye contact, opening the folder to reveal a picture of Linda cut open, her chest exposed.

  Peter made a gagging sound, leaving the two in the room together.

  “It seems you were right, she was killed. Only we don’t know with what, but we know the how.” The chief flipped through a few pictures before landing to one with her before they cut her up. There were two circles drawn in red ink; one by her ear and another on her foot. She furrowed her eyebrows, grabbing the image to look closely.

  “What is it?” She asked, noticing there was a close up picture underneath the one she had just taken.

  “Needle injection sites. One just behind the ear and another on the heel of her f
oot.” The chief pulled the next picture out to put the two side by side. One was a close up of the injection behind the ear and the other was the one from her foot. “What can you tell me about them.” This time he looked at her, his look hard. She examined the two, noticing obvious differences.

  “Well the one on her neck is much smaller than the one on her foot. And the one on her foot seems messy.” She brought her face down close enough to kiss the page, looking hard at what she saw. “And there’s some kind of residue. It looks white. Maybe clear.” She looked back at the chief who was nodding slowly, keeping his eyes intent on the image.

  “Right. It’s in the process of being identified right now. But what I’m wondering is why there are two different marks. So which one was the fatal shot?” The chiefs tone went soft, switching his gaze onto her. Eloise held her breath, deciding to answer with the truth.