Moonlit whispers

Murder after murder

Chapter 3: Murder after murder.

Luna's POV:

After telling the detective everything he needed to know about the symbol which I did while conveniently leaving out anything that would implicate me, I left him at the cafe and returned to the bookstore. Josie came to ask me how it went and I told her he just had a few harmless questions for me. She didn't look convinced by that but she didn't push further and I was grateful for that. For the rest of the day, the only thing on my mind was the detective and the symbol he showed to me.

The past I had been trying so hard to escape had finally caught up with me and I knew there was no running away this time around. I usually closed around six in the evening at the bookstore but Josie noticed that something was bothering me and she let me go earlier instead. Immediately, I headed to the small flat I called home and when I got inside, I locked the door behind me and made my way to my bedroom. On getting there, I knelt beside the bed, reached under it and brought out a small box I had promised myself I would never open again. The box was wrapped in a cloth and it had the letter ‘L’ and a full moon painted on it.

I now had the sudden urge to open the box but I couldn't bring myself to do that and after staring at it for almost half an hour, I wrapped it back inside the cloth and returned it to its position under the bed. Then I pulled my clothes off and climbed onto the bed. I kept thinking about the murders, the detective’s story, and the detective himself until I eventually fell asleep.

A knock on my door woke me up the next morning and I got out of bed. Still groggy with sleep, I yawned and stretched and I went to open the door.

“Good morning,” the detective said to me. He was wearing a leather jacket and jeans and he didn't look like he had gotten much sleep.

“Morning,” I replied. “What brings you to my house this early in the morning? Let me guess, there's been another murder?”

A look of surprise crossed his face. “How do you know that?”

“That was a joke,” I said quickly.

“Well, your joke is our reality now. There's been another murder. A young woman found the body while hiking in the woods. Same as the previous ones: claw marks, the symbol, defaced corpse but I also found something that I don't think I have noticed on the other bodies.”

“What's that?” I was fully awake now and very worried.

“The letter ‘L’ was boldly written on the corpse and a half crescent was painted inside it. Everything was done with blood.”

He frowned when he saw my reaction to that and he said, “If there's something you think I should know, then I suggest you tell me now.”

“It's just a speculation,” I lied. “Give me a few minutes to get dressed and then you'll take me to see the body.”

He eyed me with suspicion but he didn't say anything. I held the door open for him and he entered the house and I shut the door.

After directing him to sit on the couch, I headed to my room, brushed my teeth and showered, then I returned to the living room. I met him standing in front of the large shelf that contained my personal book collection and he whipped around immediately I walked in.

He extracted one book from the shelf and turned around. “You never struck me as someone who loved to read books. Especially to the point of having a book collection of this magnitude.”

“I work at a bookstore. What do you expect?” I asked.

“Fair point,” he said and returned the book to the shelf after flipping through its pages. “Shall we?”

I nodded and we exited the house. We got into his car and he drove me towards a part of the town that I had never been to. There were less houses and people in that part and the place was eerily silent.

“We are here,” he said when we got to the front of a small cottage beside a trail that led into the woods. He parked the car and we climbed out. The air was clearer here and I inhaled a bit of it before following him down the trail. After walking for a few minutes, we got to where the corpse was. The first thing I noticed about it was the awkward way in which the body was positioned. From the look of things, this person had suffered more than the other two people. That and addition of the symbol meant that the person responsible for the murders was stepping up their plan.

“So?” The detective said, looking at me with expectation.

“Where’s the lady that saw the body?” I asked.

“She's down at the station. She was so badly shaken that I couldn't allow her to leave on her own.”

“Alright.”

“Alright? Come on, Blackwood,” he said, his voice almost pleading. “What do you think? I know there's something you're still not telling me. Are you really going to choose protecting whatever you're hiding over getting justice for these people?”

“I…. I am not…..” I struggled with the words then I stopped and took a deep breath. “It is really very complicated. Trust me.”

“Don't do this again. You already confirmed that you know a werewolf is responsible for this but I think you have more to say than that. I can continue the investigation on my own and get to the bottom of it but why waste my time with that when it is clear you know something.”

“Okay, okay.” I pointed to the corpse and said, “you see that symbol? I have come across it before. No, scrap that. I know what that symbol is and I know who—”

His eyes suddenly darted to the side and I stopped talking. I could immediately tell that something was wrong.

“What?” I asked and as I turned around, I got my answer before he could reply.