chapter 3
1137 Words
Dreamland Villas, New Haven - Crime Scene
Listening to the officer's report, Ray Thompson furrowed his brow. "He transferred two million dollars to a seventeen-year-old boy? And the note said it was for a 'doll'?"
"Did you check the boy’s account? Could it have been hacked?"
The female officer replied, "We checked, and there was no hacking involved. Earlier today, Kenny Ghost purchased a ticket for a flight from the state capital to Central City in the Central Province. The ticket and the bank account details match, and airport facial recognition confirmed he boarded the flight. So, he doesn’t seem to have a direct connection to the crime since he was on the plane when the murder occurred."
Ray shook his head. "Don’t jump to conclusions. Investigate Kenny Ghost thoroughly, along with the victim’s family."
"Yes, sir!"
Ray turned to another officer. "Have we found any suspicious items at the scene?"
The officer shook his head. "We meticulously examined every room except the crime scene itself. No suspicious fingerprints or footprints. We did collect some hair from the bathroom drain, which has been sent for analysis."
Hearing "except the crime scene" caused Ray and John Miller to fall silent.
Taking a deep breath, Ray put on a mask and said to John, "Let's handle this ourselves. This is too much for the younger officers."
John's already pale face turned even whiter.
Second Floor Bedroom
Wearing masks and gloves, Ray and John carefully avoided the bloodstains, trying not to look at the dismembered body propped against the bed. Ray placed the blood-stained circular saw into an evidence bag while John photographed every corner of the bedroom.
They worked together efficiently, documenting the scene and collecting evidence. When they finally emerged, they both looked visibly shaken.
Just as John was about to pat Ray on the back for comfort, Ray grabbed his arm.
"What is it?"
John looked at Ray. "Captain, did you find something?"
Ray didn’t respond, staring intently at the floor.
John followed his gaze and saw a small trail of red bloodstains, resembling tiny animal footprints.
The next moment, they both turned back to the bedroom, noticing the trail started from the pool of blood under the victim.
Ray asked, "Did the victim have any pets?"
A sudden realization hit John. He looked around the disheveled bedroom and then at the evidence bag in Ray's hand, feeling he had missed something crucial.
"John, what are you spacing out for?! Answer the question!"
John quickly shook his head. "No, the victim had no signs of having pets."
"Then what’s this?" Ray pointed at the bloodstains. "These weren’t here when I first arrived."
He followed the trail of bloodstains, with John close behind.
First Floor
Though not the primary crime scene, many officers were still documenting the environment on the first floor.
A female officer was scanning the floor with ultraviolet light, looking for any missed clues. Suddenly, she noticed a small human-shaped doll with a ghostly face, no bigger than a hand, moving slowly on the floor, leaving tiny bloodstains with each step.
"Hmm? Is it battery-operated?"
Curious, she picked up the doll. As soon as her eyes met the tiny eyes of the ghost-faced doll, she felt a chilling cold breeze pass over her.
The doll’s expressionless face began to form a smile.
Shocked, the officer instinctively wanted to throw it away, but her hands seemed paralyzed, frozen in place.
As the doll's smile grew, an overwhelming sense of despair and sadness surged within her.
She felt inexplicable grief, which quickly turned into intense sorrow and then despair.
This crushing despair made her gaze fall on the handgun holstered on her colleague's waist...
But just as suddenly, the doll's smile vanished, and it turned its head away from her, jumping out of her hands and crawling away on its small limbs.
The moment the doll touched the floor again, the negative emotions in the officer’s heart dissipated completely.
Regaining her senses, the officer looked in shock at the doll crawling across the floor. One second, two seconds, three seconds...
"Waaah!"
She sat on the floor, sobbing uncontrollably.
Ray and John, who had just come downstairs, were speechless at the sight of the sobbing officer.
It wasn’t unheard of for officers to break down at a crime scene.
They quickly noticed the ghost-faced doll crawling on the floor and simultaneously sighed in relief. "It’s just a battery-operated toy..."
But Ray's brow soon furrowed again as he watched the doll crawl to a corner of the first floor and stop. He realized something significant.
Ray noted that this standalone villa had no basement.
This didn’t make sense!
Ray Thompson waved over an officer and instructed, "Go to the property management office and get the floor plans for this house."
"Yes, sir!"
When the floor plans arrived, Ray and John Miller studied them carefully.
According to the plans, the spot where the ghost-faced doll was now should have been the entrance to a staircase leading to a basement, but it seemed to have been sealed with cement.
Both Ray and John felt a chill run down their spines as they looked at the doll on the floor.
Was the doll trying to indicate something?
Ray pointed to the spot where the doll was and ordered the officers behind him, "Break open that area!"
...
Central City, Elm Street Shopping District
Ting-a-ling—
The clear and pleasant sound of a wind chime rang out as a taxi came to a stop at the corner.
Despite the sweltering July heat in Central City, the driver felt an eerie chill down his spine, making him shiver.
He glanced in the rearview mirror at the young man in white with gold-rimmed glasses in the back seat, not daring to make a sound.
The trip from Central City Airport to Elm Street should have taken about an hour, an hour and a half at most with delays. However, today, they encountered two traffic jams, an accident, a scuffle with a food delivery rider that almost escalated into a fight, and even had to stop for gas.
All told, the trip took exactly two hours and twenty minutes.
The exact time the young man had mentioned when he first got in the taxi, not a minute more, not a minute less.
The driver looked at Kenny Ghost with a newfound respect.
Kenny Ghost gazed out at the street and smiled, "We're here, right?"
The driver nodded quickly, "Yes, yes! We've arrived!"
Kenny handed the driver one hundred dollars and said casually, "Keep the change."
Then he got out of the car and walked away.
The driver looked at the meter showing a fare of $136.60, holding back tears of gratitude as he forced a smile and called out to Kenny's retreating figure—
"Thank you!"
- Writer
