Sweet Lullaby

Prologue

"s**t, another one? You've got to be kidding me."

The sun, painting the sky an array of beautiful oranges, blues, and pinks, sank quickly behind the mass of tall buildings off in the distance as the day came to a close. This ending could have been seen as perfection to anyone, however to Detective Cierra Speares, she would rather have it storming.

It would have been more befitting.

The glow of police lights stretched down the streets, attracting the curious gazes of neighbors, though they stayed within their homes to give some semblance of privacy. Bright yellow police tape covered the perimeter of one of these homes, officers scattered around the lawn with grim faces that matched the Detective's as she entered the front door, which was wide open.

More officers and forensics specialists wandered around the inside, each on their own task. Cierra paid no attention to them, heading straight for the stage; the bedroom.

"Took you long enough," Her partner snipped from the bedside, his tone light but his face distressed.

Glumly, she leveled her cinnamon brown eyes on him. "Traffic."

Even with the urgency of the siren coupled with the lights on her vehicle, there was very little that could be one to part the sea of cars that permeated the ever-busy highways.

The room did not resemble a murder crime scene as it should have. The beige walls weren't splattered with blood, no furniture was broken and there was no sign of forced entry. There were no crimson stains on the ruffled white sheets of the bed, of which the body was wrapped in. In fact, the poor woman could have been mistaken for sleeping had she actually awoken at some point in time.

Cierra already knew what had happened before she walked through the door. There were no visible signs of death; no punctures, no blood drawn. The skin would be ice cold to the touch. The only mark on the body would be a black ring on the right side of the neck. Checking was merely a pleasantry. How did she know this?

This was the sixth murder matching the very same description that month.