Love Letters Through Corpses

Chapter 10: Something Different

"Rose? What does that mean?" Agent Kleio asked. 

A rose could have meant anything. Even in the old times, Roses symbolize a great number of things depending on the view of the creator. The problem is what could it mean in their case now? It was an odd predicament towards the case, roses and murder wasn't something you'd normally see together.

"Rose symbolizes a lot of things. For lovers it symbolizes love, affection, lust. But it could also symbolize secrecy and confidentiality" Sage explained. “But Black rose can mean hatred, rage, revenge and impurity. Like I’ve said, roses symbolize a lot of things this could mean one or the other. Regarding the 'soul' I have no information about that” she added

"Well, one thing's a fact. We were right" Daexoen teasingly said, as he gazed at the annoyed Agent Yuan looking at him with a sharp look. 

Scenting the forming awkward atmosphere Agent Lucas spoke with the examiner, "Place the other victims on the table. Let's see if they also have one."

Agent Yuan quickly looked at his partner with disbelief, "Are we really going to trust these two children?" Agent Yuan frustratingly said.

Agent Lucas looked at him, "We don't have a choice. You witness it yourself, these 'children' are our only chance in catching this killer. Yes, it might be a scratch in our pride but we have to admit it" He muttered.

As an agent people expect you to solve cases, people expect you to save them, not a couple of juveniles. Two undergrad students who barely even reached the age of 20, are their only chance, who wouldn't get hurt in the pride with that? What agent's pride wouldn't be taunted? But it wasn't the matter of pride and excellence anymore, it was the matter of catching the killer before anybody else gets killed. They couldn't do anything but set aside their pride and ego.

As the examiner brought out each body once again, they started to check the bodies of the other two victims, leaving no skin unchecked. 

"Can you flip her over?" Sage asked.

The UV light was shone directly on the victim's nape, where an exact same mark was then spotted. With that evidence, they immediately understood that this wasn't a coincidence, the hope of this unsure serial killing to be nothing more than a coincidence turns for the worst.  However, as they were searching for the mark on the third victim, they were left spiraling into confusion as there were no markings seen on her body. 

"What? Were we wrong?" Daexoen murmured looking at the younger.

Sage however looked as if she expected this result. "No, we're not," Sage told him. "Agent Brook, where did you find the first two victims?" She added.

The agent tried to recall his encounter with the bodies, "We found the first one inside her apartment. She lived alone, so it took quite a while before her landlord discovered her body." He answered.

She nodded, "And the second?"

"She was found in a mall's Bathroom. It also took a while since the bathroom she was found in was supposed to be out of order, a janitor smelled a foul odor and found her." Agent Kleio answered.

Daexoen gave an enlightened look, "Oh, so that's why" he said, earning a quick nod from the younger.

The Agents couldn't help but ask, "What? What do you mean?" Agent Lucas initiated.

"They're already dead when they found them," Sage plainly said. "That's why there's no mark on her," She added, pointing to the third victim.

They looked at them confused. Except for the two students, the agents including the examiner were completely clueless. They were all still very confused why the first two had the same mark but the third one didn't. Agent Yuan on the other hand grew frustrated with his cluelessness. He despised the fact two know-it-all brats know more than he does.

"Huh? What? Can you elaborate? Look I'm a cop not a genius" Agent Kleio said.

"There's no mark because the killer couldn't put one," Daexoen answered.

Agent Brook raised an eyebrow, "What do you mean?" 

Daexoen sighed, "The reason why only they have a mark and not her is because she was killed on the spot. Meaning the killer couldn't put a tattoo on her. While the other two he killed in private making him have plenty of time to mark them" he explained.

With little enlightenment they slowly understood, "But why kill two privately and one out of the public?" Agent Yuan asked.

"To scare people? To make them fear them? I don't know, Agent, isn't it your job to find out?" Sage said 

Before Agent Yuan can refute he was already held down by Agent Lucas. Signing him to stop any violent intentions he plans to initiate.

"Lucky little brat." He thought to himself.

"But what could this mean?" Agent Kleio asked as he points as the tattoo

Sage shrugged once again, “Like I’ve said, roses means a lot of things. But I’m not sure what it could be. Or if it has anything to do with the case." 

Daexoen noticed the looks quickly transferred towards him, "I'm a forensics student, not a detective I don't know that." he admitted. "However, we could try to find out. But we can't make promises" Daexoen Added

Agent Yuan gave them a mocking grin, "Why not?" Agent Lucas failed to stop his partner as the other started to state his claims. "I thought you were geniuses. You've already started, why can't you finish it? What's stopping you now?" He continued to taunt them.

Sage raised an eyebrow, "We are not professionals, Agent Yuan just let me remind you. We are just mere high school and college students, do you expect us to know every single thing in the world? If you are angry that a bunch of teenagers are helping out in this case much more than you would ever have done then blame yourself not us. It is not our fault you are useless." Sage plainly said.

Daexoen cleared his throat before looking at the cocky agent, "If you don't want us to help then, fine we won't. This will be our last. We shall take our leave then, Good luck with the case." he said before storming out of the room.

"For an agent, your maturity is quite low, your knowledge in this field isn't as high as you thought. You're just depending on others' mental capabilities so that you can show off your physical potential. But face it without other people you can't even lay a toe on your position. Now you're mad that a couple of teenagers can actually find evidence that your mind can't even comprehend, you feel anxious and beaten" Sage calmly said as she looked at the shocked agent. 

She sighed before facing Agent Brook, "I don't like helping people, I also don't like being disturb. However, don't deny the fact that you needed us. I don't have any obligations towards this. Like what your nephew said we will end this here if you want, I hope we have helped with this far enough." Agent Brook had his head bowing down, eyes glued to the floor flooded with guilt and remorse.

Sage decided to leave the room after. However, she wasn't expecting to find the older student leaning back on the opposite wall in front of her, casually greeting her as if nothing happened.

"Uncle Greg's cafe is quite near, want to grab a coffee with me?" The older suggested.

She looked at him confused, "Why?"

He shrugged but gave her a warm friendly smile, "Just to talk, I want to ask you something." 

Confused yet she reluctantly accepted the friendly offer. 

They both decided to take a stroll to the nearby cafe. Shockingly, the small cafe store was booming with people. Honestly, Sage thought it was quite peculiar after the events that happened the day before she thought that the cafe would have been forced to close or at least take a break for a moment. But instead it was packed with people.

"This is odd. I thought it would have been close due to what happened, but it looks like a lot of people came instead." She admitted to the older.

The older one gave a small chuckle, "Yeah, apparently because of what happened yesterday the cafe became a big hit."

"By what happened yesterday, you mean because of our video, right?" 

Daexoen nodded, "You saw it too huh, I don't know who filmed it but it became an instant trend on social media."

As soon as they entered the cafe, all eyes were shifted towards them. Others looked and started to gossip amongst their group, others even started to take pictures. It was a chaos for the two but they had no choice but to accept the sudden rise of fame.

"Uncle Greg" Daexoen called out to the owner who had just finished fixing a cup of coffee for a customer.

"Daexoen! Good of you to drop by! and it looks like you've known each other" The owner enthusiastically greeted.

Daexoen smiled before introducing Sage to the owner, "Uh yeah. Uncle this is Sage. I think you might know her from yesterday. Sage, this is Uncle Greg, the cafe owner and my uncle's friend." Greg didn't hesitate to extend his hand and exchanged formalities to the younger.

The owner grinned at the two before going back to his station, "Today has been quite busy. The cafe boosted all thanks to the two of you. So what would you two want? Don't be shy, it's on the house." He enthusiastically told them.  

Sage gave a small smile, "Then I'll have a cappuccino and 3 Almond mango tarts." Sage politely said.

"Cappuccino as well, uncle and maybe a blueberry cheesecake." Daexoen requested.

Greg nodded before motioning towards an empty table, "Alright, I'll just bring it to your table." 

Sage looked at the man confused, "I didn't know you serve it to the customers. Don't you usually let them pick it up?" 

The other nodded, "That was before. Now there's a lot of people today so we decided to just serve the orders so that we wouldn't get confused."

Luckily, they both found an extra table even though the place was packed with people. The two sat there in silence- not because of their awkwardness towards each other but because of the unwanted attention everyone gave them. Endless amount of stares and whispers surrounding their table. It was honestly getting quite uncomfortable, both grew quite annoyed with their situation. Both were not used to the attention yet silently sympathized with each other.

Sage cleared her throat attempting to initiate the conversation, "So what do you want to talk about?" she started.

"Right, about yesterday." Daexoen reluctantly answered.

Not wanting other people to hear his question, he began to draw his mouth closer to the ear of the teen in front of him. Ignoring other people around them.

"I know you saw something different than just those dots."