Detective John

CHAPTER 7

Next day, another case came. Ryan reached there with his fellow officers to check the crime scene. John and Lily went there, too. 

“The crime scene is well-preserved. You only have five minutes. Have a quick look so we can clean up.

A lady was stalked in the early morning hours and chased for several blocks. Finally, they arrived at the crime scene and the follower suddenly spontaneously combusted. The fire grew quickly and he died instantly. And there was an eyewitness at the scene.” Ryan said to John.

“Where’s the lady who was followed?” John asked.

“She is still in shock and emotionally unstable. When you question her, pay attention to your language.” Ryan informed.

John then went to meet the lady who was sitting in the police van for further interrogation. But he suddenly stopped “Emily?” but Emily doesn’t remember him.

“You don’t recognize me? I am John. I’m also from Cambridge. I was two years below you. At the freshmen welcome party, you were the one who put the corsage on me.”

“John! Why are you here?” Emily asked.

“A while ago, I fell out with my dad. I can only rely on myself now. I have been helping Inspector Ryan to work cases recently. Enough about me. How are you doing?” John asked.

On the other hand....

“You were the eyewitness? What did you see? Tell me.” Lily asked the witness.

“You know, that man was burned to death. Let me tell you. That ghost was going to eat that lady before the sun came out. But then the sunshine just hit him and ‘BOOM!’ The ghost was burned to death.” The witness said.

After investigation, all of them went to the police station. John was very happy that he would be able to talk to Emily again while Lily and Ryan were confused.

“What’s the deal behind his happiness?” Lily whispered to Ryan.

“The victim was also a student of Cambridge University. I think he is just being nice.” Ryan replied.

“Look at his lustful look! And besides, when did you ever see him so kind and polite to girls?” Lily asked while Ryan stood there confused.

After some time, Emily came to the police station to give her statement.

“Ask anything you want, make it quick though. I have patients in the afternoon. I work at the local hospital.” Emily said.

“It’s not too far from the scene. Tell me what happened in brief.” John said, getting serious.

“I was on the night shift yesterday. I just left the hospital when I felt like someone was following me. At first I thought it was a robber. But I found out later it was not it. I threw my wallet to him. But he didn’t pick it up at all. He just kept chasing me. In the alley, he almost caught me.” Emily explained.

“Can you show me? I want to know the exact position and your movements at that time.” John said to Emily and then they were trying to act exactly like what happened yesterday. 

On the other hand..

John was hovering over Emily like the ghost man did. Seeing this, Ryan and Lily both got very excited to see what John will do now.

“In broad daylight? John’s really aggressive. There is really something between those two.” Ryan whispered to Lily.

John was still hovering while suddenly, Emily hit him with her bag.

“This is what happened. If I didn’t hit him, I might be dead by now.” Emily said while Ryan and Lily got disappointed as they didn’t got to see any action.

“Do you know the stalker then?” John asked Emily.

“Probably not. His face was covered in bandages showing only his sharp teeth and mouth. And also when he came closer, I could smell a rancid smell. Like a corpse’s smell.” Emily said. After that, Emily left as she had work in the hospital.

“You have a crush on her?” Lily asked curiously after Emily left.

“How is it possible? I used to like her, just a little bit.” John replied and went to the forensic department.

“The deceased is thin. His nails are oddly long. The burned skin tissue is wrinkled and has purple spots. The whole body is pathological.” The doctor gave the report.

“What about the fangs?” Ryan asked.

“Still there, and they are his real teeth. Also, there are no obvious edema, congestion, or inflammation reactions on his skin. The internal organs does not show thermogenesis or signs of a respiratory syndrome.So this shows…” The doctor trailed when John suddenly said “He was burned after death?”

“Yes. Theoretically, this is the case.” The doctor answered.

“Ummm….I want to know what caused the spontaneous combustion?” John asked the doctor.

“There is a strong smell of alcohol on the body. One thing that is for sure is alcohol in the body played a role in supporting combustion. But the dead man’s stomach content also has a lot of alcohol. So, I can’t confirm if the alcohol as a combustion enhancer was intentional or just a coincidence.” The doctor replied.

“Can you give me something more certain?” Ryan asked frustrated with the lack of information.

“With current technology, I can only get so much information.” The doctor said helplessly.

John was casually strolling in the crime scene when something caught his attention. But before he could examine it, Lily snatched it from him and asked him what it is.

“Can’t you see for yourself? This is a used toilet paper.” John said and Lily threw it feeling disgusted.

Next day, as usual John and Lily were bickering when suddenly an officer entered their house.

“Inspector Ryan told you both to take a trip. The vampire ghost killed someone.” The officer said.

John immediately went there and saw that the victim has bite marks like of a vampire on his neck. Ryan informed him about a witness who saw everything.

“Last night, both the witness and the victim were eating noodles at a noodle restaurant nearby. At checkout, the witness accidentally bumped into the victim. There was a brief quarrel between the two men. The eyewitness was knocked to the ground. The victim then left. The witness then later chased out for revenge. But as soon as he went out, he saw the vampire was murdering the victim.” Ryan said briefly.

“Do an autopsy as soon as possible.” John ordered and inspected the whole area carefully and saw a sewer.

After that, he whispered to an officer named Salim “Go down the sewer to take a look.”

Suddenly, another officer came running and said “Bad news! Four more bodies were just found in the concession. Same as this victim. There is a row of punctures on their necks.”

After sometime, officer Salim whom John sent came. John asked him about the sewer.

“You guessed right. At the end of the sewer is indeed the local hospital.” Salim told John.

John smirked at the news and said “At the scene of the first victim, I realized that the manhole cover next to the corpse looked like it was moved. And all the sewers at all the crime scenes connect to the local hospital. That’s why I let Salim go down into the sewer to see if it really led to the hospital. Turns out it does!”

“Local hospital? The hospital where your senior Emily works.” Lily asked, getting suspicious.

“Yes. The five dead also have one thing in common: none of them were good citizens. If the vampire was really enforcing justice, how does my senior fit in the picture? She is just a doctor. How bad can she be?” John said.

“You don’t know that. Sometimes it’s hard to really know someone.” Ryan replied.

“Then, I have another question. Why only she escaped?” John asked.

“Maybe, it was purely good luck. What are you trying to say? Spit it.” Lily ordered.

“Inspector Ryan, the post-mortem report should be out by now. Just….tell Lily.” John said to Ryan while Lily was confused.

“The autopsy found out all the five bodies had injection marks on their veins.” Ryan said.

“I found it at the scene earlier. The corpses looked like they had been drained of blood. But actually…their blood was drained by a large-bore puncture needle. Where could you find such needles except the hospital? That’s why I asked Salim to go into the sewer.” John said smugly.

“Then, when did you begin to suspect your senior?” Lily asked curiously.

“That day at the police station when I met her for interrogation. She said ‘Ask anything you want, make it quick though. I have patients in the afternoon.’ If the case is not closed, will any normal person dare to walk alone at night? But she was not afraid. It means she knew the danger was not there anymore. Or there was no danger at all.” John explained.

“Now I am going to the hospital to follow the lead.” Saying this, John left.

“Excuse me? Where is Dr. Emily’s office?” John asked the receptionist after reaching the hospital with a bouquet. The receptionist told him to go upstairs. But when he was at the door of her office, he saw that she was arguing with her former boss from Pharmaceutical Factory about some project and to give her more time for that.

John was leaving when a nurse saw him. The nurse thought that John is Emily’s boyfriend seeing the bouquet. John didn’t correct her as he thought to get some more information about the case. So, John asked her about the argument.

“I heard Dr. Emily was in charge of drug development in the factory. But the project was suddenly suspended. Dr. Emily didn’t even get paid the month before she quit.” The nurse replied. After that, John left from the hospital and went to the police station.

“I want to get a search warrant from you.” John told Ryan and Ryan asked him where the search will be and What’s the purpose.

John replied “Pharmaceutical Factory. I suspect the vampire murder has something to do with a research project of that pharmaceutical factory.”

“Is there any evidence?” Ryan asked and John nodded his head in no.

“If you have no evidence, how can I apply a search warrant for you? In case you find nothing, what should I do?” Ryan asked in disbelief.

“You can say you suspected the factory was making and smuggling drugs. Just make up any charge. Don’t be a coward.” John said.

“Bro, stop messing around. I have foreign bosses. That pharmaceutical company has foreign shareholders. This is public concession. If anything ugly happens, I’ll be ruined. So, stop annoying me and get out.” Ryan told him frustrated.

This time, Ryan backed out from helping John get a search warrant due to rules and regulations of law. While John was thinking of ways to get to the factory for more information.

In the next chapter, we will see more about this case. Hope you like this chapter and follow me to get further updates.