Find It Inc.

Chapter 17

Darryl went home for the evening and Jo stayed behind. She now has a chance to look at the crime scene in a lot more detail and since the police and ambulance have not yet arrived everything is as it was (the police and ambulance may have given up at this point but they will not tell you that). Jo goes into the small storage room filled with the bloody paper. The blood has hardened into a type of goo and the smell of iron fills the air. Jo looks at the ceiling to see if there is a way to get in and out of the room without anyone seeing anything. There is nothing. She looks to the floor for the same reason (just in case) but that turn up a whole lot of…yep, nothing. Jo gently hopped over the body carefully avoiding the blood so that her foot prints do not leave marks. She takes a smell around hoping to find a scent she knew not but alas that was not the case.

The room has shelves that are not attached to the wall so it is easy to see behind the papers to check if there is a secret opening or something. Jo remembers someone telling someone else that this storage room used to be filled with pencils and erasers so the shelves used to be of a different design. But it got changed to a paper storage room a few years back since now-a-days people print more than they write. Anyway… Jo did not see any other way to get in and begins to think that the murdering murder is a ghost since that would make the most sense or a mimicer, mimicking a ghost. Jo exits the room, careful to leave all as it was and heads to the boss’s empty office.

While inside the office she looks through the files looking for someone who could have ghostly powers but the files are filled with people, werewolves, and some vampires (they wear a lot of sunscreen and avoid all the windows) but zero ghosts or people that can mimic ghosts. Jo found it a bit… ghostist but it is what it is. Maybe no ghost was good enough to get hired? Jo pages through the files one more time to double check and then turns her focus to the files of the current employees but no ghost in sight. She heads to her desk and seats down.

She has a set of removable drawers under her desk and the top one is locked. This is where she keeps her findings and research. She unlocks the drawer by swiping her hand quickly across the scanner. It is a bit old fashion but does the job for now. She takes out her real work and has a look at it.

These clues do not add up since every murder is different and random. The people are random and the places are random as if the murder wanted to leave a bad omen in every room of the office. The first victim was found on the day Jo started working and it was in the office she was currently sitting in. It was a hanging but everyone knew it was murder because there was no fallen chair to the side and all the desks were pushed to the edge so that the hanging body of a person was in the center of focus. Plus people cannot fly or do magic so someone must have killed the person first and moved the stuff around.

The second murder was in the bathroom and it was different in that nothing in the bathroom moved around (well everything in a bathroom is stuck to the floor so to move anything would require smashing) and this method of killing was by bullet. Two in the chest and one in the head. There was a message on the mirror saying ‘me again’ written with the tip of the gun. This is what Jo concluded this the line stokes that went from thick to thin as if something solid was being used to make the note. Plus once the scene was cleaned up you could see scratch marks on the mirror which confirmed Jo’s conclusion. The odd thing about this case was that there was no gun nor gun powder found at the scene but even odder than that was that there was no blood except on the mirror. This time the murderer cleaned the body and the place to the point that their finger prints was unable to be found.

The rest of the murders happened in the different storage room and all of them are different. Some were messy while other were half mess but each one was different and there was a different murder weapon for each crime. However, no murder weapon was ever found nor any prints to trace to someone. Due to the murders everyone is on edge in one way or another. Some dive eyes first into their work hoping they are not the next victim (people have school bills to pay) while others stay at home and lose their pay checks.

While Jo is looking at what she had a though came to her and that thought was something she regrets not thinking of it right away. The thought was “what was Cindy doing in the storage room?” The reception area on the first floor has a dumbwaiter and Cindy calls into the office to ask for more paper if she needs so she does not waste time going up the elevator and coming down the elevator. She has not set foot in the office for about, give and take, three years so why yesterday? Jo slowly gets up from her desk as if she is in a trance and heads to the elevator. Her eyes are up and her nose is open so that she does not get any surprises. Jo presses the button in the elevator and the doors slowly close. It begins to go down.

She goes to Cindy’s old desk and has a smell and look around. She spends quite a fair amount of time there crawling around every inch and centimeter of the place making sure nothing is left unsmelled or unseen. Doubt begins to make its way into her brain with the arrival of the sun’s rays through the curtain-less windows signaling a new day has started. She gives up hope but (as is always the case) she then finds something. A clue. One clue. Something she can take and examine. Jo takes a packet from her pocket which contain teasers in case something like this happens. The teasers are in her one hand and they feel like happy, familiar friends that one has not seen for a long while but has never forgotten.

Her hand with the teasers shakes that she uses the other hand to support her teasers holding hand. She picks up the clue and places it in the packet. The packet is zipped up making sure as much air is outside the bag instead of in it. Jo holds the clue up to the light to have one finally look at her achievement. The front doors open and she ducks down as not to be seen.

She is under the desk and she hears footsteps walking into the room. It also sounds as if there are a set of keys being swung around in someone’s hand. The sounds of the footsteps are unknown to Jo which is odd since she knows the sounds of everyone even if she has only heard them once. But that is not as odd as the fact that she cannot smell this person. They have no scent at all. Even ghosts have scents so what is this that walked into the room? The steps go away from the desk and the familiar ding of the elevator doors opening is heard. The sound of the doors closing is heard but Jo does not move. She does not move because there were no footsteps of anyone going into the elevator before the doors closed. Jo stays still and keeps her eyes bouncing from side to side. She is nestled into the corner of the desk so that no one can get to her without her knowing. Fear is an emotion she does not desire but it is one that she is in the process of feeling. A werewolf being without scent is like a person with sight being without for a random hour in a day while they are awake.

The steps beginning again and they get louder in her direction. They stop behind her and she can hear breath hitting the surface of the desk. However, she cannot smell the breath. The steps make a semi-circle on the edge of the desk but before the steps could reach the other side to where Jo is hiding, the front door opens and the steps beginning to run. It is Richard who has entered into the building according to his sounds and smell. Jo is extremely glad to be able to smell again.

Richard makes his way to the desk and stops in front of it. There is a moment of silence to show his respects to Cindy. He then goes to the elevator and gets in. Jo comes out of hiding and rushes to the elevator doors before it closes. She manages to sneak her hand to stop the doors and to let them reopen the doors so that her body can fit through. Richard it surprised since (according to his mind’s eye) she came out of nowhere.

They greet each other as they always do but this time Jo hits the break on the elevator. She turns to Richard and speaks to him in a whisper (just to be on the safe side) but Richard cannot hear her. Jo bends down and talks directly into his ear. She explains that she needs help and that she is undercover. She explains that she found a clue and showed the packet to him quickly and she tells him that Darryl hired her plus she thinks the murder is currently in the building. Once she finishes whispering she stands up and presses the button to let the elevator continue its motion. When they reach their office floor the doors open and Jo steps out to make her way to get some coffee and all the energy drinks they have into her system. Richard does not move and stand in the elevator with his mouth open trying to gather all that was said to him. The elevator doors close and it goes down with Richard still inside it.

A moment passes and Jo is sitting at her desk with coffee in hand and energy drinks on desk. The elevator door opens and Richard is in the center of a crowd of people who look at him in confusion. He has not moved for the spot nor has said a word. People stare at him and then slowly make their way out of the elevator. The elevator doors close again and the elevator goes door with Richard still inside.

This time Richard comes up with Darryl who gently pushes him to his desk. Darryl sits him down on his chair and position the chair in front of the desk. Darryl places a pencil in his hand and closes his jaw with the tip of his finger. He goes to Jo and says:

“So he knows?”

“Yep.” Says Jo who has an open laptop in front of her and who is researching creatures that do not smell. “Good… I hope.” Says Darryl and with those words he goes back to his own office to get some work done. Richard has not moved and Jo begins to think if she can do something to make him feel better or less still. She begins to research how to help people get over shook.

While Jo is reading the online articles about everything she smells Richard who is standing beside her. She links eyes with Richard and he says:

“But could you smell him?”