The Tears Devourer

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    Mondy opened the folder and studied it carefully for a moment, in absolute silence. Rocha's face climbed over Brendan's shoulder, so she could get a clearer view of what the detective was reading.

    "Lacerations on the back, chest, and extremities. Second-degree burns to the feet, a broken chain…" Mondy was murmuring "Rectal tear… Oh, God… Traces of semen on the thighs." A tear hit the paper and spread in a small radius between the letters. "Broken ankles. Bruised heels and hands… She was gagged." He took a deep breath and held it as she turned the page and saw the girl's face. "Shit... what kind of bastard can do this to a girl?"

    "You know what the world is like, Mondy," Rocha replied, even knowing the question was rhetorical. "Let it go, Brendan." He tried to take the folder from her. "You don't need to mortify yourself anymore."

    "How is it that Durand can perceive all this?" He commented, furrowing both eyebrows. "The girl disappeared almost a year ago."

    "When we found her, her temperature was almost the same as the river. Minus twenty degrees. That would explain how the body is in... Or well, at least it shows us what kind of abuse she had to endure in life."

    "So," Mondy sighed, "so he held her all this time, and murdered her before or during the temperature drop in the city... Alex, the girl was missing for a year, and she just died a couple of weeks ago..."

    "Drop it, Brendan... Don't put pressure on yourself with the past, let Newell decide how to open the case."

    "I'm going to catch this son of a b***h, Alex, I swear." Rocha took the folder from Brendan's hands, wrapped her left arm around his colleague's right, and led him to his car, the old Ford.

    "Don't swear anything to me, Brendan," she replied. "Swear to yourself. You haven't failed me, I think the only one you think you have is you, Brendan."

    They drove in deathly silence back to the apartment. Mondy had never let anyone touch the wheel of his car, but at that moment he was so angry that he had no head to deal with the asphalt. Brendan kept his gaze lost in the blurry landscape on the other side of the glass, while Rocha tried to enjoy the strange moment, but the empathy she felt for his colleague and his regret, stopped her from the pleasure of driving a classic Ford.

    They stopped for a bite to eat from a fast-food outlet, and after a couple of hours, they made their way to Dells' police station.

    "Brendan... what the hell?" Herrera demanded, as soon as Mondy stepped on the apartment tile. "They found the girl and apparently, the department, and my partner, forget that I was also on the case."

    "Dusty, please calm down," Mondy asked. "I just found out a few hours ago, and there's still no..."

    "Still, hours ago, Brendan," the angry detective interrupted.

    "Yeah, but... I've been distracted... Dusty, I've seen her, and I don't know... I've seen the body and I've remembered." Mondy's eyes were dry, so he showed no weakness in front of his partner.

    "Detective Rocha," an officer called, standing near Alex's desk. The detective shifted her gaze to the source of the voice. "The official report on the corpse in the lake is ready and on your desk." The three detectives turned in the direction of Rocha's table, but only Alex moved. She opened the file, and gloom of sadness flooded her eyes. She nodded once, in Mondy's direction, and was silent as she walked in his direction.

    "Well done... i***t," she whispered to Herrera as she passed his side.

    "What...? What have I missed? It's not her?" Dusty asked, arms outstretched, palms open, thoughts blank.

    "Didn't you see the preliminary?" Mondy asked him.

    "I haven't seen anything, Brendan," Herrera replied, still dazed. "Nobody wants to get me any report. They don't let me see the body." Herrera noticed that Detective Rocha put a hand to her mouth, covering her sorrow with it. She saw him close his eyes tightly, not in melancholy, but in anger. "What if we can find something that Rocha doesn't see? After all, we had the case for three months, we are better acquainted with the girl than Alex is."

    "Take it." Detective Rocha shocked the folder of the victim on Herrera's chest and gave him a cold, penetrating look. "It is your case. I don't want it. Keep him. I'll speak to Newell personally about the reassignment."

    "I don't think they'll give it to us," Dusty replied, adding Mondy in his sentence. "This case is closed now. The body files the case immediately."

    "Well, Brendan doesn't think the same." They both looked at Mondy, who kept his face blank and his eyes lost somewhere on the ground.

    "Is that true, Brendan?" Herrera approached him. "Do you think we can still catch him?"

    "I don't know how, I have no idea where to start, Dusty... But yeah" Mondy looked up and stared at his partner, "we're going to get that bastard."

    "It's just the courage I expected to find in you two." The door of the Dells Police Department flew open, and a tall, burly guy walked in, shaved hair that showed two scars above the edge that separates the scalp from the forehead, in a jet-skin jacket and blue jeans, ending in dark brown leather boots. He had sleet on his shoulders and in the backpack, he carried on his back.

    "Hunt," Dells Police Department Commander Richard Newell said as he left his office as soon as he noticed the detective entering the building. "Welcome." He approached, weaving around the other officers in the compound. He raised and stretched out his right hand, to which Hunt carefully shook a warm greeting. "I hope the flight wasn't so heavy."

    "The weather's s**t around here. It's one of the few things I remember... Or one of the few things I want to remember," the detective confessed, with a harsh and thick voice that denoted some slight inflammation in the throat.

    "Hunt," Herrera approached and was the next to shake his hand. "Thanks for the prompt help in the case."

    "No sweat." Hunt wrinkled his mouth and raised his eyebrows. "I'm so desperate to catch this motherfucker, I didn't think twice when I was offered the transfer."

    "Transfer?" Rocha asked.

    "Yes, Detective," Commander Newell replied. "Officer Elijah Hunt will join our criminal investigation force immediately."

    "What is this drastic change in climate due to?" Mondy put in. "I mean, why didn't you wait for a forensic confirmation on the identity of the body?"

    "Brendan," Hunt greeted him with a nod. "Well, let's say it was a hunch. The news went viral, and when I discussed it with my superiors, they immediately gave me permission. The first body has already been found, so I hope I'm wrong, but if the devourer is still here, there'll be more corpses to come. I had a week to confirm the identity, now that we have it, I have a month deadline, otherwise, I'll return to Brooklyn, or I'll wait for another sign in a different state."

    "The devourer?" Rocha asked again.

    "The tears devourer," Herrera replied this time. "That's what they call it in Brooklyn."

    "Why so poetic?" Alex continued, sneering.

    "It's a nickname the press gave him," Hunt explained. "And it is because his assassination process is long and slow. The shrink they put in charge explained that the murderer is sadistic, that's that he finds pleasure by causing physical or psychological pain in another living being. In this case, the tears devourer was a pseudonym he got for the mark he left on his victims. All of them were found... without both eyes."

    "But I saw Ariana's body..." Mondy said. "I don't remember anything missing."

    "Uh... Brendan," Alex called after him. "You saw her face wet and covered with hair. In the preliminary photograph, they didn't touch the body, so they omitted that detail... It's found in the official photograph. The girl doesn't have both eyes."

    "Then it's official," Hunt commented, holding back an angry smile. "The devourer is here in Dells. Commander," Newell looked at him, energetic and serious "I need the same group from that time. I ask permission to have both Mondy and Herrera on the case."

    "Permission granted, Detective," Newell replied. "Take Rocha too. I don't want Herrera and Mondy to take the leading role in this investigation." He turned and headed for the entire apartment. "And the rest... They'll have to try harder these days. We have a month... a single month of analysis to find this criminal. If you see or hear something, speak directly to one of the four officers in the case, do not act on your own, much less alone. The department needs to be more united now than ever. Let's catch this bastard once and for all, and end the worry of thousands of parents and youth who reside here in Dells. This is our city," he banged the table closest to him "these are our neighbors," he raised his voice louder, like a battle cry "and we will not let anything or anyone harm them."