PERFECT SHADOWS

16

PERFECT SHADOWS 16 FINALE

The problem no one outside the station knew about was simple. They could not report Selene Marlowe missing. If they did, the world would explode. Human Rights would say the police let her escape. The media would say they helped her disappear. The government would collapse under questions. So officially… Selene Marlowe was still in custody. Only a handful of people knew the truth. And Detective Jaco van der Merwe carried that truth like a stone in his chest. For a week he worked without rest. He read every file again. Every statement Selene had given. Every name. Every timeline. The eleventh victim.

“You know him,” she had said.

But nothing appeared. No dead person connected to the family. No missing associate he recognised. After seven days Jaco felt like he was chasing smoke. One evening he sat at the kitchen table at home, rubbing his eyes. His wife Bella placed a cup of tea in front of him.

“You’ve been like this for days,” she said.

“This Selene Marlowe case is frustrating,” he answered.

He did not mention she was missing.

Bella sat down across from him.

“You keep talking about an eleventh person, right?”

Jaco looked at her.

“Yes.”

She shrugged slightly.

“Maybe it’s the doctor.”

Jaco frowned.

“What doctor?”

“The family doctor,” Bella said simply. “The one who ignored her reports. The one who said it was food poisoning.”

Jaco froze. Of course. The doctor. He knew that man. Dr. Pieter Van Wyk. The Marlowe family doctor for years. Jaco sat up straight.

“He never came in for questioning,” he muttered.

Bella blinked. “What?”

“I asked him to come to the station,” Jaco said slowly. “Weeks ago.”

“And?”

“He never responded.”

A cold feeling spread through him. He stood up suddenly.

“I need to check something.”

Twenty minutes later Jaco was walking through the corridors of the hospital where Dr. Pieter Van Wyk worked. The receptionist looked confused when he asked.

“Doctor Van Wyk?” she said. “He hasn’t been here in weeks.”

“How many weeks?”

She checked the system.

“About… three months.”

Jaco felt his stomach drop.

“Three months?”

“Yes, Detective.”

He moved to the hospital records desk.

“Pull his last known location,” he ordered.

The clerk typed quickly. The screen updated. Jaco leaned forward. His last phone signal. Three days before Selene murdered her family. Location… The Marlowe mansion. Jaco’s heart started pounding.

“Any missing persons report?” he asked.

The clerk checked.

“Yes. Filed two months ago.”

Two months. Selene had said she studied everyone’s schedules for a month. Then began preparing. He stepped away from the desk and grabbed his phone.

“Control,” he said sharply.

“Yes, Detective?”

“Get a team ready.”

“For what?”

“We’re going back to the Marlowe mansion.”

“Why?”

Jaco stared at the hospital screen one more time.

“Because I think we know who the eleventh victim is.”

The mansion looked darker than Jaco remembered. Police had searched it many times already. Forensics had combed every room. Every floor. Every wall. Nothing had been found. But Selene had said something important.

“In plain sight.”

Jaco stood in the entrance hall thinking. Where would someone hide a body that no one would question? Somewhere people looked at but never examined. He slowly walked through the living room. Past the dining room. Then he stopped. In the centre of the large hall stood something everyone remembered. A life-sized decorative statue. A marble-style sculpture Adrian had commissioned years ago. A modern art piece. Tall. Smooth. White. Too smooth. Jaco walked closer. Something about the surface looked wrong. The smell hit him faintly. Chemical. He called the forensic team.

“Bring cutting tools.”

They carefully began breaking the outer layer. The room filled with dust.

Then-

A hollow sound. The outer shell cracked open. Inside a body. Preserved with chemicals. Hidden in the centre of the sculpture. Dr. Pieter Van Wyk. The family doctor. His face frozen in silent horror. Jaco stared at the remains. Selene had hidden him where no one would question. A piece of art. Standing in the middle of the house.

In plain sight. Exactly like she said. Jaco stepped back slowly. And realised something even worse. If she had hidden a body that well. What else had she prepared? And where was she now? Because somewhere, far away from this house… Selene Marlowe was already three moves ahead.

... .....

Detective Jaco van der Merwe stood in the briefing room with his seniors. The air was heavy. Everyone in that room already knew things had gone too far. On the screen behind him were photos from the Marlowe mansion. The broken statue. The hollow inside. The body they had pulled out. Jaco cleared his throat.

“The medical examiner finished the preliminary report,” he said.

The Commissioner leaned forward.

“And?”

Jaco glanced at the notes in his hand.

“The body inside the statue was confirmed as Dr. Pieter van Wyk, the Marlowe family doctor.”

Murmurs moved through the room.

Jaco continued.

“He died roughly two months before the murders.”

Silence fell.

“He had blunt force trauma to the head first,” Jaco said. “Then he was sealed inside the clay structure.”

The forensic images showed the layers.

Clay. Resin. Sealant. A perfect sculpture. Built around a corpse. Jaco continued speaking.

“Records show he was called to the Marlowe house around that time for a house call.”

“Why?” one officer asked.

“To treat Selene,” Jaco said quietly.

“For what?”

He hesitated for a moment.

“For burns.”

The Commissioner frowned.

“The burns she said came from boiling oil?”

“Yes.”

Jaco continued.

“The examiner believes the doctor treated her during the time she was planning the murders.”

Someone at the table muttered under their breath.

“So something happened during that visit,” Jaco said. “Something triggered her.”

He looked around the room.

“Maybe she asked him to help her one last time. Maybe she begged him to report what was happening.”

“And he refused,” the Commissioner finished quietly.

Jaco nodded.

“Which would make him the first victim.”

The room went silent.

“After that,” Jaco continued, “she built the life-size statue around his body and left it standing in the house.”

He paused.

“In plain sight.”

No one spoke. Eleven murders. And the woman responsible was currently… Missing. Jaco lowered the report slowly.

“Which means,” he said, “we now have eleven confirmed victims connected to Selene Marlowe.”

Before anyone could answer, the door burst open. A young officer rushed inside, breathless.

“Sir!”

The Commissioner looked irritated.

“What is it?”

The officer looked directly at Jaco.

“Detective… Selene Marlowe is here.”

The room froze. Jaco blinked.

“What?”

“She’s in the interrogation room.”

For a moment nobody moved. Jaco felt something strange inside him. Not shock. Not relief. Recognition. He sighed slowly.

“She’s toying with us,” he said.

The room turned toward him.

“She always was,” he added quietly.

He knew exactly what this meant. She had left. Just long enough to prove she could. Now she was back. Walking in like she owned the place. Because she knew something the police were only starting to understand. The Commissioner rubbed his temples.

“You think she came back willingly?”

“Yes,” Jaco said.

“Why?”

“Because she knows she’s walking out anyway.”

Silence filled the room again. The Commissioner looked at him carefully.

“You’ve seen the news?”

Jaco nodded slowly.

“Yes.”

The Commissioner tapped the table.

“The United Nations has issued a human rights concern notice.”

Several officers shifted uncomfortably.

“Interpol is reviewing the trafficking evidence she exposed.”

Another officer swore under his breath.

“And the World Health Organization has opened an inquiry into the medical negligence claims.”

Jaco felt the weight of it. But the Commissioner was not finished.

“There are petitions online demanding her release.”

Jaco had seen them. Millions of comments. Millions of arguments. Millions of people debating whether she was a monster… Or a survivor.

“How many signatures?” Jaco asked quietly.

The Commissioner slid a tablet across the table. Jaco looked down.

4,982,000 signatures.

The number was climbing by the second. The Commissioner spoke again.

“If you haven’t noticed, that petition is about to hit five million.”

The room felt colder.

“So unless you can beat those numbers,” the Commissioner said slowly, “we have bigger problems.”

Jaco looked up.

“What problems?”

The Commissioner gave a tired smile.

“The problem of knowing we’ve already lost.”

Silence followed. Because somewhere down the hall… Selene Marlowe was sitting calmly in the interrogation room. Waiting for them. Like she had never left at all.