"Goddamn it!"
Anybody could hear the scream piercing through afternoon air. But they were already familiar with this type of yells so early. After all this was a New York Police Department, the Crime Scene Unit. And the ear piercing scream belonged to none other than the Inspector Fletcher P. Harrison, when he found out the death of a politician today early in the morning.
Suddenly, like a puppy, a man burst in his office, asking what happened like he hasn't known for a while as he was the detective present at the scene. "It's the 5th one in less than a month! That's wrong! And we aren't even close to discovering the culprit! That's even more wrong!" "How can you be so sure it was him who did it?" The question as stupid as this one made the Inspector turn his head towards his detective. "I went to the hospital the victim was admitted to earlier. Do you know what I found on her forehead? A pair of barely visible marks of red lipstick! If you know any other person that uses red lipstick in a shape of lips for them to mark their victims, than please enlighten me." The detective visibly gulped before deciding the best thing to do at the moment is to just walk out the door. Just as he was about to exhale from relief a voice called out. "Your case will be given to detective Theo Byrne for further research. We'll see if he gets any closer to discovering the murderer."
The man standing between the doorframes nodded his head furiously and excused himself to leave.
*
Theo Byrne was hungry. And right now he was deciding on either having some tofu or a cheesecake. Eyes narrowed and focused on the two kinds of food in front of him, he was unable to notice a person coming towards him.
Unknowingly his dilemma on what to eat has come to an end when somebody decided on standing right beside him saying: "Detective Byrne, I have a job for you."
And that's how Theo had to be satisfied with just another energy bar he once hoped he wouldn't have to eat.
*
Room was lighted with only one light bulb hanging above a clueless Theo as he looked around trying to place his thoughts on why exactly he was brought there. And he was clueless until his eyes landed on a wall opposite of him, widening to a size where they looked like two eggs. Two strides and he was already eyeing the giant corkboard behind a smaller wooden table.
"Please tell me you're not joking Inspector… you are actually giving me the Red Lips case?" The other man standing there watching the scene in front of him unfold stifled a laugh trying to escape his lips as he agreed to the words that left another's mouth. "I am. It's time this case gets solved, he's been troubling us for too long." Theo did absolutely nothing to stop the chuckle that left his lips. "Hold up a second…you still think it's a him? I didn't think you were this ignorant of this case!" Inspector narrowed his eyes at the younger man still standing and now inspecting the content on the table. "Of course it's a him, he's maybe gay hence the lipstick but it's a him!" Now a loud laugh escaped younger's throat as he turned his head to look at the Inspector. "It's a her, sir! All this time it's been a female behind all of this."
The wall was covered with several strings, all of them joining together in the middle secured with a red board pin and a piece of paper with a question mark drawn on it.
Five faces stared forward into space in front of them.
Two males and three females.
Names written in tiny font under them, their full profiles laying face up on the table. Newspaper articles scattered all around the victims' pictures, showing the way they died with a pinch of reporters' far-fetched phrases adding flavour to what's written.