"Bloody hell." The young police officer said what everyone was thinking.
A week had passed since the murder and someone had noticed the absence of the older woman and the presence of a rank smell. The front door was broken, which suggested some sort of foul play. The call had been made and the police had arrived.
The scene in the bedroom of the bungalow was gruesome. The victim lay with her mouth agape. Her neck had been torn open and blood had soaked into the bedding and mattress. All of the horror was concentrated in one place. No furniture had been disturbed. Cupboard doors and drawers were still closed. It was not a burglary where the perpetrator was discovered and a fight ensued.
One did not have to be a detective to read the sequence of events. The front door was forced, someone made straight for the bedroom, and then killed the woman as she slept. The main question was, what weapon had caused this mutilation? Those who were brave enough peered closely at the wound, whilst others made a hasty retreat.
Still pale and shaking, the young officer was outside gulping in fresh air.
"You alright, lad."
"I am now. God, that was awful."
"I've been in the force for fourteen years and I've never seen anything like that."
The similar murders, in another part of the country, were being linked to this incident. A home invasion, no theft, jagged wounds. Surely, there weren't two people involved. How would a copycat have produced the same strange injuries? Baffling and appalling. Not a good combination.
There was not much in the way of evidence. The body would undergo an autopsy and then, perhaps, they would be closer to finding out what happened. The detective stood well back as the medical examiner went about her work.
"What do you think the weapon was?"
"It looks like an animal attack. Its as if claws were used to pierce the throat and then rip it open."
"An animal didn't force the door open and then commit this killing. An animal might kill, but then it would feed. This makes no sense."
"What we have to ask ourselves is, if not claws, what could do this damage? It wasn't anything as straightforward as a knife. No blade did this."
"I'll contact the other force. The one that has had murders like this. Maybe they can offer an explanation."
The papers had reported the killer as being the new ripper. The emotionally loaded word was used to interest the public. It terrified them too. Many of the details of the murder had not been released by the police. The cops were still puzzled by the state of the corpse.
The forensic team had collected some thick hair or fur from the area and it had undergone tests. Despite extensive research they could not definitively identify what type of animal or man it was from. The crime appeared to have been a random attack on an unfortunate person. It would be almost impossible to find the perpetrator.