"This is just fucking terrible." Oliver said.
His face was slightly twisted in disgust as he looked at the dead body that sat in front of him. Maria placed a hand over her mouth in a desperate attempt to stop the bacon, eggs and toast she had for breakfast this morning from pouring out of her stomach. Even though she had been in this line of work for more than a year now, Maria couldn't stand the sight of a corpse. Seeing a dead body wasn't exactly a new thing to Maria. But no matter how much she tried, Maria could never get used to it. One thing that Maria despised in particular was the rotten smell that always erupted from the dead bodies. Maria could distinctively remember the first time she ever laid her eyes on a corpse. It was her first time being sent to the crime scene. The body of a young boy lay, lifeless on the street. The entrails had been spread out all over the ground. The image of Maria crouched on the floor, throwing up violently played in her head. It wasn't a memory she could forget, even if she tried to. Oliver moved closer to the corpse, his eyes fixed intently on the body. No matter how much Maria racked her brain, she just couldn't understand how the sight of the grotesque corpse didn't bother Oliver. Maybe it did bother him, and if it really did, then he did a very good job at hiding it. Maria decided to summon up courage. She walked over to the body slowly and stood close to Oliver. She analyzed the body, her face clearly showing how revolted she was by the cadaver. The corpse sat upright on the sage green couch. The head had been completely severed off from the body and was laying on the blood stained carpet beside a vase containing white coloured dandelions. The large stomach had been ripped open revealing the internal organs. It wasn't a pretty sight to behold.
"Who could have possibly inflicted injuries like these?" 'a monster perhaps' Maria said in her head. There was no way she could say that out loud. Maria definitely didn't want to be treated like she was some sort of lunatic or a drug addict. Remembering how Oliver reacted when she told him about the monster brought a sharp pain to her chest. Maria closed her eyes, trying to shake the thought away.
"Ugh." Maria said, gagging a little.
The stench oozing out of the grotesque cadaver was getting stronger by the minute and Maria couldn't stand it any longer.
"I'm going outside." Maria said.
Without hesitation, she quickly made a beeline to the front door without looking back. After taking one last glance at the body, Oliver followed behind Maria and exited the house. Stepping out to the lawn, Maria let out a sigh of relief. She took in a deep breath, enjoying how fresh the air smelled compared to the air inside the small house. Patrol cars were parked right in front of the house as well as an ambulance. Two to four of the coroners men who were dressed in white overalls, trooped into the house one after the other. A police officer walked over to Maria and Oliver, who looked like they were having a serious discussion.
"Detective Oliver, detective Maria." She said as she shook hands with the both of them.
"Was there anyone at the scene of the crime?" Oliver asked.
The petite brunette nodded.
"The only person who was present was the maid."
The police officer said as she looked towards the direction of the ambulance. Oliver and Maria followed her gaze. A pale woman sat who was getting treatment by the ambulance was in her line of sight. She was lanky and tall. Her eyes drooped down a bit. The pale woman wore a long bright pink night gown. They both guessed that she was the one the police officer was talking about.
"When we found her, she was in a frantic state. She couldn't even utter a single word. We tried asking her questions but she wouldn't say anything." The police officer said.
"Thanks, we'll go talk to her."
The police officer nodded. Maria and Oliver walked past the brunette and went over to meet the pale looking woman. Her droopy eyes met their gaze as they approached her slowly.
"Hello ma'am, I'm detective Maria and this is Detective Oliver."
Oliver nodded at the woman. He was grateful that Maria spoke up first. He wasn't really good with questioning woman. He took a step back to allow Maria take the stage. The pale woman just looked at Maria, not saying a word.
" I'd like if you could tell me what happened in there." The pale woman shifted her gaze to the grassy lawn. Maria stood there awkwardly, waiting for her response. "Okay, can you tell me your name?"
the woman held her bandaged palm, her gaze still fixed on the lawn.
"Oliver, this isn't work-"
"My name is Julia." The pale woman said.
Her voice was as low as a whisper but Maria heard it. She made a sharp turn back to the woman.
"It's very nice to meet you Julia." Maria said extending her hand out for a shake.
The woman extended her hand slowly, placing it in Maria's hand. Maria placed her other hand over the woman's hand and gave her a concerned look. Julia's face softened and tears began welling up in her eyes. "Everything happened so fast." Julia said, her voice was rasp and low.
" The sounds of people arguing woke me up around 5am in the morning. It sounded like Mr and Mrs Hobbs were having an argument again. I came out of my room and followed the sound of their voice. It was coming from the living room. I opened the door slightly and peeked in. They both stood there. Mr Hobbs was pointing a finger at the madam and was yelling at her. There was nothing I could do so I shut the door and went back to my room. I wish I hadn't."
Julia paused, blinking back the tears.
"Some minutes after I went back to the room, I heard a very loud, deafening noise coming from the living room. I rushed out from my room and quickly ran to the living room. The living room was in shambles. Almost all the furniture were broken. That was when I looked to the couch and saw the headless body of Mr Hobbs on the couch. I looked everywhere but I couldn't find Mrs Hobbs."
Her last sentence made Maria swallow hard.
"How did you get the injury on your left palm?" Maria asked.
"Oh, I was running to the land line when I tripped and fell. My palm hit a broken piece of wood."
"Alright. Did you see anyone or anything besides Mr Hobbs' body?"
Maria knew Oliver was giving her a puzzled look but she chose to ignore him.
"No, there was no one else there. The only thing I could here was this...Scream. It sounded like someone with a very high pitched voice was yelling so loud. It was very unusual."
'Oh boy' Maria thought. She knew exactly what Julia was talking about but refrained from speaking. Maria nodded at her and turned to Oliver who had a note pad in his hand.
"What do you think?" Maria asked.
"Nothing's really adding up. This is just like the beach house incident. Mutilated bodies, a missing person and one witness." Oliver said.
Maria could tell that Oliver was getting frustrated. She could understand why. Maria looked around. The whole lawn looked busy with activity.
"This is going to be a long week." She muttered softly under her breath.
The bed felt nice and warm as soon as his laid down on it.
"Yeah, this is the best." Oliver said as he closed his eyes, enjoying the comfort.
Today had been one of those grueling days, so this was heaven to him. He felt himself slowly drifted off to sleep when he remembered something. 'Kenna!' he thought as his eyes shot back open. He picked up his phone, dialing her number as fast as he could. It kept directing him to voicemail. He had left tons of voicemail and wasn't ready to leave another one. He sighed and tossed his phone on the bed. He closed his eyes and decided to get some sleep. The sound of the doorbell woke Oliver from his slumber. He groaned in frustration, as he slowly got out of bed to see who it was. He struggled to keep his eyes open as he made his way to the front door. Skeptical as to who it was, he looked through the peep hole. 'Kenna?!' he quickly opened the door.
"Where the hell have you be-"
He was interrupted when she jumped on him, hugging him tightly. Her face was buried in his chest but he could hear her sniffle. He sighed and ran his hands through her hair. She looked up at him, her face a teary mess.
"I'm sorry Oliver, I'm really sorry. Please forgive me." Kenna said in between tears.
Looking at her teary face made all the stored up anger he had for her disappear within the blink of an eye. "I'm, not mad you. I was just really worried about you. Where have you been?" he said as he stroked her cheek.
"Oh, I was with Daisy. I wasn't comfortable staying in the same house with you and it also gets lonely during the day since you're not always around."
"Well, are you still mad at me?"
Kenna shook her head.
"I'm not mad at you anymore. I'm sorry for acting like that."
Oliver hugged her tighter.
"It's fine. I just really missed you."
Kenna's lips formed into a wide smile as her eyes lit up.
"I missed you too."
They stood there, holding each other in a tight embrace before finally letting go.
"Come on let's go to bed."
Kenna nodded and they made their way to the bed room upstairs. Oliver wrapped his hands around Kenna as they lay on the bed.
"Why did you ring the door bell? Your keys should be with you."
"Oh yeah, about that…."
Oliver raised an eyebrow at her.
"I think I left it at daisy's apartment. I had already gotten here when I realized it was missing."
"Oh, we'll have to change the locks then."
"Yeah. I'll do that tomorrow." She said as she snuggled closer to Oliver.
"Oliver?"
"Yeah?"
"Can I kiss you?"
Oliver gave her a puzzled look.
"You don't need to ask." He said as he chuckled softly. He pulled her face closer. Their lips touched slowly. Kenna deepened the kiss as she intertwined her tongue with his. Oliver reached down, caressing her thighs slowly. As he went higher, Kenna put her hands over his.
"No, not tonight. I'm not really feeling up to it."
Oliver was a little bit disappointed, but he decided to listen to her.
"Okay, that's fine."
She gave him a small smile and turned to the other side of the bed. Oliver sighed as he looked at Kenna who had her back turned to him. He noticed a dark red spot at the back of her neck.
"Did you hurt yourself?"
"What?" Kenna said returning her gaze back to him. "There's a dark spot on the back of your neck."
Kenna ran a hand through the back of her neck. She paused. Her faced looked like she had just remembered something.
"Oh….. I bumped it on the wooden frame on daisy's bed. I didn't think it'll leave a mark."
"I see." Oliver said.
He decided not to press on further as he was very exhausted. Kenna turned back, hugging the covers tightly. Oliver stared at the ceiling. His brain refused to allow him sleep as he was deep in thought. The dark red spot at the back of Kenna's neck wasn't an injury. It was a hickey and Oliver knew all too well. Due to his poor libido, he had suspected that Kenna was sleeping with other people since he couldn't satisfy her. His worst fears had become reality. Sadness over whelmed him as he felt a slight pang in his chest. It hurt, and he couldn't confront her about it. He was too scared. But will things be okay if I don't say a word? Oliver knew the answer to that. He knew he would have to face her one day. But for now, it'll be best if he said nothing.