21st Century, February 2, 2024, New York City
Barbara could have asked for the next day off. She was feeling very much out of the air but she kept it to herself because she couldn't lay on the bed resting when a serial killer is on the loose.
When she woke up, her head was banging and she could feel her body needing clothes to warm up even though she was on fire. Just then, she heard her phone ring. She reached out her hand to her bedside cabinet to retrieve her phone on it. It was her partner, Collins calling. She sighs and taps on the screen of her cellphone. She brought the phone closer to her left ear, awaiting the news Collins had for her.
"Hey" she said to Collins.
"Why haven't you been answering your phone, have been calling close to thirty minutes now" Collins whisper shouted to her through the phone. Barbara took the phone away from her ear and checks to see what time it was in the morning. It was eight minutes past ten in the morning. Her big round blue eyes wildens and she quickly sit upright.
"Are you there" she heard Collins say when she brought the phone closer to her ear.
"I didn't hear the alarm ring, sorry, I will be there in a jiffy" Barbara said and gets up from the bed. She was about to end the call when she heard Collin's voice again.
"Wait, wait, wait, you don't have to go to the office, there's another body, right beside a dam" Collins said. Barbara found herself speechless for a second, her brows bowed in a frown as she stared into the air.
"Share me your location, I will be there" Barbara said and ends the call without waiting for Collins's response. She didn't bother taking a shower or brushing her teeth before getting into a grey t-shirt underneath a black leather jacket and black jeans with black boots. She packed her blonde hair in a ponytail and found her car keys laying aimlessly on the floor of her bedroom. Both her bedroom and living room were messy enough to think someone rampaged them. She only once in a while clean it but since she was so obsessed with finding the serial killer, she hadn't been cleaning it for the past six months unless her sister, Nancy comes by, then she will relief Barbara of the stress of having to clean up.
Barbara walked briskly over to her car. She pressed a button on her car key and it turned the car on. She was about to open her car door when she heard a neighbor's voice.
"I was about to come knocking on your door detective, it never occurred to me you need some rest as well" Her neighbor, an old woman in her late sixties said. She was sitted on a rocking chair, crocheting as she always does.
"Good morning to you too Anne" Barbara said and quickly gets into her car to avoid the older woman's questioning. She starts her car and checks her phone if Collins had shared her his location, she sees he had done that so she dumps her phone on the passenger seat beside the driver's seat and begins to drive. Due to the traffic, it took her fourty minutes to get to the location. She parked on the roadside and picks her phone and ID before coming out of the car. She had already seen forensics walking around the scene and some passerbys gathered, looking horrifically at the scene.
"Oh you are here" Collins said when he saw Barbara making her way towards him. He stood under a tall tree, yielding the sun while he awaits Barbara. He looked as messy as Barbara looked. Their choice of dressing is almost the same, the difference is the gender clothing they had to choose. Collins is 6'7 tall, with broad shoulders and wide chest, it was obvious he wasn't the type to play with gym.
"Petite?" Barbara said as she passes Collins to go to the inside of the barricade to separate the crime scene. Collins follows behind her, running his hand through his brown hair.
"Nope" Collins said and Barbara stops in her track. She turned to face him with her brows raised up.
"What" she said and mutters a curse. She couldn't believe she was actually expecting a petite beautiful young adult murdered.
"The style is the same, I'm sure this one holds a lot of stories behind it" Collins said and Barbara turned back to face where she was going. When she got there, the body had already been removed, only the chalk drawing and the numbering were there with the blood stain on the grass floor.
"That fucker just took away a witness" Barbara said, quickly analyzing the situation. Since the killer had always targeted petite girls, she figured the victim must be a witness.
"Probably, which means he's probably with another victim Barb" Collins whispered Barbara.
"Fuck" Barbara mutters to herself. She was gradually getting tired of the case. Over the two years the killer had been on the killing spree, the clues she got were useless. Sometimes she would assume the killer to be a ghost but she knew very much it was a breathing human. The case questions her competency, she doesn't know anymore if she truly qualifies to be a detective.
She bends down to take a closer look at the position of the body. She looks at the dam and back at the floor. She instantly stands back on her foot and begins to walk away to the direction of her car.
"I think I need to know where you are going" Collins said as he trails behind her.
"I need to see the body, if there was any little difference" Barbara said and gets into her car. Collins locked his car and gets into Barbara's car, he sat on the passenger's seat beside Barbara.
"Okay" he said and buckles the seatbelt. Collins watched as Barbara clumsily buckles her seatbelt. He could see her forehead sweaty and her face was paler than the previous day. He knew she was sick but he also knows she wouldn't agree to getting rest. He thought he wouldn't as well if it was him.
"You don't look too well Barb" He said and Barbara took a glance at him.
"Yeah, just got a little headache, so is the face recognizable, the body?"
"Yes, it is, I__" Collins was about to give more details on the victim when Barbara almost collided with another car. She stepped on the brake in no time which made Collins's forehead almost hit the front windshield.
"Fuck" Barb swore and hit her hand on the steering wheel, frustrated with the thought of the serial killer having a victim he's playing on.
"Hey hey, you need to relax" Collins said, he knew she was probably blaming herself for not doing a good job of finding the killer.
"Like hell I can" Barb said with sarcasm.
"Like hell you will, you are gonna pass out if you don't drive to the hospital right now, or I can do that for you" Collins said authoritatively.
"I'm fine Collins, we need to get to Sam first, he will be waiting for us" Barbara said calmly and starts her car again. Collins said nothing and watched her drive.
"What" Barb said when she noticed Collins's gaze had been on her since she had continued driving.
"You are fucking sick Barb, look I'm also obsessed with catching this psycho as much as you want but I don't want to die or ending up in coma before I get to catch them" Collins said.
"I'm not dying yet Collins, nor am I ending in Coma" Barb said and smiles at him. Just then, she heard her phone ring.
She picks it up to check who the caller was. It was no caller ID which made her wonder who the stranger caller was.
"You know it's not right to pick calls while driving, especially the police enforcing the law" Collins said with his back leaned more into the seat, watching Barb with a side eye.
"It might be for the case" Barb said and then swaps to pick the call. She puts it in speaker so she wouldn't have to put the phone close to her ear.
"Hello" Barb said while she focuses her attention on the road.
"I saw you have been looking for me" She heard a deep voice say from the phone. She quickly stops her car, not caring they were in the middle of the road. Collins also leans closer to her as they both looked questioningly at each other.
"Who are you" Barb said hoping it wasn't who she thought it to be.
"Too bad society deems me good to not give me a name, I was actually wishing for one" the caller said and chuckles.
"Who the fuck are you?" Barb said quietly. Different cars horned on the road but Barb cared less, her ears were expecting to hear the caller to call himself who she had been spending her two years searching for.
"Your sister is exactly my type, You call her Nancy right?" The unknown caller said which made Barb's eyes wilden, her heart begins to race as she panicked.
"What the fuck, who the fuck are you?, what do you want from me?" Barb said in panic. Collins looked around to see if anyone around there was suspicious but he saw no one.
"Give me a name, I want, hmmm, something more like 'Jack the Ripper'" The caller said and chuckles again.
"You fucked up psycho, you better stay hidden" Collins said.
"Oh you got your partner there, I will chat with you some other time Barb, have a busy day" the call ends instantly after he said that.
"Fuck" Barb said and quickly searches for Nancy's number. She dials the number but it wasn't going, she dumps her phone in the car and quickly make a U-turn aiming for the direction of Nancy's house.
She couldn't imagine losing again, for she had done a good job of mothering her since their parent's death, she thinks of Nancy as her reason to live.