The Unseen Killer

Prologue:

            A bloody corpse lying on the bathroom floor, crime tape and police surrounding it. The victim was found by a teenage boy, whose parents were hosting a lavish event in the building. The victim’s face was brutally slashed, the words, “THIS ISNT OVER” carved onto his bare chest. Curious onlookers surrounded the bathroom, while the police tried to push them back. Little did they all know, one of the bystanders wasn’t as innocent as they all thought...

Chapter 1:

            Chester Monty was about to close up for the night, when he received a call from the police station. Alarmed, he rushed around the basement gathering materials for an autopsy. There had been a dead body found in the bathroom of the most famous building in the state, the Empire State Building.

            When the police arrived with the corpse, Chester was dressed and ready to perform the procedure. He greeted the sheriffs solemnly and helped them get the body onto the operating table. “Do you know who did this?” asked Chester.

            The chief, Sheriff Thomas Garcia responded, “No, the body was found by a 16-year-old boy, whose parents were hosting a graduation ceremony for his brother.”

            “Does he have an alibi? Can anyone prove it wasn’t him who killed this guy?” asked Chester curiously, gesturing towards the body on the table.

            “Yes, his parents told us that he left for the bathroom after they had had cake, at approximately 10 PM. The security cameras in the room showed him leaving at 10:03. Cameras in front of the bathroom then caught him walking in at 10:05. We think the murder happened earlier than that, around 8 PM because the blood on the floor was dry”

            “What would be the motive for killing this man? He looks perfectly respectable and looks like he would have no enemies,” wondered Chester.

            As if he had read his thoughts, Sheriff Garcia said, “We couldn’t and still can’t find a motive, but we assumed it had something to do with family. The dude had a picture of the wife and kids in his wallet. The wife looks like she used to work at Hooters before marrying this guy. The picture was of them standing in front of a large mansion which led us to think that the wife was having an affair, and the dude killed the husband to get all the money.

Might seem impossible, but people will do anything for money.”

Chester realized that he had said his thoughts aloud.

His face turning red, he asked, “You guys got anyone suspicious yet?”

“We still don’t, but my wife and kids are waiting for me to come home.”

When they said their goodbyes, Sheriff Garcia started towards the door with the two other officers who had brought the body in.

            “I’ll let you know about any developments in the case,” said Garcia. “Let me know if you find anything.”

            “Great. See you,” replied Chester.

When the officers left, Chester grabbed a measuring tape from his work table and measured the width of the slashes across the victim’s face. Judging by the size of them, the weapon could either be a regular knife from the kitchen, or a pocket knife. Looking at the carvings on the man’s chest, he ruled out the kitchen knife because it would take a small and precise tool to create cuts like that. He then went on to examine the inside of the carvings. As he dug around with his tweezers, he found rust dotting the flesh. With further examination, he found that the rust contained traces of another person’s blood. He took some specks of rust and put it into an airtight container, sending it into the lab.

            As he was about to leave for the night, again, he noticed a huge purple mark by the victim’s stomach. He pulled back the sheet covering him and determined that the victim had either been punched, or kicked, in the liver, causing the victim to die from internal bleeding. Suddenly, a thought hit Chester so hard, that he took a few steps back. The victim was found in a bathroom, with damage to his liver. As soon as he realized this, he pulled back the rest of the sheet, revealing the victim’s shoes, still on. He untied the shoes and examined each toe. When he reached the last toe on the left foot, he gasped and immediately called the sheriff. He got no answer and was about to hang up, when Garcia’s gruff voice answered.

            “Who is it?”

            “S-sir, it’s Monty. I think you may want to come back. I’ve found something. It may be a mere coincidence, but I would like for you to take a look,” came Chester’s shaky reply.

            “Okay, give me 10 minutes. I have to make a call to my wife,” answered Garcia.

            “Okay, will do, please do hurry, though.”

            When they hung up, Chester bustled around the room, trying to look for his camera. He found it and started taking pictures of the bruise on the victim’s stomach, and the left pinky toe, which was missing its toenail.

Chapter 2:

            Chester’s last case had been another man, around 45 years of age. He was also found in a bathroom during an expensive party. He had something engraved on his arm, but Chester wasn’t sure what it was. He thought it might’ve been a dead-face emoji. The victim also had bruises around his stomach area, as if the killer was looking for the perfect place to strike. The last detail Chester found on the corpse was a missing toenail.

            With all these similarities to his current case, he was absolutely positive that it was a serial killer. He prayed that the chief would arrive soon. As if his prayer was heard, the sheriff called to let Chester know that he was almost there.

            As Chester waited for the sheriff to arrive, he nervously picked his fingernails, pacing around the room. He heard footsteps coming down the stairs and Sheriff Garcia yelling to let Chester know he was there.

            Immediately after he cleared the last step, Garcia walked briskly to the operating table, demanding to know why Chester had called him back. Chester revealed all his findings and theories, waiting for Garcia to give a nod or grunt to signal that he agreed with Chester. All he received was a look from Garcia, the features on his face showing clearly that he thought Chester was delusional.

            “I’m not crazy, I swear! Everything I found on this guy matches with the dude you guys brought to me about a week ago,” complained Chester.

            “Well, even if they matched, why would anyone have a motive to kill them? They’re not family, and the wives each said they’ve never seen each other before, and yes, we did consider it might be a serial killer, but nothing added up, so nothing was for sure,” replied Garcia.

            After they continued to argue for another 10 minutes, Garcia decided it would be better for him to leave to prevent anything bad from happening.

            As he was cleaning up, he received an anonymous call about going to an event the next day. Chester debated on it for a few minutes because his latest murder victims were found at expensive events like this.

            After going back and forth with himself, he decided that he would go, to prove to Garcia and everyone else that it was a serial killer. He finished cleaning up and headed home.

Chapter 3:

            The next evening, he got ready for the event, which he was headed to at 7 PM. Once he was all dressed, Chester drove back to his office. He snatched his camera and grabbed a bottle of powder from his shelf, meant to blind anyone who got too close to him and made him uncomfortable.

            He looked down at his watch and realized that he was running late. After quickly checking that none of the bodies in the morgue were touched, he turned off the lights and started out the door. As he was about to climb the staircase, he felt something brush past him. Chester looked all around him, even though he knew no one was there but him. He laughed at himself for being scared of nothing.

            Despite making fun of his “scaredness,” Chester still thought it would be a good idea to get out of the building. He started up the staircase, but suddenly heard the click of the light as it turned on. He looked back down the stairs, and although chiding himself just moments ago, he ran up the rest of the stairs without going back to turn off the light.

            When he got outside, he patted his pockets, looking for the keys to his car. The moment he found them, he ran to his car, trying and failing multiple times to unlock it. He got into the driver’s seat and drove as fast as his piece of sh*t car would let him.

            By the time he arrived at the event, it was well past 7 PM. As he made his way into the building, he apologized to the people surrounding him, even though he had no idea who they were, and they had no idea who he was.

            “Hello there, sir. Would you happen to be Chester Monty?” said a voice on his left.

            “Yes, I am. Sorry, I’m late. I had trouble back at my office,” Chester replied.

            “No problem sir. My name is Michael. Please follow me so I can lead you to the room you’re supposed to be in.”

            As Chester followed Michael through the crowd of people, he felt someone bump into him. He turned around to apologize but saw no one there. Chester looked down and saw footprints on the carpet. But there was no one standing there!?

            “Mr. Monty? Are you coming?” asked Michael.

            “Yes, yes, just give me a second.”

            Chester gathered his thoughts and followed Michael once again. When they reached the room, Michael opened the door and led Chester in. The room was full of doctors and scientists. On the stage was the governor.

            “What’s this about?” asked Chester with a nervous look.

            “Don’t worry, it’s nothing bad. I think you’ll quite enjoy it,” replied Michael.

            As Chester walked into the room, everyone stood up. The governor gestured for him to go up to the stage. Chester obliged and shuffled his way across the front of the room.

            The governor sang Chester’s praises and let everyone in the room know what an exemplary mortician Chester was. At the end of his speech, the governor said, “I, the governor of New York, David Kevin Lucas, present Chester Elray Monty, with this plaque designating him, not only a mortician for Brooklyn, New York, but for the entire state of New York.”

            As everyone applauded, Governor Lucas whispered in Chester’s ear, “You also get a pay raise,” winking at him. Feeling happy and proud of himself, Chester bowed and shook hands with the governor.

Chapter 4:

            After the ceremony, and after everyone congratulated him, Chester went to the bar that was catered by the governor. There, he sat at a barstool and asked for a beer.

            When he finished his first cup, he asked for a second. Then suddenly, a random policeman he’d seen with Chief Garcia before, he thought his name was Christopher, sat down on the stool beside him. He started congratulating Chester as any normal person would, but Chester soon became uneasy when the policeman started asking personal questions.

            “Do you have a wife? Kids?” asked Christopher.

            “No...but why are you asking?” asked Chester cautiously.

            “No reason. Just wondering,” replied Christopher.

            Chester started to feel disturbed, so he excused himself to go to the bathroom. As he sat in a stall, he heard the bathroom door open. He then heard footsteps walking into the bathroom. Chester closed his eyes and thought back to his conversation with the creepy policeman at the bar.

            All of a sudden, the bathroom stall door started rattling, as if someone was trying to open it from the outside.

            “This stall’s occupied,” exclaimed Chester.

            The stall door continued to rattle, making Chester’s heart leap to his throat.

            “Hey, man. I said this stall’s occupied,” said Chester in a louder voice.

            Suddenly, the rattling stopped. Chester breathed a sigh of relief. But this relief was soon replaced by anxiety when he felt a shift in the air. He heard rustling coming from under the stall door, even though nothing was there that he could see.

Chester discreetly took out the bottle of powder he had thought to bring with him and held it behind his back. When the rustling stopped, the air went still. Without a second thought, Chester opened the bottle of powder and threw it in front of him. The policeman from the bar materialized right before his eyes, holding a gun with a silencer in one hand and a pocketknife in the other.

The policeman dropped both items as his hands went up to his face to rub his eyes.

“AHHHHH! IT BURNS!” he cried.

The policeman was different from other people. He had a genetic condition that caused him to become invisible at will. The powder that Chester had brought not only temporarily blinded someone, it also altered their gene sequence so any abilities they had disappeared for 30 minutes.

While the policeman was busy screaming, Chester took his camera out and snapped photos of the weapons on the floor, and the policeman. He then whipped out his phone and dialed 911.

            The police surrounding the building for this event arrived almost immediately after Chester made the phone call. They handcuffed the corrupt policeman and dragged him to the police station, where they stripped him of his uniform and badge. Chester was being questioned by the rest of the law enforcement who were there. Governor Lucas apologized profusely for what happened, even though Chester insisted that it wasn’t his fault.

            The police assured Chester that the policeman was no longer working for the law and he would be put in jail.

            Garcia came up to Chester and apologized. “Hey, I’m sorry man. I should have believed you.”

            “It’s fine. Not everyone believes me sometimes because I used to bully kids in my schooling days. I’ve changed though. As you can tell,” laughed Chester.

            “Let me take you out to lunch tomorrow. We can discuss what we’ll do with Christopher.”

Epilogue:

            A lone figure paces across the prison yard, each step deliberate and filled with determination. Then, in a heartbeat, he vanishes. A subtle disturbance shimmers through the air, racing towards the iron gates, only to dissolve into nothingness.