It was a rainy Sunday night, the kind that blurred the city’s edges and made shadows stretch like specters. Thunder rolled low over the skyline as red and blue lights flashed against the slick pavement.

Another body had been found.

This one lay near the riverbank, half-submerged in mud, rain pooling in the hollows of its lifeless face. It was the fifth victim this month.

Officers stood silently behind the yellow tape, their breath visible in the cold night air. Some whispered. Some stared. But none stepped too close.

The body was unlike anything they were trained to expect. The abdomen had been carefully slit open — not a brutal slash, but a precise incision. The internal organs had been removed. In their place were long, straight objects, perfectly arranged, almost symmetrical. No one could tell what they were at first glance — metal rods? sharpened plastic? whatever it was, it didn’t belong in a human body.

Rain fell harder, washing away footprints, but not the horror.

Officer Reece muttered, “Same as the others.”

A silence followed. Heavy. Dreadful.

Whoever was doing this wasn’t just killing.

They were sending a message.

The crime scene pulsed with flashing lights and quiet tension. Officer Reece stood near the patrol car, phone to his ear again. The call rang twice, then cut off.

Again.

He sighed and muttered, “For the love of God, Ashton…”

He had been trying to reach Detective Ashton Vale since the moment the call came through about the fifth body. Reece knew better than to expect Ashton to answer right away — he never did. But tonight felt different. The killer was escalating, and Ashton was the only one with the kind of mind twisted enough to get ahead of this.

___________________________________

Across town, in a dimly lit apartment smelling faintly of jasmine and red wine, Ashton Vale’s phone buzzed against the edge of the nightstand. Again.

He didn’t move.

His hand was occupied — tracing the bare skin along his wife’s hip as she straddled him, her breath warm against his neck. Soft moans mixed with laughter as rain tapped gently on the windows.

“Someone’s calling you again dear~,” she whispered, lips brushing his ear.

“I noticed,” Ashton murmured, tilting his head to kiss her. “Ignore it. If it’s important, it’ll still be important in ten minutes.”

“Ten?”

He smirked. “Well. Maybe twenty.”

“You know,” his wife said teasingly, “you are the worst detective in the world.”

“Wrong,” he whispered against her skin. “I’m the best detective in the world. But right now—” his voice dropped lower “—I’m off-duty.”

The buzzing stopped.

Peace returned — for exactly four seconds.

Buzz. Buzz. Buzz.

This time it vibrated off the nightstand, tumbling to the floor with a thud.

Ashton groaned and buried his face into the crook of her neck. “Persistent bastard…”

His wife laughed softly, tracing her fingers down his back. “Maybe it’s important.”

“Oh, it’s Reece,” Ashton muttered. “It’s always Reece. He probably found another body in a dumpster and can’t figure out which end is up.”

He finally reached over, dragging the phone up by the cord and answering it without looking—still clinging to his wife, unwilling to let her go. “What?”

Reece’s voice crackled with sarcasm. “Oh, finally. Did I interrupt something?”

Ashton sat up slightly, clearing his throat and trying to sound serious. “No, no. Just… fell asleep on the couch.”

There was a long silence on the other end.

“Right,” Reece said dryly. “Is that what they’re calling it now?”

Ashton rubbed his face and winced. “What do you want?”

“We’ve got another one. Fifth body. Same scene, same signature. Found by the river. Guts out, replaced with... something. You’re gonna love this one.”

Ashton hesitated, still half-draped in blankets and wife.

“Give me thirty minutes.”

“Yeah,” Reece said. “Make it quick. And maybe run a comb through your hair before you show up half-naked again.”

Click.

He sighed, dragging a hand through his hair as his wife passed him his shirt with a teasing smile. “You said you only get out of bed for real puzzles,” she whispered.

He gave her a crooked grin. “Looks like the game just got interesting.”