Destiny

*Indicates thoughts*

Liam hated rain. Hated the way it drizzled down the back of his jacket. Hated the way it seeped into his boots. He even hated the way it smelled like a muggy piece of ozone. He especially hated having to work in the rain. A lot of evidence was lost and, usually, he was drenched by the end of the investigation.

“Lets wrap this up quickly, people!” shouted Lt. Liam Monroe to the rest of his team, “We’ve got all the samples we’re likely to find in this mess, so lets finish taking pictures and get the body wrapped up and sent to autopsy.”

“Sounds like a plan.” One of his teammates replied as she started snapping pictures rapidly.

The other two officers in the Criminal Intelligence Unit got out the body bag and began placing the victim carefully inside. Liam walked over to the alley entrance and stared out into the gloom. The industrial sector of Tallahassee Florida wasn’t busy this time of the afternoon so there were few passers by.

The murder had probably taken place in the early hours of the morning. Some factory workers on a lunch break had found the victim, identified by a coworker as Mark Koalski, around noon. The little alley between warehouses was a popular smoking area, apparently.

Liam turned and started walking to his car as soon as the body bag was loaded into the ambulance. As he slid into the driver’s seat he winced as he made a wet squishing sound. He shifted uncomfortably and ran his hand through his dark brown hair while his steel gray eyes surveyed the deserted streets. Even after six years on the force he still couldn't stand murder scenes. Something about death frightened him; it was so final. He sighed and started the car. Just as he was pulling into the station, the rain stopped.



When Liam got to his office he hung his soaked jacket on the coat rack and dropped into his chair. He groaned when he noticed the pile of reports on his desk. He hated this case.

Serial killer cases were the worst. There was lots of paperwork, to start. Then, there was the feeling of helplessness that came after each murder. More crime scenes also meant more evidence to look over, and more time spent trying to tie things together. Ultimately, Serial cases just meant more work all around. They left him tired. He just wanted to get the case over with.

This body made nine. Nine deaths. All the victims were found dead in some alleyway. All of them were male, in their mid-twenties, and found with rope marks but no other marks on their bodies. They had all died of internal bleeding and/or organ ruptures in their abdomen. The coroner’s theory was that they had been fed some drug that had caused their organs to rupture. The trouble was, when the tox screen came back there was no trace of any drug in the victims’ systems.

All of them had been involved with Emim, an organization that fundraised for wildlife protection. When Liam had interviewed the CEO, however, he hadn’t been able to find any leads implicating the company. He had poked around the building asking questions just yesterday but hadn’t found any common enemies. Currently, he was at a dead end. Hopefully this body would turn up some clues.

The phone ringing interrupted Liam’s musing.

“Hello?” answered a slightly annoyed Liam.

“Hey Liam! It’s me Maya! Back from the wilds of Ireland.” she announced cheerfully.

Liam grinned. “Welcome back to the civilized world. How long are you here for?”

“Permanently,” Maya replied, “My training is over and my Da gave me the old shop here to use for my nefarious purposes.”

“Seriously? That’s awesome Maya!” exclaimed Liam.

“Yeah, I thought we could hook up for some supper, and a few drinks. You game?” asked Maya.

Liam glanced at the file on his desk. He wasn’t getting anywhere with it right now. He might as well go and come back to the case tomorrow.

“Sure” he answered.

“Hey Liam!” Maya waved from across the street. “Over here!”

“Maya! How’s it going?” Liam called out to her. As he saw Maya he brightened up. Hopefully seeing Maya would take his mind off things for a bit.

Maya grinned as Liam approached. “I’m doing great! No use asking ye. Ye look tired. So where’re we going?”

“I am a little tired,” Liam replied as he rubbed his eyes. “Right now I’m not so sure what I feel like eating. What do you feel like?”

“Well… When in America…” she tilted her head to peer at Liam from beneath her bangs. “Eat like an American?”

“Well that’s a long list,” Liam joked. He took a couple of seconds to think about it. “I think I know the perfect place, follow me.”

Maya smiled. “Great!”

She followed Liam to a nearby restaurant; it was styled as a 50’s diner. Liam looked at Maya with a wry smile. “Heh, what do you think?”

“It’s perfect.” Grinned Maya.

“Well that kind of takes all the fun out of the joke.” Liam said winking. “Sure it looks a little cheesy, but the food is top notch.”

“I’m sure it is Liam.” Replied Maya, “Honestly, anything not Irish woulda been fine.”

“Well pizza and disco fries are as far from Irish you’re going to get.” Liam said nodding. “Well, let’s head in and get a table.”

Liam led Maya through the door of the diner. They were assaulted by the smell of burgers and pizza with the first blast of the diner’s air conditioning. Liam’s stomach started to grumble as he remembered that he hadn’t had much to eat since breakfast.

Their waitress came over from the bar to take their orders. The nametag said Shirley.

“I’ll have a burger with disco fries.” Liam told her with a reassuring smile.

“Hmmmm,” Maya chewed on her lip as she thought. “I’ll have a burger too but canna have a salad with it instead of fries?”

“Sure thing m’am.” Replied the waitress. “Anything to drink with that?”

Maya glanced at Liam. “What d’ye recommend?”

Liam took a look at the drinks list on the menu. It didn’t have much in the way of drinks. It had a few cocktails, nothing too interesting to mention. The beer came in two kinds labeled ‘imported’ and ‘domestic.’

“Well, there’s not much, what do you feel like, imported or domestic?” Liam asked Maya looking up from the menu.”

“As I said, I’m in the mood for something American.” Maya replied.

“We’ll have beer, domestic I think,” He told Shirley.

“Good choice!” Shirley laughed as she gathered up the menus “I’ll be right back.”

There was a silence as the waitress left the table. The case started to come back to Liam, all of the missing evidence, all of the dead ends. Liam looked out the diner’s window and quietly sighed to himself.

Maya glanced suspiciously at the young policeman. “Alright Liam, What’s eating ye?”

Liam blinked and remembered where he was. “What? Oh nothing really, just this case at work.” He said, embarrassed at spacing out.

“Oh?”

“Really, it’s nothing. Just a little confusing, that’s all.” Liam insisted.

Maya glared at Liam. “I can pull it from yer head ye know. It’ll just be a lot more painful.”

“Okay, okay, have you heard about the string of homicides in the paper?” Liam said looking serious.

She shook her head. “No, I just got in this morning. Enlighten me”

Liam looked around the diner for anyone that could be listening in “There have been a few strange murders in the area. The papers have reported on about eight of them. The one this morning makes nine. No identifiable wounds, no signs of struggle. Just that they were tied up and after they died they were dropped in an alleyway. Their organs were all wrong. Some of them were just re-arranged, while others were malformed somehow. ” He explained.

Maya sat back in her seat. “Well, there are many ways to kill without leaving a mark, but the organs are another story.”

“Well, there was no evidence of poison, radiation, or any sort of bio-weapon. They died of organ failure; whatever messed up their organs killed them.“ Liam said.

“Hmmm.” Maya’s face became thoughtful. “Well I’d need to see the bodies and the reports to be certain. But I know it is possible to do something like that with magic.”

Liam frowned. “You think it could be magic? You know I’m skeptical about that stuff.”

“Yer perp doesn’t care if ye believe in it or not.” Maya scoffed, “He’s gonna keep killing cause he knows he can get away with it. Unless it’s some new bio-weapon, yer autopsy woulda caught something to explain the sudden organ failure and mutation. Like I said, I will na know for sure until I see one of the bodies.”

“Well I guess this is some kind of lead,” Liam muttered to himself. ”Alright, I’ll talk with Malcolm about hiring you on as a consultant. Are you sure you’ve got time?”

“Liam, I just got into town and am waiting for renovations to finish before I can open my store.” She eyed him dubiously. “I’ve got plenty of time.”