The Last Laugh

I would like to thank everyone who has read the first chapter of this story. I am working on the reediting of the story so it is taking a little longer than I had expected to get the new chapters out.
Please let me know what you think!!


Chapter two: Crime Scene

Johna slowly maneuvered his silver BMW down the winding muddy road. His windshield wipers were moving at a slow methodical rate as it hauled the spattering of water droplets away from his line of sight. As he turned the bend, his eyes were accosted by a cheery blend of colorful lights which ripped through the dark melancholy canvas of night. Eventually, Johna was successful in finding the area where his expertise were needed, and pulled his car beside an unmarked brown police vehicle.

He surveyed his surroundings, inventorying every detail both on the way in and presently. He was looking for other avenues the criminal may have used to enter or exit the vicinity, as well as, any other clue which may help him correctly profile the suspect. The blond profiler noticed just to the left of the site a small trail leading away from the scene. He noted it mentally. Johna then turned his body reaching behind the passenger seat pulling on the strap of his Nikon camera. Although he knew there would be specialist there taking photos, he needed every angle of the body and the surrounding area. The specialists would only focus on the obvious traditional shots, and those were the types of photos that led him nowhere. What Johna needed were photos he could later cross reference with any visions he experienced or deductions he made at any given time.

He opened his car door. His face was assailed by a strong tantalizing breeze and a gentle spray of mist. The wind would have playfully tousled his hair into his eyes if he still had any. He swung his left leg out, setting his Oxford covered foot cautiously on the ground. He silently hoped he was not parked in a puddle. Johna used his momentum gained from his movements to swing the camera over the seat and into his lap.

He sat staring at the large professional camera and haphazardly flicked the lens cap off. The camera was given to him by Christian as a present for his birthday last year. His mind drifted for a moment; thinking back to the man he left not more than twenty minutes ago. The Nikon camera was the only birthday present he received that year; his family had disowned him when he presented Christian to them as his lover the Christmas earlier. Johna remembered the saddened and disappointed look on his boyfriends face when he explained to the brunette why they had to leave his parents house. Johna lifted his hand to his temple and shook his head as the visions swarmed his mind. The vision then faded showing the same saddened look prior to his leaving. The blond investigator already missed the warmth of his lover’s skin and the gentleness of his caresses. He wanted nothing more than to go back to Christian and cuddle with him throughout the rest of the night. He sighed. Johna gathered his resolve and settled his other foot next to the first, looking down toward the ground. He noticed in his hurried attempt in getting dressed; he put two different colored socks on. Johna softly chuckled to himself.

The rain had softened, cascading down only as a light drizzle. The small reprieve allowed the detectives the opportunity in resuming a successful search of the area. “Hey,” Johna heard a familiar voice calling, snapping him out of his detachment of reality. “Let’s go Stephenson. Where the hell have you been? We’ve been waiting for your scrawny ass for the past hour.”

Johna continued removing his tired body from the driver’s seat and stood, casually leaning against the opened door. The hazy droplets of rain soothed his heated face as he addressed his long time friend. “Hey, yourself Tyron. And if you recall, I was a bit busy when you last phoned me.” The blond waited for the older man to approach the vehicle. Although his sexuality was well known in his and surrounding departments, he still was uncomfortable talking about it in front of co-workers. His personal life was just that, personal.

“So the little women kept you busy, eh?” Max teased quietly as he approached the car.

“First of all Max, Christian is by no means little. I can a test to that,” Johna half laughed. Before Max could respond Johna added, “and he definitely isn’t a woman, if he were, I sure as hell wouldn’t have any interest in him.”

Max chuckled, “No. No I guess you wouldn’t.” The brunette paused. “So how’s he doing anyway? You don’t talk about him much.”

"Are you serious?" Johna stared at the other detective. "We're standing in the middle of a crime scene and you want to talk about how my boyfriend is doing," the younger man shook his head. "Not that I don't like talking about him, but this isn't the time or place."

"I just asked a simple question, Johna. It's called small talk."

“That's what it's called," the blonde chuckled, "I thought it was called fishing."

"Nah, I'm not fishing, just seriously wanted to know how he is doing. Last I heard, he was going to school. But like you said, really not the time or place." Max nodded his head toward the victim, “So, you gonna take a look and tell me what you think.”

“Yeah, lead the way.” Johna and Max approached a small escarpment. At the bottom lay a white cloth covering the apparent victim’s body. Beside the victim was a short man whom was scrutinizing the lifeless form and the area surrounding it. “Is the condition of the victim similar to your other cases?” Johna questioned. He tilted his head as he inspected the man next to the victim.

“Actually, it’s almost exact. I’ve a feeling that we're looking at a serial killer of sorts.”

“Who’s that?” Johna pointed.

Max pushed Johna's arm down, "Anyone tell you it's not polite to point." The blonde smirked. "Come on, I'll introduce you." The two men skirted down the escarpment and stopped just short of the victim. "This is Detective Lukus Neilson" Max nodded toward the smaller man dressed in a navy blue police issue jumper. "He works with the forensics team and has worked on numerous other cases with me. He’s one of the best forensic scientists out there.” Max looked toward Lukus. “Lukus, this is Detective Johna Stephenson." He thumbed toward Johna, "Detective Stephenson is one of the best detectives and profiler we have."

Lukus stood up and stuck his hand out toward the profiler, "Nice to meet you."

Johna nodded his head toward Lukus while snapping some shots of the area and of the covered body. Lukus smirked and knelt back down. Stephenson asked, “So, whatda we have?”

“Well,” Max begun with a hint of hesitation, “the victim was found about two hours ago by, believe it or not, a jogger. Classic isn’t it.” Johna nodded his head as he continued taking photographical evidence. “Anyway, she called 911 and we were dispatched. When we arrived we immediately taped off the area and called in the forensics team. They’ve been here for awhile.”

“Make sure I get a copy of their findings, if you wouldn’t mind.”

“I told Lukus to make sure everything is done in triplets, just in case.”

“Good, good,” Johna answered waving Max off. “What’s the victimology for the case?” The blond wrapped the strap of his camera around his neck and knelt down by the victim’s body. He pulled a pen out of his pocket and gently lifted the white cloth from the prone form. “Whoa…” he turned his face away from the lifeless stare placing a hand over his mouth.

“What is it?” Lukus asked.

The young blond gathered his wits before answering Lukus. “It’s a… a male.” He was shocked at this point. He had not been expecting a male victim let alone one whose lifeless stare would resemble his lover at just a glance.

“I was about to tell you the victimology for the case right before you took a look at our John Doe here.” Max moved beside Johna and knelt as well. “The victims so far have all been males in their mid to late twenties. Two out of the three have had brunette hair and all of them have had a slight build. Each victim has been found with the same markings around their wrists and neck, as well as, numerous amounts of contusions and signs of sexual assault and torture. If you want more you’re gonna have to wait until we get back to the station and I’ll be able to make a copy of my reports so far.”

“Hmmm…yeah, the slight build would make them easier targets that’s for sure.” Johna looked across the form and asked Lukus, “What evidence have we gathered from the scene, so far?”

“Believe it or not… we’ve only found a couple significant pieces of evidence. The first is a partial footprint that we found coming from the direction of that smaller trail,” Lukus pointed toward the trail Johna had noted earlier. “The second is a strand of hair that was actually found on his wrist. Now, although the hair is seemingly the same color, I suspect it may have come from victim number one.”

“Lukus, lift the rest of this off for me would you?” Johna asked as he pulled his latex gloves over his hands. He gasped and placed a hand over his mouth once more when he took in the sight Lukus revealed. “The hands are wrapped already. Did you find anything under the nails?”

“Well, if the victim still had nails then yeah, but since he doesn’t… we really couldn’t check for tissue samples there, yet” Lukus answered.

Johna turned his gaze toward the genital area of the form and noticed signs of sexual assault. “Did you find any fluids of any kind?”

“No,” Lukus shook his head. “This predator is highly organized. Except putting the body in a relatively well-frequented area, the killer has wiped away the evidence. I mean were going to have to use highly sophisticated equipment just to find trace elements on the body. This killer, whomever it is, knew what we’d be looking for.”

“Gloves?” Lukus nodded his head. “Hmmm…” Johna placed one covered hand on the victim’s body and closed his eyes. As expected his mind was flooded with visions. He reeled slightly back on his heels as he attempted to organize the information his touch was feeding him. The flash of information was grabbled, but Johna was able to make out the victim was killed by affixation, which correlated with the bruises located on the victim’s neck. Johna could not make out the face of the killer but realized it was a male and not a female. The male killer was much larger than the man laying in front of him. It appeared, according to Johna ‘s vision, the young brunette was lured outside of a club and into an automobile. Johna fell back from the form and tried desperately to calm down. His heart was racing with the amount of tangible information the vision gave. He now knew the victim was not killed near the woods but was dumped. Johna also could determine, judging by the reaction of the male, the victim either knew the killer or the victim was not in sound mind.

“Lukus, make sure a toxicology report is done as well. I want to be for certain that the kid wasn’t on anything or for that matter given anything.” Johna slowly stood up and looked around. “It’s quite obvious that our John wasn’t killed anywhere around here and that our killer is definitely male.” He stared hard at the other two. “It would appear that the killer may have carried the body out here; not many females could lift a 165lb male. But what I’m not sure about is why we haven’t found solid footprints leading into and away from the scene.”

“Well, it’s been raining for a while,” Max defended.

“True, but… I doubt the rain could wash out footprints so quickly. Besides with all this mud you would definitely sink.” Johna scratched his head and turned toward the trail again. “How thoroughly did you check that trail?”

“My team hasn’t had the chance to check it, why?” Lukus answered.

“Well, isn’t that the direction you found the print?”

“I didn’t find the print, one of Max’s guys did. I didn’t even cast it.” Lukus looked in the direction of Max, “It was all ready done before I even arrived on the scene.”

“No offence Max, but I think I’d much rather have a print cast by Lukus here than by one of your under trained footmen.”

Max shrugged his shoulders, “Hey, not a problem. We only did it just in case the rain became heavier, and I figured that a partial cast would be better than none at all.”

“That’s smart, Max,” Lukus said. "The rate the rain was pouring down, we may have been hard pressed to even see the print. Making a cast when you did, had the rain not slowed, would have been vital."

"He's right, Max." He motioned toward the other detectives. "I guess even something would have been better than nothing."

“Thanks.” Max’s cheeks tinged pink, slightly embarrassed by the praise. “Anyway, that’s why I asked the two of you to help with this case. I knew you would work well together.” Max smiled.

“Well then, Lukus, get your stuff and lets go cast that print.”

****

Johna and Lukus carefully made their way toward the marked footprint. As they approached it, Johna again made mental notes of the surrounding area. He noticed a number of short wide pieces of wood thrown into the grassy area just alongside the trail. Hmmm, Johna thought, that’s odd. Why are these pieces of wood laying out here, so far way from any construction site? Lukus stopped suddenly in front of him.

“Hey, look what I just found,” Lukus’ voice was anxious as he pointed to a grassy area.

Johna was jarred from his thoughts, “What? What is it?”

Lukus smiled triumphantly, “Another footprint.”

Johna’s eyes widened as he leaned closer to inspect the faint footprint. “Do we have enough plaster to do both of them?” The blond approached the older man, careful not to disturb anything. He scrutinized over the print and gently traced the pattern. Instantly another picture formed in his head, the man had carried the smaller frame down this trail from where ever he parked his car but without leaving footprints. The vision focused on the footsteps of the killer and Johna finally noticed what the dream was telling him. The blonde’s mind flashed seemingly further back in time and watched as the killer placed the wrapped victim into the grass at the beginning of the trail. The large man then went into the woods, using a different way and picked up the planks with gloved covered hands setting the boards down and then walking onto them. Johna shook his head and looked back at the planks. “I think we should take those planks there with us when we leave the scene.”

“Why?” Lukus inquired.

“Because as I see it, the killer used those planks to walk out into the middle of the opening to dump his victim.”

“How could he do that while carrying the body?”

“He didn’t. The victim must have still been in the car or set aside, while the killer set up his makeshift trail. Any prints that were left on the boards would easily wash away in the rain. This guy is smart.”

“You don’t say,” Lukus mumbled. He then looked up and toward Max. “Do you want me to inform Max of our decision about the boards?”

Johna smirked, “Yeah, you go ahead, and while you’re there, grab some of your team and search this entire area for evidence. I believe our killer wants you to concentrate on the small area around the victim and not the outer perimeter.”

“Sounds like a plan.” Lukus sighed. The smaller man walked away from Johna and sought out Max. He approached Max with a worrisome look on his face. “Hey, Tyron. Your boy wonder out there thinks we should take a look at some planks he found in the woods.”

“Why’s that?” Max asked.

“He thinks the killer actually took the time to set up a makeshift trail by placing pieces of wood down on the ground and then carrying his victim to the dump off point." Lukus huffs, "He wants the wooden planks for evidence." He shook the water from his hair, "If you ask me, I'd say your boy is smoking some heavy shit."

"Why do you think it is such an impossible theory?" Tryon asked.

Lukus raised his eyebrows, "Seriously."

"Yeah, seriously."

"Look, don't you think there would be some sort of, mmm I don't know, evidence of the killer using the planks? I mean, either way you look at it, there should have been some sort of trail, but hey who am I to say that your boy is on crack. I guess he just doesn't need evidence for his theories. Whatever he says goes, or something like that."

“Lukus, stop it. I told you why I asked Johna to help. He’s the best. He’ll have a profile for us in no time. And if you think the planks are a little over board, then tell him. That's why I asked for both of you to be assigned this case with me."

"Hmph."

"Besides, you know as well as I do that no judge will accept the testimony of a profiler unless it is backed by forensic evidence presented by a expert in the field. An expert like yourself.

“So you need me to verify what Johna comes up with."

“Look, this case has to be by the book, cuz, if we catch this son of a bitch and he gets off on a technicality, I’m gonna be pissed.”

“Fine, fine. I understand.” Lukus looked over his shoulder at Johna who was still near the trail. “He’s that good is he.”

"Yeah, he's that good." The two men looked toward the body and noticed Johna approaching.

"Hey Max, did Lukus tell you about the pieces of wood.” Max nodded his head. “I think it’ll take a couple more hours before we’re out of here. I want no stone unturned.”

Lukus moaned, "Really? Is there any real reason we need to turn stones over that we already turned."

"Yes, really," Johna answered.

"Last I checked, you weren't in charge, just along for the ride."

"Look," the blonde began, "I really don't want to get into a pissing match with you, but I have to have things done a certain way... and this just isn't getting it done."

Lukus took a step forward, "Look yourself," he pointed his finger at the profiler, "my team is the best and..."

Max stepped in "Easy guys.. let's just work together on this, " He turned to the forensic expert, "Let's go over the area again."

"Just like that," Lukus seethed.

"Yeah, just like that."

"Fine," Lukus said and then turned around and stormed toward his men.

Max turned to Johna, "Listen Johna, Lukus' team is one of the best. He isn't gonna mess things up."

"Are you sure about that, Max?"

"One hundred percent."

"Alright, I'll take your word for it."

"You do that," Max replied.

Johna looked down at his watch to reaffirm how much time had gone by since his arrival, the watch read 6:00 a.m. It was going to be a long day for Johna. He wondered what Christian was doing right now.