Mercy Abbott - The Kiss of Death

A new case

The townhall was crowded that day as reporters with their cameramen lined up on one side and protestors holding signs and placards lined up on the other side of the barricade.

"Save our last rainforest!" - "Down with the dirty politics!" the people chanted.

Cars started to line up one by one on the street and a middle-aged man wearing black sun glasses and a black suit with his secretary Clara got out of a limo. Mr Jules Verde was the most hated man in the city, known for his greed and corruption and his pretentious smile and sharp jawline.He smiled and waved to the protestors and went towards the news hungry reporters to deliver his speech.

From another car two scientists got out and were immediately guided by the bodyguards towards the townhall stairs. One of them was Dr. Erik Reichstag,a nervous looking, 45 year old biologist who wore a shabby coat and worn out jeans.The other was a beautiful blonde woman in her early twenties. She was a well known environmentalist and was looking pretty somber today.

Dr. Erik was called out by the mayor who was now answering questions to the media.

"Erik!" he called out, " up here...come!"

"Oh! no ...no..Mr. Verde... I'd rather not," said Erik refusing .

But the mayor insisted and he had to go.The mayor now confidently put his hand on Erik's shoulder and said to the reporters-

"As I was saying, there's nothing to worry, our mining will be a very careful process for a short period of time on a small area of the forest and its biodiversity won't be harmed....and Dr. Erik Reichstag of the Imperial University will confirm my words...Erik?"

Dr Erik leaned towards the mics and said,

"Yes... technically Verde industries have developed superior mining technology that shouldn't disturb the wildlife in our forest ... but..."

The mayor cut him short, "Thank you Doctor... and no more questions for today.. I'd like to reassure the people of my city that everything will be fine...Thank you...''

The mayor quickly waved and smiled at the protestors and whispered to Erik holding his arm tightly,"Just wave and smile pal... wave and smile"

The nervous doctor obliged and they all stepped up the stairs leading to the hall with bodyguards on their sides while the reporters kept begging for one last question and the protestors kept yelling their chants.

Mercy couldn't believe her eyes that such a vital piece of information was hidden in her bag all this time? But when did she put the letter in her bag? Then she remembered their last encounter when she met with Amy and sat with her on the park bench, she must have sneaked the letter then.

But what is she supposed to do now? The stalker? The secret boyfriend? Are they same person? But why would the boyfriend disappear only to reappear and haunt her? Was she murdered because she faced her stalker?

All these questions made her adrenaline rush. She jumped out of her bed and began to walk up and down her room trying to put the pieces of the mystery together. She looked at her table clock- it was almost 3 in the morning - "the devil's hour"- as they say. Mercy felt like she was possessed by the devil itself- she couldn't sleep anymore. Amy had trusted her as her only reliable friend and here she was thinking that she never thought of as her friend. She felt sorry for her and at th same time - she knew that she had to do something for her- but what could she do?

"Yes! The party! Amy said that she met the guy at some after party- I need to start looking for some names of the people who came to the party….yes… but which party? Probably the one that the boys from the university celebrated after they won the amateur Chess competition…but that would mean that loads of people were invited, it would be like looking for a needle in a bucket of needles! No… I just need to find about a french guy- who's a professional Chef. But what was a french chef doing at a party in our university? He said he was invited? I need to know more about this party….and I think I know exactly whom to ask.",

Mercy thought as she sat on her bed.

She soon realised that she was sitting on a chair with her hands tied behind her. She twisted her arms but it hurt. She was in some kind of an abandoned factory. In front of her was a man- standing and watching her- he had a mask on his face- but he was dressed like a businessman, in a brand new suit- his bloodied axe was glistening in the single beam of sun light that peered in through the broken ceiling of the room.

Her skirt was half torn which revealed her beautiful brown legs. She wanted to scream and call for help but her lips won't move- she was trembling with nervous excitement and maybe with fear- maybe today was the day she would die...the man was calmly watching her as if he was undressing her with his eyes- it was creeping her out and she tried to cross her legs in embarassment.

She kept thinking how she ended up in this situation, the last thing she remembered was her getting into a taxi from the police station and a smooth manly voice of the driver asking her for her destination and everything was blurry after that. Or maybe there was something else she didn't notice.

What could it be. She shut her eyes and tried to think hard- the black taxi...the driver... was he old? No, around 40-ish. He had dark hair. And what else? Yes... there were some flowers on the seat. When she asked the driver about them he said that some previous passenger must have left them there. The flowers...yes...they looked familiar...