Uncompromising, gritty, thrilling, and not for the faint hearted! British detectives suspect a serial killer is on the loose. With the support of American profiler Dr Tessa Davies, they soon realize that this could be the work of a druidic sect.
Please enjoy the first chapter of my dark crime novel, Death Marks . For now, I will post a chapter every Monday and Thursday.
Other Chapters
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Death Marks
Chapter 1
Hearing a ferocious buzzing, the two boys squinted through the trees. ‘What’s that?’ The taller one walked hesitantly towards a mass of flies covering something red. ‘Bloody hell, don’t, don’t look, Freddie. Go back.’ He pushed the younger child behind him. ‘Run – run.’ But Freddie clung to him, terror gripping his small legs. They stared at jagged red crosses ripped through the flesh of two naked bodies. Whimpering, they stepped back from the intestines snaking in the long grass, the colors bright, scarlet and purple, marbled with yellow fatty strings. The organs seemed to move through the frantic thrumming of tiny black wings. Backing away, the boys turned to run, only to trip over piles of white sticks. Desperate, they picked themselves up, fleeing through a silent forest of yew trees. Death followed, snickering at their heels.
***
Approaching the Major Incident Room, Detective Chief Inspector Daniel Redd heard the low hum of voices. Pushing open the double doors, he saw his partner, DS Felicity Dove, busy at the whiteboards, pinning up the crime scene’s latest photos. He looked at the officers, for once silent, their faces grim, paling, as they saw the lurid images of the victims, the gutted remains screaming for justice. An officer clawed at his eyes as if to erase the horror. ‘Monsters guv.’
Redd nodded. ‘We’ll have two teams. DCI Cummings will join us from organized crime.’
Picking up a laser rod, Redd turned to the projectionist. ‘Okay, officer, begin.’ As the first image flashed on the screen, gasps and groans broke the silence.
‘Bastards,’
‘Bloody pigs, hanging’s too good for them.’
‘What the fuck is this?’
Redd pointed the rod at the first image on the screen. ‘Two bodies, late teens, male and female, both decapitated, the head of the female is missing. They’re covered in tattoos from the neck down.’
The officers shuffled, swearing under their breath. Redd waited for a beat. ‘The pathologist informs me the perps cut through the ribs – removed the organs from the bodies. They subsequently replaced them. The heart, liver, and kidneys are cut open.’ Redd motioned for the projectionist to zoom in on the wounds, loosely held together with bloodied twine.
‘Oh my God, no.’ DC Bessie Owen struggled to her feet, kicking back the chair; her hand clamped over her mouth as if to hold back the vomit.
‘Sick buggers,’ a male officer grunted.
Redd pointed to the decapitated head of the young male. ‘The guy’s eyes are closed, his mouth relaxed, so at the point of death, he was either drugged or unconscious.’
DC Natalie Green, stick thin, called out, ‘bloody hell.’
Redd turned to see her face screwed up. ‘Yeah, these last two pics give you the site and the surrounding terrain.’ He continued, pointing to a stack of bones beside the bodies. ‘These bones are bleached; don’t belong to the victims.’
Nodding to the officer to switch off the projector, he turned to his team and said, ‘right, DCI Cummings and I are the senior investigating officers. DS Dove will head the inquiry teams. Tim, you take primary for the first team, Mack, you’ll head up the second.’
‘What about the collator? Nat Green rasped, the DS was a climber and expected to be primary on the first team.
‘There’s only one guy for that. Hugh Price,’ he said coolly.
‘Ted, I’d like your department to liaise with Forensics and HOLMES 2.’
Edward Papworth, head of the Scientific Services Department, nodded.
‘Lizzie, you’ll take up the post as first family liaison officer.’ Redd was glad to have an officer of her caliber; she’d been a counselor but joined the force, feeling she had more to offer crime victims.
‘Dove, get the TV news flash on straightaway. No details of the mutilations.’
Dove scowled; if there was one thing she hated to do.’
Redd looked at the officers’ faces, some pallid with the raw ferocity of the crimes, others with eyes narrowed to slits. They would hold the images in their brains, pictures of headless bodies, the torsos cut from neck to groin, guts ripped out, then shoved back into those young bodies, two kids brutally murdered; it couldn’t happen again, not on their patch.
Copyright.
No part of this book may be stored, reproduced, or transmitted in any form or by any means without the express permission of the author.
This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and events are either products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
Copyright © Katy Walters
All rights reserved
Other Chapters
Don’t worry if you miss any chapters, since you will find links to other posted chapters here:
