August: ULTIMATE writing challenge

Couple months left to participate!

Now it is time to hear the August prompts and get inspired again.

For this month our prompts are:

• A detective finds an unusual piece of evidence at a murder scene.

• A locked-room mystery unfolds during a thunderstorm.

• A murder weapon is discovered in the most unexpected place—describe it.

My choice:

• A detective finds an unusual piece of evidence at a murder scene.

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Here we go again. Another Tuesday, another day at work, and another murder left for me to solve. What is it with people having to physically harm others to the point of death? Can't they just maybe ruin their life or go to therapy and solve their shit in the rational way? Of course not! There is no rationality in the head of a murderer. Even if they plan the kill in the most detailed way...

Let's see what we are working with today. The usual apparently... stab wounds around the stomach, no murder weapon to be seen, prints avoided with gloves, footprints wiped away with bleach. Anything unusual in this killer? Hmmm, let's have a deeper look.

-Hi, Sofia? Did you manage to get anything from the lab yet?

-No mis. The DNA is still to be connected to the person. We are looking for more, since we found the body only this morning, mis.

-Thank you. Let me know when you have something new for me! I'll look around in the meantime.

Of course they don't have anything yet. How foolish of me to assume that they would. Well, time to get to work!

The murderer didn't break in, so they must have been either let inside, had a key or the door or a window must have been open. The victim is a young girl in their 20s, brown hair, probably a student from the look of the apartment. Why live in the first floor if you are so young and beautiful? Especially here.

How long did she live in here anyway? The place has been organised but it looks fresh and clean. It doesn't have usual signs of living here for long. Strange. Were they a new student then?

Would the body reveal more? There aren't a lot of signs of struggle. The stab wounds look fresh yet over hours old. Was the body moved? Hmmm... The hair is not placed nicely but rather has just fallen naturally. Yet the blood is only around the wounds and on the ground so they cannot have just placed her here either, she fell from her feet. On her back? How though? That is not so common.

-Does she have any injuries in her skull or anywhere below the clothes? Has she been moved by you in any way?

-No mis, we haven't had the time to check or move her since we were ordered not to before you arrive.

-Could you examine the skull quickly before wrapping her up and taking her to the lab?

-Of course mis!

How strange...

-There are no clear bruising or breakages on her skull, mis. Do you want us to check some other areas?

-No need for now, you can save the rest to the lab. Thank you.

-Mis? You might want to see this...

-What is it?

A letter? Why would someone leave it here so visibly? Is it from the victim or the killer?

"Hi detective! It is me, the murderer here.

Catch me if you can, since you have 10 hours to do so before I die.

I killed this woman because I could. I killed her because she was a fool.

I don't regret a thing.

Fun hunting!

-Killer 101

at 23.56 on Saturday 16th of June"

What!? Is this a joke? Who would confess something like that? And in that way? How much time do we really have? Who's handwriting is that? So many questions left unsolved...

-We have to hurry, mis! There is 2 hours left before that runs out.

Isn't this nice. Making me to hurry up. How do we even know what is real or has any value?

Oh, the other side has an address too. Well, we can at least go to check it out for any additional clues...

What is this place? A hunted house? Really???

Why would we find anything here? Why does the killer want us to come snooping here?

Ah, that's why.

I see another body with a letter in hand:

"This is my brother. He has killed 5 other girls and gave me a task to kill the previous girl and then him. You will find my identity from here, but unfortunately I'm a bit impatient so you will also find my body from the woods around this house.

-Killer 101"

This is unbelievable! Like little kids having a play amongst themselves. So foolish and reckless. Why did the killer kill their own brother just because they told them to?

-Mis! We found another body from the backyard forest. You should have a look...

"BC WHY NOT HAHAHA" is scribbled with a knife to the chest of the killer.

Seriously? He hanged himself after writing that on him?

-Check if the knife used for that writing matches the stab wound on the first victim, please.

By Catnip Karvonen <3