Chapter I…

 

It was a cold, dark winter night and the streets of London were crawling with the cities scums.

The drunks were drunk and the whores were luring in costumers but the most interesting were the shady men lurking about in the dark alleys of London.

No one noticed a thing until the horrid screams of a young woman filled the air of the city, blowing with the wind into every street, every alley, every house, every room, every crevice of the great city, London.

 

The morning sun revealed the cold corpse of the murdered woman, a young, beautiful girl laying in a pool of blood in the street. Her dress was torn and her shoes were missing, her throat had been cut, she had multiple stab wounds in her stomach and judging by her filthy stockings, it was safe to assume that she'd been raped numerous times.

The case was assigned to a young detective, people laughed at him, thinking he was too young to have any experience, he would definitely fail to solve it and either depart from his job as a detective or kill himself due to pressure.

This young detective's name was Andrew Miller, he had just recently joined the police force but had proved to be quite a promising detective.

Three police officers accompanied Andrew to the crime scene, being a load of lazy blockheads, they all claimed it was a suicide and when Andrew pointed out to them the multiple stab wounds, cut throat, missing shoes, torn dress and filthy stocking they said he was nothing more than a dimwitted greenhorn that should rather be cleaning the floors rather than looking at crime scenes.

At this point people were starting to gather around the scene so Andrew hurried up taking notes before removing the body.

Cut throat, multiple stab wounds, missing shoes, filthy stockings, torn dress, possible missing ring and necklace, some blood in the right eye and a piece of paper in her hair.

Piece of paper? Andrew took the paper and unfolded it. There was a something written on the paper, something that filled Andrew with confusion, excitement and curiosity.

CC.

2: Chapter 2

Chapter II…

 

A dark figure was sitting in a red leather chair in front of a lit fireplace, his right hand held a shiny, clean wineglass while his left hand fiddled with a piece of coin.

A man entered the room, he was quite a filthy man, with a scruffy beard, dirty hands and worn clothing.

“So” the figure said “did you do as I asked of you?”.

“We did” the filthy man replied with a smirk on his face and a sound of joyfulness in his voice.

The dark figure stopped fiddling with the coin, he put it in his palm and squeezed it tightly.

“Did you rape her?” he asked. The man hesitated and when he tried to answer he stuttered and couldn't say a word.

“I told you not to violate her!” the figure shouted as he stood up from his chair and turned to the man. “A gentleman does not violate women and neither does his goons!”.

Out of the mans stutters, only two words were recognizable “I'm sorry” he said with a crying tone “she was such a pretty lady, I couldn't help myself”.

The figure threw his glass into the fireplace and pulled out a gun from the inside of his jacket and shot the man, he sat back down into his chair. “I'm surrounded by imbeciles” he said to himself and started fiddling with his coin again.

3: Chapter 3

Chapter III…

 

There was a dark sensation over the detectives agency, a day had passed and Andrew was already losing faith in himself. The only witness that came forth was a drunk that barely remembered his name, he said he'd seen what had happened that night but even if he did there was no way he'd remember, he wouldn't have been able to tell wether he saw a mouse or the moon, he was too intoxicated with alcohol and probably something more.

Andrew sighed as the drunk told him that the young girl had been murdered by a flock of flying monkeys, all of which were wearing purple dresses and had potatoes on their heads.

Andrew was exhausted, he wanted most to punch the bloody drunk in the face but he was a professional and he had a case to solve, though according to the drunk the flying monkeys had been swallowed whole by a prancing unicorn, so maybe that was the end of it, case solved? Perhaps not.

Andrew's interrogation was interrupted by a man who told him he had mail, Andrew was astonished, who would've sent him mail? He didn't have any family and he wasn't really that close to his friends, perhaps it was just a threat, he found that most probable, he knew many people didn't like him and he had received threats before.

He took this mail of his and opened the envelope, it was no threat at all but it wasn't a message either, he didn't quite get it.

What do you think you're doing?

What did it mean? Why was it sent to him? Andrew was very confused, the paper hypnotized him, he was stuck staring at the words until a voice pulled him out, it was the chief detective asking Andrew how the case was going, Andrew or mr. Miller, like the chief called him, didn't really want to answer the question, instead he just mumbled something and went back into the interrogation room where the damn drunk had fallen asleep while he was away.

Andrew sat down and started scribbling in his notepad.

Woman murdered, my case, mine to solve, who's the woman, who's the killer, what's CC.

Andrew realized something when he wrote that, he knew what CC. was, he recognized it, he knew who CC. was.

Remember the name, remember the man, who is CC? Remember your past.

 

4: Chapter 4

Chapter IV…

 

She cried for help but no one heard, she was locked inside a dark room in a house in the middle of nowhere, she had no idea where she was, all she knew was that she was stuck there with a group of men that came in regularly to beat her up. She didn't know why, had she done something? Was this all her fault? All of this was a mystery to her, she'd always been nice, always on her best behavior and she always did what she was told, so why her? Maybe it was because she stole that one nut one time, was the law really that strict?

The place smelled of beer and piss, probably because of those men, wretched bastards.

Suddenly she heard someone barge through the front door, followed by some inaudible yelling and a number of gunshots. Was someone saving her? That was the only question in her mind, she was so excited and frightened, maybe it was a handsome police officer, come to rescue her and then take her straight to his home where they'd have a lustful night in his bed, oh it'd be a dream come true, she's a damsel in distress and he's the handsome prince.

The door was kicked down and a man stood in the opening, she was so excited.

“Quick and painless” she heard the man say before he shot a bullet in her head.

“Damn fools won't get it right”.

5: Chapter 5

Chapter V…

 

He was staring into a mirror and the person staring back was Andrew Miller but yet it wasn't, he saw himself but it didn't feel like it was him in the reflection of the tainted glass, so he reached out, he reached out and touched the mirror. When his hand made contact with the hand of the reflection, he heard screams of angst and pain, sorrow and horror, everything went black and out of the cold darkness, two evil eyes opened and looked into his soul, he couldn't move, he was stuck and helpless trying to scream for help but no sound came from his mouth.

Andrew woke up sweaty and scared, his breathing was rapid and he couldn't open his eyes.

It was a nightmare, it was just a nightmare. He started calming down, his breathing slowed and his eyes slowly opened. He saw daylight, it was a new day and another chance to solve the murder, he really wished he could solve it that day, he was getting tired of all the cluelessness about the case.

Someone knocked on the door and called into the room that there'd been another murder. Andrew was startled and frustrated, another murder, of course, one murder is never enough.

 

At the crime scene, Andrew spotted the obvious link with the previous murder that both victims were young women, the issue was all the other extra male bodies and unlike the previous murder, there was nothing missing from the female and it didn't appear that she'd been raped but on the other hand, it seemed that she'd been in there for quite some time.

It's ironic really, to not find someone until they're dead, what if she'd been found the day before, would they have saved her or was she doomed from the beginning?

Andrew started looking for a piece of paper on the body, a piece of paper containing the letters “CC.” that's all he needed to link the murders. He looked everywhere, in her hair, her hand, her mouth, even in her shoes but he couldn't find it. He crouched next to the body and stared at it, she had a pretty necklace around her neck, he looked at it, running from the back of her neck, down her front and lower to her chest. Her chest, of course, Andrew took a peek into the bodies cleavage, bingo, he saw a little piece of paper between her breasts, he reached in for it but swiftly pulled his hand back when he heard a man asking what he was doing.

“Nothing, just looking for clues” Andrew said. The man turned around and muttered as he walked away “bloody necrophile”.

Andrew ignored him and reached for the paper again, he pulled it out of her cleavage and opened it.

CC.

6: Chapter 6

Chapter VI…

 

Andrew went to the chief detective and told him what he knew, he told him about these pieces of paper and that all of this had something to do with this CC.

“It's this CC, sir, he's the head man” Andrew said.

“What on earth are you talking about, Andrew, you don't even know if this CC. is a man, it could be a woman for all we know” the chief answered “but it's most likely nothing special, CC. is probably nothing but a ghost, a phantom created by man”.

“No, I'm telling you Mr. Chester, CC. is a man”.

“And just how do you know that, Mr. Miller?”.

Andrew hesitated, should he tell the chief the truth, should he tell him that he used to work for this mysterious CC? Wouldn't that raise questions?

“I...I used to work for him” Andrew said.

The chief was shocked, a man who had been working with a murderer was working in his detective agency, this news better not spread out.

“You worked for a murderer?” the chief asked.

“Well...let's just say I don't have the purest past”.

“You're a murderer?”

“No, I never killed anyone for him” Andrew said and then mumbled to himself “I think”.

“Oh, well, but you know what he looks like?” the chief asked.

Andrew stood still and looked rather disheartened.

“No, no I don't” he said “I never saw him”.

“Well then we'll have to solve this like any other case” the chief replied.

Andrew scratched his head and walked away.

“...Yeah”.

 

When Andrew got to his house, he noticed music coming out of it, someone was playing music in his house. He stood outside his house for quite some time, unsure what to do, just thinking and listening to the music, it was violin music and it was playing Mozart's “eine kleine nachtmusik”. He decided to enter, he slowly walked up the steps to his front door, he grabbed the knob and opened the door, inside were three men.

“Who are you?” Andrew asked. The men looked at him, the one playing the violin stopped and another answered.

“We're a present from Mr. C.” the man smiled a ugly, dirty smile before they all ran at him, Andrew ducked down as a fist flew at his face but was greeted with a knee instead, it broke his nose and he fell to the floor. One of the men bent down in front of him and took up a knife, he was about to say something when Andrew grabbed his hand and jabbed the knife into his chest, the man fell down.

Andrew tried to stand up but one of the remaining men kicked the side of his ribs and he tumbled onto the floor once more.

“Now that wasn't very nice” one of them said and grabbed Andrew by his collar, he looked Andrew straight in the face and suddenly looked surprised.

“Oscar?” the man asked.

Andrew was confused and pushed the man back.

“Wow, you must've really pissed off Mr. C., Oscar” the man continued.

“Why are you calling me Oscar?” Andrew asked, rather annoyed.

“Because that's your name, right?” the man replied.

“Not to my knowledge, no” Andrew said.

“Oh, well, it is to my knowledge”.

Andrew signaled the man to come closer, the man did and Andrew spoke softly in his ear.

“So, who's the other bloke?”.

“That's Jake” the man said.

“Could you give us a minute, Jake?” Andrew asked “I don't like your face”.

The big, burly man called Jake gave Andrew a dirty look but left the room when the other man told him to. Andrew attention went back to the smaller man.

“So, what's up?” the man asked Andrew.

Andrew quickly stood up and grabbed the man.

“Who's CC?” he asked “do you know what he looks like?”.

The man was frightened.

“No” he answered “no one knows what he looks like, anyone who sees him always ends up dead!”.

Andrew sighed and let him go.

“Alright, get out of here, and take that body with you”.

The men left with the body and Andrew went to his bed with a broken, bleeding nose and a soar ribcage.

7: Chapter 7

Chapter VII…

 

The morning after, Andrew showed up to work all bruised and sickly, his coworkers looked as he passed by but didn't really care at all what had happened. Even the chief didn't care, he just looked away the moment he noticed, anyone who gets beat up won't last the rest of the week so why bother to ask about it? It's better not to get involved.

Andrew sat down in his office and stared at his desk. How can one solve this case? There haven't been any useful clues and no one knows how this CC. looks like.

Perhaps it'd just be better to join the rest of the officers and be a lazy bloke. No, that's not the answer, the answer is to keep working hard and solve this case with ones head held high, with the criminal in your cuffs and his petty henchmen in your grasp, to become the most famous detective in all of London if not the whole kingdom. A promotion would be waiting there, just waiting for you to reach out and grab it. All you'd have to do is to stop this leader of what seems to be organized crime and put him behind bars. The glory would be marvelous.

Andrew closed his eyes and slammed his head into his desk.

“Bloody hell”.