Chapter 3-- Colette
A bright yellow strip of tape marked "Police Line- Do Not Cross" runs across a section of the backwoods road. About two to four cars with
London Metropolitan Police
decaled on the side and bright flashing blue lights camp about a good fifty meters behind the line, just in case some schmucks decided that the law didn't apply to them. Several lawmen in bright yellow jackets can be seen placing markers around the old abandoned petrol station. Some can be seen emerging from the building wearing masks and latex gloves, large plastic bags in their hands.
"Damn, what a bloody mess, literally." Herschel Helmwood, the Chief Police Inspector of the precinct, lifts his cap and runs a forearm over his brow as he ganders about the scene.
A man in his late-50s, the wide-framed sturdy man with leathery brown skin tone and graying facial hair has seen his fair share of gruesome crime scenes in his thirty-plus years as a lawman, but this was something unusual even by his seasoned standards.
"Chief, I think you need to have a look at this."
Helmwood turns to a lean, mid-30s policeman with slick dark hair and a small black goatee, gesturing for him to follow. Helmwood lets out a sigh and obliges. The two men stop at the pile of plastic bags that have been excavated from the station.
"Is this all of them, Lieutenant Faisal?" Helmwood slips on a latex glove and stoops down to wipe the condensation away from one of the bags, revealing frozen body parts arranged in grotesque angles.
"Yes sir, five bodies in total. All found in that walk-in freezer."
"Have we identified any of them?"
"Not by name, sir. Lyles's forensics team is still working on that. But we've managed to determine they are all female between the age of 20 to 30. Mostly likely all part of that missing women investigation."
"I see..." Helmwood nods with a furl of his bushy gray eyebrows while inspecting the bags, then glances up at his lieutenant.
"Has Graystone looked through them yet?"
"Not yet, sir."
"Graystone!" Helmwood hollers at a young man with sandy blonde hair who is standing across the field with his back turned. The young policeman turns and briskly jogs over.
"Look through this pile, lad. See if...she's in there."
The young Graystone stands over the plastic bags for a moment with dread.
"Well, go on, son. You wanted to be part of this investigation so you can find her, right?"
"Yes, sir." Graystone grits his teeth and gets down on one knee, wiping the surface of each bag with a gloved hand and studying the contents cautiously. After the last bag, he drops his head and closes his eyes with a deep sigh.
"Well?"
"She's not here, sir." Graystone rises to his feet and reports, a touch of both relief and disappointment in his voice.
"Your younger sister is not among these bodies?"
Just then, another policeman, a tall thin figure with glasses and a medical mask covering his nose and mouth, approaches and greets the group.
"Sir Helmwood, Lieutenant Faisal."
"What have you got for us, Lyles?"
"Come with me, gentlemen." Lyles stoicly turns and gestures for them to follow. Helmwood dismisses Graystone as he and Faisal follow the masked man, who turns back slightly to offer a word of caution. "But I must warn you. This is not for the faint of heart."
"Well, after seeing that, how much worse can it get?" Faisal tilts his head toward the bags of dismembered corpses.
"This is different." Lyles leads them to a large white plastic sheet and lifts it up to reveal what's underneath.
"Oh,
fucking hell!
"
The two officers simultaneously draw back and gag. Helmwood inches forward, covering his nose and mouth with a hand towel and swatting away the swarm of flies with his other hand.
"What happened to...no, rather, what the hell
is
it?"
"We believe this is the remains of Bo Mardsen, the owner of that van over there. We've also recovered the corpses of his brothers Zed and Dale Mardsen. All in similar states."
Still holding the towel over his mouth, Helmwood looks back at Faisal.
"Mardsen? Weren't they that trio who were key suspects in the missing women's case two years ago?"
"Yes, but their charges were eventually dropped."
"Why?"
"I don't recall."
Helmwood turns his attention back to his forensics specialist.
"Okay? So what the hell happened to him?"
"As you can see here..." Lyles kneels down and trace a circle around a large gaping hole where the skull had once been. "Whoever-- or whatever, did this to him, also cracked open his cranium and extracted its contents."
He moves his finger to the bits of dried up flesh scattered near the head.
"The spillage and splatter in the immediate proximity suggests that it was done in very crude fashion, without any surgical methods, and possibly... eaten."
"Eaten?"
"As I've mentioned, the other two have also been found in similar states. I can think of no other reason why the contents of their cranium would be removed in such crude fashion."
"Right then, sorry to interject, let me get this straight..." Lieutenant Faisal steps forward with his hands out in front of him. "Somebody killed him, ate his brains, and sent the police department an anonymous tip about where to find his crew and the dismembered bodies of
their
victims?"
Lyles shrugs without a word.
"So what, I've got a zombie vigilante running around my precinct hunting down serial killers and eating their brains?" Helmwood rubs his wrinkled, weary face with the palm of his leathery hand and exhales deeply.
"Bloody hell..."
---One month earlier---
A group of rambunctious lads in athletic attire stroll down the vibrant streets just outside East London Career College and waltz into the
Cheers!
