Chapter 2 - Frantic

PAIGE FELT a knot in her stomach as she pulled the car over and saw the news vans piling up at the parking lot. Reporters and their cameramen from different sorts of media stood at the precinct lawn, preparing to bombard her with tons of intriguing questions concerning the murder case. She did not bother to think or put thought as to how they know about the case. News spread fast in this part of Leonska and the citizens are not the only ones to be blamed for. Some police make money out of selling tips and information to these sharks. And it would not surprise Paige if that had been the case for this.  

As she got out of her car, she noticed Gabriel Loftgant standing outside the glass door, obviously refraining himself from yelling at the reporters starting to come near her. His eyebrows are almost connected and his face was burning red. Paige didn't waste any time and hustled towards her supervisor, not wanting to give the media the chance to assault her and stop Loftgant before he exploded with anger. 

In spite of that, some daring reporters had managed to throw her some questions. 

"Did the family of the victim had been notified? What was their reaction?"

"Is it a work of a serial killer? Or just a random?"

"Are you certain that you would let an unskillful woman handle the case?" 

Of all the questions she heard, that particular one incredibly drilled on the corners of her mind, clicking her anger towards chauvinistic situations. 

I wouldn't be here if I lack what it takes to be one. And I'll prove to you that I deserve to be in this. 

All thanks to the remaining officers standing by outside, the reporters were halted and Paige successfully escaped their grasps. As she walked inside, she was fast to notice the whole precinct on fire. Some officers from their certain cubicles are running towards the conference room where the meeting will be held. She was taken aback by the sight, for this is the first morning she ever witnessed her colleagues in chaos. 

"Damn those leeches," Loftgant mumbled as he slammed the door behind him. "Was it you, Morsen? Who tipped these bastards about what we found?" 

Paige silently fumed with anger. Her teeth gritted and she couldn't refrain from frowning. She had already seen and heard enough condescending statements from the supervisor but she never felt this insulted. Not only her nature as a woman was disrespected, ultimately, but her pride as an officer was also hurt. How could this man ever think that she would gossip a piece of sensitive information? Just how low did he think of Paige?

"No, of course not, Sir. I would never jeopardize my duty as an officer," she said in a tight voice. 

Loftgant nodded, his face was nowhere convinced. "Better be safe than sorry," he said and Paige withdrew a deep sigh. Loftgant walked past her and she followed him behind. "What happened to the time limit I gave you? Didn't I say that you should be hereafter one hour? If I hadn't forced those boys to cover you, God knows what you might've said to those bastards."

She let the comment slip away. "Ramirez and his team had a hard time dealing with the youngsters who discovered the body so I intervened and patched up the situation. Also, I asked the forensics team to run on something before we left..."

"You didn't delay their work, did you?" Loftgant almost shouted. 

"I simply asked them to do a task. I don't think I'd delay them in a way." 

"And what task was that for you to waste another half an hour?"

They turned into a corner where the office of the homicide unit resides, as well as the conference room frequently used by the force. Paige stared at the back of her supervisor, wondering if he would approach that piece of information as Ivana did. No matter how essential a piece of information could be, if Paige would be the one to lay it out, the certainty that Loftgant would find it absurd is on a hundred percent. It could get on his full attention if Ivana would've said it. 

But she can't worry about that for now. Absurd may it seem, Paige is certain that that piece of information won't be senseless, but rather, a crucial one for this case. If not, why would the killer even carve it out? 

"The figures I found on several parts of the body, Sir," Paige answered with full determination. Loftgant stopped walking just before they reached the glass door before he turned a look to her, confused about what he heard. "I believe it needs full examination from them. While we can't be sure for now what it means, it's better to have it checked so we could determine its essence on the case." 

"Figures? Oh, you mean the one Goodman was talking about—" Loftgant was halted from speaking when the glass door suddenly bust open and it revealed Eleazor Dominican—the respectable chief of Leonska State PD. 

"Sir." Loftgant's composure changed into a stiff one. He sported a nod towards the chief who looked even more serious and troubled. 

"Where the hell have you been?" Dominican said, leaving the door slightly ajar, his head turning to Paige and there was a slight change in his expression. "Morsen."    

Paige straightened her back and nodded subtly. "Sir." 

"I was expecting you'd be here earlier than what I told you. I wasn't wrong to think that those people will start sniffing on our grounds soon. You're lucky the news hasn't reached the bigger sharks in that industry. Otherwise, we'd be on a total disaster," Dominican sounded reprimanding Paige for being late but his calm tone betrayed himself. 

If there was one person who favored Paige so much for her splendid talents, that would be Chief Dominican. Contradicting his large built and physique, he was quite a soft man when it comes to Paige. They may not be directly related, Dominican still thought of her as his daughter, supporting her on every path she take. 

Dominican's special treatment towards her was only one of the few reasons why she has been the favorite detective everyone in their unit likes to bully. Her promotion was too fast for them (although, she had substantiated that she received it because of her adept nature); they ought to believe that she didn't deserve any of it even though she solved the big controversial case months ago. It got even worse for her. She was even accused of being Dominican's mistress and a power sucker which Paige had tried to refute but to no avail. 

She still has that image and as much as she wanted to shove them how talented she is, it would be a total waste of time. She knew no one would even listen. Her skills were already disregarded, how much more of her explanation regarding these issues?

In regards to that, Paige had warned Dominican to lessen the attention and care he had been pouring to her. But the old man always breaks it. His inability to produce a child had made him obsessed with taking care of a child. When Paige came into his life, Dominican had never been so delighted and he knew right away that he would provide everything to her. It only stopped when Paige entered the academy and graduated as police, he let her experience what she always wanted: to be independent and to be successful through her hard work. 

"It won't happen again, Sir," Paige said and bow slightly. 

Dominican sighed and gestured to the door. "Go inside, everyone is getting impatient." He turned to Loftgant. "Start filling them on what we have. I'll join you once I finished the calls with the higher-ups." 

Loftgant nodded, looking too obedient given his nature and treatments towards Paige. He cast a glance towards, let out a soft scoff before he pushed the door open. Paige didn't budge and eyed him with curiosity. 

"I have to tell you now, this case is not going to be easy for us," Dominican said. 

"What do you mean?" Paige's eyebrows furrowed. 

Instead of explaining, Dominican just tapped her shoulders. "You'll know soon," he muttered before she left there, confused and in deep thoughts. 

Even the meeting had started right after she entered, Paige couldn't let go the words from the Chief as she listened to some of Loftgant's pleasantries to the people inside the room. What could he possibly mean by that? Was this murder had occurred before and she was right that it's not just a single one? 

Or was her involvement, in this case, is the problem?

"Alright, here's where we are," Loftgant started and the projector behind him flashed the photos of the victim who had been still smiling and laughing just a week ago. "The victim's name is Miranda Gail, a math instructor from Licon University, fifty-three years old, and a mother of two grown-up boys. She went missing five days ago when, unexpectedly, she didn't show up at work and didn't land a call to any of her sons the night before. Her relatives ultimately thought that she stayed in a motel because she fought with her husband the morning she disappeared. They reported her as missing a bit late because according to them, it was sort of her nature to drop out of sight. Her workplace didn't produce any leads to identify where she had been taken. Five days had been spent to search for her whereabouts but everything was too cut-and-dried." Loftgant withdrew a sigh. "And then, only this morning, her body was found deep in the forest park, looking nowhere from the last time someone had ever seen her alive." 

The current photos of Miranda Gail on the projector transitioned into the state her body was found, chopped into pieces, and her face, unrecognized by the beating it received. Paige stiffened and her train of thoughts about Dominican stopped, switching to the figures she had captured on the body. Many scowled at the images in front, some gasped and turned their eyes away from the white screen. Paige remained staring at the grim images, her mind advancing and wandering on what the killer had wanted to express through those mixed figures. 

Was it intentionally put there? Or does he simply want to put a ruse on us? 

"Goodman, why don't you come over here and describe the scene?" Loftgant offered Ivana who sat in the opposite direction, looking proud that Loftgant chose her. 

Paige didn't budge and let her take the spotlight that Ivana is obsessed with. 

"I don't need to describe the details of the scene one by one. You can see for yourself that it was gore and well, brutal. No physical shreds of evidence were left at the scene, footprints are not present and there are no scuff marks on the dirt that could indicate where Miranda's body was carried through. But the young kid who discovered the body said that she heard some noise around the cabin—probably our guy—and it looks like something was being dragged. He might have cleaned that before we arrived so our guy couldn't be only dangerous, cautious, as well," Goodman said, reading everything on her notes, including some information that Paige was the one who concluded. 

But that was something over Paige's worry as of now. Other than Dominican's cryptic words, she also couldn't get off on the idea about the figures and she knew, she must let everyone know about that before everything gets worse. 

"Well said, Goodman," Loftgant said. "As of the cause of death of the victim, the coroner suspected that it wasn't due to the physical trauma she received. It could be on the inside. Could be poisoning. No indicators that it was a sexual attack. Her undergarments were still intact and there are no marks on the private parts so whoever took Miranda had some more vile motives other than abducting her alone."

Paige waited for his eyes to visit her but not even a single glance was put on her way. It seems Loftgant intentionally avoided her eye contact and Paige knew the reason why. He doesn't want her to butt in or let everyone know that she was involved in this case. 

To take the credits alone or simply to shove at Paige's face that they can do this without her. Whatever the reason, Paige is certain she wouldn't accept it and do nothing. 

Irritated by the behavior she was getting, Paige purposely raised her hand as Loftgant went on discussing the plans they must carry out to start the investigation. She successfully caught his attention but Loftgant was nowhere near pleased. 

"What is it, Morsen?" Loftgant asked, pissed off. 

"I want to add the mixed figures I found on the victim's body—"

She wasn't even finished with her sentence, Ivana's chuckle already covered her voice. It was mainly accompanied by Loftgant's scoff. 

Paige trudged past it, her eyes waiting for Loftgant's appreciation of what she said. Slowly, she lowered her hand. 

"Ah, Jesus, here we at again?" Loftgant asked, completely dismayed at the interruption he received just for some baseless information. "Morsen, whatever you're thinking right now, I just want to remind you that this is an actual murder case, not some puzzle problem in a kindergarten that you must solve for Daddy's candy." 

The room was filled with laughter, some officers looked at her way, insulting and teasing her about the word used by Loftgant. And Paige knew damn well what that meant. She muttered a soft curse before she rolled her eyes, fuming silently. She had enough of the bullshit and if Loftgant continue this, she wouldn't hesitate anymore to oppose him directly, although she might get labeled as a disrespectful officer.