The red marker squealed across the whiteboard as Myra wrote down all the names, places and evidence that was gathered at the time of the initial investigation. Near the top, she taped up the map of the city with the crime scene and several other locations marked with pins. She’d taken every single photograph from the case folder and made sure they were once again visible to all. The old holes and tape markings were still there, like stale bread or autumn leaves in spring. It was not a thing anyone wished to see brought back to life.

The captain sat at the edge of one of the tables. He was looking at his phone as he held his glasses just in front of his nose. From time to time he would glance and Myra and quickly returned to reading, as if he had somewhere else to be.

Once she was done arranging the collage she took the largest distance she could from it and opened the window. The lines of red text and the photographs from the scene made it look like some macabre work of art and she was certain there were people in the world who would find some sort of beauty in such things.

“I almost feel grateful for not being here ten years ago,” said Ronns, as he sipped a warm cup of tea in the corner.

“Right,” said the captain as if someone had finally booted him up. “You start Myra.”

“Wait, where’s the wizard?” said Kalin poking his head over the monitor. His face still had the red imprint of the keyboard as he’s spent some time napping on it after lunch.

“Who knows? Do you miss him already?” said Myra aiming a laser pointer at his face. He quickly regressed and shoved himself aside to better see the board.

“Let’s get on with this,” said the captain with an ever-growing agitation in his tone. “I have a dinner with the commissioner to get to.”

Myra closed the window back up and pulled the shutters halfway over it so the laser pointer could be better seen, and at the same time found it utterly funny to watch them follow the red light the way cats do.

“We received the approval for exhumation of the original victim from the judge and the family. We’ll have the body in the morning so it’s another day until we have that confirmation,” she began.

“What about dental charts?” asked Ronns. “Did we check that as well?”

“Identical. As well as every other comparable element available. We’ve so far concluded that this is the same person.”

Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

“What about that footprint?” Kalin intruded. “I remember there was the key evidence found in the park last time.”

“No such luck. The killer must have known about it and made sure not to leave any trace this time. He made sure to stay on the pavement, and the rain carried away the rest.”

“What are we to go on then apart from the fact that this is the only one of his victims that have returned? Should we check other crime scenes as well?”

“Did that already. Marus is the only one we know of,” Myra began. “And you are right, the case is the same, but up to a point. It’s the things that are different we must focus on. In this case, our best bet is to go backwards.” She pointed the laser to the outlined path on the map, with the southern gate marked with an x. “The tears on the victim's clothes and the scratches on his face and arms were mostly likely from the trees in the park. But the lacerations on his left foot indicate he’d gone over some hard terrain, the kind that cannot be found in the park. The residue in the wounds was once again stone dust. Now, last time, we focused our investigation on the sharp gravel, often used around the train tracks. Since that’s not the common case with tracks within the city, we were left with two options. First, there’s a whole kilometre of railway near the northern wall of Arbiger Park, which still has gavel footing. Now assuming he ran along those tracks he would have entered the park through the northern gate and ran all the way south. But if we take a different route,” she pointed to a small piece of land, once belonging to an industrial hub. “We get to the Gollen Residence complex which back then was nothing but a massive construction site. This is our second option, which would mean he entered from the west side. The only difference is, If he came that way now, he would be walking on concrete and marble.”

“Could it be a different path then?” said Ronns. “He couldn’t have gone round the pond at Visker because they closed the whole north side after the landslide. Even the railway’s closed there and I’ve had to make detours for a week now.” He scratched the roof of his head with a pencil and put it behind his ear. “We should look into any new constructions around the park to be sure. But wait…”

“What is it?” said Myra pointing the laser back at him.

“The club.”

“You're right... The origin isn’t the same.”

“Ahh, yes,” cried Kalin. “You are right. That’s the club that burned down after they bribed that city inspection not to report their faulty fire suppressors. I worked at the city hall back then, so I remember it pretty clearly. The court is yet to decide what to do with the ownership so it’s still just an empty plot of land.”

Myra snapped her fingers and got up. “We need to track him back to wherever he came from. Ronns you take the northern train route. See if there are any changes from ten years ago, and make sure you check the surveillance footage, threaten them with court orders if you must.”

“Kalin, you take the Visker side and the club. They sometimes leave those bird cameras there, so see if anyone caught anything.”

“And you Tamon?” asked the captain.

“I’ll take the Gollen,” she returned confidently.

“Didn’t we just conclude he couldn't have gone that way?” Ronns said shaking bread crumbs off his patterned shirt.

“If there was anything certain about this case they wouldn’t have brought a wizard on board.”