Five days later, Joanna was called in again. This time to visit the Cockburn suburbs. It was a two-story house; however, the block was small. Like before, no one saw who entered the building or who left. It was the middle of the day when the victim died when a group of marathon runners jogged past the house and noticed the front door wide open to reveal the skinless body.

The other officers tried to keep everyone away from the crime scene, Joanna and Liem had to push through the crowd of onlookers who desperately needed answers. People looked worried, terrified that the murderer had struck near their homes. They wanted to know how the investigation was going, and how close the police were to solving the case. The officers guarding the home gave them all a comfortable lie, ‘it is all going well.’

Joanna thought differently, she knew that the investigation was anything but going well. Not even Canberra had any understanding of what was going on. After being given a quick brief of the situation and the interview notes of some witnesses, she entered the home of the murder.

The victim was a 26-year-old male, named Johnathan. Same situation as before, his skin was removed, every liquid in his body was syphoned out, his corpse dry and rubbery to the touch, and his body lying on the floor of the living room. Same position as before, he just looked like a stiff plank of pink meat laying on his back. At that time, Joanna noticed something different.

On the wall near the victim’s TV, was a clear thumb-sized dent. What confused Joanna as the paint was still intact, yet also fresh enough that wouldn’t be caused by any other forms of wear-n-tear or typical damage, instead, it was as if the wall was pressed against it by someone's hand.

She could also tell that John put up a fight, the lamp was knocked over and the second step on the staircase was caved in. Snapped at the centre like something heavy stomped on it.

‘At least they put up a fight,’ Liem noted. ‘If only it helped us in our investigation.’

Joanna ignored Liem’s comment as she made her way upstairs to John’s room. His window was wide open, nothing out of the ordinary. The outside frame, however, was dented. She placed her fingers over the dents, and it was similar to that of a hand grasping onto the edge. They must’ve got in through here.

It didn’t help that she found nothing that could even explain how the killer could’ve gotten inside from the window. There were no ladders, the wall was smooth, and the house next door wasn’t even built yet. She ditched her theory on the dent in the wall as something that could be easily explained, like poor work materials being warped during the construction process followed by some cheap patch-up.

But why was the front door left open? What was John doing? Or did the killer leave through the front door? None of the questions she asked herself could be answered.

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Joanna noticed a dog bowl in the backyard near the shed, yet no dog. Curious, she made her way downstairs to look around. The water bowl was still full. ‘Perhaps their dog alerted the victim of an intruder, that could explain why there was a bit of resistance.’ She said to Liem.

‘If that is true, where is the dog?’ He replied after taking some pictures of the crime scene.

Joanna wondered that as well, if he had a dog. Did the killer steal the dog or did they kill it and hide the body? She looked inside the bins and found nothing of use. It is bin day today, and they are already empty. The killer couldn’t have put the dog in the bin for there is no evidence of blood, but also because the bins were brought in this morning. Some witnesses saw John bringing them in, and he only died during the middle of the day. Nothing is making sense.

Joanna checked the shed to perhaps find any clues, though she knew she was grasping at straws. When she opened it she gagged as the hollowed skin of the dog was on the floor next to the spider and scorpion enclosures. The skin of the dog was intact, and there were no cuts or even indications that surgical instruments were used. To the detectives, it was as if the body was pushed out through the mouth.

Liem reached for the light switch to get a better view of what was left of its body. Only for him to accidentally turn on the black lights that made every scorpion glow. However, Joanna noticed a few handprints on the walls of the shed. She stepped over the skin to detach the black light from one of the tanks and aimed it upwards to see the perfect imprint of the dog on the roof with handprints surrounding it in a semicircle.

‘How on earth did they get up there?’ Liem said.

‘Do you think it’s John’s hands when he was setting up the shed?’

‘Can’t be. These handprints seem new.’

Joanna raised a brow, ‘how so?’

‘The handprints are practically glowing like the sun. If it was an old handprint, it would look faded. The shed seems old as well so there shouldn’t be anything up there. It also doesn’t explain why the dog is on the roof.’

He is onto something. Joanna thought before she carefully removed the black light and headed back inside. She closed the blinds to darken the room before she turned on the light. Handprints were everywhere, on the roof, walls, and even floors. Yet she couldn’t find any footprints. She looked back to the dent on the wall and noticed a thumbprint over it.

‘We’re getting somewhere at least!’ Joanna said aloud to Liem outside as he studied the skin of the dead dog. Though deep down it only made things more uncomfortable for her. Why are there only handprints? Where is the rest of the dog’s body?

Yet when she looked over the body. She struggled to understand why there was a black mark that looked like a cross on the victim's chest.