"Captain Sherman, Sheriff Jerome, we talked on the phone. Thank you for coming out here. We don't usually see stuff like this around these parts."

The Sheriff greeted me from outside the house of the victim, lifting up the yellow "do not cross" tape for me to enter.

"It's my pleasure, really, Sheriff. I came as fast as I could. So, you think this is related to the drowning I got a few months back?"

"I don't know what to think, the last murder in Albireo was over 15 years ago. It's all just petty theft in this area. Nothing ever gets more violent. I was hoping to borrow your experience, I hear you have plenty."

Unfortunately the Sheriff was correct. As an orphan that lived on the streets, I had seen my fair share of violence. That only increased during my days as a trooper. I was often the first responder at violent crimes. During my time as a homicide detective, I saw a variety of ways to take human lives. Not to say it doesn't affect me anymore, it's just that the shock of it all has waned. The frequency of my encounters with violence has decreased since my recent promotion to captain. More paperwork than active field work really. Not to mention more days off.

We started making our way inside the house with the Sheriff leading the way.

"No worries Sheriff, I will help out as much as I can. What do you have?"

"Victim owns the house. Her name is Barbara Burns, 79. ME puts her death between 72 to 82 hours ago. More examinations can be done in the lab. Cause of death is still uncertain. The victim has been in the water for too long, the ME can't determine whether the water filled her lungs before or after her death. No other external injuries. I've left the body as it was found, I wouldn't want to contaminate it before you came."

"Well, there doesn't seem to be any sign of a break in, so maybe the victim let him in? Is there anything missing from the house? Maybe jewellery, laptops or just hard cash? And how is it that she's been missing for three days and no one noticed?"

"Nothing missing that I can tell. It's not unusual for her to stay cooped up in the house for a couple of days, she only usually comes out to pick up the newspaper in the morning and chat with the neighbours in the afternoon. Her health's been deteriorating recently and she's been spending less and less time outside." The Sheriff stood still for a moment then turned around to look at me "And if you're thinking because there is no sign of a breaking it was someone she knew, she trusted, I can assure you it was no one from this community. We folks we grew up together, went to high school together. No one from this community would ever do something like this."

Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

"You knew her?"

"Yeah."

"I'm sorry for your loss."

We made the rest of the way in silence. The Sheriff stiffened as soon as we entered the bathroom. The stench from a three day old dead body was almost palpable. There were mosquitoes in whatever part of the body was floating above the water, ants crawling up the bathtub in the dozens. The body itself had a tinge of blue around the nose and mouth and I didn't need to touch it to tell how cold it was. I felt for the Sheriff, it was never fun to see someone you knew in a state like this. Doesn't matter how much experience you have. I made my way to the now deceased Barbara, kneeled in front of the bathtub to examine her closely.

"Pieces of cloth underneath her fingernails, definitely wasn't an accidental death. I found a similar material underneath the fingernails of the woman I got back in Westerlund. Have it analysed, if it's the same material in both cases then there is a high chance it's the same suspect. Who found the body?"

"Neighbour got worried when Barbara stopped collecting the newspaper in the morning. Knocked on the front door couple of times apparently, but when no one answered she asked a patrolling officer to check it out. He's the one that found the body."

-beep beep beep beep

"Sorry Sheriff, I gotta take this." I picked up my phone as I stood up and walked out of the bathroom. "You've got Captain Sherman of Westerlund PD."

"Captain, we've got another body. It's the Child Stabber again."

"You sure?"

"Looks like it. I'll give you the address."

"I'll be there as soon as I can." I hung up the phone and made my way back to the bathroom. I found the Sheriff still standing in front of the bathtub looking at the body. "Looks like I got a case of my own. I think it's safe to say that the murder happened late at night 3 days ago. Ask around the neighbourhood. As you said, this is a close knit community. Someone must have seen something. Maybe an unusual visitor coming to see her in the days leading up to the murder. Or maybe a strange car parked for too long. The suspect must have known she lived alone. So he either stalked her before killing her or he knew her. 54% of all female victims reported being stalked before being killed. Although that's much more common for younger victims. Sorry I couldn't be more help."

"No, you've at least given me a starting point. Thank you."

"Keep me updated."

"Of course."

And with that I made my way out of the house and towards my car. There goes my plans for the day. I have to talk to the parents of the latest victim of the Child Stabber too. Something else I'm not looking forward to. And the massive amount of paperwork that's going to come with this. Gives me a headache just thinking about it. To think I had just caught up on all the piled up paperwork too.

On second thought, I'm gonna make one of my detectives talk to the parents.