6th March 2019 AD
The winds from the Aravalli Mountains brushed against Temjin as he stood before the lifeless body of a young girl, hanging from a tree. His cognac-brown eyes glowed faintly as the first rays of morning light illuminated him. His casual clothes and unassuming demeanor made him look more like a civilian than a police officer.
People often imagined cops as fat, lousy douchebags masquerading as heroes. To be fair, most of them fit that description but Temjin was not one of them.
“Case 89882-13D extended. Incident in 12D – star inscribed in a square on the stomach. ‘3’ written just below the belly button. The outline is crude, indicating something blunt with a slight edge was used. Modus operandi is similar. Weapon of assault not found. Investigation ongoing by 12D PD,” Temjin muttered as he jotted notes in his pocket notebook. He clicked his retractable pen closed with a faint snap.
The girl’s lifeless eyes seemed to plead with him, as if begging him to save her. But all he could do was stare back. It was an eerie sight, but he had seen worse in this line of work.
“I don’t know why she was out. They defied night curfew—for what?” a voice spoke from behind him. It was his assistant, Comrox.
“Apparently, she left her toy behind and wouldn’t sleep without it,” Temjin replied, his voice bitter, his face darkening with anger—anger at her parents for being reckless. For being careless.
“Let’s leave this place. Our job is done here, Comrox,” Temjin said firmly.
“Why do you still call me Comrox, man? I told you to call me Roxy like everyone else,” Roxy said, his voice tinged with exasperation.
“Fine. Roxy, let’s go,” Temjin relented, his tone flat, slightly annoyed.
Roxy’s face lit up, delighted to see his usually dictatorial boss yield a bit.
Without another word, they turned away from the grim scene and walked back toward their vehicle. Their job was done—for now.
The city of Grimweld was the capital of the Tasvon Republic, surrounded by lush pastoral land to its south. It sat on an ancient clearing at the foothills of the Aravalli mountains, which surrounded it in all directions except south, where the expansive grasslands stretched far and wide.
Sadly, the once holy city of Grimweld and its glorious past now found itself suffocated and drowned by the sins of men. It had gained an irreputable nickname in recent times—“The City of Sins” due to its awful social security and increase in criminal activity in and around it.
The city was bad, downright awful to live in. But it was still humane in its own ways. The people embraced the city, however it was, it provided them with food, water and job. The city was home, and a better home for many. However, the city, hated and loved alike, recently faced an unprecedented attack—an attack on its children. It didn’t matter whether it was the son of a judge or the daughter of a beggar—the new spree of murders didn’t discriminate beteween them.
Sadly, many murders had occurred in the city over the past three months, the little girl too fell in this category. The police had failed miserably to apprehend the killers. Parents could do nothing but approach the police who were clueless too. Few with connections did try to rope in higher investgation agencies but they also met a dead end. justice seemed far, truth seemed farther. The fear of unknown assailants harming children gripped the parents. They stopped sending their children out, in day or dark. Everyone became more vigilant of unknown strangers approaching them but the murders didnt stop.
Temjin made his way to his home from the crime scene. He had been out in the field since the previous evening, and a good sleep wouldn’t do him any harm.
As the sun rose over Grimweld City, the city woke up to news of another tragedy. A child killed. Another life lost. And no one to prosecute.
Few Days Later (18th March 2019 AD)
Temjin entered the 13th District police station of Grimweld City as the guards saluted him. The stars on his uniform coruscated under the station lights. His eyes sparkled with energy as he made his way to the cabin.
Upon entering his cabin, he noticed that the chair was facing the wall, which left him confused for a moment.
“I didn’t leave it like that.”
As he wondered who had done it, the answer presented itself as the chair spun back, revealing a guy with a toothy grin.
Roxy, his assistant, was sitting on it and waved at him.
“Don’t be shy to enter your office. Glad to see you’re not upset. I won’t mind too if you enter my cabin and sit in my chair”, Roxy said as his grin grew a tiny bit wider.
Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.
Temjin glared at Roxy as he wondered how many sections of his desk had been harassed while he was gone.
“What are you doing here, Roxy? Hadn’t I assigned you the robber case yesterday?” Temjin asked with a deadpan face, already knowing the answer.
“I... I (Roxy stammered)… I’ll get back to you on that soon. I’ve asked my assistants to work on it,” Roxy finally said in a sheepish voice.
Although Temjin was not known for his peevish attitude, this man really got on his nerves a lot. But he wasn’t entirely useless.
Roxy and Temjin had been working together for the past three months, and they had built a good rapport in that time. Roxy had impressed Temjin with his deduction skills and had proven to be quite useful. Though his quirky attitude sometimes bothered Temjin, he kept his thoughts to himself. “Why destroy the morale of someone who had shown good results?”, Temjin thought to himself.
Temjin decided to change the topic to not put Roxy in too much misery.
“Oh! Is that so? Do you mean the new forensics guy from NU? I heard the lad solved two cases alone. He’s going to beat your first-week record soon, it seems,” Temjin replied with a sly remark to annoy Roxy.
“Yeah, yeah. I mean, he’s good, but definitely not better than me, which I’m sure even he acknowledges. But I have total belief in his abilities, so I’ve assigned him the Rosenberg case,” Roxy replied.
Temjin looked at Roxy incredulously for a second before replying, “You want him to fail that bad? You know that we have no evidence implicating anyone in the crime. Nil. Nada. Nothing! Additionally, it was just an old painting. The appraiser had even told them that it was a fake, so the thief probably got no more than 100 bucks for it and is probably pulling his hair out right now,” Temjin said.
“And it was really weird that they stole a painting and nothing else,” Roxy added.
“Exactly! And I don’t know why anyone would steal from an 80-year-old widow. I wouldn’t steal a dime from her!” Temjin said, and Roxy nodded.
Roxy was just about to explain what the new guy had found, but the bell rang, startling both men.
“Patrolling time?” Temjin glanced at the clock and asked Roxy rhetorically.
“Yes, boss. It’s 9,” Roxy replied, finally relieved to change the topic from offloading his work onto juniors.
“Okay, let’s move out,” Temjin said and added, “Oh, and what’s the name of this new kid?”
“Dex,” Roxy replied promptly as he went to gather their team for patrolling.
Later that night
Temjin sighed as he returned to the station from patrolling the perimeter of District 13 and sat down opposite his chair, which made an ominous creaking sound.
He looked at the clock—it showed twenty past two. His eyes wandered to the notice board behind him, filled with photos, sketches, and reports of recent crimes.
His eyes locked onto one particular set of photos—the ones from the recent murders.
Many girls and boys aged between 6 and 10 had been killed in the past few months. Their killers hanged them from a tree, making the scene more gruesome. All the victims had one thing in common—a star inscribed in a square box carved on their stomach with a blunt knife. Below the carving was a number, which never exceeded 7 but differed from one body to another.
All attempts to decode what it meant met a dead end. Initially, people thought it was due to the order of the murders, but they soon discovered that theory to be wrong as the murders with the same modus operandi exceeded seven. His superiors had been pressuring him to hide some of the more ominous and gory details and declare some cases of such murders to be different from the serial murder case so the general public wouldn’t put pressure on the police or descend into hysteria. On top of these demands, his superiors had been grilling him over his inability to catch the killers even after three months and were demanding quick results.
“Fuck them. They don’t give us funding and expect us to solve the case like the murderers are sitting right in front of us,” Temjin complained loudly.
“Who is them, boss?” Roxy asked as he saw his boss’s face grow severe.
“Ah, the fucking department. Who else? They want us to be done with the murder case like it’s a lollipop,” Temjin’s words were harsh but true.
Due to the growing pressure, he had rounded up the usual suspects, individuals linked to other cases, but even he knew they wouldn’t see the light of a courtroom—even for the crimes they had actually committed—let alone the murders, where there was no proof connecting them. They couldn’t be tried. They were protected as they were useful too, at least for some people.
“Go talk to the liaison guy for any updates regarding new evidence and come back quickly,” Temjin instructed Roxy as he slipped into his chair.
Temjin closed his eyes for a moment and then drank some water. As he was deep in thought, Roxy entered his office.
“Anything new, Roxy?” Temjin asked.
“Nothing new, boss. And by the way, I’ve stationed a few people in and around the areas with a high density of kids for extra vigilance. There hasn’t been a new murder case in over a week—not here or in the other districts. I think we’ll be okay tonight too,” Roxy replied.
Temjin sighed, thinking to himself, ‘You shouldn’t have jinxed it, mf.’
He got up from his old, creaky chair and said, “I have a bad feeling. No incidents mean that they’ve also grown vigilant. They’re trying to find prey that attracts less attention. We need to be careful, or they’ll slip through. We can’t get lazy, Roxy. Let’s go for another patrolling session.”
“But why? We just did one, right?” Roxy asked, looking at Temjin with an expression of annoyance.
‘Great. He’s even lazier than me—but not today, especially not after this moron jinxed it,’ Temjin thought.
“Just to be sure. We never know what we’ll find,” Temjin replied.
Roxy looked at Temjin with eyes filled with a bit of shame and shyness as he muttered, “Boss… uh… I have a date tomorrow early in the morning, so can we not go out?”
Roxy shouldn’t have done one thing—and that was to tell Temjin about his date. And he had just done it. Temjin resolved to drag Roxy out of the station and onto the field tonight—for longer than he had initially planned.
Temjin stared at Roxy for a second before moving out of the office without saying a word. To Roxy’s credit, he got the hint and walked behind Temjin. Temjin exited his office with Roxy in tow and uttered a prayer to the gods, ‘May tonight be peaceful.’
Temjin jumped into the police car with Roxy and three other officers. It was around 3 AM as they started the patrol.
Temjin leaned back and asked the new face, “What’s your name, kid?”
“Dex Morg, Sir” the guy replied without making eye contact with Temjin.
“Hi, Morg. I heard from Roxy about your work, and it’s amazing what you’ve accomplished in such a short amount of time. Now, pleasantries aside—I brought you here for a new perspective. Let me know if you notice anything interesting.”
Silhouettes of several men watched the police car pass from the terrace of a dilapidated building. Soon, they would strike again.