Chapter 3- Letter from Hell

E

A common alphabet. A vowel used in almost 80% of the English words. English itself starts with an E. That damned letter has now become a real threat to the city. A walking, living nightmare to the unaware people. And a challenge to Adam and his team.

After what happened at the pizzeria, the police had to investigate with everyone there at the time as part of the protocol.

Adam's team were immediately on scene within just one phone call from him, five of them coming in full gear.

"It is confirmed Woods, that he is indeed one of E's victims." The forensic doctor, a fifty-three-year-old man, reported to Adam. "Both his wrists were slit and the letter E was carved on his right forearm."

"He was obviously tied here and had his wrists slit in this very place." Adam's partner, detective Ken West said, his hands crossed against his chest. "He was left to bleed out here after being drugged so he made no sound. No signs of struggle either."

"The spilled blood ate away at the already dying wood which caused it to fall over. E knew what he was doing and when exactly would the victim make an appearance to the public." Robert Visco from the forensic lab informed as he approached the men.

"God.." Adam sighed as he ran a hand through his hair.

"What about fingerprints, hair strands, anything?"

"As usual, he left nothing for us boss." Detective Alex Danvers answered as she shook her head.

"But," Doctor Freeman burst in hopes. "It's already his sixth victim and that makes the probabilities high of him slipping." He announced as he looked at Adam. "Keep your fingers crossed boy."

Adam drew out a humorless smile at the old man's attempts. "Okay, finish up here and send the body to be further investigated. Maybe the odds will be in our favor this time and we'll hopefully find something." Adam ordered. "And send for Elliot and Kristen to run facial recognition to know who our victim is."

The team nodded their heads in unison and voiced their obliging to their boss's orders before going about to execute.

Adam turned his attention to Collette who was standing in her place as she watched the display of action around her.

"Hey pumpkin, you okay?" His voice was kind as he moved closer to her.

Collette nodded her head in assurance. "Yeah, maybe shaken up a little. It's been a long time since I last stepped foot into a crime scene." She sighed.

Adam nodded his head with a sigh. "Come on, let me get you home." He voiced as he placed a comforting hand around her body, leading her to the car. But suddenly, Collette halted their march.

"And you'll be leaving for the office aren't you?"

"Of course Collette, we have a new body." He reasoned the obvious.

"No, I don't want to go stay at home alone. I'm coming with you."

"No Collette, it's too-" Adam started but was cut short by his wife's broken voice.

"Please Adam. I can't be alone right now." Adam understood fully where his wife was coming from. Crime scenes provoke memories of a time the both of them want to forget. He sighed deeply, running his hand again through his already unkempt hair and nodding his head.

"But that's it for you. No getting involved in anything you get me?" Adam warned to which Collette silently obliged with a nod of her head.

Adam was always overprotective of her and it was totally understandable given the nature of his job.

Collette remained in the scene, waiting as Adam and his team finished their work. They inspected the area, spoke to the eyewitnesses and did their little brief discussions, and with soon, they were finally driving to the CIB headquarters.

All the while, Collette tried her best to keep her analytic mind at bay. She struggled to stop herself from assessing the murder and coming to conclusions about the murderer. It was a world she never wanted to get back to again.

Driving up to headquarters, she realizes that this was actually her first time visiting Adam's place of work as she mainly made trips to the FBI when she used to work.

The building was like a beehive buzzing with work and it causes nostalgia to hit. People holding papers were walking all around her while others were sitting hauled up on their desks either typing away at computers or talking on the phone. The workforce was either that of people in formal attires or policemen in their classic navy uniforms. Whichever way you see it, there was a certain authoritative aura in the place and it only filled in Collette's growing headache.

Adam led her to his office before leaving her to go back out to his team to run up the facts.

"Just make yourself comfortable okay." He said before leaving her to her own muse.

Collette was never one to stay still and after a while of just sitting aimlessly on the couch, she decided to make her way towards the bookshelf Adam had hung up on his wall. It contained several police books along with criminal psychology and analysis and the likes. She ran a finger down the spine of one of the books.

'Mysteries and other shenanigans.' by Arthur Lee.

A part of her wanted to open up the book and re-read its contents but soon decided against it. It was one of her favorite books on criminal psychology and it was always her number one suggestion to her students.

Being a university professor of Criminal anthropology gave her the thrill she needed in her life. And it was all proven worthy when the FBI started asking for her help in several cases.

But that all went crumbling down a year ago and she promised to never go back.

She walked past the bookshelf towards her husband's desk. It was as messy as a messy could get. Papers and folders were scattered everywhere. His pens and several other stationary rouged their way to the very edge of the desk and some positioned themselves on top of the papers. The only thing standing in its place seemed to be a picture frame of them together from their trip to Hawaii.

A faint smile played on Collette's lips at the memory. Adam was just done cracking one of his hardest cases yet and was awarded a week vacation. He didn't lose the chance to book himself and his wife two tickets to Hawaii for a much needed holiday and thankfully, it was during summer break.

They both stood goofily in each other's arms as they grinned in front of the camera, allowing the memory to be forever saved in portrait.

Wiping the little dust that homed itself on the frame, she placed it back carefully as her eyes flew to the sand-colored folder near it.

Curiosity was always one of her worst traits. It was proven useful in helping with case cracking but sometimes it killed the cat.

But the folder nagged at her. Called for her prying eyes and curious fingers and she knew she missed that feeling. The gears in her brain were starting to rust and their screeched wails only added to the misery.

"A little peak will cause no one any harm." She voiced to herself.

Holding the folder in her hand, she allowed her finger to run down the edge of it slowly as she opened it. Her face scrunched up as her eyes gazed down at picture upon picture of dead faces. Dead, purple, male faces, and she immediately knew she came across E's case file, only now noticing the big, red stamp that read 'confidential' on the very first page. But as fast as she came to the realization, she was gasping in horror, throwing the folder away as a reflex.

It took her time to sponge what she just discovered before quickly picking up the folder and re-checking what she just saw. Determination in full swing.

Yes. They all had it. Every single one of them.

She ran outside the office in search of Adam as first thought. He was standing with his team in front of a large screen that displayed several open documents and a couple of pictures on the side from tonight's crime scene.

"I found something. Adam, I found something!" Her voice was a couple of notches higher than she intended. Her face immediately flared up when all inhabitants of the room turned to look at the woman yelling madly.

Adam was already meeting her halfway with a worried, confused expression.

"Adam I found something." Collette repeated as she waved the folder in front of him, her voice back to normal pitch.

"What? Why did you even go through the folders on my desk? I thought we promised-"

"I know, I know but I just couldn't help myself." She cut him off. "It doesn't matter now. I found something!"

Adam's eyebrows stitched together as he took the folder from his wife, looking inside its familiar contents.

"Look at their right ear." Collette navigated but Adam's eyebrows connected even more.

"They all have the same, tiny dot tattooed at the very top side of their ear." She explained.

Adam started going through the pictures one by one, his teammates all coming closer in attention to what was going on.

"I-I can see that but...I just still can't make out an explanation to work with." Adam said, looking up at his wife.

"This tattoo belongs to men of the same cult. They call themselves the Holers."

"And you know this how?" Ken interrogated with folded arms. And as Asian as he could be, his face spoke nothing but seriousness in situations that were related to any of his cases.

"That's my wife Ken." Adam remarked with a warning to his partner.

"I didn't mean it that way." Ken immediately tried to fix the misunderstanding.

"It's okay." Collette piped in, placing a calming hand on her husband's arm, but her eyes focused on Ken.

"Guys, for those who don't know, this is my wife Collette Woods Patrick. Collette, team." He introduced, not bothering with the names.

"Wait, you're that famous criminal investigative analyst that used to work with the FBI right?" Elliot Strait, a high tech professional suddenly burst out with wide, excited eyes.

Collette's cheeks tinted and she nodded. "Yeah, but that was a while ago. It's history now."

"Yeah, we're very sorry about what happened." Avery Porter, one of the female detectives on the team remarked with empathetic eyes.

"Thank you."

Adam turned his body fully towards Collette, wanting to get back to her explanation of the victims.

"Why do you say that they belong to the same cult Collette? How did you know?" He asked, his eyebrows furrowed.

Collette hesitated under the prying eyes but she knew she couldn't come up with something believable other than the truth. and with a heavy sigh she let it all out.

"Because...my father was actually one of them."