CHAPTER 1

5am, Sherbrooke, Canada. Claire Evatt, a homicide detective, wakes up from sleep as her alarm buzzes loudly into her ears. She gets up and takes her towel then heads for the bathroom. She takes her breakfast of hot coffee and two slices of bread, wears her tracksuit pants and a sleeve with a black jacket as she is preparing for work in her home in Canada. She puts all of her stuff together and leaves the house and drives away.

Dr. Hefner Eric has been the coroner for the police department, Allen District for as long as his certificate was handed to him 20 years ago. He didn't get to stay that way without his super apt sense of discerning. He was one of the best they have got and was the only one available when the need for one arrived. Despite being forty-three years old, he is still one to jump around when called to work. The reluctance other staff younger than him would show, was never in him since he began.

Just like every Thursday, he is always sleeping over at the station. He is called to check out the corpse of a woman at Allison Baker's way. A police restriction line had been created two hours before Dr. Hefner got there.

The city police department received a call early in the morning from a woman who wasn't ready to reveal who she was.

"Hello. Oh my God." She cries on the phone.

'911. What's your emergency?"

'A man is lying in his pool of blood," She replies, shivering and lowering her voice. She feared that anyone who had hurt the man might still be lurking to get his next victim.

'Where are you ma'am?" The call taker asks.

'I am on Allison Baker's Way." She replies.

'I advise you to leave where you are right now," The call taker says.

The public safety communicator who picked her call must have thought she was pathetic, but not like she cares. There would be no explanation for her death if it got out that she died around 11pm as the body began to decompose. The woman turned back home. She was glad she wouldn't go to work today. She would give an excuse of nearly being attacked.

An ambulance arrived minutes after but it was rather late. The police had to be called in since the dead man no longer needed medical attention but justice for whatever might have happened to him.

The cops were gathered outside a building at a crime scene. A murder just happened there as the area is restricted from movements except for the police officers who were allowed to roam about.

'This is the murder scene." The police officer walked towards Claire Evatt who made her way under the condemned tape.

'Oh shit!" She quickly turned and took a minute to adjust what she just saw.

"Another murder, 13 days in a row." Claire exclaimed in disbelief and shock.

'You okay here, detective?" The officer assured and Claire nodded.

'Yes, I'll never get used to seeing dead bodies. It's been seven years now. So… what exactly happened?" She asked.

Yes, she never had nightmares and she believed she got to see nightmares in real life.

'The body was cold when we got here and after a few examinations from the lab, Dr. Dallin was able to predict the time of death which we assume was around 11pm. Also, the deceased has a similar wound on her back, this particular wound looked like a pair of wings drawn on the shoulder blade and it was cut with a knife," Claire let out a sigh of irritation and put on her gloves.

'The cut made all the victims die of blood loss. So… we believe that this murder was similar to several previous murders," The officer added and Claire kneeled down to look at the body.

'Strangely enough, this scene is very clean and tidy," Claire declared and something on the body caught her attention.

A business card.

'Emelda Warren," She read the card that was covered with blood.

'Oh yes. Which reminds me, the deceased was a member of the secretary's office of the Wright House. And our prime suspect is Maxwell Wright." The officer said and Claire put the card in a bag.

'Well… then, finally a suspect. Get me a sanitizer, we have some big fish to fry,"

Claire walked away from the body and insisted they take the body to the lab for more examination as she had places to be.

Later That Morning,

At Wright House,

'Excuse me, lady! You have to sign in!" The receptionist yells and Claire just shows her her badge and doesn't say a word.

'I'm looking for Mr. Wright," She asked the janitor and she pointed to a man right next to the elevator. 'Thank you."

Maxwell is wearing a smooth shirt and left it unbuttoned at the top for a more casual look.

The jacket fits him like a glove, a tailored glove. The buttons of his single breasted jacket are all buttoned up, it's the best way to wear a jacket like this after all.

He's wearing pants which copy the style of the jacket and they create a perfect balance with his shoes.

She walked towards him.

'This better be worth my time, what do you want?" Maxwell roared before he could turn to see who was right next to him.

'Mr Wright, I'm detective Evatt and I have some questions regarding the murder of Emelda Warren," Claire said so boldy and Maxwell turned.

She now had a clear look of what he looks like he got black, frizzy hair clumsily hanging over a lean, confused, handsome face. Bright blue eyes, set well within their sockets, watch vigorously over the badge.

A knife left a mark reaching from just under the left eyebrow, running towards the tip of the nose and ending on his chin.

There's something mysterious about him, perhaps it's his attitude or perhaps it's simply his company.

"So? What about it? Shouldn't you be doing your work rather than wasting my time here?" Maxwell growled.

"Yes sir and that is exactly just what I am doing. Please can you cooperate with me and give me a few minutes of your time?" Detective Evatt replied with confidence in her voice, drifting away all thoughts of his weirdness.

"What do you want?" Maxwell growled again in that husky voice of his.

"As I've mentioned earlier, I'm here to investigate the death of Emerald Warren, a member of the secretary office in the Wright's house." Claire Evatt repeated herself again to be more clear and precise as she wants to head straight to the point before this beast looking like Maxwell attacks her with his fierce looking eyes.

"Okay," Maxwell replied in a monosyllabic word, giving an empty expression to what was just said.

"Yeah…I'm here to interrogate all the members of this company so if you can tell me who and who works here, I'll be glad to carry on with my job and leave." Claire Evatt replied.

"You can look around for yourself. Or are you expecting me to introduce you to everyone working here? This is my company woman and not some government office that you can just barge in here for some useless interrogation." Maxwell replied coldly.

He admired her as his eyes changed from that cold glare to a warm and sexy eyes as he looked over her brown, shoulder-length hair double braided to reveal a fine, warm face. She has such gentle aquamarine eyes, set deep within their sockets, smooth skin beautifully compliments her mouth.

There's something odd about her, perhaps it's her good looks or perhaps it's simply her hatred.

Detective Evatt was taken aback at the mention of "woman" in Maxwell's mouth. From all perspectives and the information that she had gathered about him, he was such a cold dude and also didn't reply so informally to people. She felt her cheeks burn after he referred her to a woman.

Of course she is a woman…what else was she thinking? She tried to hold herself and maintain that professional look, that cold and warm look that a detective should have. Cold to be taken for granted and warm to be trusted.

"Okay, I'll start with you then since you're the only one present apart from the workers. So tell me, how was your relationship with the deceased?" Detective Evatt asked Maxwell as she crossed her legs. Coffee was brought to her. She muttered a "thanks" while she sipped from the mug, fixing all her attention on Maxwell who looked away from her.

"I had no relationship with her." Maxwell replied in that cold manner.

"But she worked for you…how come you didn't have any relationship with her?" Detective Evatt asked in a surprised manner as she dropped the cup of coffee in her hand on the table.

"She was just a staff. I have no business with them, her in particular." Maxwell replied.

"Okay, how long has she worked here before she passed away?" Detective Evatt asked.

"Four months." Maxwell replied.

"That's such a short duration. Did you have any problems or issues with her? Has she been of good service to you since she started working here?" Claire asked him again.

"Yes, she was…she's just a paranoid person." Maxwell declared.

"Paranoid? How do you mean mister?" Detective Evatt asked Maxwell as she got more interested in knowing why Maxwell said that.

"I don't know…she's just delusional sometimes. I don't know that much about her. All she does here is to run errands for my personal assistant." Maxwell replied.

"Okay, so when was the last time that you saw her?" Detective Evatt asked again as she took a quick sip of her coffee which was now getting cold.

"Yesterday." Maxwell replied as he looked straight into detective Evatt's eyes.

"Yesterday? What time did you see her yesterday?" Detective Evatt asked him again, more curious.

"In the evening…around 9pm." Maxwell answered.

"Hmm…where did you see her? I believe work must have been closed by then…so where were you when you saw her by that time?" Detective Evatt asked as though she was suspecting something. She showed a lot of interest in wanting to know more from Maxwell.

"She closed late. She was working late hours of the day." Maxwell replied.

"Okay, and what about you? Where were you at that time?" Detective Evatt asked again.

"I was about to go home." Maxwell remarked.

"From work?" She asked him again with her eyes bulging out.

"Yes, no…not from work." Maxwell gave an unsure answer.

"Okay…from where then?" Detective Evatt asked him again.

"From a bar close to the office. I saw her on the road walking home or so while I was driving out of the bar." Maxwell replied.

"Okay. So did you say anything to her? Like offering her a lift or something? What happened after that?"

"We met by accident."

"What do you mean by accident?"

"She ran into me. She was walking so blindly that she didn't notice my car." Maxwell replied as he twitched his neck.

"So…you ran into her?" Detective Evatt asked.

"No. I'm not that stupid. Why will I let her filthy body touch my car? Even though I want to get her dead, I'd have done it some other way and not have my car touch her filthiness." Maxwell replied as he was burning up with anger. He clenched his fist in fury as though he was trying to suppress his anger.

Claire Evatt noticed this as she looked at him closely. She was reading his body language and also focusing on every one of his reactions.

"Mr. Maxwell, what did you mean by you'd have killed her in some other way? It seems you have some resentment for her…can you tell me what happened after that?" Detective Evatt asked him.

"I don't remember anything. You can leave now." Maxwell replied as he swallowed some saliva.