Chapter Three: A Secret Buried Years Ago

The investigation stalled.

There was no DNA.

No fingerprints.

No witnesses.

Then an elderly woman came to the station carrying an old photograph she had found while clearing her late husband’s belongings.

In it stood four young men smiling together.

One of them was the latest victim, Kene.

Another was a university student who had been murdered eight months earlier.

The third was the first victim in the serial killings.

The fourth man’s face had been torn away from the photograph.

Nobody knew who he was.

The discovery changed everything.

The victims had known each other.

Years earlier.

But how?

The officers searched university records.

The files for that graduating class had mysteriously disappeared after a fire.

The only surviving witness, a retired lecturer, died of a sudden heart attack the night before detectives could question him.

The connection died with him.

The case returned to a dead end.

David quietly closed the file for the day.

No one noticed the faint smile on his face.