Nodding at the Detective, we both took off jogging in the direction Xilia had left in, and soon enough, after making our way through some dense foliage, we found an outcropping filled with rocks and, more importantly, large boulders.
One of which had graffiti spray painted on it.
"Holy shit…is that…a smiley face?"
Fighting the urge to groan aloud, I rolled my eyes, took a deep breath, and walked up to the boulder.
’A symbol…listen Xilia, it’s not that I want to discount or call you out here, but I think I would have noticed long ago if the Smiley face marking each dumpsite was something other than a simple smiley face…, …., …., …., mother fucker.’
’HA! IT IS A SYMBOL, ISN’T IT! Point for me,’ Feeling proud of herself for pointing out something I should have seen decades ago, Xilia smugly crouched beside me and looked for anything in my body language that would allow her to gloat further.
But when she saw the typical blank expression on my face, she soon gave up and instead decided to try being helpful.
"Yes, just like every other dumpsite on record, this Smiley face graffiti is always nearby, marking the site for god knows what reason. It could be anything. Have your crime-scene techs come over and photograph everything for evidence." Xilia said while standing up and motioning for the Detective to follow, leaving me alone and lost in thought.
’I’ve seen this before…..but where? I need to filter out anything dealing with the murders, or smiley faces in general, and focus on symbols, preferably old ones.’
’What are you....’ Spinning my mental wheels, I did something I hadn’t done for some years now; I overclocked my brain.
Picturing myself flipping through thousands of books at once, I scanned through every single symbol I had ever seen in my lifetime, both past and Origin Timeline, and apart from a few incidents that resembled the Smiley face graffiti, I was coming up empty.
Feeling my body temperature rising and the familiar pain associated with taxing my brain too much, I pushed on until a hand pressing down on my shoulder pulled me out of my search.
’Taylor, you’re steaming! What the hell did you just do here? Quick, wipe your nose,’ handing me a cloth from her inventory, Xilia mused with a concerned look on her face.
With a sniffle, I took the cloth, wiped my face, downed a potion, and shot a bloody blast of snot from my nose.
’I know I’ve seen this somewhere, but I can’t find it in my memories; I need more time.’
’You’re hyper-fixated on the symbol and throwing caution to the wind; what if the Detective saw you like this right now? Your skin is flushed, and your body is so hot I can feel it from here, not to mention the bloody nose; what was that?’
’I overclocked my brain, not the first time, and the potion I took will patch me up; I’m fine…’ Shrugging off her hand, I continued staring at the symbol before cataloging it with all the others I had seen from the new Smiley Face murders.
’Anyway, let’s head to the motel for the night; there’s nothing more to see here.’ Casting one more glance at the area surrounding the graffiti, I stood up and, after saying goodbye to the cops, got into my car and drove us toward the nearest motel.
Roughly an hour later, Xilia and I were sitting on the bed, staring at each other.
"Ok, do the thing."
"The Thing?" I asked with a raised eyebrow.
"Yeah, the thing you always do, you know, bouncing your thoughts off someone to try and work out a supposedly unsolvable problem. Only this time, don’t overclock your brain or whatever you do." Dressed in only a thin, see-through nighty, Xilia crossed her legs and looked me directly in the eyes.
"Tch, fine, the Smiley Face Murders are something I have been investigating since 1997 and had even looked into back when I was in my 20s in the Origin Timeline. However, back then, it was a series of 45 murders that, while being linked on a superficial level, were never proven to be considered the work of a "Serial Killer." instead, it was written off as theory."
"Back then, the killing timeline was from 95-2016; however, things have changed drastically. There was nothing for two years, until 1997 when the first six murders occurred, and since then, there have been six a year, or one every two months."
"So it’s a returner," Nodding as I explained things, Xilia caught on with what I was saying.
"So I suspect, but the problem is, not a single one of the people killed this time around matches those killed in the original batch, nor do their dumpsites match up; everything is different, with the only thing staying static is the victim profile."
"Alright, so how many of these dumpsites have you been to?" She asked without breaking eye contact.
"Everyone that appeared after Brenden came back, so over 60."
"And what have you learned from them?"
"Nothing. I haven’t been able to sense a single ounce of Particle Radiation, and there hasn’t been a single spec of trace evidence. It’s almost as if….."
"As if the bodies are being teleported somehow."
"But even that would leave lasting particle evidence…unless…"
"Unless the dumping occurs more than 12 hours before the corpses are being located."
"It still doesn’t make sense, though; from a logical standpoint, someone HAS to be present when the dumping happens; otherwise, there wouldn’t be a symbol marking the location."
"Ok, so we are back at the symbol; I have no idea what it is, but when I look at it, I see more than just a smiley face. Do you have pictures of the others?" Shifting slightly, spreading her legs open unconsciously, and flashing me a pretty good view, Xilia requested.
"No, but I can just do this," leaning forward, I tapped Xilia’s forehead and transferred all the crime-scene pictures of each smiley face, the new ones, and the ones from the Origin Timeline, causing the girl to yelp in surprise before rubbing her head because of a slight headache.
This chapt𝓮r is updat𝒆d by ƒreeωebnovel.ƈom.
"A little warning would be nice, ow, ok, let’s see here." Closing her eyes, Xilia ran through and compared all the symbols before giving me her analysis.