He couldn’t
remember ever feeling this way before. And yet, over the years, he had seen all
kinds of scenes.
The inspector
cursed under his breath.
He tried to hurry
toward the center of the crime scene, but strangely, his limbs wouldn’t obey.
His knees and ankles felt locked, and a sharp pain crawled upward. For the
second time, he felt as if his will to move was being held hostage by a
monstrous force. He couldn’t take a single step forward. He clenched his jaw
until his teeth ground, squinted his eyes, and placed his hands on his waist,
trying to focus and take in everything with his gaze.
All this lasted
only a few moments: three or four seconds, maybe five—not more. But even that
was enough for him to feel like he had lost his police composure. He should
have been more level-headed.
“So what
then...?!” — it seemed he said aloud. After all, it wasn’t anything he hadn’t
seen before: murder, arson, rape... He shrugged and felt the familiar crack in
his neck. That was it. The cramp was over. Yet, instinctively, he was still
standing there, petrified.
“What’s happening
to me?” — he wondered.
Was he dreaming?
He wanted to break free from that state, but no muscle would obey, while his
pupils contracted further. In his mind, no thought held together. Everything
broke, shattered, came in fragments, and he still hadn’t grasped the thread of
it all.
He had driven the
1,200 meters separating his apartment from the crime scene like a bat out of
hell, the tires of his car screeching menacingly across the pavement. The
traffic lights at the intersections were out, but there had been no risk of
collision—he hadn’t even turned his head to look either way for safety.
It was still dark
when the station called about a fatal incident at the outskirts of the city,
right near the cemetery. He didn’t ask for any further explanation. He leapt
out of bed and rushed out of his apartment door. The car had started as soon as
he turned the key, and the gears shifted with a threatening grind until it
reached top speed. Upon arriving at the scene, the first thing that crossed his
mind was that nothing he had imagined in those few minutes since the phone rang
matched what he was now seeing around him.
The tragic
accident, conveyed to him in fragmented sentences, was far worse. And
perhaps... it wasn’t an accident at all...
From the road he
had just come from, another car appeared, speeding toward him. He managed to
make out the signs on the roof: “TV 10.” The car stopped just a meter away.
“Inspector, what
happened here?”
It was Venera, the
reporter from the city’s only television station. She had opened the door to
get out before the car had fully stopped. The urgency in her voice irritated
him but gave him the jolt he needed to gather himself.
“No comment,” he
said curtly and rushed ahead.
The reporter, a
young and beautiful woman, was one of the people who annoyed him the most. She
only knew how to pester him persistently. She waited with the camera raised at
the police precinct door and called him endlessly for information. She knew no
working hours.
“Roll it,” he
heard her say to the cameraman behind him. Though he had walked a few steps, he
still caught her next command: “Get everything. Everything you can...”
Inspector Edi
quickened his pace. The scene was truly harrowing. The parish church, the city’s
only place of worship, had been reduced to ashes by a massive fire. Here and
there, hotspots still burned. The police had managed to cordon off the area
with yellow tape, while two experts in black suits circled the smoke-blackened
walls collecting what little evidence remained. Three exhausted firefighters
had removed their helmets and leaned against the red fire truck, which was
still dripping water. A photographer was snapping photos relentlessly...
“What a disaster,”
the inspector muttered through nearly shut lips. His voice sounded like it came
from someone else.
Now, after that
initial shock, he had regained his composure. A deep anger distorted his face.
His gaze had turned vicious. It was as if everyone before him was a suspect in
need of handcuffs. He was unshaven, and his hastily buttoned shirt was missing
two buttons. One of the officers approached quickly.
“This way, chief,”
he said, pointing to a clear path. “It’s a gruesome sight. There are some
bodies beneath the stones,” the officer gestured, but Inspector Edi didn’t even
glance in that direction. He was staring at the top of the bell tower, where
the flames had left no visible trace.
“How many?” he
asked instinctively, walking beside the officer.
The photographer
raised the camera and snapped a shot in his direction. The inspector figured
that photo would end up in the paper. “Idiot!” he wanted to shout at the crime
unit employee who had taken the picture.
“We’ve found
four,” the other replied quietly.
Inspector Edi
stopped and turned toward the officer. Only then did he recognize his
subordinate, Eno.
“Four bodies?!”
More than a
question, it was a howl that hung in the air. It seemed unbelievable that the
burning of the parish could come with so many casualties.
“There may be
more,” Eno said, struggling with the words. “We’re still searching.”
The officer looked
his superior straight in the eye, trying to make the report sound fully
credible.
“This is...
fa...tal!” the inspector said, the syllables catching in his teeth.
He moved forward while
the officer stayed a step behind.
“Who would have
imagined, chief?!”
Inspector Edi bent
forward, placing his palms on his knees to balance himself, and began to
examine one of the corpses. It was completely charred. At first glance, it
appeared to be a woman.
“What about Father
Ludovik?” Inspector Edi turned to his subordinate. He shrugged.
"Maybe it's
among the bodies," he said. "So far, it hasn’t been seen
anywhere."
They entered the
building. The morning light couldn't penetrate the gloom of that dismal place.
A few meters ahead, two police officers lifted the collapsed beams and
uncovered something.
"Another
one," said one of them, pointing down, in front of his feet.
Inspector Edi and
Officer Eno took a couple of steps and were beside them. One of the policemen
lit up the spot with a flashlight. The body the officer was pointing at was as
charred as the others.
"That makes
five," Eno murmured.
"Enough!"
Inspector Edi cut him off shortly. Then he turned to him and asked, "Any
witnesses?"
"I've sent
people to deal with that," said Eno, who was also closely examining the
body. "They're going door to door. Over there, in the two buildings
closest to the parish."
From a distance,
the siren of a police car could be heard. Someone else was arriving at the
crime scene. The inspector didn’t bother to figure out who was in the
approaching police car with its lights on, pulling up to the charred parish.
"Looks like a
war zone," he said to Officer Eno, his words sounding more like a sigh.
He kept staring at
the corpse, as if he could recognize it by focusing on the remains visible in
the skeleton. The police siren grew louder. Its lights flashed after the final
turn that led to the parish entrance.
"At first
glance, it seems to be a woman," said Eno, leaning his head closer to the
body the inspector was examining. The other didn’t pay much attention. Lately,
Eno had been training as a crime officer. He had good instincts. The last two
crimes had been solved thanks to information gathered by him.
"Has anyone
been identified?" Inspector Edi asked.
The officer
shrugged.
"Under these
conditions… only the lab could make that possible."
Before stepping
over the threshold to go outside, the inspector turned back once more.
Everything had burned. The paintings on the walls were no longer visible. A
layer of soot covered everything, even the highest part of the dome.
The police car,
siren blaring and lights spinning continuously, stopped a few meters away.
"The chief's
here," a voice was heard.
Inspector Edi and
Officer Eno turned their heads. The regional police chief also stood frozen,
eyes wide, hands still on the door of the car he had just stepped out of.
Venera approached immediately with a microphone in hand. The cameraman was
recording, but the captain made an irritated gesture for her to back off.
"Now the
trouble begins," whispered Inspector Edi. "This incident is going to
cause us a lot of problems."
Officer Eno
nodded. The inspector walked toward the spot where the regional police chief
was standing, to report the initial findings.
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