The Devil's Cage

Kieran went over the file carefully. It was about a missing person who had committed murder right after reemerging.

The whole file could be divided into two parts.

The first part was about the missing link, Louver.

Ten years ago, when Louver had only been 15 years old, he had gone missing on his way to school.

The police had spent a huge amount of resources and manpower to locate the boy, but in the end had not managed to find him.

Three days earlier though, while Louver was still considered missing or dead, he had reemerged after ten whole years.

Not only had he come out of the shadows, but he had also ruthlessly killed a cab driver, Muntle.

The second part of the file was about the victim.

Muntle, a 50 year-old cab driver, had been found dead in his own house, and Louver’s fingerprints had been discovered all over the crime scene.

Muntle had been a friendly, kind person who had loved to read. Other than his death, there had been nothing special about him.

There was nothing else worth mentioning in the file, which caused even more doubts to form in Kieran’s mind.

"Anything to add about this Mr. Muntle?" Kieran asked Schmidt as he raised his head.

"I know what you mean. If a missing teen reemerges after ten years and kills a cab driver, then there must definitely be a connection between them. The cab driver might even be the one who kidnapped him ten years ago. That's what I thought, but my men investigated him, and everything seemed normal!" Schmidt shook his head.

"Everything seemed normal?" Kieran asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Everything seemed normal to us common people. That's why we needed someone like you who can see things from a different perspective!"

Schmidt opened his arms wide as he admitted his incompetency.

"Let’s go then. Let’s pay Mr. Muntle a visit!"

Kieran stood up.

He had thought about rejecting Schmidt’s request and continuing to study, but his promise to Nikorei forced him to help. After all, that promise was one of the reasons he had been allowed access to her books.

….

A total of forty freezers were lined up against the walls in a ten-row, four-column arrangement.

There were also two autopsy tables in the middle of the room.

A forensics expert was waiting by one of them.

"Schmidt, if you keep me longer on a night shift next time, please pay me overtime!" the forensics expert started to rant as soon as Kieran and Schmidt entered the morgue.

"As long as you can get the director to approve it."

As Schmidt spoke to the forensics expert, he headed towards one of the freezers.

It seemed like he was a regular there, but the expert quickly caught up with him.

He stopped Schmidt and opened the freezer himself.

"Hey, this place is being monitored! I have to act like I'm doing work here, or I’ll get another deduction in my pay!" the forensics expert reminded Schmidt as he smiled at Kieran.

"I'm Derrick, pleasure to meet you Mr. 2567," he introduced himself. "Your analysis of the Heart Taker was marvelous! If it’s possible..."

"That’s enough Derrick. We're here for serious business, not for tea and gossip," Schmidt cut Derrick off before he could finish.

"Fine, fine. The victim's name was Muntle, 50 years old, and his cause of death was multiple stabs all over his body. The lethal stab was delivered to his heart…"

Derrick pulled open the body bag as he spoke.

Kieran’s eyes focused on the corpse.

The victim was quite buff and strong. He looked more like a professional wrestler than an ordinary cab driver.

His palms and the backs of his hands had extremely thick calluses. Judging by his body, Kieran believed that he could crush a brick without trouble. Yet that buff guy had been killed off with minimal effort.

Muntle had suffered a stab to his chest, from the front right through the back. It was a clean cut directly through his heart.

It seemed like the murder weapon had been extremely sharp, and the killer had had some extraordinary skills.

However, what troubled Kieran more was the other cuts on Muntle’s body.

They were neither too deep, nor too shallow. They had been deep enough to cause excruciating pain, but not so much so as to be lethal.

"Louver was torturing Muntle!" Kieran speculated.

Given the circumstances, if Louver and Muntle had not been related in the kidnapping case or in some other way, Kieran would not believe it.

There was still a burning question he had to ask though.

"Surely Louver and Muntle must have made some noise while they were fighting. No passersby or neighbors heard anything?" Kieran asked.

Nothing of the sort was mentioned in the file.

"Nope, I’ve asked all the neighbours in the area, but none of them heard any screaming or fighting," Schmidt replied firmly.

"I think we should pay Muntle’s house a visit. Thanks for the help, Derrick!"

Kieran waved at the forensics expert before heading outside.

"I'm just doing my job," Derrick replied with a smile and a wave.

Schmidt left the morgue without any word or gesture. It seemed like their relationship required no extra chatter.

...

Muntle had lived at 155th Ciaran Street.

It was a street where below-average income families resided.

They were not exactly middle-class, yet they weren't willing to move to the slums either, so they all lived on that street.

The neighborhood was a little messy, but there were constantly policemen patrolling the area.

People still considered it a safe place, as most of the people who lived there were quite friendly.

Muntle's murder had caused a ripple throughout the streets though.

The rumors circulating made everyone afraid and paranoid.

The station had had to send more men to patrol the area.

Kieran noticed two simple police outposts and a group of patrolling policemen when he entered the street heading towards Muntle’s house.

"We’ve explained, but the people here are still worried. They think a serial killer like the Heart Taker killed Muntle. Muntle’s kid did not deserve any of this," Schmidt said helplessly.

"Did the people here know Louver?" Kieran could sense the hint from the way Schmidt explained things.

"Yeah. When Louver went missing, it caused quite a commotion like this one for a while. Now that everyone knows both incidents were linked... I can already imagine tomorrow's headlines."

Schmidt's tone sounded even more helpless.

In fact, Kieran had already noticed a couple of reporters squatting down at the corners of the streets.

Some of them started taking pictures as soon as they saw Kieran and Schmidt.

Schmidt chased them away in an unfriendly tone, yet the reporters replied by taking pictures even faster.

Kieran shook his head as he watched. He finally understood why Schmidt was still a sheriff after working in the force for more than 10 years.

It would be strange if he had been promoted considering that temper of his.

While Schmidt was still yelling at the reporters, Kieran went over to the police line and entered Muntle's house with a slight push on the door.

Schmidt was the best clearance he could get if he wanted access to crime scenes. None of the patrolling officers would stop them.

Yet Kieran still frowned the second he stepped into the house.