Int. Meeting Room (Afternoon) October 23, 2025
"Exc…Excuse me," a small, feminine voice stuttered.
The sudden voice knocked Gabriel from his thoughts. Glancing up from the files, Gabriel looked at the woman standing nervously in the doorway, nervously shuffling from foot to foot. He recognized the young lady from around the office. Gabriel recalled that her name is Emily, she was also twenty-six years old. Emily joined this police precinct a couple of months back, joining the regular boys in blue as a beat cop.
Emily, under Gabriel's scrutiny, tucked a piece of hair behind her ear, looking down at the ground with a heavy blush on her face.
"I'm in the middle of something," Gabriel stated, gesturing towards the table he was standing over. "What do you want?"
Emily rubbed her hands together, taking a second before replying. "B-B-Blake told me to let you know when you're finished looking over the files to meet him by his desk."
Gabriel rubbed his temples, an overwhelming headache beginning to form. "Sigh, tell him I'll be there in a minute."
"O-o-okay," Emily replied, her voice going quiet.
For a moment, it seemed as if Emily had something else as she stared at Gabriel for a couple of seconds. Gabriel raised an eyebrow in response, waiting for her to say anything. Emily abruptly lowered her head quickly, turning around, and walking out the room.
"That girl is so weird," muttered Gabriel, turning his head back to the table he was leaning over.
From what Gabriel has gathered from the case files that Blake has gathered for the past eight months, six people have gone missing. Starting in March, Jacob Ryder was first reported missing the 14th of the month. The police were called when the landlord went to collect March's rent. When the police arrived, they found the apartment torn apart, but none of Jacob's clothes were missing, along with his suitcase still tucked away in the back of his closet. The police called the ex-wife, who hasn't spoken to him since getting the restraining order. Police questioned his employers and they found him as a model employee, and always shows up on time. Neighbors didn't hear anything, and also found Jacob to be a quiet person, never causing much noise.
The cops, having no leads or evidence, put it down as a missing persons case. On May 12th, almost two months later, Jacob's body was found absent blood, the head mutilated beyond recognition, only later being matched by the one tooth still in the victim's body. Gabriel, when looking at the crime scene photos, saw the body was cut into five pieces, surrounding the intestines in a circular pattern. There was a message with the victim's blood, dried on the wall. The message stated, "We are spreading peace and justice to all who believe in his message, and those who sin will be found guilty, with consequences being severe."
The message, while spelled horribly, narrows down the victim list to someone uneducated, probably someone who dropped out of high school by the looks of it. Probably joined a cult or something based on the message, though the cuts on the body looked precise. The same thing happened with Mark Barker. Went missing April 12th, and was then found June 11th. The same message was written on the wall with the body positioned the exact same way.
The room was silent as Gabriel set down the final paper that involved both Jacob and Mark's crime scenes. Even with the added information that Blake gave, Gabriel still felt like he was at square one. The only thing he found suspicious was how Jacob's body was found, then right after Mark went missing. Gabriel wondered if there were other things connecting the men together.
He was itching to get into the other files, but knew he couldn't. Gabriel took a glance at the watch on his right wrist, and let out a deep sigh. Gabriel knew that if he took any longer, Blake would be coming through the door any minute, probably complaining about how his time is precious, and Gabriel was given the honor to work with him. Glancing back down at the files on the desk, he let out another sigh.
Gabriel forced himself out the door. Putting one leg after the other, he slowly walked out the room. Gabriel wouldn't admit it but the symbol, or at least how the bodies were arranged, made his heart race. For some reason, he felt like he had seen it before. Maybe he was just overthinking it, but Gabriel wanted to. No, no, he needed to know more. He had a gut feeling like this case was tied to him in some way, or maybe he was overthinking because of how the case made him feel. Blake once said he'd find a case that'd give him nothing but excitement. Gabriel finally understood what Blake meant.
Rounding the corner, Gabriel saw Blake sitting, leaning back in his chair, feet on the desk. Next to him was a man covered in tattoos, shaking as if he was cold. The man's eyes shifted around the room, taking in every person walking by. The man would randomly jump when something loud like a door shutting happened. Gabriel, wondering what was going on, quickly made his way towards Blake's desk.
"What the hell do you want, Blake?" Gabriel asked, a small tinge of anger in his tone as he stopped next to his desk.
"Ahh, finally the young one appears," Blake mocked, ignoring Gabriel's questions as he took his legs off the desk. "You used to treat me with respect, ahh, how disrespectful you have grown."
Gabriel glared down at Blake. "I've put up with enough of your bullshit over the years to know you're not worthy of any respect."
Blake just shrugged in response. "You wouldn't be half the detective you are now, Rook, if it wasn't for me taking you under my wing."
"And you have some of my thanks, asshole, so what the fuck do you want?" Gabriel replied.
"Aye, Blake, you going to let this n*," the bald man began, looking at Gabriel, anger in his tone.
Blake kicked the man in the stomach, making him double over before he could finish, causing the man to fall on to the floor. "What did I say about saying racist shit around me?" he growled.
Gabriel just snorted in amusement, watching Blake stand and force the man back into the chair. Blake brushed the man's leather jacket, helping to straighten up the man's clothes. The man gasped as he tried to catch his breath.
A couple of officers looked at Blake in a strange way, wondering if they should step in and help. This is one of the many reasons why Gabriel just doesn't respect him. His blatant disrespect for rules, and the willingness to harm anyone to get answers, makes him a loose cannon in the field.
"Nothing to see here, folks, nothing to see here. The man just fell out of his chair," Blake said out loud, sitting back down in his chair, a serious look on his face compared to the usual smile he holds.
Gabriel just shook his head in amusement at Blake. "Not like the entire department doesn't know you are one last write up away before being put on leave," he muttered to himself.
Blake's sharp gaze landed on Gabriel, before letting out a snort, deciding not to reply to Gabriel's mumblings.
"Do you need any other information, or am I free to go?" the man wheezed, his voice coming out strained.
"Come on, Mark, repeat what you told me to my partner," Blake gestured towards Gabriel, who is now standing with his arms crossed, an annoyed look on his face.
Mark replied, "I refuse to say anything to his kind. You got my information, so either let me go or arrest me." He spat on the floor, a sneer on his face as he glared at Gabriel.
Gabriel just shrugged. "Like I want to deal with skinhead piece of shit like you. I bet you're so busy to get out of here to go fuck your sister, right?"
"Fuck you!" Mark lashed out, standing up quickly out of the chair, knocking it over in the process.
Blake quickly stood and grabbed Mark by his neck, slamming his head on the desk. "Alright, enough of this bullshit," he stated angrily, pulling his gun out and pointing it at the back of Mark's head. "Now you have two choices: either tell him the information or I blow your brains out and claim self-defense."
"L-l-look, man…," Mark stuttered.
"Clock's ticking," Blake sings, releasing the safety on the gun.
Gabriel sighed, "That's enough, if he doesn't want to talk, that's cool. You already got the information." Gabriel glanced around the room, seeing the officers watching them, some with their hands on their guns just in case Blake started popping off rounds.
"Nope, this information is better if he tells it, plus I'm lazy so let the snitch talk," Blake responded to Gabriel before tightening his hold on Mark's neck. "Now, Mark, you have ten seconds to talk, once I get to zero, your head goes boom.
"FINE, I'LL TALK, I'LL TALK!" screamed Mark. Mark did his best to lift his head up to see Gabriel. "A couple weeks back, around October 7th, some man tried to kidnap me. He even killed my entire crew before I was able to get away on my motorcycle."