Entire night

“ It is our duty as officers to investigate any unusual thing happening and deal with the matter accordingly. That is why we have appointed a few capable officers to look into this matter and arrest the culprit. Among this committee is officer Melissa Whites, who just transferred recently to the unit. I hope we can all work together and solve this matter once and for all.” The commander said.

The transfer to the criminal investigation unit is something I have been looking forward to. I like my work as an FBI agent, but I always thought that being in the criminal investigation unit would give me job satisfaction. I have always been interested in cracking difficult cases and this department was just perfect.

After the meeting, I was assigned to my working station.

There were four of us in that station, and also the four officers given the responsibility of investigating the mysterious killing of suspected criminals.

The other officers were friendly and among them, I was the only female officer. That did not make me feel inferior to the men, after all, I had worked hard to get to this position.

“ Welcome to our department. I would like to buy you a cup of coffee when you are less busy.” A blonde said to me, winking at me, and I smiled. I have to admit that the man was hot, with his dirty blonde hair neatly combed with a few bangs falling to his face.

“ There he goes again!” Another man said, rolling his eyes playfully at the blonde.

“I am starting to think you purposely came here to flirt and not work,” another chipped, earning a glare from the blonde guy.

Turning to me, he grinned. “Don't mind these blabbermouths. Oops! please excuse my lack of manners. Allow me to introduce myself to you. I'm Mark Mathews, he's Timothy and that is Justin, our computer expert. It's a pleasure to meet you…”

“ Melissa, Melissa Whites.” I replied, extending my hand for a handshake.

“ Such a beautiful name for a beautiful lady.” Mark said, kissing my knuckles, and I swear I blushed to his words.

The days passed, and we were busy with our work, visiting crime scenes and searching for any substantial evidence of who could be committing such heinous crimes.

Something I had come to discover was that the style used to kill all the victims was the same. They would have their throats ripped and claw marks covered their bodies. From a closer look, it seemed like the crime wasn't committed by any ordinary person, it was more like an animal or something.

I expressed my view to my colleagues, and Justin said that my theory was too far-fetched. I also thought the same.

What animal could be targeting only the suspects and getting rid of them in such a gruesome way? Funny enough, the victims were not any ordinary people. It's either a drug cartel, a human trafficker or someone accused of going against the government. In short, these people deserved to be punished but killing them was not an option.

“ It's becoming difficult to find the killer. He really knows how to cover his tracks well.” I said during our lunch break.

We have been solving this case for a month now and in that month, no new case has been reported. We have not made a development either.

“ He hasn't come back since we started investigating. Seems like he's keeping a low profile for now.” Mark replied.

Mark and I had decided to date and see how things work for us. Honestly, he's a nice young man. He's funny, caring, and hard-working. I am now twenty-four years old and have never dated before. When he approached me, I decided why not give it a try?

“ We need to be vigilant, you never know when he decides to attack again.” I added.

“ It would be better if we could get information about the people who are suspected in the recent charges. The names of those under investigation so that we could keep an eye on them.” Timothy said, and I couldn't agree any less. That way, we could keep an eye on those people and probably catch the suspect in the act.

“ The government will never disclose such confidential information.” Mark said.

“ We do work for the government, though.” I said, trying to reign my emotions. I wasn't impressed with how the government would choose to keep such important information from us when we could be in a better position to track down the killer.

“ That's how it is. We have to work our asses off to get information that the government could have provided easily. Honestly, that drags us behind, and before we know it, we lose more lives.” Justin argued.

Our feelings are mutual. This case is a matter of life and death, and the more we drag it, the more we fail to save lives.

“ Sometimes it makes me think that the same people killing others are the same people in the government.” I expressed my opinion, only to have the three look at me weirdly.

“ Watch what you say, miss Whites. You don't know when your words land you into deeper shit than you already are.” A voice so cold and distant said, forcing me to turn back only to be met by our department leader giving me a bit of an unpleasant look.

“ Yes, commander.” I said, his words making me remember the last nightmare I had. I had woken up hyperventilating and covered in blood in my bed, something that made me let out a deafening scream.

It was my first time having such an experience. What gave me the shock of my life was the news of the same man I had slaughtered in my dreams making the headlines in the whole of the United States. I literally killed the man in my dreams, and the man died in real life. What's worse is me waking up covered in blood that's not my own despite not leaving my bedroom the entire night.