The First Murder (part 2)

The First Murder (part 2)

Poor miss Auria Martinez was seen as a crying mess that night. Media focused on her teary eyes as she sobbed away. Jack tried to comfort her but it was to no avail. Eventually, Auria was led back inside her car by her driver and was driven away. The media tried to get something from her, or anything that they could put in their articles for tomorrow morning’s newspaper. As she went away, Azrick and Jack went back to the crime scene and talked more with the Detective Olive.

Ducking down the police tape, Azrick called towards Detective Olive. “Oi mate, anything new?” Olive turned his head towards his former co- workers and said, “Sorry mate, nothing new. How about the girl?”

“Went home. She was a crying mess, poor miss Auria.” Jack replied this time, looking at the crime scene. The body of the victim, John Albert Tristan, was being put in a body bag to be transported in a morgue for an autopsy. They hope they could get a permission from his family or even to Auria so that they can gather more information. It is vital in solving this case, and maybe giving answers to the death threats sent to Auria. The guys in blue had searched the whole place, but they have deduced that nothing is missing from all the things that were inside John Albert Tristan’s apartment. 

Jewelries were scattered but there seems to be nothing that was taken, even the chinaware or the furniture. Nothing was missing, nothing was taken. The only thing that the culprit really did was kill John Albert Tristan and leave a warning—- a warning for Auria. 

“Do we know anything about the victim?” Detective Olive asked towards his people, but Mr. Tevyat tapped his shoulders and pointed to the blonde young man behind them, clearly brimming with a lot of words to say. “Do you need to know anything about the celebrities? You ask him, he is basically an expert at it.” Azrick chuckled as Jack immediately went near Detective Olive and easily gave him information. 

John Albert Tristan was a popular actor in theatres and an opera singer. He was regarded as the highest paid opera singer until today… well… until today. He has a platinum blonde hair that was slightly longer than usual, his eyes were the colour of emerald green to which would sparkle whenever it was shined by a light. He has a huge build and would always be seen in the gym working out, he could also be seen with Auria who would just sit and read, waiting for her fiance to finish working out. Auria and John met during an opera night where John was a lead singer. At the end of the opera night, Auria and John had talked for a moment— Auria congratulating him and complimenting him for the magnificent performance. From then on, they started going out and having dates. 

From friends, turned into lovers, lovers turned into girlfriend and boyfriend, from a romantic relationship into a serious ‘we are getting married’ status as John proposed to Auria the night that Auria won an award for the best actress of the year. Their engagement was three years long, and supposedly, they are going to get married this year. Plans were already laid out and things were on the way, only to be postponed and cancelled indefinitely as her groom died. 

“Their fans— including me– were very thrilled for their marriage. It is rumoured to be a huge one, but it would not happen now.” Jack’s face turned downcast as his voice trailed off. The detective wanted to comfort the Private Investigator’s assistant— it was in his nature after all— but noticed that he did not have to since the assistant was already back to his serious self. “Do you need to know anything more?” Jack asked to which the detective shook his head as a response. “Noted, I will be with my boss if you need anything that I can help with.” Jack waved goodbye and walked towards Azrick who was with another officer, reading the letter. “I can’t believe we can’t even find anything useful in this letter. Whoever that person is, they are a clever maniac to even pull this off.” said the police officer. 

“Anything new, boss?” 

“Nothing yet. The way that this letter was written was the same way as the death threat that was sent to Auria. The handwriting, the margins, the paper used, even the wax seal and all. Everything is identical, though the content of the letter was altered, but it is more of a threat to Auria, telling her to stay away from anyone or else another death will happen.” Azrick looked at Jack who was taking notes. The assistant is serious as his eyes were squinted and his brows were scrunched to each other, his lips in a thin line as he wrote in his notepad at a fast pace. 

“Indeed, at the same time, no fingerprints can be detected in both letters.” Jack added, skimming through his notepad. “Let me go through my notepads, there might be some similarities that can give us some clues.'' The both of them then heard footsteps coming their way and only Azrick turned his head, seeing Detetive Olive going towards them. 

“Tell me again how Auria became acquainted with you two?” the detective asked.

A week ago, a ‘commotion’ happened at the 67th street and Auria came knocking on their door asking for help. Auria handed them the letter, letting them read the death threat that was being sent to her on a weekly basis and she found it disturbing at this point. “Why did you not report it at the very first time you received it?” Azrick interrogated them as they were in the office.

“I thought it was a mere prank, or a one time thing, since I usually receive those when me and John got into a relationship. It was always a one time thing and that the senders are easily tracked down. But this time, it was sent to me for a whole week and even with the help of my fan club, we can’t track down the sender. Hence, why I am here.” Auria explained. 

Jack, who was taking notes, stopped his writing and looked at Auria with surprise. “This has happened before?” his voice was full of disbelief as he looked towards Auria with shocked eyes. 

“Yes, this has happened before, it is usual to receive this kind of thing when you are a celebrity. It is part of being a celebrity.” Auria said. Jack looked even more stunned, but Azrick kept being silent all the while the two continued to converse. He read the letter again and again.

Dearest Auria,

I am writing to you to let you know that I have been displeased by your actions and decisions for a while now. I was able to let go of the fact that you have formed a romantic relationship with that good for nothing opera singer; and now you are engaged?! Okay, sure,maybe it was a ploy to make him even more popular or a stepping stone for you but now, you are GETTING MARRIED?! 

WHAT KIND OF SICK JOKE IS THIS?! I THOUGHT YOU ARE ONLY FOR ME?! YOUPROMISED TO BE ONLY FOR ME! AND NOW YOU ARE GETTING MARRIED TO SOMEONE ELSE?! Is this a ploy to make me jealous, fine, i jealous. You had made me jealous so please stop this now. 

You better stop this or else I will make the move, and you will not like it. Not at all. Remember, you have one week, and this will be my last warning. 

Sincerely, your most beloved.

After Auria’s report, Jack and Azrick began to work. They tried to find clues in the letters that were sent to Auria, tracing the post office that was responsible for sending the letter, only to find that there was no post office responsible for it. Even though the maid that received the letter said that the postman was wearing a uniform and carrying a messenger bag, the uniform similar to a post office uniform;but when the post office was asked, they had no information about that employee, nor do they have an employee with that description: brown hair, blue eyes, and a tall stature. Most of their employees are just of average height. 

Having faced a dead end, they found other ways to investigate the case, to find a new lead to find the culprit— the sender. But before they can even do that, the crime happened.

Before they can even find a new clue,news came that John Albert Tristan, the fiance of Auria,was seen dead in his apartment. Hanging by the ceiling with his necktie tied in his neck.it may look like if not for the smeared words in the wall using a lipstick and the letter clutched in his hands. 

Dearest Auria,

It seems that you do not know how to listen, or even take a threat for realand with pure seriousness. I clearly told you time and time again to stop this play, to stop this worthless prank but no, you did not. And it seems that you do not know when and how to learn a lesson so I guess I have to teach you one.

And since you do not want to heed my orders to stay away from him, why not just take him away from you? It’s much better that way since you won’t be able to get back to him. And him to you. It's the ultimate win-win situation for me! Now, ONLY I CAN HAVE YOU.

So learn this lesson, my dearest lovely Auria, you are only mine and no one other than me can have you. No one can love you like the way that I did. And do not even think of going to someone else because I will just get rid of them like how I got rid of this toy of yours. Heed my warning, my love. 

Lovingly yours, your most beloved

“Could it be a fan perhaps?” Jack mumbled out as he stared at his notes. His mumble was loud enough for Azrick to hear it, thus his response. “We already crossed that out of the options. All of her fans adore her but not to the point of obsession. She keeps them controlled and only the haters would do this.” he puffed out a smoke as he looked at him and said, “besides, her haters would also not take it to this extent, we already crossed that out too.” 

Jack let out a sigh as he closed his notepad and re-adjusted his glasses. They are met again with a dead end, and even more so, a dead body is involved. And to top it all up— as the cherry on the cupcake— there might be more bodies that are going to be involved in the future. “This is a very urgent case.” Azrick let out a sigh and a puff of smoke, the smoke going towards Jack. 

The assistant, not liking the smell of smoke, tried to wave the smoke out of his way and coughed twice before saying, “most of the cases we hold are missing person cases, missing belongings or even illicit affairs, well, most of the cases we hold are investigation of illicit affairs.” 

“And now, we deal with a case of death threats, with the connection to a murder. This escalated rather quickly.” Mr. Tevyat said. He then walked towards Detective Olive and conversed more about the case, while Jack was left with the letter and other evidence gathered at the crime scene. He almost touched the letter but retracted his hand before doing so. He knew not to touch the evidence.

As much as possible, perform minimal contact with the evidence.