Soup Shop Mystery

My boyfriend, who had gone missing for a month, appeared in my soup.The shop was crowded, yet I didn't dare raise my voice. Swallowing down the bile in my throat, I staggered outside, found a secluded corner, and retched until my stomach burned.When I was done, I ran upstairs, locked myself inside, and dialed the police.An hour later, they called back."We've checked," the officer said. "Their ingredients are all sheep offal. As for the tattooed skin you mentioned, we believe it was a standard meat inspection stamp. No missing-person reports have been filed in the city for over six months.""No!" I protested. "That mark wasn't a stamp. It was a tattoo!"The officer sighed, his patience thinning. "Miss, you're overthinking this. We thoroughly inspected their kitchen. My colleagues even tested their soup base. It's not human flesh."Not human flesh? Was I blind?"I'm certain that was my boyfriend's tattoo. And I haven't heard from him in a month!""Oh?" The officer paused, hi

I couldn't take this anymore. "What do you want from me?" I demanded.He lifted both hands, and only then did I notice he was carrying two plastic bags."I mean no harm!" Roger said quickly. "I… I shouldn't talk to people. Every time I do, I'm… I'm misunderstood! This is… fruit!"For a moment, he seemed almost painfully sincere.Maybe he hadn't been lurking outside my door all that time. Maybe he'd simply gone back to fetch fruit for me?When I replayed everything in my head, I realized that if I ignored his unsettling tone and those unnerving eyes, nothing he had said actually carried malice."But your tone…" I started."I… I stutter," he explained. "If I don't force out my words that way, I can't even… finish a sentence. That's why… why people misunderstand me. So I just… I just stopped talking to anyone.""I see…"I was about to ask why his eyes looked so frightening, when it struck me: he was cross-eyed.All day I had been convinced he was a murderer. Of course his gaze w

I glanced at my phone. The call log was there—the most recent call, and the one before it.Hallucination? Impossible.I cursed myself for not recording the call.If I ruled out hallucination, then the person who had just spoken to the police might not have been Edmund at all.If someone knew how to mimic voices, the distortion over a phone line would make it easy to fool the listener.And if Edmund really was being held captive, there was only one suspect—Roger.Edmund had said over the phone that someone was cutting pieces of his skin, and a piece of skin with his tattoo had turned up in Roger's organ soup.On top of that, Roger had suddenly appeared at my door earlier, fishing for information.Which meant he knew I was the one who had called the police—and now he might want to silence me.I was in danger.Better to risk being misunderstood by the police than to be murdered by Roger.Knowing their response would likely be slow, I reported it anyway, then packed to hide out

"You'd better come back. We'll be waiting," the officer said, still sounding unconvinced."Don't waste time! This is a matter of life and death. What are you doing? Roger can mimic other people's voices! You said Edmund wasn't missing, but no one has seen him for nearly a month! And I have recordings. I'll head over right now, but you can't delay!"After a long pause, the officer reluctantly agreed.With the police involved, my fear eased. I rushed back.When I reached the building, two officers were already escorting Roger downstairs in handcuffs."Sorry," one of them said, "we misjudged you. The problem is, his setup was too clever. He even used your identity to visit a psychiatric hospital, pretending to be a patient. We found the medical record under your name…""Where's Edmund?" I cut him off.The officer hesitated before finally replying, "I'm sorry. We found some body parts. They're most likely Edmund's. He was killed long ago."Killed long ago?"That's impossible! He's

"Maybe… maybe they just hadn't planned it out properly?" I ventured.But the officer shook his head. "We've had the same suspicion before. We even summoned Roger's wife for questioning, but she seemed completely unaware. Based on our experience, she wasn't lying. That means she most likely didn't kill anyone and had no idea what Roger was up to.""But…" I tried to argue."Court is tomorrow. The case is already closed. Roger has seen his wife since his arrest. If your guess is right, he'd change his testimony in court," the officer said.I could only sigh. "I hope my doubts are unnecessary.""No," the officer countered. "They're not unnecessary. I also believe there are many unresolved questions. But the evidence was solid enough for us to close the case and proceed to trial. I can't change tomorrow's hearing date, but I promise you, we'll keep investigating afterward."On the day of the trial, I went as a witness.But things didn't unfold as I'd imagined. Roger confessed to ever