Signs of Murder

Chapter 2

A single lamp flickered above the homicide board, casting long shadows across the cramped investigation room. The walls were lined with crime scene photos, red strings connecting victims like a twisted web of fate. Kaito Mori leaned against the desk, arms crossed, his eyes locked on the pattern forming before him.

Four victims. Each murdered with the same precision. Each found with a message.

And now there was a fifth.

The call had come in an hour ago. Another body. Same method. Same warning.

Kaito grabbed his coat and headed for the door. Reina Takagi was already waiting in the hallway, tapping her fingers against her notepad. "You think this one's different?" she asked.

"Doesn't matter what I think," Kaito muttered. "The killer is getting bolder. That means we're running out of time."

The crime scene was an abandoned warehouse on the outskirts of the city. Rain drummed against the metal roof, leaking through cracks and forming puddles on the cold concrete floor. Officers moved like ghosts, securing the perimeter, taking photographs, marking evidence.

Kaito stepped inside, and the first thing he noticed was the silence. The kind that crawled under your skin.

Reina led him toward the center of the warehouse, where the victim was displayed like a grotesque piece of art. A young woman, mid-twenties, dressed in a red cocktail dress. Her throat was cut, just like the others. But this time, something was different.

A symbol was drawn on the ground beside her body—an intricate, spiraling mark painted in her own blood.

Kaito crouched down, tracing the edges of the pattern with his eyes. "This wasn't here before," he said.

Reina knelt beside him, frowning. "The killer's evolving."

Kaito didn't respond. He was too busy memorizing the shape, committing every detail to memory. This wasn't random. It was deliberate. A signature.

A sign.

He turned to Reina. "Find out what this symbol means. Check everything—history, cults, gangs. I want answers before this bastard kills again."

She nodded and stood up, pulling out her phone.

Kaito remained, staring at the corpse, his mind racing. The first four murders had been clean, almost ritualistic. But this? This was an escalation.

Which meant one thing.

The killer was just getting started.

To Be Continued...