Tears welled up, blurring my vision as I crouched by the trash can. My invisible hand, desperate and trembling, reached for the fake fetus, but it passed right through.
I could never touch it.
Our child was exactly right there….
The child you once desired the most….
This doll, this cruel prank you believed it to be, held the very clue you sought, but you tossed it aside like garbage….
Next, my husband wrote down the words ‘dismemberment scene’ and circled them. There was not much blood in the sewer, indicating the murderer just left the body there as a dumping site.
Most murderers took their victims apart in a place they knew well, somewhere they felt safe. They might even go back there later. Finding where the body was cut up would be a huge break in the case.
He then circled the words ‘left ear’ and added a question mark.
"We checked the sewer high and low," an officer said, "but no sign of the victim’s left ear or the other pieces. Looks like the murderer didn't dump everything here."
"Why get rid of them separately? Maybe there's something on that ear, a mark that could tell us the victim’s identity."
Upon hearing this, my husband stopped short and frowned in confusion. He stared intently at the words ‘left ear’ written on the board.
I subconsciously reached up and touched my left earlobe. There, a small red mole. Jayden used to love pinching them, so he'd definitely recognize this mark.
"The murderer performed a brutal, forced surgery, removing the fetus," someone said, “but didn't kill the victim right away. Instead, they inserted some kind of powder and tortured her for days before mercilessly ending her life. This points towards a deep-seated hatred for the victim or her family."
"Drug powder... revenge..."
One officer's eyes shifted toward my husband. "Captain Williams, could this be revenge? Maybe a drug dealer we arrested is holding a grudge and getting back at us? That’s why they tortured the victim and dumped the body in our sewer system to taunt us...."
"That doesn't make sense," another officer interrupted. "No one in the station has a pregnant wife who's missing. Plus, wouldn't a family member report her missing?"
A flicker of realization crossed my husband’s widened eyes but then vanished just as quickly as brushed it off with a shake of his head.