The prompt: A struggling detective has been given one last chance before his badge is revoked, a string of murdered pimps and drug dealers. All have only one thing in common linking them together; a love poem left on the body... addressed to the detective.
It is best to listen to moonlit sonata by Beethoven while reading this
Detective Ron stood beyond the flashing police lights with a burning cigarette resting between his lips. As he breathed in the smoke the nicotine began to fill him with a sense of calm. Three murders in a single day. A pimp, a drug dealer, and a gang member. It sounded like the start of a bad joke but each was killed differently and within the same timespan. The only thing linking them together was a note left at each one. All of which were addressed to the detective.
Ron released the smoke from his lungs and began to think about it. Poems, love poems to e exact. All identical in every way. He assumed that it was written and then copied, which meant that the same person probably committed this string of murders. Noticing that the cigarette had nearly burnt out, he dropped it and stomped it out. As he did his assistant walked up to him.
“Ron, there’s been another murder. This time it was one of the runners for the port mafia.” The assistant said.
“Now it makes sense.” Detective Ron said slowly as he realized something.
“What makes sense?” The assistant asked, hoping for some kind of lead.
“Oh, nothing. Take me to the crime scene. We’re done here.”
Upon arriving at the next crime scene, Detective Ron was met with a gruesome scene. A common death for those that betrayed the mafia while in the lower ranks. Nailed to a wall, beaten, and then burned alive. This was simply how the mafia handled greedy pawns. Though there was another love note. This time it was partially burned but the same message could be read.
“What do you think, Ron?” the assistant asked as he tried not to hurl at the horrific sight.
“I think that all of these cases are either gonna get blamed on me or swept under the rug by the governor. We’re better off not solving this case.” Detective Ron replied with a depressed tone before leaving the crime scene for another smoke. He had stopped completely but after the first poem was left for him he had bought a pack that he had nearly burned through already.
“Wait, We’re just giving up?” His assistant said with a confused and fairly disappointed look.
“It’s the Mafia. Either you’ll get killed by them or the politicians running this city will shut you up in their own way if you kept looking into this. Best to stay out of it. We’ll pretend like there are no good leads and forget about it.” The Detective said with a shallow but caring tone.
“... I see.”
“Anyways, it’s me and my anniversary so I’m gonna head home early. See you tomorrow.” The Detective said to his assistant before hailing a cab home.
As the sun was setting, Ron arrived at his apartment building. A twenty-story building with older brickwork that gave the place a noir vibe. Had he and his wife had different lines of work then he would love to move out to the countryside where it was sunny and less congested. However, for now, he was happy with this. Despite how sore he was from walking all day, Ron trudged up the twelve flights of stairs to his apartment with some flowers he had picked up.
Groggily opening up the door to his apartment, he was greeted by several candles lit around the apartment with few electric lights on. Since it was their anniversary it was easy to guess why they were there. As he removed his shoes, Ron heard the light tapping of his wife's bare feet on the hardwood floor coming toward him.
The sight of a beateutiful blonde muscular eyepatch wearing woman clad in sexy lingerie came barreling towards him with a hug. He could feel a weight being lifted off his shoulders. However, he could also feel the knife being held to his back.
“What took you so long?” She asked with seductive but threatening tone.
“Jane, I would have been back sooner but I had to deal with several murders that I assume you had something to do with.” Ron replied with a sarcastically snobbish tone to shift the blame.
“Huh? I told them to only put the note on one of the bodies… I’m sorry. I wanted to leave you a little love note that you could see at work but I guess my underlings thought it would be funny to mess with me on my anniversary.” Jane said in an apologetic tone before muttering angrily “I’ll have to punish them later.” while putting away her knife.
“I see. Being the head of the port Mafia must be tiring? Though, I can’t lie. I was also late because I bought you flowers on my way home so that adds another five minutes.” Ron said jokingly before kissing her.
“That will be a perfect centerpiece for dinner. I even pulled out that fine wine we were saving.” She said before walking back into the kitchen.
“You didn;t start cooking dinner without me did you?” Ron asked as he removed his coat and walked into the kitchen after her.
“Of course not. We agreed to cook it together. Though I did pull out some ingredients to thaw.” Jane said as she set the flowers in a vase.
“Could they thaw longer?” He asked.
“Yes… Why do you ask?”
“I think that we should do something therapeutic before dinner. We can bring the wine but I was thinking that all that evidence they left at the crime scene could be bad. It would be quite fun to burn down the evidence locker don’t you think?” Ron suggested in a hypothetical but convincing way.
“You know me so well. I haven’t committed arson in six years.” Jane said with an excited and determined look.
Throwing a long coat over her, the two left the apartment with the bottle of wine, some wire cutters, and various other tools that could be easily hidden. In less than two hours the two were laying on a blanket on a rooftop overlooking the burning building as they drank wine. The night continued with the clapping of cheeks to the sound of police sirens, dinner, shower, and the most romantic movie ever… John Wick.
As they were drifting off to bed Ron said a simple phrase “The things we do for love.” with a kiss on her cheek.
