Restart Story

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<<silently>>\n<<set $detail = "trophy">>\n<<endsilently>>\n\nIt was a trophy on the wall. Some gaudy display announcing participation in a bowling league of some type. Not very memorable by itself. You remember looking at it and thinking about calling your ex-husband though.\n\nIt'll be three years tomorrow since you divorced. One of you usually calls the other each year and you've been thnking about him again anyway. Not that it ever does any good for either of you, but you do try to keep in touch.\n\nYou look down at the images on your desk again and sigh. //Right. Back to work then.//\n\nThe painting was above the body. Blood, of course, was everywhere. All over the white carpet. There were stains on the couch too.\n\nThe phone rings.\n\n  | [[Pick up the phone]]   |\n
<<if $desk eq 1>>\n\n"Kinden! Get over here!" your captain yells into the phone.\n\nHe's always doing that, yelling. You've known for him for over a decade. Met him back when you were working Vice together. And here he is boss while your just a detective. //Boy's club.//\n\nYou gather up the materials, pick up the report, and head over. You notice Frank looking over at you and ignore him. Now's not the time for that mess. Probably won't ever be a good time for it.\n\nYou approach the captain's office and notice the blinds are drawn. It's odd for him to do that, preferring to show that he's working like everyone else. He might be an ass, but he was honorable at times.\n\nStanding in front of the door, you...\n\n  | [[Wait]]   | \n  | [[Knock on the door]]   | \n<<else>>\n\n"Kinden! Get over here!" your captain yells into the phone.\n\nHe's always doing that, yelling. You've known for him for over a decade. Met him back when you were working Vice together. And here he is boss while your just a detective. //Boy's club.//\n\nYou gather up the materials, pick up the report, and head over. Glancing down at your phone, you notice a missed call from your ex-husband. It still lists his contact name as "Jackass".\n\nTaking a moment to consider if you should call him now just to check in, you notice another detective looking over. You ignore him, put your phone back in your pocket, and keep walking.\n\nYou approach the captain's office and notice the blinds are drawn. It's odd for him to do that, preferring to show that he's working like everyone else. He might be an ass, but he was honorable at times.\n\nStanding in front of the door, you...\n\n  | [[Wait]]   | \n  | [[Knock on the door]]   | \n<<endif>>\n
\nYou've been a detective for five years now and seen your share of the work of sickos out in the city. Tongues missing. Fingers cut off. It shouldn't phase you anymore.\n\nBut this one does. It was a young guy the report reads. 24 years old as of a few days ago. //Hell of a birthday present.//\n\nSpreading out the pictures, you build a mental image of the room again in your mind. The couch was over there. The body was on the floor. The message, if there was one, should have been on the wall behind the body.\n\nInstead, there was a...\n\n  | <<choice "Painting" Painting>>   |\n  | <<choice "Trophy" Trophy>>   |\n\n<<silently>>\n<<set $photo = 1>>\n<<set $desk = 0>>\n<<endsilently>>
\nThe captain looks over as you walk in and shut the door behind you. In the room are two other people. One you think is his boss and the other is someone new.\n\nAs you take a step into the room, the captain motions for you to take a seat. He introduces City Council Member Janius and Chief of Police Wallace. You nod at each and the meeting gets started.\n\nThe captain clears his throat and begins. "Kinden, I've called here to review the facts of the case. It seems, unbeknowst to us, that the victim is the nephew of City Council Member Janius and she requests to be updated on the case."\n\n  | [[Explain case]]   |
\n"I think we've had a break in the case. We were looking at the scene, evidence, and even relationships. What we weren't thinking of, or at least I wasn't, was... personal relationships. Thomas was... well..."\n\n"He was gay," says Councilwoman Janius. "He had been hiding it for a number of years now. I knew, God knows his father knew. A few other family members.\n\n"He didn't have success at long term relationships. Not any he told me about anyway. But recently, he was talking about meeting a new guy, one he really liked."\n\n//One that was let into his home. One that possibly killed three other young men across the city. The "gay killer," huh? That is not going to go over well.//\n\nYou tune back into the conversation midway through something your captain was saying. "...wanted you to know. It could be important."\n\nYou make a note on the folder. "Yes. I think it is. Yes."\n\n"Good. You're dismissed then." You make it halfway to the door before he adds. "And don't tell anyone else yet. I just want you on it."\n\n[[Go back to your desk]]
\nYou erase what you wrote on the folder. For the moment, only you know the latest reason for the murders. Not that it'll stay that way long. The office is going to be talking, if they aren't already, about the captain holding a closed door meeting with a City Council member and the Chief of Police after 9 pm.\n\nYou check your phone and see that it is after 10 pm now. The meeting lasted maybe 25 minutes total and nearly everyone is gone now. For the moment, it's just you, the case, and this unexpected lead. As it always seems to be.\n\nYou remember one time where a case was broken wide open by some trash found in a back corner of a store. It had turned out to be some rare type of candy and had placed the suspect at the scene. It was always the smallest things. Rumor. Whispers. Bits of forgotten trash. And a healthy dose of science and willingness to chase even the strangest leads to the truth.\n\nDouble-checking the erasure again, you put the folder away in your desk. Picking up your weapon, you holster it, and then lock the desk. It's more than past time to go home for the night. Bright and early tomorrow morning, you will start chasing down this lead.
\nYou take a moment to review what you read earlier before speaking. "Victim's name was Thomas Guy. It's believed that, due to the nature of the crime and the assumed tools involved, he might have invited the killer into his apartment.\n\n"There was no sign of struggle in the doorway, nor in any other room. The conclusion, then, was that the killer was invited into the home, commited the crime, and left. As of this moment, we are unsure if it is the same killer as the other high profile murders however. It could very well be a co--"\n\nOut of the corner of your eye, you see City Council Member Janius start to cry. You were going to say it might be a copy cat murder, and that they were pursuing that idea at the moment. However, you stopped as soom as the tears started.\n\nShe nods at you. "I'm sorry. I thought I could get through this. Keith said it would be tough, but I thought I could hear it."\n\n//Keith? The Chief of Police's first name.//\n\nShe continues, wiping her eyes in the process. "I wasn't very close with my brother, but knew his son. He'd been over to our house a few times and I always enjoyed talking with him. When Keith told me about the crime over dinner, well, I had to know if it was the same person, my same... nephew.\n\n//Over dinner?//\n\nYour captain breaks into the meeting now, having stayed quiet during your briefing. "You see, Kinden, it's more complicated than you know. Tell her, Councilwoman. Tell my detective here what you told me over the phone."\n\n  | [[Listen]]   | \n
\nYou rummage through your desk looking for cigarettes. You gave them up six months ago, but sometimes just holding one does the trick. Plus, you've run out of gum for the day.\n\nOpening the left drawer, you find the picture you jammed in there last week. It's the one with you and Frank hiking last December. In it, you both are smiling.\n\nHe failed to tell you he was married. Here you were running around with a married man for two years and didn't know. Dozens of dates and two trips with him. It takes a single phone call for the truth to come out.\n\nIt's was his wife calling about their son. He'd been in a car accident and she accidently called the wrong number. Yours and Frank's desk numbers are one digit off.\n\nYou picked up, said you name, and got a sob story about another dumb teen driving while high. She's didn't say that, of course, but you put it together right after she mentioned Frank's name and that they were married.\n\nYou kept your cool all while your hand gripped the phone harder. You wrote down the details. You promised to tell Frank to call his wife.\n\nThen, you walked the note over to his desk, went back to yours, and cleared him out of your life. You deleted the photos of you two together on your phone. You removed his contact details. You took the picture of you two, the one you had framed with you both smiling and jammed it in the desk, not caring where it went.\n\n  | [[The phone starts ringing |Pick up the phone]]   |\n\n<<silently>>\n<<set $photo = 0>>\n<<set $desk = 1>>\n<<endsilently>>
The report lays open on the desk. Details of the murder spill across the page. It was savage.\n\nNot that any of offcial documents would use such a word. No, it's in the pictures. A throat cut. Dismemberment. Blood everywhere.\n\nIt's not the first one either. There have been three other gruesome murders that the public knows about. This is the fourth and the first without a message left behind from the killer. That's what's bothering you.\n\n//The killer's done communicating.//\n\nIt's not a pleasant thought.\n\n  | <<choice "Examine photos">>   |\n  | <<choice "Open desk">>   |
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Erasure
Dan Cox
<<if $desk eq 1>>\n\nYou pause in front of the door. It's not like you to hesitant, but today's not been a normal day. And this case, well, it's not a normal case either.\n\nYou take a moment to familiarize yourself with the details again. You consider looking through the photos too, but figure you know enough. You remember the victim's name was "Thomas Guy". You thought it was an odd, like something you'd find in a book shop or something.\n\nYou happen to glance over and notice, yes, that Frank is still looking over at you. You think about exactly what you want to say to him, what you've already said. Now's not the time for a confrontation.\n\nYou hear the captain yell for you hurry up.\n\n  | [[Open door]]   | \n<<else>>\n\nYou pause in front of the door. It's not like you to hesitant, but today's not been a normal day. And this case, well, it's not a normal case either.\n\nYou take a moment to familiarize yourself with the details again. You consider looking through the photos too, but remember that there was a <<print $detail>> above the victim in the room. You remind yourself to ask if the prints are back yet on that. Maybe the killer touched it.\n\nTaking your phone out, you send a message to "Jackass" saying you'll call him back later. He'll understand. It's not like you're married anymore anyway. On second thought, maybe you'll wait till tomorrow to call him. There's too much going on right now.\n\nYou hear the captain yell for you hurry up.\n\n  | [[Open door]]   | \n<<endif>>\n\n
<<silently>>\n<<set $detail = "painting">>\n<<endsilently>>\n\nThere was a painting on the wall. One of those nature scenes where the light doesn't quite make sense. You remember looking at it and thinking about calling your ex-husband.\n\nIt'll be three years tomorrow since you divorced. One of you usually calls the other each year and you've been thnking about him again anyway. Not that it ever does any good for either of you, but you do try to keep in touch.\n\nYou look down at the images on your desk again and sigh. //Right. Back to work then.//\n\nThe painting was above the body. Blood, of course, was everywhere. All over the white carpet. There were stains on the couch too.\n\nThe phone rings.\n\n  | [[Pick up the phone]]   |\n
\nYou tap on the door with your knuckle a couple of times. With the first knock, a few people look over. They too know it's rare for the captain to have the door closed.\n\nNormally, people walk right up and knock on the frame, or even wait for the captain to look up from his desk. The fact that the door is close and the blinds drawn is more than a little odd.\n\nYou hear the captain yell for you hurry up.\n\n  | [[Open door]]   |