My name is Mark, I’ve been a detective for ten years and I’ve seen many things that would keep the most grizzled man up at night. Last night my partner Terry was murdered in the interrogation room and… I don’t know how to feel about it or how to start.
So a month ago Terry and I were given orders to check out a murdered couple a few miles away. It was a strange off-rip. There were no signs of forced entry or even a struggle. The stiffs died at the kitchen table still holding hands with a plate of French fries and a half-eaten burger. They were young, like really young early twenties at the latest. There were two holes in the back of their heads indicating they were executed.
Terry: Ayo Mark! Do you see this?
Terry points to the heads of the kids.
Me: Yea, they were executed why?
Terry: Isn’t it a little odd they didn’t have an exit wound?
Me: Low caliber pistol like a .22 maybe.
Terry: We better just let the coroner run an autopsy on them to be safe.
Me: This isn’t the first time we’ve seen this Terry but you’re right I trust ya.
In my line of work, you have to trust your partner with your life. Terry was the most lovable and honest man I know. When he had a gut feeling ninety-nine percent of the time this man was right. Everyone loved Terry, Hell the whole town loved Terry. We packed up and left seeing there was very little evidence at the scene so we let the beat cops clean up the evidence that was there and we headed back to the station. Terry and I sat down to eat lunch and talk about our life. He and I were very close so we talked a lot.
Terry: Hey man, I got a question.
Me: (mouth half full of pastrami) what’s up?
Terry: Do you plan what you want to do after this? Like when you retire what did you want to do?
Me: Well, I never really thought of that. I’ve always been in the spur of the moment kinda guy.
Terry: I have a plan. My wife and I will travel the country in an RV just exploring the states.
Me: That sounds awesome Terry. I guess I will just sit at home and watch tv most of my life.
Terry: Well that’s the thing bud. My wife and I wanted to know… would you like to come with us? We got a two-bedroom RV and everything that I’m ready to pay on.
Me: Oh hell yea! I’ll bring my fishing gear and we can all just have a blast then.
We talked about this a little longer. Martha and I were old friends from high school and I met Terry when she introduced me to him. We were friends ever since. We went to the academy together, trained together and Terry even took a bullet for me once.
After I was done eating Terry and I were filing out our paperwork when suddenly the chief came in and asked us two to come into his office. The chief’s name was Ervin was a tall man but the biggest teddy bear there is. Once we got in we sat down in his leather chairs. He had a wax burner on and it smelt like maple wood and honey suckles, this was my favorite wax smell too.
Ervin: Alright guys… Do you know the bodies you checked out today? Well, the coroner came back and their holes weren’t bullet holes.
Terry: Haha I knew it Mark! You owe me fifty bucks
Mark: I knew I shouldn’t ever doubt you.
Ervin: Guys this is serious… The holes were drill holes. The drill was 1/4 inch but the strangest thing is the brain was missing a large amount of mass. Whoever killed this couple is a sick fuck. I called around and asked the couple towns over and they said they had a similar incident with another young couple. So we may be dealing with a serial killer.
Terry: Fuck…
Me: Jesus Christ…
Ervin: Don’t let anyone in the public know about this. We don’t want widespread panic and we don’t have any leads at all. But here’s the other case file so compare and contrast the two.
Terry and I in unison: On it chief.
We both walked out and began working on this case. We spent all night at our desks looking for the possible suspect around the tri-state area. But we didn’t make any connections. Whoever this guy has covered his tracks perfectly. Not a clue left at the scene of the crime or anything noting who they were. He was a professional…
The next day I got to work and Terry was there talking to Jennifer who was also a detective. A kind young woman. I had a bit of a crush on her but my job was so demanding I never had time to ask her out.
Terry: Heyo Mark! Jenny here made some breakfast bratwurst with eggs and pork. These are amazing Jenny thank you!
Me: Sweet! I’ll try one.
Jenny: Hey mark (Jenny said with a smile on her face) We haven’t spoken in a while. Maybe after work tonight we can go on a date and I don’t know … watch a movie
Jenny was visibly blushing and I can tell she was nervous. My heart was racing and was beating out of my chest…
Me: Uhhh sshh…sure
Terry: Atta boy!
Me: So I will swing by and pick you up around 6 pm tonight?
Jenny: (visible happy and even a larger smile) Hell yes! I mean… uh that’s a great time.
I grabbed a bratwurst before she left and skipped down the hall like a school girl. She has always been a bit childish but when it came to working she was such a hard worker and had an immense focus on her. I kinda fell in love with that…
Terry: Hey markkkk. You’re blushing bro.
Me: Wha.. what, no I’m not… shut up
We both laughed and began talking about our night. While we were talking the chief came by and said that there was another report. Another young couple but this time they were in their bed. We got to the scene and as usual, nothing was out of the ordinary except breakfast in bed was Ketchup with eggs.
Terry: Oh gross! Who eats ketchup with eggs…
Me: Well it ain’t that bad. I tried it a few times
Terry: Well damn, guess we can’t be partners anymore
Me: Oh shut up dork.
The couple was older than the last and again their names will be spared from this. But both were male and bout their early thirties. The same thing happened here, drill holes in the back of the skull that was 1/4 in and smooth. I have a hard time believing these two men would just lay there and let this happen. Terry spoke up…
Terry: There is no way someone would just let them get drilled in the back of the head. These men here were pretty fit. I mean his muscles are larger than mine.
Me: I was thinking the same thing… What could it be…
Terry and I: The eggs!
We quickly put on gloves and poured the eggs into a medical baggy so our lab to run tests and maybe find a type of poison. We quickly got back and noticed a pattern we didn’t see before. They all were eating food in the morning.
Terry: I know this is new but we should name this killer a funny name
Me: Oh shit! Yea, uh what about “The Breakfast Bandit”
Terry: Ooo Ooo Ooo how about “The Meal Monster”
Me: No no no “the cravings killer”
Terry: That’s the one!! Condiment Killer it is!
We joked a bit while we waited. I know it seems heartless to joke about this since people died but in our line of work we see dead people all the time. It’s doom and gloom 24/7 here. So any bit of light and any bit of happiness we can get we take. I digress, the forensic team radioed us to come to them since they did find something. The person who was head of the forensic team. A young kid named Llyod. Smart and shy but knows a lot of things that I don’t understand like science and math.
Llyod: Good.. you guys I did find something in the eggs it is ethylene glycol. A sweet-tasting poison that’s odorless and colorless.
Me: Well, how does one even get ahold of this? We can cross-examine who has purchased this stuff.
Llyod: Well that’s the issue. Ethylene glycol is found in antifreeze however the ethylene glycol we found was extremely concentrated.
Terry: Well, I guess we will just cross-examine who bought anti-freeze and see if anything matches up.
Me: Well I hope not many people needed antifreeze this month.
A lot of people needed anti-freeze last month… It took over 50 hours and 6,000 people to narrow down. We spent the next week questioning everyone on the list and it still…. got us nowhere. We got to our desks on a Friday night feeling defeated. While we were waiting Jenny came to us and asked.
Jenny: Hey you guys I know it’s been rough, soooo I made you guys some meat pies. These are my grandma’s recipes.
Me: Thank hun! You’re amazing
Terry: Oh yea you are!
One of the worst nights I have ever had but the food she makes is so good it’s sinful. Moments later the chief came in and asked to speak to us in private. So we walked into his office and we sat down to talk. This time he had some Seabreeze scent, not my favorite but still good.
Chief: So we were told there was another killing same MO, however….. they were flayed like livestock it’s a mess.
Me: What… It’s the same then?
Terry: Dear god…. who would do this?
Chief: A sick fuck… Just can you go out there and do your thing… I need to rest.
We got to the site and when we go out of the car we could smell it. Rusty iron filled the air as we entered the home. To our right was the living room and you can tell this one hurt… There was blood on the floors and walls and some viscera hanging from the ceiling. It looked like a fuckin’ bear attack. We got to the kitchen and I had to run out of the house to vomit. I cleaned my face, caught my breath then got back in.
There was a body (at least what is left of the body) strewn across the kitchen floor. Body parts were all over the place however there were not any signs of struggle again. A closer look at the skull shows the 1/4 hole in the base of the skull. Something about this sent chills down my spine it just seemed demonic… I cannot stand the smell in here. I can taste the blood in the air.
Terry: Hey Mark… I found something
Me: What did ya find?
Terry: A pen…. but it’s from our precinct this may have been an accident… however whoever did this would know we are investigating this… We need to keep this to ourselves we don’t want anyone to know in case we can finger the suspect.
Me: Yes… Put this in a bag I will text the Chief. We can trust him
Terry: My stomach is telling me he’s safe
As per usual the scene was clean other than the one we found. No prints and no evidence just blood and gore. We got to the precinct and started the paperwork. The chief came by our desk and asked if we found anything. I looked around and whispered
Me: We found a pen that’s from our precinct with dried blood on it. Perhaps the person dropped it while lifting the body or moving it.
Terry: We sent the food found to the forensics team to check it out too.
Chief: We must keep this on the down low. Only we may know this.
I have to preface this, Jenny and I got serious like very serious… She moved in after the 3rd date and we’ve been love birds since. I got home and Jenny instantly jumped on me to welcome me home.
Jenny: Hey Babe I missed you!
Me: Missed you too love. It’s been a hard day at work and I can’t figure out who is doing these.
Jenny: Well. Any leads?
Me: I found something…. at the scene but I haven’t seen anything else?
Jenny: Wait… what was it?
Me: I can’t say but it’s nothing special, to be honest.
Jenny: Well guess what! I got you a special dinner! Meatloaf, you know your favorite. I even added homemade ketchup to the top.
Me: I’m not hungry I’ve been elbow-deep in blood and viscera all day.
Jenny: Oh I understand. I’ll save it for Terry
We got to bed and cuddled. My brain kept me awake fearing who in the site was the killer… who could’ve done such a sick and twisted act. My mind was racing and spinning and with all the stress I ended up passing out. I had a dream that night it was strange but could’ve been relevant to the case.
In my dream, I woke up in a white room. It was illuminated with a soft glow but it was bright enough to fill the room. On the floor was a thing layer of water that was so still it looked like a mirror. This room stretched infinitely on all sides. I decided to walk through the endless expanse and after a certain amount of time the water started to turn black like ink. The whole room expanded in this black ink and a cold chill ran up my spine. I shapeless figure rose from the black ink and stood there. Shortly the ink was removed and revealed a white demon-like creature with elongated arms with thin lips. This thing has no eyes and holes for ears. It opened its maw to speak
The Void: I am the void… I am at the end… I am starving… Your story is delicious…
It walked closer and my fight or flight was completely shut down and I was frozen still. It got closer and shoved its sharp and nasty fingers into my collar piercing my flesh and lifting me until I was facing its face to whatever the fuck it had.
The Void: hahahaha your fear is ecstasy … keep being an afraid child. I will become strong enough to invade the throne of heaven… usurp the angels …. for I have seen the throne of God and he has abandoned you…
Its mouth opened wide and slowly started to fit it around my head… and CHOMP. I felt its rotting teeth piercing through my flesh. Its serrated-edged teeth sliced my neck muscles inch by inch… I was trying to scream but all I could do is gurgle the blood lodged in my neck… I can feel his hands pull down on my body and my neck was stretching until I hear my muscles pop as the tendons made a sickening snapping sound.
Then I woke up in a cold sweat… I grabbed my neck and …. it was ok. The dream felt so real… like I was killed in real life. Jenny saw me while she was getting dressed.
Jenny: Hun are you ok? You were crying in your sleep and said my name?
Me: Yea…. it was just so real …. it’s ok I’ll be ok
Jenny: Well let’s get to work and I’ll bring my meatloaf.
We got everything together and headed off to work. I kept thinking who could it be… who was it? I got to the station and was talking to Terry who was smashing the meatloaf Jenny made. I still felt nauseous from last night so I opt out of it. We were all filing paperwork when Jenny asked
Jenny: Hey. I seemed to have lost my pen… Can I borrow one of yours?
My heart sank… It can’t be her… please god anyone but the person I love…Terry got up and handed her his pen. I texted the chief that Jenny didn’t have her pen and he told us to detain her NOW. So I stood up and nodded to Terry and he nodded back knowing what must be done. The chief walked in as we were arresting Jenny.
Jenny: Babe what is going on??
Chief: Jenny…. we have a suspicion you are the Condiment killer.
She went without saying a word. During interrogation, Terry walked in and I watched from behind the glass.
Terry: Jenny why? Why do this
Jenny: I don’t know I was just…. obsessed with death… I can’t stop thinking of it…
Terry: What did you do to the bodies… How did you poison them?
Jenny: Well the poison was easy to do… I just mixed it in with their condiments like mustard or ketchup etc. I then take the brains and mix them with my recipes.
Terry: Wait you’re telling me?
Jenny: yes… you and Mark and the rest of this place were eating people HAHHAAHAHAH
She began to laugh evilly. It sent chills down my spine and made me physically sick… how could someone do this… We ate humans… god saves us.
Terry: I think this is… done…
Terry paused to catch his breath.
Jenny: Let me ask you something.. Terry. If you had ketchup that was a little too sweet and tickled your tongue would you stop eating? If you ate chicken wings and the hot sauce made the back of your throat burn unusually… would you question it…
Terry: (coughs up blood) yo…you bitc…
Jenny: Tell me, Terry, do you know what poison tastes like
I started to run and open the door as fast as possible… It was locked so I was fumbling for my keys… I was so scared to lose my best friend… my partner… By the time I got in there, Terry was foaming at the mouth and convulsing… Jenny was still laughing… like a maniac… To this day I cannot eat any food unless I made it… I lost everything because of that bitch… Please, check your food because you may not know what poison tastes like.