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🕑 Added 2025-03-17 07:50:32 +0000 UTCAnatomy of a Killer
Chapter 08 - The Christmas Case, Part 8
Max, who had taken on the important mission of acting as an inspector while Masuka handled the forensic investigation, laughed on the other end of the call. “Masuka will tell you—you can’t even imagine what we found.”
Masuka, who snatched the phone from Max, said, “You were right, the murder weapon was a box cutter. I don’t know whether to praise this woman for her high intelligence or call her stupid. After killing someone, she took the murder weapon home.”
Larry was a little puzzled. “You actually found the murder weapon in her house? Doesn’t that go against everything she had done so far?”
“Killers think outside the box… For her, it was really unfortunate that she hid the murder weapon in an urn inside a sort of shrine on the second floor of her house—where her mother’s ashes were also kept.”
“Well then, see you at the station…”
“Oh, right! Along with the box cutter, there were two matching rings that belonged to the deceased and Amanda. The dog led us to that spot.”
Larry narrowed his eyes slightly. Even a dog could smell it, which meant there was blood. “Looks like there’s blood on the knife?”
“You guessed right. There’s blood on both the blade and the handle. The evidence in this case is solid.” Masuka sounded quite excited.
“Then, let’s play a game.”
“What game?” Larry felt a bit uneasy since he wasn’t close enough to Masuka to call him a friend.
“Guess! What color is the murder weapon?”
Larry replied lazily, “Stop playing games with my deductions. I’m not a superhero. Just make sure Dexter does his job properly.”
“If you’re not afraid of being wrong, just play along!”
Larry thought for a moment, and suddenly the image of the ring in the photo appeared in his mind. “Alright… yellow.”
Masuka fell silent on the other end of the call, and after a few seconds, he shouted, “Oh my God! Are you really a superhuman?”
“No…”
“Wait, Max, you bastard—does this phone have some kind of hidden camera?”
“That doesn’t exist…”
“Don’t lie to me.”
Larry didn’t wait to hear any more nonsense and hung up the phone, ignoring Max’s continued accusations.
…
In the Interrogation Room, Amanda confessed everything in no time.
Amanda Hall…
36 years old.
She graduated from Johns Hopkins University with a degree in pharmacology and married a successful businessman who was fifteen years older than her, apparently for financial reasons.
She and the victim first met at a dinner abroad, organized by a company that had business relations with her husband’s company.
However, their real familiarity began two years ago when they coincidentally met at the pet hospital of her best friend.
The victim was attractive, tall, and had a well-maintained physique. His experience with women made him quite skilled in the art of seduction.
Although Amanda’s husband was more successful in his career, he couldn’t compare to the victim in terms of looks and conversation.
Additionally, when Amanda married, her husband was already middle-aged, and she had never truly experienced the feeling of being in love.
After just a few days of interaction, Amanda fell for the victim.
After some encounters, the two soon developed a deeper relationship.
With Amanda’s help, the victim was directly promoted to deputy general manager.
At that time, the victim became arrogant. More and more women surrounded him, and he had twelve regular lovers.
Amanda, who was deeply in love with him, made him a solemn promise.
He kept saying that he wouldn’t marry anyone but Amanda and that they would get married as soon as she got divorced.
However, the victim took into account what he had told Amanda only in moments of passion.
…
One night, just a month ago, Amanda went directly to the victim’s apartment without notifying him in advance.
That night, Amanda only wanted to surprise him.
She had already filed for divorce and had also discovered that her husband was having an affair. She was about to receive a large share of his assets.
But when she opened the door and stepped inside the house, she saw two red high heels casually thrown on the floor at the entrance.
Amanda was surprisingly calm. She entered the room barefoot and silently.
The master bedroom door was slightly ajar, and the man she loved was role-playing with one of his lovers.
The scene before her sent shivers down her spine, and she felt as if her emotions had been tainted.
She didn’t make a noise or interrupt the couple’s wild lovemaking.
The scent of pheromones made her nauseous, and she wanted to escape.
At that moment, Amanda turned around and left silently, later hiring a private detective to investigate.
After the investigation, she discovered that the man who had sworn his heart to her hadn’t remained unmarried because he was waiting for her. He was simply a womanizer who loved to go from woman to woman every night.
In just one month, he had been with more than twenty different women.
Amanda then realized that she was just another number—someone easy to sleep with.
She detested being just a number.
Then she came to a realization—through personal experience, she knew she could only rely on herself.
Amanda disappeared for more than twenty days under the pretense of traveling.
Even though her lover was a playboy, he truly loved Amanda.
After the victim learned about Amanda’s return date, he arranged a meeting with her for the day before Christmas.
She carefully selected a sharp knife that could not be traced.
She placed the "magic powder" that her husband had hidden at home into a heart-shaped pendant around her neck.
That night, Amanda arrived at the meeting as promised.
After a candlelit dinner, they had a passionate lovemaking session after a long separation. Amanda personally served the man a glass of red wine with the "magic powder."
Afterward, Amanda took the initiative to ask to go to the bathroom once, and the victim didn’t notice anything unusual.
That idiot fell right into her charms.
Afterward, as the victim sat in the bathtub, he was completely unsuspecting.
He enjoyed Amanda’s touch and immersed himself in the bliss of the "magic powder."
At that moment, Amanda pulled out the knife hidden in the pocket of her pajamas.
The knife plunged into the victim’s chest.
As soon as the victim sensed something was wrong, he slowly raised his arms and looked at Amanda and his own wound in shock.
Then, as she pulled the knife out, he slid into the bathtub and half-closed his eyes.
Seeing that she had blood on her hand, Amanda quickly found a pair of latex gloves in the bathroom and put them on, turned on the bathtub faucet, and cleaned all the rooms.
She returned to the bathroom and rinsed off all the blood, blocked the bathtub drain, dropped two long hairs from one of the victim’s lovers into the bottom of the tub, and turned on the cold water valve.
She didn’t kill the victim’s golden retriever because it was a charming dog.
Larry lightly shook his head after reading the report and said, "This person's possessiveness has exceeded the scope of normal cognition."
"It’s a kind of mental illness. She got married right after graduating, became a full-time housewife, and had no children. Her living space was limited, and she lived entirely in her own world."
"So she believed love had to be pure, but her lover destroyed the pure love she had finally found. She killed the victim just to possess him completely." Larry analyzed the woman as soon as he read her statements.
At that moment, the door to the room opened, and Ángel placed the investigation box he was holding on the table.
Ángel approached with curiosity, wiping the sweat from his face, and asked, "Well, she confessed."
"Do you know if the physical evidence has been sent for DNA extraction?"
Ángel nodded and said, "You don’t look exhausted; you’re in here using the air conditioning, while I’m out there hungry and hot. I did all the hard work today, brother."
Larry looked grim as he glanced at the car keys on the table. "Didn’t you enjoy driving my vehicle?"
"I wasn’t comfortable."
"Well…" Larry imagined why and said, "The case is closed. Let’s head back!"
At that moment, Masuka entered and asked, "Holy hell, that woman is even more beautiful in person than in photos."
Ángel and Larry fell silent, staring at Masuka.
Dexter, who was following behind him, said in a monotone voice, "That’s true."
"You hear that? Dexter and I have similar tastes in women."
"Let’s get out of here." Ángel never thought of a female killer in a sexual way.
After walking down the stairs and standing under the scorching sun, Larry stopped. Ángel, Masuka, and Dexter, who were behind him, almost bumped into him.
"Who’s paying for dinner tonight?"
"Huh?!"
"Well, Larry, knowing you hold two positions at the station and your salary must be double, you should be the one treating us tonight," Masuka, like an old sly fox, adjusted his glasses and walked over to Larry’s side.
Ángel placed his hand on Larry’s shoulder and said, "I know a good place."
"Then let’s eat!"
Masuka smiled and, looking at Dexter, asked, "Are you coming?"
"No, I have a special dinner with Rita…"
"Lucky bastard."
"I’d like to clarify in advance that we’re not going to any five-star hotels.
The meal cost cannot exceed two hundred dollars; otherwise, I’d rather go to a fast-food restaurant."
"Don’t talk nonsense, let’s go."
From behind, Dexter watched Larry, who had, on this occasion, taken away a prey he could have easily killed. Without a doubt, as a criminal profiler, Larry had demonstrated his skills, and if Dexter wanted to beat him at finding victims, he would have to slow down his work.
However, if he made a mistake, Larry could uncover him, and his façade as a good bloodstain analyst would be exposed.
Without a doubt, he needed to investigate him further.
