The Strangest Murder

stepped out and walked toward a house that’s filled with CSI techs wearing booties, masks, and gloves. The detective put on the garb that’s handed to her before walking into the house. The officer looked out the huge window when entering and sees the sun setting over the ocean.

“Hello Detective, we have a bloody one here.”

The forensics tech walks with her into the crime scene where there are three bodies, a man, a woman, and a young boy lying next to each other on the floor, holding hands. Their throats are slit and bodies are opened, blood all over the floor.

“Anybody parts taken?” The detective asks

“No, but it looks like the killer took out each body part and put them back, as you can see even opened up the head to get to the brain and took out the eyes. All the parts are disconnected and as you see the body parts look like they were just thrown back in. They’re in basically the right areas but not as you can see, this heart is put in backward and the intestines were just stuffed back in.”

“This person is definitely a psychopath. Thanks, Amy.”

“You’re welcome. The evidence team will take a while so I probably won’t be done with the autopsy until tomorrow, I’ll let you know.”

“Thanks again.”

The detective walks to one of the evidence techs and peaks over his shoulder.

“Oh, Hi Detective Daro. We got some finger and shoe prints but not sure if any of them are the killers. We’re taking their shoes back to have them checked and we’ll print them when they’re taken out of the house, too much blood to do it now.”

“Good job James, keep me informed.”

“Will do.”

The detective carefully walks around the house, taking care not to bother any possible evidence or the techs trying to gather it.

“I found something strange.” A tech yelled out

The detective walked to where she heard the voice, looked down, and saw a dog, opened up like the family. It looked like the organs were taken out and put back in.

“What the fuck is going on here?”

The next day the detective's phone rings as Shes sitting at her desk at the station.

“This is Daro.”

“Detective, you should come down to the morgue, something strange about these bodies.”

“I’ll be right down.”

Detective Daro walked toward the elevator and headed down to the morgue.

“What do you have Sam?”

“While examining the bodies more I see the hearts have been opened, the brain and stomach was also cut into. They were put back in with the incision down so I didn’t notice it at the scene, but this is why the heart of the man was put in backward because the killer made the incision on the wrong side, but it seems like they learned and put the others in properly. You’d think by this the killer was an armature, but as you see the cut is done with great precision, very straight, the knife must have been very sharp, like a scalpel, but it the wound while cutting...only a laser could do this, but we don’t have portable lasers that can do this.”

Daro’s eyes lit up as if she figured it out.

“I have to go. Send me the report and the copy of your video autopsy, I have to check on something.”

“Ok detective.”

Daro ran to the elevator and pressed the button for the first floor. When the doors opened, she ran out of the department, hopped in her car and drove off.

Daro’s car drove up to her house, she opened the garage door, drove in, and closed it. She quickly jumped out of the car and ran down to the cellar, pressing a button on her watch which opened the door to her spaceship. Running to the bridge she contacted her friends who were also on earth.

“This is Daro to Doctor Vocar, we have a problem.”

“What's wrong Daro?”

“I think there is a Targofian murderer here on Earth, I may need your expertise on it. Come to my house, we’ll have to go to the morgue when it closes.

“Daro, I hope you’re wrong. I’ll see you soon.”

Vocar landed her shuttle next to Daro’s car and phased down to the ship. They hugged and Daro filled Vocar in on what happened.

“How’s Ripar, Commander Roj. and our human friends?”

“They’re good, back at the ranch, I couldn’t tell them where I was going or they’d want to tag along.”

“So, what did you tell them?”

“I told them I had something classified to take care of. Roj wanted to come as back up, but I told him he couldn’t, It’s above his clearance. They couldn’t help...not now anyway, not until we find out if this is really a Targofian and who it is.”

After midnight when Daro thought the morgue was closed they got into Daro’s car, pressed a button on her watch and the car changed into a shuttle, she phased and cloaked it before taking off. Moments later they landed on top of the police station.

They both phased and floated down to the morgue, Daro peaked in and gave the all-clear.

“Here are the humans which the coroner found nothing, but on her report on the dog, she found something she couldn’t explain. As soon as I read this I called you.”

“Let’s see what we have.”

Vocar scanned the room and found Targofian DNA in one of the refrigerators.

“Here it is and yes, it is Targofian. I can take a sample and send the analysis to Targof, hopefully, they’ll be able to tell us who it is.”

“Why do you think a Targofian would do this? They took all the organs out of the bodies, cut open the body parts then put them back.”

“To study the human anatomy for some reason? Well, there's nothing else here, we should wait at your home, it may take a bit to get an answer.”

They phased and floated up to the shuttle and took off. Moments later they were back at Daro’s. The two ordered food, caught up, and talked a little about the case.

“How is it pretending to be a human detective, knowing you could solve all of their crimes in a tenth of the time with our technology.”

“It’s definitely a challenge. you have to give it to them for what they have, they do pretty well. Their DNA technology has come a long way over the years and I work with some smart people. A lot of what keeps them back is their own egos, not wanting to share with other agencies and the bureaucracy. If they’d just work together things would get done faster.”

“On the ranch, everyone works together. Even neighbors help out when they can. It’s a quiet life, and with the help of our new friends, we got new crops, water and we’re working on revitalizing our planet. I just wish we could share with them.” Vocar said

A beep came from Vocars watch.

“Yes, what have you found out.” she asked

A voice on the other end said “This isn’t good, it’s Kor. He escaped and we didn’t even know he went off-world. He was in stasis and somehow, he got out. We suspect it's an inside job, but don’t know who it is. We’re doing a quiet investigation. You can have Roj help you and if you need backup, we can send a small squad if you need it. We think he took apart the bodies to better mimic the internals of humans. This could make it harder for your scanners to find him, you may have to do a DNA scan, human analysis wouldn't pick up our DNA, but our scanners can.”

“Ok, hold off on the squad, for now, we can explain Vocar, but it would be harder to explain a full squad of unfamiliar snooping around the station and crime scene.”

“Let’s scan for Targofian tech, he’s got to be using a ship to get around.”

“I’m not picking up anything. He must be taking out the power crystals when he’s not using the ship. We’ll have to wait till he powers it up again to find him. I’ll keep the police scanner on in case another body is found. We have to find him quickly. If the human police happen to come across him it could be bad.

“So, we wait.” Vocar said “We might as well wait in your ship, there is no use being uncomfortable in a shuttle.”

They went back to Daro’s ship, Vocar offered to get dinner. She drove to a nearby burger joint and got some food and drinks then drove back. Vocar like the slower pace of an automobile, She liked to people watch. Humans with their simplicity were also interesting. She often wondered if his people introduced themselves to the masses how they’d react. You can’t go by what you see on TV, but some humans are volatile, especially the people in power, but you can’t blame them, they don’t know any better. On the other hand, what could they do to them? Their weapons couldn’t even hurt them.

“We have to think of the repercussions of sharing technology with people who kill each other because of greed, hate, religion, petty differences.” the council would say

Daro’s phone rings

“Daro here.”

“There's been another murder, same MO. I sent you the address. Daro, we found out there are already copycats or people he’s working with. There have been about 35 other murders all over the US and around the world. And they all started about 6 months ago.”

“I’m heading to the address. I don’t know what to say, I’m baffled too.” Daro said before hanging up the phone. “We have to find Kor quick, this is getting out of hand.” Daro said to Vocar. “You stay here and continue the scans on my ship, let me know as soon as Kor makes a move.”

“Ok, good luck.”

Daro drove off and headed to the crime scene with lights and sirens blaring. About 30 minutes later she arrived in Beverly Hills. The house was huge, as she drove up the cop at the gate let her through. She drove up the long driveway and parked behind the other cars that were there. Daro walked up the steps and put on the crime scene garb before entering the large opened doors of the house. She heard the chatter of the techs, the sound of camera shutters as she carefully walked around the crime scene.

“The body is upstairs.” An officer said.

“Thank you.’ Said Daro looking at the officer.

Daro walked up the huge staircase and entered the master bedroom where he saw a man on his bed, body opened, blood everywhere.

“They even killed his bird and took all of its body parts out too. Didn’t put them back in though.” A tech said

Daro looked over at the Macaw laying on the ground, its body parts lying next to its blue wings.

“I wonder how many animals he’s killed.” Daro thought.

She walked over to the body where the coroner was. “This is Steven Johnson, he’s a doctor, cardiologist to be exact. The killer still didn’t put the body parts back any better. I guess he just doesn’t care. I heard about the other killings; it has to be some kind of cult.

Daro stayed silent and just said, “Good job, you know the drill.”

“As always.”

She then looked at the bird again before leaving. Daro gave the house a once over, talking to techs to see if they found anything and they didn’t.

“It doesn’t look like anyone broke in, just like at the other scene. Did they let the killer in? No, Mr. Johnson was in bed sleeping.” The tech said to himself, turning around and seeing Daro there. “Oh, hi detective, didn’t see you there. These murders are some of the strangest I’ve seen. The killer is immaculate, no footprints, nothing disturbed, I can’t figure out how he entered and exited, the doors and windows were all locked. You’d think he’s a ghost.”

“Or he can phase through walls.” Daro thought to herself.

“Daro, I got a ping from Kor’s ship. He’s by Santa Monica and moving fast.”

Daro ran to her car and drove off. When she saw it was clear she went invisible and took off. Vocar synced the more intricate sensors of the ship to the shuttle so Daro could see where Kor is off too. Daro landed a little way from Kor's shuttle and walked the rest of the way. They were on top of a mountain near the ocean. Daro could hear the waves crashing against the rocks below. There was a house in the distance.

A door opened from a cloaked ship and Kor walked out, then he turned into a macaw and flew toward the house.

Daro quietly followed at a distance in hope that Kor wouldn’t notice her.

“Vocar, contact Roj and have him bring your ship, I have a plan. Tell him to keep cloaked and quietly come to the house. You come in your shuttle, same, be quiet and park near where my shuttle is. Vocar, don’t come in the house, just stay by the ships. We’ll only have one chance at this.

“What’s the plan?” Vocar asked

“I don’t have time to explain right now.”

When Daro got to the door of the house she changed back into a human and phased into the house. Still phased she walked around the house until she saw Kor walking up to a woman watching television. Kor took out the laser gun from around her waist and powered it on. Daro took out her gun and quickly shot before Kor could harm the woman, Kor dropped the gun in pain. The woman jumped up and screamed at the sight of the two people behind her. Kor still standing, Daro didn’t want to kill her.

“Kor, it’s over, you can’t get away, you can’t change, phase, nothing so just give up.”

“How did you find me? You weren’t supposed to find me!” Kor said in pain.

“Who the hell, what the hell are you two.” The woman said shaking.

“I’ll explain in a bit.” Daro said “Roj, come in here and take Kor away.

Roj entered the house and placed Kor in a restraining field and walked toward the ship.

“Put her in lockup, I’ll tell you the rest of the plan in a few after I take care of this woman.”

“Well, the short story is we’re aliens and that is our prisoner. Unfortunately, you won’t remember any of this because I’m going to make you forget with this gun. It’ll just wipe out what happened tonight, it won’t hurt.”

“Like the memory ray in Men in Black?” the lady asked

“Yes.” Daro said

“Good, I don’t know if I want to remember this.”

Daro shot the ray at the woman and pressed some buttons. She fell on the couch. Daro put a blanket on her and phased out the door.

She walked to the ship. “What now.”

“Well, since they don’t know what Kor looks like, one of you is going to shift into a human and shoot at me. I’ll shoot you and you’ll fall over the edge into the water. They’ll never find a body but I’ll record everything from my vehicle cam and it’ll look like a justified shooting. Then Roj, you’ll take Kor back to the ranch until someone picks him up in a few hours.”

“Sounds like as good a plan as any. Can I be Kor, I always wanted to be a stunt man. It looks like fun. Raj said with a smile.

“Sure, first let's change his shuttle into a car. Oh, Raj, you’ll have to find a car that looks exactly like this one.” The car changed into a blue Camry. “We can’t have our tech floating around. We’ll make the switch when the impound lot is closed.”

Roj morphed into another human and started running toward the bluffs shooting at Daro. When Roj got to the edge he shot a couple of times more and Daro shot back hitting him in the shoulder. Roj fell back over the bluffs into the water below. Daro called the precinct and told her captain their story of what happened. Roj flew off in the ship while Vocar took the shuttle back to the ranch. Daro held the scene until patrol officers came, not long after the rest of the crew came. The humans looked for the body but didn’t find one. The case was closed, Kor was back on Targof awaiting trial. For what he did they’ll probably execute him. They found his accomplice, a guard that worked at the prison, he was found dead where he lived. We’ll never know why he helped Kor, it really doesn’t matter now.

Daro waited for Raj at the impound lot. Raj pulled up in a blue Camry. Roj put some magnetic tech on the car, pressed some buttons on her watch and the car phased and became invisible. Daro drove their shuttle out and Raj pulled the car in its place then took off the tech and walked out.

Daro met up at the ranch where they all had dinner. Things were quiet again...for now.