It was midday when the Riverside county police department received a call regarding a man and woman found dead in a local park. A very distraught father had the misfortune of walking his children to the playground that morning only to bear witness to the macabre scene and the hectic screams of his kids. He first made a call for his partner to retrieve the children before dialing the authorities. With great unease he described the location and condition of the bodies, staying until the police arrived for further questioning. A crowd gathered as police officers rolled yellow caution tape around the perimeter of the park. People were in shock and awe of the violence now inhabiting what was thought to be a safe and quiet environment. Toni stood among the crowd feigning an equal measure of trauma on her features. She had come riding on her dark green bike, earbuds dangling around her neck. Her hooded jacket rustled with motion as a current of wind chilled her skin. She felt bursting with excitement and arousal, observing her audience to see how they received her latest work in progress.
The models she chose were a couple, a man and a woman she had spotted walking late at night across an overpass. She had followed them to a public restroom, killing them individually while they were both isolated in their separate restrooms. She dragged the bodies to the park bringing with her a knife and suturing equipment. She stripped the bodies of their clothes and belongings and sliced through the skin, removing their hearts and intestines. She bound their arms together and sewed a line of intestines from atrium to atrium, connecting their plump and bleeding hearts. The remains of the intestines were strung up around the playground like ribbons on a Christmas tree. Admittedly she didn't know what to do with them at the time and hoped their presence did not hinder the metaphor she was trying to construct. She almost grinned in recollection, wondering if someone might see her creation as she had intended.
Love as a physical bond, and to a smaller degree, love as a spiritual bond. Like the red string of fate that ties one person to a kindred spirit. Like an embrace that draws two lovers together while in the throes of passion. One could see the concern and misery etched into the features of the man and woman, as though they had been forced to watch each other die helplessly. Toni had chosen them for this express purpose, to symbolize the corporal endearment of two people in love. Her breath quickened as her eyes swept the area, acknowledging the many grief-stricken faces that could not fathom what they were seeing. She immediately became aware of a youth standing at her left side, his eyes studying the corpses as they were photographed and sampled for evidence. Her pupils dilated in the presence of a new stimulus. She cleared her throat to gain his attention, her face bearing the same gloomy facade as before. "Terrible, isn't it?" She cupped her hands around her lips, blowing a puff of warm arm into her palms. She smiled meekly at the stranger, taking in his dark attire and tall presence. "I've heard of various murders in the county but this is probably the first one I've seen so close to home."
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Toni's brow arched in question at his statement: she was a little impressed with David's ability to contextualize seemingly isolated events. "I see," she hummed pleasantly as she leisurely kicked up a clump of dirt. She cupped her chin in her right hand, gesturing for him to continue with a wave of her left. "So, you think the person responsible for this crime has done something similar in the past?" She smiled sheepishly, rubbing the back of her head as she straightened out her back. Her eyes appraised his form curiously as he listed off several homicides, some of which she had executed herself. She wasn't sure if she should feel flattered or threatened by his seeming interest in serial killings. "Yeah, I'm aware of some of those cases," she confessed with a touch of bashfulness in her tone.
"My mom is a crime scene investigator . . . she talks about work, a lot." She smiled warmly to herself, reminiscing on some of the discussions she had with her mother regarding her work for the county. She and her mother seemed to be on opposite ends of the spectrum; it was a bizarre game of cat and mouse, where the conclusion might render an otherwise happy family a chaotic and tragic mess. Toni had to stay at least twelve yards ahead of everyone else, lest she be found out and her work remain unfinished. Her life depended on her craft: she preferred to end the lives of others in lieu of bleeding herself dry in a bathtub.
She rubbed small circles into her sleeves, monitoring the bodies as they were stored in black rubber bags. She almost didn't hear David's introduction as he extended his hand into her line of vision. Her eyes blinked rapidly as her silent reflections dissipated from her mind. She focused her eyes on him and gingerly grasped his hand, pursing her lips in mild amusement. "David," she murmured softly, "that's a nice name." She shook his hand with a harmless grip, releasing it after a brief moment of contact. "The name's Toni," she remarked easily. Her tongue brushed over her lips as she gawked at him, drawn in by his inviting gaze. "So," she started, her arms folding beneath her bosom, "you live around here?"
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