Chapter 1: Blood dawn part 3

Charles' first visit to the ladies room lasted a mere 10 seconds. Immediately after he ran out he ran in again to throw up in one of the free toilets. Doctor Underwood came standing by the door.
“I know it's a horrifying sight, but you will have to take a closer look if you want to solve this.”
“Can't we just turn this one over to the fed's?”
“Well then there should be a similar case in another state. And if we would turn it over we'd need to give them the reports we made up till then. And to make those you will still have to come take a look. You see? You have no choice but to face it.”
“You're right” said Charles while standing up, “but I need to drink a bit first.”
he looked at the washbasins, and saw his cup of coffee replacement. He picked it up, and poor it down the sink, then washed it out and filled it with water, after he took a few pulls of the water he moved over to the last toilet again, ready to look at the masterpiece once again.
His eyes scanned the molested body of the poor young man sitting on the toilet in front of him. The eyes were the first thing that drew his attention. They still showed all the emotions of the man just before he died together with the emptiness of any corpse. In these eyes he saw a strange mixture of pain and joy. It was almost as if this man had enjoyed his death. He took a closer look now at the rest of the face, or at leas what was left of it. The man's lower jaw was obviously dislocated or broken or even both. His mouth was opened in an unusual form with red foam dripping from it. Several scars covered the cheeks. His nose was missing and through the hole you could almost look inside the head. On several places on his skull the hair and skin was ripped of, showing bare bone. The many cracks in the skull showed that he had been hit on the head with something heavy. On the back of the head there was a crack large enough to let his brain surface. It was almost as if his brain had wanted to evacuate his ruined body, but got caught on the way out.
Charles now looked at the neck, which was surprisingly undamaged, apart from two small cuts through the neck arteries. The shoulders on the other hand were in a much worse shape. There were 4 big holes in each one, probably made by the fingers or claws or whatever, and a bit lower in the chest there were 2 more holes, probably made by the thumbs. The upper ribs and the collarbone had obviously not survived this treatment, and shards of them were sticking out of the chest and that wounds. The right arm was still in a respectable state, with a few minor scratches, the left arm was a totally different case. The upper arm was broken and the flesh round the fracture was torn apart. The hand was totally deformed, probably all the bones inside were broken, turning the once perfect natural tool into a formless beanbag. There was also not much left of the belly, actually there was nothing left of it, all the flesh had been ripped away and the guts were hanging out of it. The only thing preventing his intestine from falling down the toilet was his hard, with slime covered dick, shutting of the downwards passage. It was sicking thinking about the fact that this man was not only gruesomely tormented but that he was also being raped at the same time. Trying to put this thought aside Charles looked at the legs, these were also broken and had scratches all over them but they seemed not violated in any unusual fashion. With all this in his mind there was only one thing that Charles needed to see, and that was the outside world. His common sense had been telling him to get out of here all the time now and he found it was about time he started listing to it.
Underwood understood this and guided Charles out.
“I think it is time you should look upon something a bit more positive, Charles” he said, “As strange as it may sound we actually have a witness, someone who survived this entire madness.”
Charles now looked at the doctor with great disbelieve.
“She was hiding in the toilets, more specific the one you threw up in. She was sitting there during the slaughter. When we found her she was in shock but I think she should be able to talk now.”
Charles murmured some things, then started following the doctor. Underwood led him through the airport in silence, allowing Charles to organise his thoughts. Underwood knew that this was exactly what Charles needed at this point. It was through their long relationship that they could predict what the other needed. They had both been in the corps for an eternity and they had worked on the most bizarre cases and managed to solve them successfully, even though the start seemed so desperate. But in their careers, neither has ever seen something as frightening and complex as this. Both of them were scared of what they had seen today, but neither wanted to admit it. Charles started going over the questions again he asked himself earlier, seeing if the new information could exclude certain possibilities, or whether it would just create more questions. Considering all the scratches they surely had used knifes, however, the initial killing could have still been done with guns. Apparently there was also a woman amongst the killers, Charles had just excluded the fact that it could be done by one man. After all, it was impossible to rape a person, who seemed to be quite strong, and in the same time totally torture and kill him. And what happened to the clothes? That was another thing that was missing, beside the blood. They were probably dumped in some container somewhere on the airport. He made a mental note, telling that he should instruct people to look for them. It was clear that no questions were solved yet, there were even more popping up left and right.
He noticed that they were almost there. And they were approaching more than just a witness, there was something much more important to be found there. He could smell it from miles away. It started as a vague, but familiar odour and as they came closer the smell increased. There was no doubt left in his mind now. They were so close now he could almost see it. And as they turned around the corner the magical sight came to him. First of all he saw the steam rising, the vapour that carried the wonderful perfume. Next he noticed the beautiful curves. He couldn't resist and he softly place his hands upon them. It felt surprisingly warm and very comfortable. He now closed his eyes and made his lips wet, ready for the next step.
Doctor Underwood looked at Charles in a strongly disapproving manner.
“He will never change.” he said, turning his attention to the young and confused girl.
After Charles had taken a swig of his recently acquired coffee he turned his attention to their witness. He estimated her to be around 17 years old. It was more than obvious that she had been crying, a lot. He grabbed a chair and sat down in front of the girl.
“Hello, my name is Charles. I know this is a hard time for you and that you're scared, but I have to ask you some questions. It's very important that you answer these questions as accurate as possible. We really want to catch these assholes who did this, and for that we will need your help. Do you understand?”
The girl nodded in silence.
“So, what can you tell me?”
“I don't ... I wouldn't know where to start.” she stumbled.
“Well maybe you could start by telling me your name.” Charles said in his nicest voice.
“I'm .. my name is Maya.”
“Well, Maya, where were when this happened?”
“In the ladies room.”
“Were you there from the beginning?”
She nodded briefly.
“So you didn't actually see anything, you just heard something, right?”
Another short nod was the reply.
“Just tell me what you heard then, start from the beginning.”
“Screams. Suddenly someone screamed and then others started screaming too. After a while they went quiet. And I heard some shots then. Then someone entered the ladies room. It sounded like he was fighting. Then they entered the next stall. And he started screaming, and I heard someone panting. And after a while they went quite. I thought they left, but I couldn't move. So I sat still until you guys found me.”
“Okay. Are you sure you didn't hear anything that could have been a shot while those people were screaming?”
“No I don't think so.”
“Well what will do for tonight. Would you mind coming by the bureau tomorrow? We'll go over everything again, maybe you remember something else. But you should first get some rest now.
Was your family at the airport too?”
“No.”
Charles was relieved.
“Well I'll get someone to take you home then, okay?”
Maya nodded one last time.
“Good,” said Charles while standing up, “we'll see each other tomorrow then.”

“So what do you think about her and her story?” asked Charles while he was walking back to the crime scene with Underwood.
“I'm not sure, but there seems to be something not right. For instance she said that she heard no more screams before they came into the toilet. The problem here is that the door is a swing door and when we got here, there were remainders piled up against the door. If it really happened in the order she said, there couldn't have been anything piled up against that door.”
“And what if they piled up the remainders afterwards?”
“I don't see why they'd do that, they didn't care about anything else.”
“And is there no other exit?”
“No.”
Charles bowed his head, he often did that when he was thinking. Silently they walked through the deserted hallways in what used to be one of the busiest airports in the world. Underwood sporadically looked at his college and friend. The extra wrinkles in his face betrayed his thoughts and feelings. This case was totally sucking Charles in. Even more so now he met Maya. It was clear that he wanted to protect her as he would protect a daughter. Whenever someone young was involved in a case he acted like that. It was compensating for the kids he never had. Charles never had much luck with women, they just didn't get along. He was just one of those men in this world that would always be alone. As they were waiting for the elevator Underwood broke the silence. He grabbed Charles by the shoulder and looked in his eyes.
“Hey Charles,” he said, “don't forget that this case is not your personal burden. You are part of a team and I too will always be there to help you if you need it.”
A softly stumbled thanks was all he got as a reply, but that was more than enough.