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Either way, the scene was much different from the last. As clean as the apartment was, it didn’t speak of wealth; the couches were generic and cheap, the bookshelves made of particle board.
Who lived here?
And would there be more murder hornets?
Jake’s skin crawled as he made his way to the bedroom, where most of the officers were gathered. He glanced back at Fiona, who nodded at him. They were ready.
Jake stepped into the bedroom to see a young woman, no older than twenty-five, lying on the floor. She had long blonde hair that spilled around her face, and she was wearing pajamas. At first, it looked like a girl who had experienced a heart attack in her sleep.
But then Jake’s eyes trailed forward, and he saw something that made his heart stop.
A greeting card.
Just like the one at Senator Barlow’s crime scene.
Fiona saw it too and gasped. “The card… it wasn’t the senator’s…”
“No, it’s a token,” Jake managed.
It was official now.
They were dealing with a serial killer.
He picked up the card and read it aloud: “You’ve caught me in your web…”
Fiona had a disturbed expression. “Is he writing puns related to each crime scene? The first one said ‘buzzy.’”
“It seems that way,” Jake muttered, disturbed.
“Are you the FBI agents?” someone asked, and Jake turned to see a young female officer looking at him and Fiona.
Jake nodded. “Agent Jake Tucker. This is my forensic specialist, Fiona Red.”
The officer nodded. “Grisly sight here. We don’t know the cause of death yet, but my superior said the greeting card was connected to something found at another crime scene across the city—that led us to you.”
Jake and Fiona exchanged glances.
“We’d like to examine the body,” Jake said, his voice low.
The officer nodded and stepped aside, allowing Jake and Fiona access to the body.
Fiona made her way forward slowly, examining every inch of the corpse with a critical eye. She checked for any signs of trauma or foul play, but there was nothing that she could see—no bruises, no broken bones. It was as if this young woman had died in her sleep peacefully.
But still… something wasn’t right here. There had to be more than just a greeting card connecting these two murders together—otherwise why would they have been called?
Then Fiona stiffened as she examined the girl’s arm.
“What do you see, Red?” Jake asked.
Fiona looked back at him, her eyes wide with shock. There were multiple red marks on the girl’s arm. “This—these are bites from a spider,” she said.
Jake scowled. “What kind of spider?”
Fiona jumped to her feet. “Everyone, please leave the room—there is a Sydney funnel web spider around here, and I need to find it!”
The officers scrambled to leave the room, leaving Jake and Fiona alone. Jake was about to ask Fiona what she was thinking, but before he could, she had already begun to search the room. He followed her lead, his eyes darting around the room for any sign of the spider. Jake was thoroughly freaked out—he did not want to get bitten by one of those things like the poor victim on the floor.
“Jake,” Fiona said, “find me a container to trap it in. They are large spiders, so it might still be in the room.”
