As soon as the women had left the room, Melody straightened to speak to the detectives. Det. Fang adjusted the pillows behind her back to help her feel more comfortable. 

     She sat at an angle and looked away from them as she grimaced in pain from the assault. When she looked up, she saw Det. Salvatore through his reflection in the window. He was flipping through the photographs she recognized as being taken by the doctor when she first arrived at the hospital. 

     She shut her eyes tightly again at the humiliation of having her naked and marred body photographed. The photos were once again being flipped through by yet another as he handed them to Det. Fang. She knew they would be passed around by more investigators, prosecutors, lawyers, judges, and jurors. 

     Det. Salvatore placed his work phone on the bedside tray and hit the record button for a verbal statement. Det. Fang set the photos back into a file and placed the folder on the end of the bed. 

     “Ma’am, before we begin, I want to tell you how much I admire your courage,” Det. Fang told her. “What we know of these attacks isn’t something many could fight through. You did and you survived. I know your recovery will be difficult, but you’ve already shown you have a determined spirit. You’ll get through this.” 

     She looked up at him and gave him a weary smile at his encouraging words. “Call me Melody, please. Can you tell me what you know so I don’t have to say more than I need to?” 

     “Certainly,” Det. Salvatore agreed. “We believe he stalks his victims for a while since there aren’t any clues at the scene or witnesses to his identity. He’s careful in planning it all, not impulsive. 

     He uses a new street drug called X-Strain to incapacitate his victims. He keeps them alive while he tortures and sexually assaults them. 

     We’re not sure why or at what point he burns the victim. He tortures her to death and brings her body to the back of the club. He then douses her in animal blood and slices through the four major arteries. From the doctor’s statement and the photos, we saw he did the same to you with exception of the cuts. He only left a knife wound above your heart.” 

     Melody swallowed as her hand went to the wound hidden beneath her hospital gown.

     “I don’t understand,” she interrupted before he could continue. “If his other two victims were from the Jade Monkey, why didn’t anyone know? None of us heard about it. There should have been an alert to warn the women who go there.

      Also, how did no one see their bodies when they saw mine? If anyone had, the gossip would have spread like wildfire at the club and across campus.” 

     Det. Fang folded his arms as if in frustration. “I agree, there should have been a warning. I’ve voiced my anger over it many times. A decision was made to wait so there wouldn't be a panic until we could conclude whether the two women were connected to their assailant rather than a killer who struck randomly.

     As for others seeing what he did, the bodies weren’t as close to the club as yours. They were behind other buildings, and by the time they were found, it was early morning. Shop managers were opening when they found them. We speculated they came from the club based on their clothes, and their friends’ statements confirmed it.” 

     “You should have put out a warning regardless of what you were considering about the person behind it,” she said in an irate tone. “While you speculated, he claimed another victim. I hope you’re doing that now. If you don’t, I will. With or without your help or approval, everyone on campus will know today, especially the sororities. Many of them are regulars at the Jade Monkey.” 

     “Our captain is working on a statement to release to the press,” Det. Salvatore informed her. “After the entire club witnessed what happened to you, there’s no keeping it quiet any longer even if we wanted to. 

     Miss. Taskle, we have no idea why you survived, and it seems letting you live was intentional. Perhaps you can think of something to help.” 

     Melody sighed wearily before she began. 

     “Amy, Bridgette, and I had been dancing together for a while before two guys came up to us,” Melody remembered. “They’re regulars there, Daehyun and Jaehyun. Dae and Jae for short. 

     We had agreed before going out that we wouldn’t let any man we didn’t know hang out with us. It’s how we always are at the club, and with such a big crowd for New Year’s Eve, we made sure we stuck close together. 

     When those two showed up, they didn’t seem to care which one of us paid attention. They just wanted to have a good time. We had never hung out with them before, but everyone knows them. They’re good guys. We let them stick around for a while to dance, and then let them come to our table. 

     While we were all talking and getting to know each other, another guy showed up. He was nice and seemed polite, not obnoxious or pushy, so we let him join us. 

     We were all having a good time, and they offered to buy us drinks. Since this was New Year’s, it was cheaper and faster to get our own drinks from the bar rather than have someone bring it. They offered to get our drinks for us.”  

     “You know you’re not supposed to accept drinks from anyone, stranger or not,” cautioned Det. Fang with a bit of exasperation over their foolishness.  

     No matter how many warnings they released to the public, it seemed many never listened. 

     “They were getting their own drinks,” she clarified. “I was the designated driver, so I wasn’t going to drink anything other than a bottle of water. Bridgette and Amy left with them to get their drinks.” 

     “I thought you said you’d always stayed together,” Det. Salvatore wondered. 

     Melody let out a slow breath and looked back at the window. 

     “I told them to go,” she said quietly. “We had been sitting at a table with a bench against the wall, so I thought I would be safe. There was no way anyone could get me out without my cooperation, and I wasn’t going to leave with the man who stayed.” 

     “This man…” remarked Det. Fang. 

     “He was the one who hurt me,” she replied, looking back at them. “He asked if I wanted anything and I told him, ‘No, thank you.’ He kept insisting so I finally told him I don’t drink, thinking that would make him stop offering. 

     He called over a waiter who was walking by with bottles of soda. It’s one of the things they do at the Jade Monkey. They offer bottles of water and soda that are unopened for people who either don’t drink or want to be safe. 

     He bought me one, then he opened it for me before I could take it from him. I thought he was being thoughtful, but after taking a few sips, I knew he must have slipped something in it without me noticing. I was looking right at him, staring at the bottle. I don’t know how he did it.” 

     She reached over for a cup beside the bed. Det. Fang grabbed it first and filled it for her from a plastic water pitcher. 

     “Were your friends still at the bar?” asked Det. Salvatore as she finished drinking. 

     She cleared her throat and nodded. “I assumed so but I didn’t have a clear view of the bar because it was so crowded. They wouldn’t have seen us leave, if that’s what you’re asking.” 

     He nodded and she continued. 

     “I started to feel weird, like I couldn’t think straight, and I felt like I had no control over myself,” she told them. “I don’t know how to explain it. Numb but I could still feel. I mentioned it to him and asked him to please get my friends. I wanted to go to the hospital. 

     He acted concerned and said he would send for them. He helped me out of the booth, and we headed toward the side door. He never made a motion to call them over. I knew I was in trouble but I couldn’t do anything about it. I barely remember him putting me into his car. 

     Black, by the way. It was a black four-door sedan, but I couldn’t see clearly enough to know the make or model. My eyes were blurry and I couldn’t keep them open by the time we reached the door to the back seat. That’s where he laid me just before I blacked out. 

     When I woke up, I couldn’t see where I was, but I knew we weren’t at the club or anywhere with bright lights. It was mostly dark with only enough moonlight to see I was in a clearing surrounded by trees. There was a fire nearby, too. 

     The ground beneath me was cold, damp, and oozy, like mud. I tried to move my arms but something was holding them to the ground. It wasn’t the drug. It was something holding me down. I tried to move my legs and felt something around my ankles. My … my legs were forced apart by something holding them to the ground. 

     I heard a loud banging sound. It was clanging, almost rhythmic, like a slow beat of a drum but metallic. I heard someone walking and moving around me. It sounded like one person but I couldn’t tell if anyone else was there. 

     I was still kind of out of it, so it took a while to realize I was naked. I tried to scream but there was something wrapped around my mouth. That’s when the footsteps came closer. 

     I looked up and saw the man from the club over me. He got down on one knee and started touching my face. 

     I tried to move away but he grabbed my chin and forced me to look up at him. He looked so angry. He looked like he hated me. It was nothing like at the club. Everything polite and respectable was gone. His whole expression was malicious.” 

     She took another sip of water and looked from her lap out the window again. 

     “He started whispering something,” she said softly. “’Shhh… It’s time,’ he said. That’s when… “ 

     She looked at the detectives and wiped away tears. 

    “Do I have to tell you how he did what he did?” she asked in worry.   

     Det. Salvatore looked at Det. Fang and they looked back at Melody. 

    “Did you tell the officers who arrived here first?” asked Det. Fang. 

     She shook her head. “I didn’t tell them most of what I just told you. I didn’t really want to talk. I wasn’t out of surgery long before they came in. I just answered their questions and confirmed what Dr. Bryant had already told them. I was in too much pain. Dr. Bryant gave me more medicine before you arrived.” 

     They looked up at the IV as she motioned toward it. 

     “Tell us as much as you can,” Det. Salvatore instructed. “What you can remember now will help us build a case so we can find him. It will help later when we charge him and during the trial. 

     I know it’s difficult and humiliating. We’re homicide cops but we’re here because you can help us on the last two cases. Whatever you tell us can be shared with the special crimes detectives.” 

     “Why aren’t they here?” she asked curiously. 

     “They were on their way,” answered Det. Fang with a look at Det. Salvatore. “They should’ve been here by now.” 

     Det. Salvatore gave a small shake of his head to his partner. He didn’t want to alarm her by expressing his own concern about their absence. He marked a notation in his notebook about their failure to join them for the investigation. 

     “Whenever you’re ready, Melody,” Det. Fang gently urged. 

     She took a deep breath and another sip of water. She stared down into the glistening liquid as she spoke. 

     “He removed the gag from my mouth, saying he wanted to hear me scream. He … touched me everywhere,” she began with a whisper. 

     The heat from embarrassment spread across her face as she continued. “His … his hands were cold but not just because of the winter air. Even at the club when our hands touched over the soda bottle, I could feel they were cold. They didn’t feel real.” 

     She stopped as she mentioned it and looked up at the detectives as if deep in thought. She took Det. Fang’s hand in hers and rubbed her thumb across it. 

     “I don’t think they were real,” she remarked, letting his hand go, and looked up at them again. 

     “What about them didn’t seem real?” he asked. 

     “There was no hair, no wrinkles at the knuckles, no texture,” she replied. “You know … they felt like gloves.” 

     “Gloves?” wondered Det. Salvatore. 

     “Yes,” she replied almost excitedly. “Latex gloves. I mean, if they were, they were made to look real because his hands looked real enough in the club. I didn’t see them much when we were in the field.” 

     “It’s what we thought,” Det. Fang said to Det. Salvatore. 

     Melody watched them as they shared nods and wrote something in their books. 

     “There were no fingerprints on the bodies of the other two victims or anywhere near the crime scene,” Det. Salvatore explained. 

     She gave a nod of understanding as she went on.