The Box

As Rachel stepped out of her apartment, she nearly tripped on a small brown box in front of her door. “What is this?” she asked herself, picking it up. She was surprised by the weight of it. She turned it over looking for an address. The box was entirely blank.

“Olivia? Did you order something?” she called to her roommate.

“No,” came the reply.

Okaaaaay, she thought, if she didn’t order this, and I didn’t order this, what is it? Do I take it outside, or do I just leave it in the hall? She decided to take it inside and leave it on the counter. As she walked past the front desk she asked the receptionist if anyone had left a package at her door. No one had. Well this is weird, she thought, oh well.

When she arrived at her office, her assistant, Victoria greeted her with a frown.

“You’re late, chica. Captain Andrews is on the phone.”

“Am I that late?”

“Not really, but he’s been talking my ear off about some murder. This one seems pretty bad.”

She sighed, “Ok, where’s the crime scene?”

“That’s another thing, it’s in a shady place.”

“Where?”

“Dead Man’s Alley?” she flinched, as if expecting Rachel to yell at her.

“Oh boy. He’s there?”

Victoria nodded and pursed her lips. “I’m not gonna make you go alone. I’ll take you there and then Captain Andrews will take you back. We already arranged it.”

“Thank you so much. If I had enough money, I’d give you a raise,” Rachel said, hugging her.

“I don’t expect a raise, chica. Just a Christmas bonus,” she joked.

As they pulled into the alley, a chill ran down both of their spines. Dead Man’s Alley was aptly named. It was known as the area with the highest crime rate. The murders in Dead Man’s Alley made up a little over half of the murders in the city. Victoria drove slowly until she saw cop cars.

“Ok, this is where I’ll let you out. I’ll pray for you, chica.”

“Thanks for driving me, drive safe.”

As soon as Rachel got out of the car, Victoria sped off.

“Rachel, over here,” the captain said motioning to her.

“Why did it have to be Dead Man’s Alley?” she complained walking toward him.

“I know, I know. I don’t choose where the murders happen, I just catch the killers. Speaking of which, I’m going to warn you about the body. It’s not the worst we’ve seen, but it’s not pretty.”

“Ok, go ahead, show me quickly,” she sighed.

One of the officers lifted up the tarp and Rachel gasped. The body was headless and there was a queen-of-hearts playing card nailed to the chest. She covered her mouth and the officer quickly put the tarp back.

“Oh my gosh…”

“It’s going to be hard to identify the victim without the head, but we know he was a man, probably in his early 30s or so, unmarried. Judging from the suit, he probably had a more professional job,” Captain Andrews said looking at his notebook.

“Is there a way you can identify him without the...” she swallowed hard, “head?”

“Not unless we have a sample of his DNA in our database. We could see if what we have of him matches any of the missing persons reports, but it’s a very slim chance.”

He looked over at Rachel and saw that she was looking a bit queasy.

“You okay? You don’t look so good.”

“I’ll be fine, I think I just need to get out of this place. It’s been an odd morning.”

“Alright. We’re almost done here. You can wait in the car if you want,” he said, unlocking it. “Alright, let's pack him up and take him to the morgue,” he called to the other officers.

Rachel watched from inside the car as the body was zipped up and loaded into the van. A few minutes later the other officers were driving off and the Captain was putting the keys in the ignition. “I would say that you’ll get used to it eventually, but you never really do,” he sighed.

“Good. I don’t ever want to become desensitized to something like that.”

“You said you had an odd morning. Care to talk about it?” he asked as he started driving.

“It was really just one thing. This morning I found a brown paper box in front of my door. There wasn’t a name or address or anything on it. It was just blank. Olivia didn’t know what it was and when I asked the receptionist, she didn’t know anything about it. All the mail goes through her first and she never lets anyone leave anything at our doors in case someone tries to steal it.”

“That is kinda weird. Did you open it?”

“No. I’m kinda scared to.”

“There wasn’t a rope or anything on it?”

“No it was just the box.”

“Ok. No ticking or anything?”

“No. I picked it up and shook it a little and nothing happened.”

“Ok. Well it’s probably not a bomb. You should be fine to open it. If it’ll make you feel better, you can take it to the station with you later. I told Victoria I’d drop you off back at your office. I’ll be working late tonight, so I won’t be able to drive you back.”

“Okay. I’ll go back and get it. I think I need the break.”

As Rachel walked into her apartment, Olivia greeted her with, “You’re back early.”

“I’m only back for a bit. I just came to pick up the box.”

“Know what it is yet?”

“No. I’m taking it down to the station.”

“Ok. Tell me what it is when you find out. It piqued my interest too.”

“I will. When do I get to see the latest masterpiece,” she asked, noticing Olivia’s paint streaked apron.

“I’ll let you know when it’s done,” she replied with a smile.

“Okay. Now for the moment of truth,” she said as she began to open the box.

The captain sat on the edge of his seat. As Rachel removed the top, her eyes widened and she screamed. She dropped the box and a head rolled out.