To my beloved. Let us make a promise.
Even if our feelings should change.
When we are drowning in despair,
When it hurts too much to live,
When we seek our own demise.
In the next life, let us hold on til the end.

• • • • • • •

Until the end? But when is that? Who decides? What if it is not the end and is in fact the beginning?

• • • • • • •

"Sorry for calling this late, Doc. I needed someone to talk to." The tall, pale looking man, who responds to the name Mr. Kim, throws his coat on a nearby sofa. He sits down directly across from where the Doc is seated behind his desk.

"No need for apologies, Mr. Kim. I am always here when you need to talk."

"Right. Thanks."

"So tell me. What happened? Does it have anything to do with you phoning me from a public line?"

"Yeah. It's partly why I'm here." A long pause. "She left me, doc."

"Your current girlfriend? The one you live with?"

"Yeah."

"Was there an argument? Did you have those violent urges again?"

Mr. Kim leans forward in his chair. "This is all confidential, right? You're not recording any of this?"

"Everything you say is strictly kept between us. Mr. Kim, you need to tell me the whole truth. Otherwise, I cannot help you."

Mr. Kim retrieves the pack of cigarettes from his pocket. "Do you mind?"

"No, go ahead." The Doc slides an unusually clean ashtray halfway across the desk top.

"Thanks." Mr. Kim flicks the silver lighter and holds the flame for a second before lighting a cigarette. He takes a slow drag and blows two short streams of smoke. "You know those urges?" The Doc gives him a nod. "Well, it's there... whenever I'm awake. It doesn't matter what I'm doing at the moment. It's there." He taps his chest and takes another drag. "Even when I'm asleep, Doc. I know it's around the corner... waiting."

"So the last time you were with her, you felt it magnify."

"No. Surprisingly, no. I had to force it out."

"And you consciously hurt her."

"Hurt...?" The ambiguous word rolled on his tongue. "It must have hurt... for a while, I guess."

"Why did you do it?"

He leans back into the chair. "Well, I came to realize how much I loved her. I would give it all up... if it was for her."

"So you hurt her because you acknowledged the fact she became your weakness."

"No. That love... it allowed me to overcome my weakness. I was able to kill her."

"I see. It might be good for you to let her go. Time is a great healer. You will eventually move on and so will she."

Mr. Kim chuckles and shakes his head. "You seem to be getting all the wrong ideas tonight, Doc." His eyes fall on an expensive looking pen laying innocently on the desk top. " To put it plainly, I killed her." His voice is cool. Maybe too cool. "You see... I bled her to death... just like how I'm gonna do it to you."

Pen. Blood. Fire. Mr. Kim watches as the flames begin to consume the room. His heart is burning at last and he smiles. "Sleep well, Doc."

• • • • • • •

"Kato, the victim."

After hearing his name called, Satoshi Kato stood up and took a quick bow. He adjusted his rectangular spectacles and proceeded in briefing the team:

A woman identified as twenty-eight years old Xinling Ikeda was found stabbed inside an apartment shared with boyfriend, Jaejoong Kim. Family background: her father, Ryuu Ikeda, and mother, Yiling Wang, deceased, died seventeen years ago in a car accident. Both parents were neuropsychologist working at Suzuki-Meyers Clinic. During her childhood: her older sister, Rin Ikeda, also deceased, was killed during their abduction by Patrick Richard Morris who had an obsession with young Asian girls. The next morning after the incident, Xinling was found asleep next to the dead body of Morris by construction workers. During her preteen years, she lived in a foster home and continued her education. She completed high school, went to college, majoring in criminology and law, graduated with honors, and worked as a consultant for a federal government overseas. Late last year, Ikeda joined our profiling team and aided in solving cases in Savage County until her death. She was last seen entering the apartment by a local resident between the hours of seventeen and eighteen.

"Thank you, Kato. I understand a few of you were present at the crime scene, discovered the body, and alerted the police. What's your excuse?"

"Our motive was to investigate a lead for another case hinted by Ikeda herself."

"That's not our job."

"We didn't have sufficient evidence to request an investigation and our information was time sensitive."

"Fair enough. Crime scene report?"

At 20:12, Weir, Young, and I arrived at the scene.We found the door half open and Ikeda's body on the bed. With the apartment being an open studio, and the bright lights shining in from the outside hallway, we were able to spot the victim upon entrance. Her body position strongly resembles Snow White and the poisonous apple illustrations which may link this case to the fairy tale homicides. Little blood stains were found on the bed sheets and mattress. Massive amounts were observed on the sofa and in the bathroom. A trail of blood led from bed to sofa to bathroom where the act of crime took place. The water was left running. The blood splatter inside the bathtub and on the floor indicates a mild struggle while in the tub. The victim was then lifted out carefully. No visible drag marks or signs of further physical abuse after the initial stabbing. The compression on the sofa suggest two bodies were seated there for a long period of time, presumably more than an hour, which explains the nature of the blood stains.

"And the weapon?"

"Not at the scene. Either the perpetrator took it with them or hid it very well."

"Weir. Give us the forensic."

The victim's cause of death: single stab wound leading to hemorrhage. The stab wound is located in the lower abdomen, four centimeters to the front. Puncture measures sixty-six millimeters, left to right, no angle deviation. Posterior aspects: edges torn and irregular, eighteen millimeters across. Anterior: acute. The medical examiner's report shows the victim was stabbed by a conical instrument with the force between two to three thousand newtons. The large bruising around the wound is most likely caused by the perpetrator's fist clenched around the weapon in a horizontal overhead stab. The weapon is possibly a screw driver, pen/pencil, or similar. Laboratory reports are unavailable but they will-

The phone rang and the chief halted the reports.

Two minutes later.

"Show and tell is over. We're off the case."

"But sir, The fairy tale homicides... Ikeda fits the victim profile perfectly."

"Maybe too perfectly. But it doesn't matter. We are unauthorized to continue... reason being Ikeda is an ex-employee. So, let's call it a night." The chief gathered his files. "See you all bright and early tomorrow morning with a new case."

Weir turned and placed a hand on Kato's shoulder, "Were the police able to contact Kim?"

"Not that I know of. We're not getting anymore information from them. Kim might possibly know something."

"Hell. He might even be a suspect."