Federal Division of the Royal Empire – Criminal Analysis Department.

  Subject: Victim Profile – Case Reference #WMK-02

  Name: Agathe Leuseur

  Age: 19

  Sex: Female

  Species: Human

  Occupation: University student

  Residential Address: 308-J Bardot Crescent, Royal Sector of North-End district.

  Date of incident: September 9, around 4:00 AM

  Location: Victim’s residence

  Status: Deceased

  Cause of Death: Multiple traumatic injuries.

  Body discovery: September 9, 7:30 AM. By the next of kin.

  - DETAILS (curated by Special Agent #204184, Kaeron Karthea.)

  The victim was discovered in a fetal position in her bathroom, nude. No signs of forced entry or disturbance in the immediate environment, indicating the victim likely knew the perpetrator, just like Alice Dellis.

  The time of death determined with autopsy estimation and environmental indicators is approx. between 3:45–4:30 AM

  There is evidence of recent sexual activity (penetration), with the presence of male DNA inside the victim’s genitals (semen).

  In contrast to Dellis’ autopsy, there are signs of bruising all over the victim’s genital area. Defensive and restraint wounds were also found over her body, suggesting a rape.

  The location of the act is the same bathroom where she was found.

  The victim, after the rape, sustained blunt force trauma to her head and torso, with several fractured ribs and contusions to her face, indicating significant violence.

  The cause of death was severe internal bleeding.

  However, forensic still found, similarly to Alice Dellis’ case, deliberate force applied to her neck post-mortem.

  Lastly, the victim suffered the same evisceration process. Her organs and entrails were mostly placed into the bathtub.

  A copy of “The Blackened Theatre” was found beside the bathtub, nearby cosmetics, open to page 78. Fingerprints matching Agathe’s were discovered on the cover and several pages, suggesting frequent interaction with the book.

  Additionally, vaginal secretions of the victim were found soaked into the opened page 78, most likely implanted by the killer.

  The Mental Health Profile (obtained via prior psychiatric documentation and therapist interview), states that Agathe had been under psychiatric care for generalized anxiety and depression, which had worsened after a traumatic event three months prior involving a close friend’s suicide. Her symptoms included panic attacks, heightened paranoia, and dissociative episodes. She had been prescribed medication. The records indicate she had stopped attending therapy sessions in the weeks leading up to her death.

  A key note from her final therapy session reveals that Agathe had expressed a deep love for a new woman in her life. She stated multiple times already that she suffered homosexual deviance before mentioning this woman.

  She also mentioned experiencing vivid dreams where this woman spoke to her before they even met.

  The therapist believed these symptoms were a side effect of her emotional distress but did not consider them to be delusions, as Agathe had gone on multiple dates with women before this specific one.

  A neighbor from an adjacent apartment reported hearing strange, low murmurs and rhythmic thumping sounds at around 4:00 AM the night of the murder, but did not investigate. This is likely the moment when Agathe was beaten to death.

  I close the folder.

  “The first thing that comes to my mind is the pressure on her neck post-mortem. Clearly the killer didn’t mean to kill her with the beating, and tried to ‘fix’ the ritual with the strangling.”

  Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

  “What do you think happened here?” Kaeron asks, standing with her shoulder against mine, since the bathroom door is tight, “it’s the only girl who was hurt. Alice, Claire, and Lila weren’t.”

  I look at Agathe’s bathroom. It’s not a bedroom. Here, it’s cold, dimly lit, dirty, and claustrophobic.

  “This one fought back,” I say, walking to the center.

  Kaeron stares at the floor where Agathe was. She seems...lost.

  I snap my finger in front of her, she makes a little gasp. Her crimson eyes are back on me.

  “So...why did she get beaten?” She asks.

  “Because she broke the ritual. She refused the sex, as the autopsy shows. One of them got angry...and punished her. But they overdid it.”

  She walks closer to the bathtub. Her posture is stiff.

  “And yet...page 78,” I open the book, “it’s the scene where the White Maiden undressed, and the author describes her body. She was definitely into the book…”

  “Isn’t it a contradiction? You just said she refused the sex,” she retorts, turning around, "I think the killer planted those vaginal secretions into the book...to create a symbological bond despite the fact Agathe was fighting back. No?"

  “It doesn't make sense. Agathe had to be into the book."

  “Why?”

  “Because Agathe wouldn’t have been a target at all if she didn't show, at some point in time, interest in the book. These people don’t pin down and force their beliefs, they manipulate them, remember? So...I’m pretty sure Agathe did get attached to the book, but then she had a moment of regret...right before the sexual act.”

  “But why? If she was into the book, then why would she change her mind?” She brushes her chin with her black glove, deep in thought.

  "It was the man."

  "Hm?"

  “Agathe is lesbian...Elaine didn’t know that. The book was left opened to the White Maiden’s naked scene, not the copulation with the protagonist, which happens...at page 82. She wanted the White Maiden, not the whole picture. Whether Agathe herself or Elaine put those secretions in that page, it's the symbol that Agathe was interested in that."

  “So when she saw the guy barge in...she wasn’t compliant. She didn't want to complete the story."

  “And she got beaten for it.”

  “Fuck…” she rubs her hand on her forehead.

  Wow...emotions? From an Other One?

  “Hm...so, I have a question. You said she was found by her next of kin?”

  “Yes. Her sister. She comes every month to visit her. Agathe cut ties to the family because she wasn’t accepted as a homosexual human...and her sister was the only one accepting.”

  “Jesus...that must have been shattering for her,” I shake my head, passing a hand through my hair.

  “Indeed. When I collected her statement, she started crying very hard.”

  “Hmm…” I sigh through my nose, imagining the scene. After a while, I widen my eyes, “wait, the sister found her dead the morning after she died. What’s her statement?”

  “Agathe gave her a copy of her home’s keys, so she usually just gets in and prepares breakfast for Agathe before university. It was then that she simply found Agathe Dead. Why? Are you suggesting the killers knew?"

  “Hmm...we can’t be sure. It may have been a coincidence...but you should check on her sister, just in case."

  Kaeron clears her throat and goes out of the bathroom, heading to the living room. I follow her as she turns to me, ready with another question.

  “What do you think about her...psychologically?”

  “Agathe was suffering traumatic disorders like Alice...a friend of hers committed suicide,” I open the folder again, “she was suffering from dissociation and panic attacks. Nothing that causes hallucinations.”

  Kaeron nods, “however, dissociation may have played a role in the indoctrination. Maybe it wasn’t the conscious and lucid Agathe that followed Elaine’s manipulation?”

  “No, you’re wrong,” I shake my head, “Agathe told her therapist she found a girl. Now...we don’t know whether she’s talking about the White Maiden or Elaine...but the therapist would have known if it was a dissociative episode.”

  “Yes...you’re right, sorry.”

  “It’s okay,” I shake my head slightly, “you’re not used to cracking human brains.”

  “So...Agathe, like Alice, was brainwashed really...really hard...and the brainwashing failed abruptly due to Agathe’s strict sexual preferences,” she says, sighing.

  “Yes. And the next time...they were going to play it safe.”

  “Hm?”

  “Claire.”

  I didn’t even ask for a report. I knew all about Claire...most of it, at least.

  We’re sitting at a dimly lit pub, it’s late afternoon.

  “Claire...” I sigh, sipping on my glass of scotch, “Claire was lonely, her mother gave birth to her through rape and they were exiled from the rest of the family. Claire lived alone and had a normal job...but she also suffered from schizophrenia. This girl was going to be the easiest for them.”

  “This is the only girl who wrote down, so far, her full experience,” Kaeron says, leafing through Claire’s diary, “Elaine used Claire’s loneliness as a leverage to make her obsess over her. Then she disappeared, leaving a void only the hallucination of the White Maiden could fill. Then, for some reason, Claire’s vision of the White Maiden began to attack her. And then, faithfully...she was raped and killed the night you left her house, closing the private case.”

  “Mhm…” I look down, “I still feel a bit bad. I could have saved her.”

  “It’s alright,” she mutters.

  “You know that ‘'Elaine’' she finds and invites to her house for tea in the diary? That was Linda, a coworker I interrogated.”

  “You see...this is very interesting. It means that Elaine probably makes her victims obsessed with her first, and then the White Maiden next.”

  “Mhm, it’s probably the case,” I nod, taking another sip, “Claire was into Elaine a lot and suffered when Elaine left. Agathe was probably just attracted to her, since she liked women.”

  “Alice...though. She never spoke of Elaine, just the White Maiden...and she also only drew her. How would you explain that?” She asks.

  I swirl the last of the scotch in my glass, eyes half-lidded.

  Only one explanation is plausible.

  “Alice Dellis, unlike Agathe and Claire...saw Elaine as the White Maiden herself.”

  “What…?” Kaeron furrows her eyebrows.

  “Alice could have met and been manipulated by Elaine...in a way that blurred the real girl with the novel’s character together. It may have been a voluntary or involuntary turn of events, but it’s probably what happened. We can’t know for sure, maybe Alice just didn’t feel like drawing Elaine.”

  “Hm…” she muses.

  I stand up and put enough money on the table for both of us, “show me Lila Berniech’s scene next, and let’s wrap the day up.”

  “Yes. Are you sure you want to pay?”

  “I never let a woman pay for herself in a pub,” I casually reply, putting on my coat.