The Orchid Killer

Prompt: Orchid  |  Genre:  Thriller  |  Word count: 300 words

(Warning: Contains graphic content)

“Well now, this is a bummer.”

Shayla turned to look at Rex, “That... is your assessment?”

Rex shrugged his shoulders, “What can I say?! He just doesn’t fit the profile.”

Shayla blew out her breath. Rex was right. So far, every single victim they had found was a convicted rapist. But this guy seemed like the poster child of the ideal family man.

Yet, here he was, butt naked, his back propped against the headboard, legs spread apart, and hands placed right between his legs... holding a white orchid. Blood seemed to bloom from where the flower was, spreading out and across the white bedspread. Several Playboy magazines were laid out around the dead man.

It fit the serial’s signature. The victim stripped naked with their testicles, or in some cases, vaginas, cut off with only a single stem of white orchid covering the area. The only thing that differed in each case was how and where the victim was laid out.

“Looks like this guy liked jacking himself off to Playboy”, Rex said.

“You know any guy who doesn’t?”, Shayla rolled her eyes.

Rex just smirked as he walked out into the hall to talk to the officers who had first arrived at the scene.

‘But why you?’, Shayla wondered.

She turned around and walked up to the bookcase to look for clues.

“Daddy?”

Startled, Shayla turned around to see a young girl, probably five years old, kneeling on the bed next to the dead man.

‘How did she come in?’ Shayla thought.

About to run to pull the child away, Shayla stopped dead as she watched the little girl place her tiny hands between her father’s legs.

She giggled as she pulled her hands back and said, “Daddy, it’s not white this time! It’s red, like tomato sauce!”