𝐄𝐒𝐏𝐄𝐑𝐀𝐍𝐙𝐀 knelt before the dead body of the woman in front of her and lifted up the dull white tarp that was draped over the body. Crimson red stains on what Esperanza assumed was the neck and stomach area. There also appeared to be a lesser amount of blood near the crotch area of the victim.

Esperanza futher examined the body. It was a woman in her early to mid twenties with brown hair, and brown eyes. Her face had been beaten so drastically that she was unidentifiable. The woman had been found dead at 1:40 AM in an alleyway, with no ID. The current time is 1:50 AM. The once secluded alleyway was now buzzing with police officers and detectives. Esperanza set down the tarp and began unbuttoning the woman's shirt. "Uhh...what are you doing?" Asked one of the police officers that was at the scene. "Checking for a signature..." She answered. Esperanza sighed as she found what she was looking for. "Just as I thought..." Esperanza muttered holding back, yet another exasperated sigh.

The victim had a question mark etched in the middle of her chest just bellow her collarbones, just like the first two victims. Esperanza opened the victims mouth and found a note inside. "This'll be fun..." Esperanza muttered sarcastically as she took the note of out the victims mouth and opened it up.

Riddle Me This...

What has many teeth but can not chew?

X.O. Yours truly, The Riddler.

Esperanza didn't need much time to think about the riddle before she had the answer. "Comb..." Esperanza whispered in a matter of seconds. "Comb! Does somebody see a comb around here?!" Esperanza called out, to no one in particular. The personnel working at the scene began walking around the crime scene in search of a comb. "Captain!" Called out on of the personnel at the scene. "I found the comb!" The officer elaborated. In the officer's gloved hand was a blue comb with blood on the teeth, which had been made significantly sharper. The comb was missing one of it's teeth. By the looks of it, it snapped off.

Esperanza wasted no time and jogged over the where the Officer was. Esperanza studied the comb carefully. She moved her head closer to the comb and squinted. "It looks like there's still hair on this, and the teeth have been sharpened enough to cut someone, if we're lucky the blood on the comb belongs to our killer..." Esperanza thought out loud.'But when have we ever been that lucky?' Esperanza kept that last thought to herself, however. "Maybe our killer left it here on accident..." The officer guessed. "Nothing's an accident, not with this guy..." Esperanza stated vaguely.

"Okay...can you get this to the CSI please." Esperanza asked. "I-I'm sorry ma'am but the new CSI isn't here yet and Carol is on maternity leave remember?" The officer answered. Esperanza swore under her breath. She'd forgotten about that, tiny detail. "Where's the new CSI?" She called. The officers and detectives on scene, looked around and then shrugged. Esperanza huffed and rolled her eyes. "Has ANYONE seen the new CSI?! And I'm gonna need something better than a shrug, or an 'I don't know.'" Esperanza inquired loudly. "Actually, I can do you a lot better than 'a shrug or an 'I don't know.''" Said a soft male voice from behind her.

Esperanza turned around and looked at the person behind her. There stood a tall lanky man with short hair and glasses. "Hugo Spencer Sullivan, but I mean you don't have to call me by my full name, I just said my full name, but you're my boss, and you hired me so you probably already know my full name, I'm sorry I'm rambling. Where's the dead person?" The man, who Esperanza now knew as, Hugo stated. Esperanza smiled at him, and contained an amused giggle, that tried to escape her lips.

"You must be the new CSI." Esperanza said with a cheeky grin still on her face. 'Obviously! Duh! Thanks Captain Obvious!' Esperanza internally criticized herself for repeating what Hugo had just confirmed seconds prior. "Uhm, the bodies over here, follow me." Esperanza said while walking over to the deceased. "Uhm, do you want me to- can I just-" Hugo pointed to the comb that still remained in her hands and gently took it from her and put it in a blue evidence bag. "Oh! Sorry, thank you." Esperanza said realizing that she'd still had comb.

"Your fine, uh, Captain." Hugo replied. Hugo adjusted his glasses and unveiled the victim. He picked up one of her paled hands and examined it. Hugo then got up and looked around the area for something and then came back to body. "She wasn't killed here..." Hugo finally stated. "Yeah, that's what I was thinking...the bruises suggest that there was a stuggle, but there's no evidence of such, its...neat...too neat for an alley way." Esperanza stated her thoughts out loud. "Look at this," Hugo said while motioning for Esperanza to get closer to the body. "The cuts on her hand aren't ones that get from scrapped yourself, it...it looks more like a cut that you get from using a sharp object too fast..." Hugo voiced. He re adjusted his camera so he could take a picture of the body.

Esperanza sighed. "He made her do it..." Esperanza said with distaste. "Made her...do what?" Hugo asked confusedly. "Sharpen the comb. I know you're not the ME but can you tell cause of death?" Esperanza asked. "Uhhh, no, I can't be certain it could've been the beating, or an external factor, sorry ma- uh- Captain." Hugo answered. "It's fine H- Sullivan?" Esperanza contemplated using his first name but caught herself. She opted to us his last name instead, making sure she got it right. "Yeah, yeah you're correct." Hugo said while smiling.

Hugo walked over to the Jane Doe's feet and removed the tarp completely. Hugo lifted up her skirt which had been stained with blood on it's front side. The vaginal area was completely covered in blood and disfigured. "God, did he-" Hugo cut Esperanza off. "Yep, she was sodomized." Hugo expressed confirming Esperanza's thoughts. Hugo photographed everything he found.

"It-It looks like there's a peice of whatever he used is still in her, uhm..." Hugo trailed off at the end, unsure of how to word the end of his statement. "Vagina?" Esperanza said while furrowing her brows. Esperanza knelt down and grabbed a pair of tweezers from Hugo's CSI kit. "Can I see this?" She asked. "Uh, yeah sure Captain." Hugo affirmed. Esperanza used the tweezers to grab the peice of the object that the killer used to sodomize the victim.

Esperanza held up the object. The object was coated in blood, but Esperanza could take a wild guess at what it was. "Hugo, can I see that comb please?" Esperanza requested, not realizing that the use of Hugo's first name slipped passed her lips. "Uh, sure Captain." Hugo complied, and hand her the bag with the comb. Esperanza took the comb out of the bag and put the object on the area where the missing tooth was.

It was a perfect fit..."Well now we know what he used to sodomize her..." Esperanza stated with anger in her voice. Esperanza exhaled, "Bag this and put in evidence." She requested. "Yes Captain." Hugo replied as he put everything into a blue evidence bag. "Alright everybody! You did good, now lets rap this up so you can all go home to your families!" Declared an exhausted Esperanza. Everybody nodded and started finishing up, and they all went home at about 2:48 A.M.

Esperanza got in her car and drove to the NYPD. Esperanza got out of her car and unlocked the building with her key card. She walked into the building and into her office. Esperanza went over to her desk. She gathered some files pertaining to her case. Nuzzling them into the crook of her arm. She look on her desk realizing there was too many files there then she cared to carry, and opted out to stay at her office instead. Esperanza dropped the files back onto her desk and plopped down into her office chair. She leaned back in her chair before blowing a raspberry and moved closer to her desk. "Okay...let's get to work..." Esperanza stated while cocking her head to the side and opening one of the case files. She didn't know who this little psycho was. But what she did know was that she was going bring closure to these families. And to do that she had to catch them.