Cracked Case

It was rare, very rare, but sometimes the authorities actually did something against cruel girls who tortured and crushed shrinking-virus-contracted-males, or “Shrinkies” as people mostly refer to them.

It happened mainly under 2 circumstances:

1 - extreme public pressure regarding a specific recorded case, when it’s clear beyond any doubt that the killing was done on purpose. In cases of kidnap and slavery - even that wouldn’t help.

2 - when the kidnapped shrinkie is a family member of someone very, very important, then he would pull some strings and a case would actually be opened and someone would investigate what happened to him.

But even then, those cases were solved very rarely.

—————

Someone kidnapped the police commissioner's son. Jane was a strong independent woman who was also a political figure. She was furious and commanded anyone capable in the police workforce to look for her son.

It took exactly 18 hours until they found a video from a street cam of him shrinking and a young woman ran and picked him up, taking him away.

You, John, a detective, found out the footage and sent it to Jane, she called you to her office immediately.

“Do we know who she is?” She asked the moment you  got into her office.

“Not yet, we don’t have a face but the AI is searching for her walking patterns-“

“I WANT HIM BACK JOHN”, she snapped, “I don’t care how! FIND HER!”

You nodded and went out of the office, it’s her son, she’s worried sick, you can understand her behavior although you wished the police would look in the same way for your brother who disappeared 6 months ago.

“John, no matter what! Do ANYTHING to get him back”, she said on your way out.

The AI finally had a match, a 21 years old girl named Samantha, she had no records whatsoever, but it didn't matter - you got to take her in, so you went with a police force, woke her up and arrested her, then started an interrogation in the police station.

————

You slid over a picture of the commissioner’s son.

“Have you ever seen this kid?”

“What? No, I don’t know why you brought me here, I’ve done nothing wrong”

It didn’t seem like she’s lying, in general she looked like a sweet and innocent girl, there’s a team who’s searching her house thoroughly and no cages or enslaving gadgets could be found so there’s no proof she’s an enslaver either.

“Where have you been this morning, at 10:43?”

“What, I don’t know, in college probably”, she said and played with her hair.

“Are you sure you haven’t been in Yolanda street?”

“Yeah I’m sure”, she replied quickly.

“Can you prove it?”

“Lol how, do you have footage of everywhere you’ve been?” She started giggling.

“I think you don’t understand the seriousness of what you got yourself into”, you tried to intimidate her a little and she stopped giggling, “anyway, I want to check your phone, you got nothing to hide, right?”

She paused for a moment, then placed her iPhone on the table, “ok”, she blushed, “but just for the record it’s a privacy violation, that’s my personal phone”.

“Don’t worry about it”, you said and unlocked her iPhone using her face, then walked out of the room, leaving her to boil a little.

————

Her phone didn’t have anything suspicious, you went over her WhatsApp conversations from today, entered her social media apps, latest photos, there was nothing incriminating, she also didn’t seem to have an OnlyFans account which was usually a red flag of enslavers, there was nothing.

You sighed, it’s probably not her, you’re wasting time here, the commissioner is going to be furious, then your phone started ringing.

“John, we’ve found something”, it was Steven, the one who was leading the search at her home.

“What?” You asked.

“A tiny bone, I think belonged to a kid, stuck between the patterns of one of her shoes, a black and white Allstar shoe”

“Hmm, the suspect didn’t wear white Allstars though”, you mumbled, “DNA test?”

“It’s being taken to the lab, but I have a weird feeling, her shoes are too clean, she used bleach on some of her soles, who does that?”

It didn’t make any sense, there’s a sweet innocent looking girl in the interrogation room, she doesn’t seem too worried about all that, but only someone with something to hide would clean their shoes like that.

“Ok Steven, thanks, keep looking”, you told him and hung up.

You entered back to the room, Samantha’s face was a bit red, her foot jumping, she finally looked a bit nervous and guilty now.

“I deserve to see a lawyer, you can’t just keep me like this”, she said, her tone changed, she wasn’t so calm anymore.

“What happened? I thought you have nothing to hide”, you said and sat down.

“Give me back my phone”, she said.

You looked at her eyes, there’s something in that phone, now you’re certain of it, you knew that no matter what rights you’re going to violate the commissioner will have your back on this, she ordered you to do literally anything to get her son back.

“We found something in your apartment, someone was crushed under your shoes”, you said and leaned forward.

She moved uncomfortably, “so what? Some shrinkies are like bugs on the street, it was probably by mistake, like stepping on shit”

It looked like she was chanting something she memorized, she was waiting for you to ask that.

You got up and walked out of the room again, you’ve decided to call your cousin who was about her age.

“Hey Ashley”

“Hey John, what’s up?” She replied, probably confused that you are calling her at a time like that.

“All good, a weird question, you have an iPhone, right?” You asked.

“Umm, yes? Lol why are you asking? you wanna buy one?”

“Haha no, nothing like that, another silly question, if you wanted to hide something important, a photo maybe, where would you put it?”

She started laughing, “John what’s up with these questions, so weird”.

“Sorry, it’s for a case I’m working on, it’s important”

“Ok, well, a photo you say… I guess the hidden gallery?”

“Hidden gallery?” You asked, confused.

“Yeah, just scroll down in albums, there’s a hidden folder, that’s where all the girls hiding their nudes and all that”

“Oh, wow, thanks Ashley, that’s really helpful”

“Good luck with the case”, she said and you hung up.

You quickly entered photos and tried to enter the “hidden” folder but it scanned your face and didn’t open up, you felt like you’re on to something.

The phone rang again, it was Stevens.

“John, there’s a match, the bone, it’s the commissioner’s kid” he said, heavily breathing.

“Oh my god, fuck, it’s certain?! So he’s dead?!” You asked in panic.

“It’s 100%… she crushed him, probably used bleach so only the bone was left, she definitely missed it, we couldn’t find the rest of the body yet”.

“Fuck… fuck fuck fuck…” you punched the wall, “Jane is going to be so pissed now…”

“Yeah, we’re fucked…” Steven said and you hung up, you blushed all red, you entered back to the room, Samantha was standing, also blushing.

“I want to see my lawyer and get out of here right now!” She shouted.

“You’re not going anywhere! Sit down!” You pointed at the chair, she grumped and sat down, hitting the table with her elbows and grabbing her head.

You clicked on the hidden gallery again, “show me your face”, you said in a firm tone, facing the iPhone to her.

“Why?” She raised her face and the gallery got unlocked, she looked at it with a pale face, she jumped from her chair over the table to catch it but you pulled it away.

“NO! YOU FUCKING ASSHOLE ILL CRUSH YOU!” She screamed, you pushed her away, she bit your hand hard, 2 cops quickly entered the room and restrained her, “ILL FUCKING CRUSH ALL OF YOU, DAMN BUGS, THATS WHAT YOU ARE!” Your blood was on her lips.

You slowly turned the phone to your face and zoomed in one of the photos, you covered your mouth with your hand, shaking, completely shocked, she was taking a picture in front of a mirror with a crushed man stuck to her sole, you slid right, another pic with different shoes, a kid, you felt terrorized, you slid again, the black and white allstars, a kid squashed underneath them, you zoomed in, it’s probably the commissioner’s son.

You felt sick, you puked into the garbage bin in the interrogation room, Samantha was still fighting the other cops who held her to the ground.

“THEY WEREN'T EVEN HUMAN BEINGS! YOU CAN'T ACCUSE ME FOR ANYTHING YOU PIGS! EVERYONE DOES THAT! EVERYONE!” She screamed, they finally restrained her with handcuffs behind her back.

“T-Take her out”, you said, cleaning your mouth with your sleeve, “f-fucking monster, t-they were just kids, take her to custody immediately”, your voice was shaking, she spit on your face on her way out, you couldn’t believe such sweet and innocent looking girl turned to a demon so quickly, a monster who took lives with zero remorse.

—————

You shrunk later at home, Samantha infected you with the shrinking virus, you had to resign from the police.

You lost everything, your wife placed you inside an aquarium at home and took care of you like you were some pet, waiting for a cure to be invented. You only prayed that she would stay patient and keep taking care of you.

Still, after the scarring photos you saw on Samantha’s phone, you felt like the luckiest man on earth for even being cared for after you shrunk.

—————

Jane was heartbroken and furious about what happened, she tried to put Samantha on the electric chair, she pulled any string she had but it didn’t work out.

The authorities knew that if they did that, it would be an unprecedented punishment that would open a Pandora box that can make the US economy shatter into pieces.

She had more than 200 photos in that gallery, she kept a souvenir of anyone she crushed, men, kids, elders, there was no doubt she’s a mass murderer, a psychopath on a rare scale, and she only got 5 years in jail for it, the highest punishment anyone ever got for crushing shrinkies, but it was still a ridiculous one.

Jane didn’t care for her career anymore, she lost her only son, so she shot Samantha’s head when she went out of court, in a way, justice was served, but Jane commited suicide immediately afterwards.