The Shoe

© Ayr/Gray

The Unicorn Challenge.

A magical new weekly writing opportunity from him – C. E. Ayr – and me.
The rules are
Maximum of 250 words.
Inspired by photo prompt.
That’s it.

Click here to read other stories from the prompt: 31/05/24

The Shoe

It’s the shoe that finally breaks me.
Just a lone shoe discarded in the gutter
And suddenly, tears are rolling down my cheeks.
The other shoe lies inside the holiday apartment, part of the horrific crime scene I’ve just come from.
I’ve been called to incidents like this a hundred time, seen close up how one human being can brutalise another.
I’ve never got used to it, but I’ve learned to deal with it.
This reaction is not like me.
My style is calm, detached, analytical.
It’s why I’m good at what I do.
I solve murders as if they were puzzles and the crime scene is the start of the puzzle.
When I put on the protective clothing, it’s a symbolic gesture for me.
It does more than protect the evidence,
It separates me from feelings so that I can focus on facts, just facts.
And what I don’t do – ever – is betray emotion.
So my colleagues are at a loss to understand me today.
But this brutal stabbing of a frail old lady – in town, it seems, for a surprise party for her daughter’s birthday – this is mindless violence.
The missing handbag is incidental.
She was stabbed repeatedly and savagely.
It looks like he took sadistic pleasure in the killing.
And that act of violence takes me to a place I’ve never been before.
I turn to my team, point to the shoe.
‘This is my mother’s shoe,’ I say. ‘And today is my birthday.’