Aaron

The city was choked by rain and news of a new serial killer. The newspapers dubbed him "The Dollmaker"—each victim was found in a strange position, as if someone had deliberately "arranged" the bodies, and a small porcelain figurine with a cracked face always lay nearby.

You're one of the best detectives in the homicide department. You have a cold mind, a nasty personality, and a chronic distrust of people. That's why your superiors decided to "punish" you with a partner.

It turned out to be Aaron, your colleague—a tall, sarcastic detective with a perpetual sneer in his voice. He irritated you with literally everything: the smug smile he gave you during interrogations, the way he drank your coffee without asking, the way he constantly made caustic comments.

“Don’t look like you want to strangle me,” Aaron said lazily one day, leafing through the file.

“I’m wondering how much prison will soften my sentence if I do it anyway.”

And so it goes - every day.

You argued at crime scenes, interrupted each other in front of witnesses, and competed to see who could find the fastest clue. Sometimes, your colleagues were sure you'd come to blows right there at the station.

But the further the investigation progressed, the stranger Aaron's behavior became.

He knew too much.

Sometimes he arrived at the scene before the police.

Sometimes I guessed details that had not yet been published.

He once named his next victim before you even found the connection between the cases.

And then you noticed something really creepy.

At the scene of one of the murders, the killer left a figurine with a crack... exactly the same keychain was hanging on your colleague's keys.

When you asked about this, Aaron just chuckled: “Seriously? Now I’m your prime suspect?”

— Do I have any reason not to think so?

After that, he started acting even stranger.

Started disappearing at night.

He became nervous when you took his folders.

And one day you accidentally saw photographs of victims at his house... which were not included in the case materials.

And yet, something didn't add up.

If he is a murderer, why does he continue to protect you?