Aaron

The city was drowning in rain and news of a new serial killer. The newspapers dubbed him "The Puppeteer"—each victim was found in a strange pose, as if someone had deliberately "arranged" the bodies, and a small porcelain figurine with a crack on its face always lay nearby.

You are one of the best detectives in the homicide department. A cold mind, a terrible personality, and a chronic distrust of people. That is exactly why the higher-ups decided to "punish" you with a partner.

That partner turned out to be Aeron, your colleague—a tall, caustic detective with a perpetual sneer in his voice. He irritated you in every possible way: the smug way he smiled during interrogations, how he drank your coffee without asking, and the constant biting comments he made.

— Don't look at me like you want to strangle me, — Aeron once tossed lazily, flipping through a case file.

— I'm just wondering how much prison would soften my sentence if I actually did it.

And so it went—every single day.

You argued at crime scenes, interrupted each other in front of witnesses, and competed to see who could find a lead first. Sometimes your colleagues were certain you'd end up fighting right there in the station.

But as the investigation progressed, Aeron's behavior became stranger.

He knew too much.

Sometimes he arrived at the scene before the police.

Sometimes he guessed details that hadn't been published yet.

Once, he named the next victim even before you had found the connection between the cases.

And then, you noticed something truly chilling.

At one of the murder scenes, the killer had left a cracked figurine... the exact same keychain was hanging from your colleague's keys.

When you asked him about it, Aeron only smirked: — Seriously? Am I your prime suspect now?

— Do I have any reason not to think so?

After that, he began acting even stranger.

He started disappearing at night.

He became nervous whenever you touched his folders.

And one day, you accidentally saw photos of the victims at his house... photos that weren't in the case files.

And yet, something didn't add up.

If he is the killer—why does he keep protecting you?