The perfect crime

It has been 5 cases in 5 weeks. The police were at their wits end, the media was circulating the story over and over in hopes that someone who knew something would step up, and the public was up in arms and expressing paranoia.

The "puppet master", as the media called him, and "disturbed perverted freak", as the police did, was a kidnapper. He showed up out of nowhere, left no clues, and no one knew who he was. But why is that exactly?

Well, it was because he wore a black mask that obscured all his recognizable features for one. For another, it was simply because he left no trace. He wore gloves to eliminate fingerprints, used a chloroform rag to leave no physical traces, knocked his victims out from behind to prevent his face being seen, and took a lot of other measures to not be identified.

Even his modus operandi (that earned him both his nicknames) that acted as a signature of his work left many aspects hard to identify. He restrained the limbs of his victims with tight ropes strung from roof beams connected to his room where he could "puppet" them as he pleased into embarrassing positions to put up a show for him. When it was nearing the end of the week, he had sex with his victims while wearing a condom (he always targeted women). He never kept one victim for more than a week and constantly changed his hideout while ensuring his crimes left no fingerprints. Truly, this was a hideous criminal.

And for one unfortunate Marian Nettleton, she was the latest victim the puppet master set his eyes on.

"Mmmh?" She remembered leaving her book club for the day before being ambushed from behind in a dark alleyway.

She groggily opened her eyes and started to look at her surroundings before seeing that her arms and legs were restrained by ropes leading to the ceiling, her mouth also having been gagged.

"Welcome, Marian." A loud digitally disguised deep voice boomed from the speakers set up on the walls, making her eyes widen as she realized the situation she was in.

"We're going to have a fun week ahead of us."