The Rose Tattoo Killer

By M.M. Nightly

My name is Markus DeSaints, and I'm a serial killer.

The police, along with a determined detective, have found all of the evidence...and the bodies. Now I'm stuck in county jail until my trial, waiting to hear if I get the death penalty or if I'm going to waste away in jail for the rest of my life.

However, I wasn't expecting them to send me to Mercy Hall, the local asylum. Those who enter Mercy Hall's doors, don't usually come back out. Soon, I'm put in front of a panel and asked to retell my killings.

Will they believe the detective's story to the public? Or will they believe the words of a killer once I reveal what I've been keeping from the police?

• Language: English
• Publisher: M.M. Nightly
• Release date: Feb 12, 2024
• ISBN: 9798223995562

Book preview

1

Breaking News! Breaking News!

The headline flashes across the old box-shaped television set on the desk. One of the guards leans back in the old wooden chair with wheels and props his feet up on the table; while a second guard walks up the hallway, dragging his club along the bars of all five cells in the county holding area. Don’t lean back too far, James. That chair looks like it’ll give out on ya soon. He laughs to himself as he drags his club over my bars a second time. The cell at the end of the hall is for drunks needing a warm spot to sleep off the buzz. The cells in the middle are for misdemeanors and overfill. I’m lucky to get the first cell all to myself for them to keep an eye on me. They couldn’t trust me around the general population, or so the guards said.

Ha ha. Very funny, Mick. Don’t joke about old reliable. He interlaces his fingers behind his head and lets out a sigh.

What’s with the conference? Anything important? He points to the tv, placing his club back into its holder.

Don’t know yet. It just started.

The second guard, Mick, stands just close enough to James that I can still see a bit of the tv between them. A man in a brown tweed coat addresses the crowd, slightly moving his hands to shake off the nervous energy. Good afternoon, everybody. My name is Detective Stacey Stefford and I am the lead detective on this case. A few laughs pop up in the group. Yes, yes, he says annoyed, as he waves his hand at the crowd of reporters. It’s a family name… Anyway, we have called this press conference to give an update on The Rose Tattoo murders. The crowd erupts with everyone shouting questions over each other. Please, hold your questions until after the conference. From an earlier conference, we stated that we had found four women’s bodies. All were in their mid to late twenties, and each one had a rose tattooed onto their right wrist sometime while they were being held. Some of the tattoos were done before they died due to the scabbing on the top layers of skin, but a couple were done after death because of the lack of bleeding and scabbing. We have recently found eight more victims. All were around the same age range, the majority of them were brunettes but a couple were blonde that recently had their hair dyed before their deaths, and each one had a rose tattooed onto their wrists. They were buried in shallow graves in the woods. They also had bruises on their wrists and ankles from being restrained. There was also evidence of torture on their fingertips, mainly their first finger, middle finger, and thumb. We are working on finding out what happened to them in the days leading up to their deaths. Okay. Any questions?

A reporter shouts through the crowd, Was there any evidence of sexual abuse?

We are unable to answer that question at this time as the investigation is still ongoing. He lightly taps his fingers on the dark brown podium.

Another reporter stands up with a pen in their hand and waves it in the