Chapter Twelve: The Executive Clerk of the Presidium's Office of Research Work

The serial murders and their surrounding shady circumstances have reached the discerning attention of the press, and the President of the Scientific Council was quick to issue Security Orders by compelling the Tower of Taxanomy to increase Taxonomist visibility in key areas, as well as providing close-in security to all vulnerable public officials that has been identified while this cold-blooded murderer is still at large.

As the public clamors for more effective response and extending responsibility for these senseless crimes, the Tower of Taxonomy was quick to send correspondence to the Presidium of the Literary Committee to respectfully request the convening of a Joint Operation to address this common threat.

It was the Executive Clerk of the Presidium's Office of Research Work who was authorized by the Chairman of the Literary Committee to settle the issue with the Scientific Council at once, being the literary agency responsible for maintaining its own Security Corps, known to many as the Anti-Plagiarists.

Although Taxanomy Agents and the Anti-Plagiarists differ mainly in their investigative methodology, they both address the same social problem of crime. And in determining criminal intent, they both offer the same methods on the matter, but the Scientific Council was too confident that their procedure was more optimal and very accurate on its own, than that of the Presidium.

The recent incidents have proven this assumption to be less reliable, however, and this very fact has sounded the alarm over the possibility that their precise methods are being deliberately sabotaged. Albeit it is too early to declare this publicly at this point, this possibility is not being disregarded by the Scientific Council at this juncture of the investigation.

The main purpose of convening this Joint Operation is to involve the Literarians in the probe of these deaths, while trying to pick-up some leads from there, just in case the suspected sabotage becomes probable, as well as to help the Tower understand the literary component of the circumstances of these crimes being committed right under their noses.

Everybody agrees that this is made by a serial killer, despite the lack of apparent patterns in the way the murder was perpetuated. It is also not hard to infer that the crime scenes were staged and deliberately tampered to further confuse the investigators.

The Executive Clerk and the Director General of the Office of Research Work has been very cooperative as they ascertain the motives for these murders using available literary knowledge, enough for them to conclude that the acts committed seems to be pointing to that of retribution.

It was clear at this point that only Councilmen are being targeted by this unknown enemy, which makes it suspect that the Literary Committee may be behind these crimes. Whether or not they are capable of treachery of this magnitude, there is no strong evidence to make that inference at this point.

For now, everybody is still suspect, and nothing solid has materialized from the depth of the investigations being conducted. Meanwhile, as the government is busy probing the scenes, a politician from the Presidium is being murdered.

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