#murder!mark

You were beginning to think you'd been catfished.

Not only did the man across from you Not look like the photos you saw online, he didn't act the same either. This guy carried himself way more confidently than you got on first impression. Then again, it was just texting over a dating app so you could have had it wrong.

"So, what do you do?" You asked just as your food arrived.

The smile was needle sharp and despite the bustling, lively restaurant, it put you on edge.

"Oh I'm an artist. Nothing noteworthy enough to make it mainstream but I've got my own loyal following, you could say."

"Yeah?" You tried to push past the anxiety anyways. "What kind of art?"

"Sculpture. And anatomy."

He took a long, careful sip of his wine. You thought he definitely looked the part of an artist. Black and dark red suit, perfect hair and dark sunglasses. Well, maybe an eccentric one. Deft fingers plucked a steak knife from the table as he studied his plate.

"What I'm more interested in is you," he points the knife your way before spinning it around in his fingers and cutting into his steak, "tell me everything."

"Oh, well," you were put off by the sudden change in topic, "I'm not all that interesting, really…"

His steak was very rare.

"Nonsense. Everyone has a story." He took a bite, taking a few thoughtful moments to chew. Despite the dark glasses hiding his eyes, you could somehow tell they were picking you apart.

"Everything alright?" He asks, smiling slightly.

You tensed, realizing that you hadn't said anything

"Sorry, just, saying to get prepared for a real mediocre tale," you tried to lighten the mood.

As you talked about yourself, the man across from you watched with rapt attention. He didn't even look away from you to cut his steak. You saw your own anxious eyes reflected back at you in his glasses. He didn't respond much. Just cut his steak into bite sized pieces and chewed.

You talked about your job. His knife scraped against the plate. He chewed thoughtfully.

You talked about your hobbies and interests. Scrape went the knife. He chewed longer this time.

You talked about where you grew up and your family. Scrape. Bite. Chew.

Finally the awkwardness started to get to you. The noise of the other diners wasn't enough to make up for the void that was sitting across from you. As you opened your mouth to ask him a question, anything to get more of a conversation, he spoke.

"Is it not good?"

"Huh?"

He lazily points his knife towards your plate with a smile. You'd hardly touched your food.

"No, no, it's- it's as good as always," you tried to keep under wraps how off putting this date was turning out to be. "How about yours?"

He hums and dabs at his mouth with the napkin. "Spectacular. I'll have to remember this place for next time, right?"

"R-right," you didn't know how to politely tell him there wouldn't be a next time.

With a smile, he leans onto the table a bit more. "I do have one question though… what exactly are you looking for tonight?"

Did he mean…? You felt your face heat up in embarrassment. "Well I mean- I don't know yet it's- not anything casual but- bit early to tell right?"

The man tilted his head slightly, bemused. "Right… I suppose so."

Just as he went to continue, you heard a phone ringing. From the annoyed look on his face you could tell it wasn't a welcome call. Your date silenced it immediately, setting it back on the table and getting back to the conversation.

"Anyway-"

Only for it to ring again.

Anger plain on his face, he checked the phone again and sighed. It was odd. You watched him almost drop the annoyance and anger like a mask.

"I'm terribly sorry but something seems to have come up. I'll call you next time, okay?"

You nod, having no intention of answering, "Right. Is everything okay?"

"Oh, only a small issue, don't worry," he sets a rather impressive stack of bills on the table considering the price of the meal. "Have a lovely night, darling."

With that the oddest date you've ever been on walked out of the restaurant without another word.

And that was the end of it.

You didn't think much of the date beyond a weird story to tell friends. Another odd adventure with online dating and all. He never did call or message you. You certainly weren't going to message him. In time you'd almost forgotten about that fateful night.

Almost.

Because you'd happened to see a news story. One of a body found in the back of an alleyway not far from the restaurant. The picture on the screen was the exact same one your date had had on his profile.

It didn't take long for the police to turn up and question you. On the surface it was just because you'd had the last known contact with him. Then it was all about that date.

His phone, wallet and keys were never found.

The thought that made your stomach turn was the apparent time of death. The detective had told you that your date had been dead for an hour before your meeting time. You still had messages from him after that.

Or at least from who you thought was him.

The thing that got to you the most, though this was just rumors, was how the body was found. Despite the blood and the decomposition, the corpse was posed very deliberately.