Navarro's Hunt: Unpicking the Thread of Gloria's Suicides

Roberto Navarro could hear his heart pounding in his ears. He took a deep breath and tried to calm himself. The last thing he needed was to run off half-cocked. He picked up the phone.

"This is Roberto, I think I found something."

A few minutes later, after taking a few more calming breaths, Roberto had outlined his theory on why these suicides were occurring.

It started with an unexplained mass suicide of five young men from the town of Gloria. They were all good friends who had met while they were in school together. Their families couldn't explain their actions - each of them left behind a letter apologizing for their actions and stating that they weren't going to be around for much longer. It was a precautionary measure, as it turned out, because all 5 bodies showed signs of drug use and poisoning. All five of them had been poisoned with a cocktail that would have dulled their senses, and would have destroyed their nervous system and brain activity over time, causing them to die slowly and painfully for days before finally ending things on their own terms.

The next incident happened six months later when three more families reported loved ones missing or dead. The pattern followed the same one: the person left behind a note, the person's body showed signs of drug use and poisoning, and there was no cause of death that could be deduced by local authorities. He hadn't realized it until now, but this was eerily similar to another string of deaths that had occurred several years ago in the Alps, except there had been more than a dozen deaths then - people who were hoping to escape some unnamed horror quickly found themselves victims of a drug that was being sold illegally which caused them to do what they feared most - killing themselves in any way they could find. This was the same story repeated seven times over again, except for one very important detail: all seven disappeared persons were women.

"Why?" he asked aloud, "Why only women? Why only from Gloria? And why only from Gloria?" He thought back to what Pietro had told him about Gloria, about how it was once a bustling town that fed many villages nearby but lost its luster long ago due to lack of business and what he suspected to be some kind of corruption or scandal that drove away many people from the town for decades until it became nothing but an empty husk where not even ghosts dared set foot anymore - at least not according to Pietro's stories anyway... But if there was an explanation for these suicides happening here specifically, he needed to know what it was so he could put an end to whatever was going on... Or so he hoped at least. At this point there wasn't much else he could do and he knew it so he decided to call Pietro and tell him what he'd managed to find out so far while waiting for backup at his apartment...

He got through right away and explained everything he'd found out so far before telling him about his plan "...I'm going to head down into Gloria tomorrow morning right after sunrise when most people are still asleep and see if I can get any evidence or witnesses who saw or heard anything suspicious or out of place..."

Pietro tried asking him some questions but Roberto cut him off suddenly as the realization dawned upon him like a ton of bricks "That's it!" He exclaimed excitedly "If these women are disappearing during the night then whoever is doing this must be staying somewhere in or near Gloria!" He jumped up from his chair and began pacing around the room frantically with excitement as thoughts raced through his mind faster than he could keep up with them as every possible explanation swirled around together until one stuck out among them all: "but why?!" He asked no one in particular aloud before answering himself "to control something! And what better way than controlling someone's life? What better way than controlling someone's death!? Haha I never thought I'd be using my skills as an investigator against my own kind! How ironic! But it makes sense! It makes perfect sense! That has to be it! If I can figure out who is controlling these people then I can stop them! And stop them before they hurt anybody else!"

After explaining everything else that caught his eye while researching this case Roberto quickly ended the call so as not waste any more time trying not fall asleep when suddenly everything clicked into place like pieces falling into place on a puzzle board: "Of course!" He exclaimed triumphantly before glancing at the alarm clock on his nightstand which read 1:47 A.M., "it all makes sense now!"

He could barely contain himself after solving this riddle but he knew better than to make such an announcement loudly when everyone else was sleeping soundly during this early hour so instead he kept himself occupied by talking aloud to himself while looking around his apartment until finally the sun rose outside his window signaling the last push towards closing this case once and for all..."I need evidence!" He shouted jubilantly as if just hearing this gave him strength which strangely it did because just saying those words made him feel powerful because after solving all these clues piece by piece now all that remained was putting everything together in order form a complete picture..."And I'll get what I need," He said confidently with determination etched across his face as sunlight began streaming through the window signaling dawn had arrived "I'm sure my backup will be here soon," He said with relief knowing within hours everything would be over one way or another..."I just have to wait until we arrive at our destination before acting otherwise we'll never catch whoever is responsible." With that final thought playing through his mind over and over again Roberto felt relaxed knowing nothing further could go wrong until they arrived at Gloria...