Chpt. 6

There was a groan heard in the room before to the one the officer was in. Madeline stood up aware that whoever or… whatever had done this could easily still be around. She could make out the outline of a person in the dark space shambling towards her.

“Officer, help.” Madeline called and the man instantly ran over to her aid. He looked into the room and drew his gun, training it on the approaching figure. When he aimed his flashlight at what he was aiming at he sighed. “Luke?”

Luke stumbled out of the door.

“What�"” Luke’s eyes traveled to the blood stained walls in the hall and the trail that led into the room next door. His next instinct was to cover his nose, the smell of blood overwhelming. “�"happened?”

“We were going to ask you the same thing. I called and then you fell silent after you answered. Next thing I heard was you screaming and I came running. I thought…” She let her sentence fall not wanting to think of Luke being gone.

“We should get out of here.” The officer said. “Believe me, I’m glad that you’re safe but then that leaves us wondering who the hell the guy in there was.”

“Brent, right?” Luke asked. The officer nodded. “Thank you.”

 

When the sun was starting to break the horizon the ambulance was just carrying the corpse away to the morgue.

“It seems like we won’t get an ID on this guy until the autopsy.” Chief McSaph said. “Under normal circumstances Luke would be a primary suspect to the murder but since the way the victim died is so…bizarre then this is being kept under wraps from the public and we are assuming this is from the same case we’ve been working on until we get further evidence.”

“Do you believe me or not, chief. That’s all I want to know. It’s obvious that this murder is involved with the others.” McSaph let out a breath.

“I personally am starting to wonder if this is out of our league. This is a lot more dangerous than I thought. The killer can easily kill any of us anywhere.” The phone on the chief’s desk rang. He quickly picked it up. His face suddenly was drained of color. “Are you sure?” After a couple of more moments he hung up and quickly grabbed his coat.

“What’s going on?”

“It’s nothing much. I just need to take care of a personal errand. I’ll be right back.” The chief left through the door.

“He used to be a much better liar.” Madeline commented then she turned to Luke. “Are we following?”

“You got that right.” After McSaph drove out of the parking lot Madeline and Luke rushed to their car. Luke gripped the steering wheel and Madeline could see that his hands were shaking and she was pretty sure it wasn’t because of the cool weather.

“I think I should drive.” Madeline suggested and Luke nodded as he stepped back out of the vehicle to sit in the passenger seat.

It didn’t take long for them to catch up with the chief’s car. It seemed like it was going to be a long drive because McSaph pulled onto the freeway. Dark clouds once again threatened the sign of a storm that was coming.

“Brent should be on this case too.” Madeline said to break the silence that was weighing down.

“What makes you think that? Is it because he saw that mess?” Madeline nodded her head. “Do you realize that if you put him on this case that you’re putting his life in immediate danger? The man has a wife and kids. I wouldn’t want to carry the burden of his possible death on my shoulders.” Several more seconds of agonizing silence passed.

“Well, we can’t do this alone.”

“We have to.”

“There’s more strength in numbers.”

“Don’t you get it?” Luke’s sudden out burst caught Madeline by surprise. “This is not your typical game of cops and robbers. This is not Dick Tracy. This is real and we are dealing with something more than your average criminal. Think about this like a war. If you fire a missile into a populated area you are more liable to hit someone right? This is the same thing. If there are more people on this case then more people will die.”

“You seem to know a lot more than anyone else.” Madeline muttered and Luke either didn’t hear or didn’t care because he said nothing more.

The chief’s vehicle finally turned off the freeway into a town and within a little while they were on the outskirts at a train station. The chief didn’t seem to notice he was being followed because when he got out of his care he didn’t bother looking around.

“Looks like another crime scene.” Luke commented seeing the other police cars gathered. They got out of the car and continued following the chief. Everyone was gathered at the boarding area.

“Good morning, sir.” A police officer said to chief McSaph and Luke and Madeline stayed around a corner to avoid being seen.

“Good morning. Where is the girl that survived?”

“She’s in the ambulance at the moment. The poor girl’s in complete shock.”

“You can’t really blame her. Seeing her friend and mother get killed right in front of her. How do you get over something like that? So the bodies…”

“Umm, one is next to the tracks a little ways back. The other is on the train in that car right there.” The police officer pointed to the third care down on the train. “If I may make a personal suggestion,” The man said as the chief started for the car. “I wouldn’t look at the body in the car. It’s a kid severed in two. There’s no way that I’ll ever forget that.”

“I know but I’m afraid I have to. Not just as a chief of Section thirteen,” McSaph turned and started heading for the car again. “but it’s my duty as a father.”

Reviews

[The_Dreamer]

Thank goodness Luke is alright! He is sort of becoming a main character already!! Gripping chapter!