Chapter 7: The Top Story of today is…
Location: Sunset Valley Police Department
Time: 15:04
George sat in his office at the police station. Surrounding him were medals and trophies he achieved during his training and service to Sunset Valley. Half of them were awarded by the Mayoress herself. He took pride in them. He kept the clean and once in a week, took some time to admire them. He had always pushed himself to his limits and never backed down from making hard decisions. The sunlight poured in his office through the blinds on the window, falling on the shiny ornaments.
But George sat motionless on his chair behind his desk. The same trophies he admired before were now feeling like a burden on his shoulder. The ‘knight in shining armour’ landed on his most difficult case, and he was running out of steam. Everyone looked at him as if somehow, someway, George would catch the killer by tomorrow and restore the peace of the town. At least that was what the Mayoress thought.
But in reality George was getting tired. All the years of service were finally taking their toll on his body, on his mind and on his soul. So many times he thought about quitting, giving it all up and probably living the life of a farmer. But was he really the farmer’s type? Could he really give it all up and settle for a quiet life?
‘I beg to differ.’
In front of his desk, sat a familiar figure. X always showed up when George was swooped in the river of thoughts.
‘You knew about it, didn’t you X?’
George was not surprised at all by his presence. His scars did not scare him, his existence did not intimidate him, but his state of mind did.
‘Oh, I think we both saw that one coming for a long time.’
George blocked the horrible memories of his past. X made himself comfortable on the chair. He relaxed back, took a cigarette out of his stonewash denim jeans and lit it. He puffed the smoke out and smiled at George who was staring at him with annoyance.
‘What? I don’t see a “no-smoking” sign anywhere.’
‘What do you know about all of this?’
George’s question paused X for a moment. He put the cigarette out on the table and rubbed the ashes on the clean surface.
‘It began hundreds of years ago. You are only reaping what’s sown. People forgot their commitments and now they are getting a wakeup call.’
‘What do you mean?’
‘Oh now, I don’t wanna make things easy for you. Just one word of advice; keep an eye on your precious Sam. She is more important than you think.’
George’s patience was running thin.
‘Don’t mess me around, X. Tell me what you know.’
X chuckled.
‘I thought I was a figment of your imagination. If I truly am, then I don’t know any more than you do. But if I am more than that, then maybe I can help you. The question is: do I really want to?’
X’s words made George question his own sanity for once. Was he going insane? Was X real or was he just a made-up character in his mind?
There was a knock on the door and another familiar figure entered his office.
Carl sat behind the reception desk. The phone had been constantly ringing. The news of the decapitated body was spreading like wildfire, and everyone wanted to know the facts from fiction. Carl had taken over from Maggie, after she had the longest night of her life.
Admin work was not in his job description but Carl did not mind doing that. Him and Maggie were police officers and often aided George or Sam, but they saw themselves more as support officers than fully fledged officers of the law.
Carl took on the duty 6 months age when he turned 20, still young for the job but he knew the town and the town knew him. George had taken him under his wing and he wanted to be like George: tough, smart and a ladies man.
‘Ok, not the ladies man. But when you rescue the ladies, that’s when you become the man. Catch the bad guy, rescue the girl or girls, save the day.’
Carl was not particularly bad looking. Everything about him was average. Average built, average height, average looks. Sunset Valley was not famous for high maintenance, pompous girls but every girl has a standard. Carl just fell short of meeting those. So he thought of doing something manly and decided he should take on the job of a sheriff. Only he did not realise that when he opened his mouth in front of his parents, they would literally sign him up for training.
6 months down and Carl was used to the patrol routines, waking up early, making sure his uniform was clean and realising the sense of responsibilities: even more now with the body of a tourist being found. He remembered meeting Trish once. She was on his list called ‘Gotta Date that Hot Chick!’ and she was probably the only one who shared a drink with him.
Can’t believe she’s dead.
She did not tell him to get lost or ask him to take a hike or worse, tell his parents that he was being a creep, but she actually sat down in a bar with him and had a nice chat. He remembered it like it was yesterday. Too bad she was older than him and she did not date younger men. But she was a nice lady.
Carl took a moment to snap out of his thoughts and appreciate that the phone had not rung for the past 10 minutes. His coffee had gone cold. Since the time he took over from Maggie, he had been on the phone constantly, answering people about the headless corpse.
The news was creeping the townsfolk out. His own parents rang but he could only reply, ‘The investigation is still on-going. We cannot comment on that.’ He had not had the time to drink his coffee, track down Mrs. Pickman and Tom for an official interview or ask George if he wanted anything.
George had been in the office for the past 3 hours. Maggie had told him that George did not go home last night and the Mayoress had been on the phone with him. It was a bit quiet now and he now had the time to do all that.
The phone rang again. Carl must have counted his blessings too soon.
‘Sheriff’s department,’ Carl answered the phone.
‘Hey Carl, how’s it going?’
‘Mike, can I call you back in a moment? I’m kinda busy right now.’
Mike and Carl had been best friends since childhood.
‘Yeah, sure thing, Carl,’ Mike replied, ‘Hey, I heard about that body found last night. I heard the woman was butt-raped and tortured, and her limbs were torn apart by an axe.’
Carl had answered countless calls regarding the murder since morning, asking about the ID of the victim. But this was a first.
‘Dude, no. She was not butt-raped, tortured or mutilated by an axe. The victim was decapitated and we are trying to find the head. I’ll speak to you in a moment.’
Carl hung up and noticed a woman with a child in her hands at the reception. He was so busy that he had not seen them walk in. And then it hit him. The mother and sweet baby boy had heard what he said to Mike over the phone. He could tell by the wide-eyed mother and the puzzled look on the boy’s face.
Still, Carl tried to keep his calm and asked,
‘Can I help you with something, ma’am?’
The mother stood motionless for a few seconds, still processing what he she and her child had just heard. Then she shook her head and replied,
‘It’s ok; we’ll come back later.’
She quickly turned around and walked back the way she came in.
Ah, damn!
Carl saw the mother and her child crossing their path with Deputy Samantha. Sam looked baffled as she heard the child asking her mother,
‘Mom, what is “butt-raped”?’
She looked at the mother walking away and then at Carl who stood embarrassed behind the reception desk. She sighed and walked up to him.
‘Afternoon, deputy,’ Carl greeted.
‘Hey, Carl. Been busy today?’
Carl sighed,
‘You’ll be surprised the kind of questions I had to answer this morning. What about you? Looks like you didn’t get any sleep last night.’
The tiredness in her eyes showed Sam had been up all night.<
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‘Yeah, been typing in the report the whole night long.’
Sam did not spend the entire night typing away. It did not take her that long. But the thought of losing someone close who she chose to ignore, was keeping her awake. The guilt in the back of her brain was reminding her of all the horrible things she had said to Trish the last time she saw her.
She pushed the thoughts back and asked Carl about Mrs. Pickman and Tom. The two were supposed to come down to the station today for an official statement and answer any questions. But when Carl told her that the Mayoress had been in touch with George, she knew she had to see him. Sam made a cup of coffee, just the way George liked it and walked to his office.
A knock on the door and Sam walked in George’s office who sat behind his desk attentively. There was something about the way he was sitting that made Sam a bit uncomfortable. He was out of breath, looked like he was talking to somebody. But there was no one else in the office.
Or it could be just stress.
‘You OK, George?’ Sam asked as she put the hot coffee mug on the table in front of George. ‘Heard Mayoress Annabelle called. Everything ok?’
He sighed and leaned back on his chair.
‘She wants the killer fast. But I don’t think she realises that in order to catch the scum, we need to find him first.’
George knew it would not be easy. He was not dealing with some reckless kids who are in revolt, but a killer who could possible strike again.
‘I took some samples last night,’ George continued, ‘I’ve sent them away to town. Now we’ll just have to wait for the results. Micah at the hospital will conduct the autopsy today. He’ll have the report done by tomorrow.’
The investigation was moving at a snail’s pace. The samples could take days or weeks to be processed in the city. And by that time, who knew what could have happened.
The office door swung open and Carl ran in panting, making George and Sam jump from their seats.
‘Jeez Carl, one of these days I’m gonna die of a heart attack because of you.’
Carl grabbed a hold of himself.
‘Winston called from Cursed Tree. I think he found the head.’
Carl’s words shook both George and Sam to their core. The two exchanged a glance before running out of the office, telling Carl to stay behind.