Within My Blood (Chapter 5)

Colton Reece sat in the farthest seat, in the last run of the city bus line, which he rode every day. His briefcase sat next to him leaning against his thigh. It was late, almost midnight and the stress of the day bore down on his shoulders. He was tired, moreso lately and yet the workload kept piling up day after day. The hum of the safety lights purred behind him while Colton rubbed his neck, it had been a tough one today. About an hour before he clocked out they got a nasty case. Some drug deal gone bad, or so he was told. His sergeant wanted them to put a lid on the case as quickly as they could so Colton and his partner worked tirelessly to wrap it all up. Bluehaven was a relatively quiet town, most of the crimes here were petty misdemeanors. If word got out that someone had died then it would ruin their reputation. Which would completely kill the number of tourists they got during the pear festival the town threw every autumn.

The thing was, this last minute case didn’t seem like any ordinary drug deal gone rouge case he had ever seen before. Even his partner had trouble swallowing the photos that came in. At first they thought that the girl could have been a tragic victim of tourism gone wrong. In the town’s history they’ve had a few moments where some wide-eyed tourist came to Bluehaven with the unrealistic expectations that the small town would be safe to do what ever one pleased, however as much as Colton and everyone else in town wanted to believe it too, Bluehaven still had it’s times of weakness where the dark shadows creeped through the cracks.

Colton flipped through a few more pages, his eyes scanning the notes his partner Creedy took.

Jane Doe 0015

August 8th 2009

The victim was found about two miles off the blue river hiking path after a couple of teenagers snuck away from their school’s outdoor activity group. The victim had been haphazardly covered by a light layer of foliage -a crude attempt to hide a body.-

After arrival to the local forensic pathologist it was determined that Jane Doe was the victim of a brutal homicide. The victim sustained multiple fractures to her face probably in an attempt to obscure the victim’s identity. The victim was also seen to have suffered numerous wounds along her left arm. A thorough examination by Dr. Harrison will hopefully clear up some of the damage first seen at the crime scene.

Colton continued reading through a few more of Creedy’s notes. He greatly respected his partner but sometimes he felt like Creedy didn’t even know what he was really talking about half the time. Maybe it was their age gap. Unlike Colton, Creedy had just recently graduated from the academy and he seemed to have brought some of his liberal ideals along with his youth. Colton didn’t particularly like all the new and shiny gadgets, technology and way of looking at things that were started to infiltrate his profession but he still just bit his tongue and kept his head up.

In-fact it wasn’t until Creedy and a couple of the other new guys suggested digitizing the crime scene notes and photos did Colton and a couple of the other seasoned detectives decide to put their feet down. Things can get lost in the translation of first-eye hand written notes to the digital world. It’s why all their notes and reports were still written long hand. While it seemed that Bluehaven was progressing quite nicely some parts of their beloved town still sat years in the past.

Colton opened his briefcase one last time, pulling out the file he put there earlier in the evening when no one was looking. His stomach flipped just as it did the first time he saw the crime scene photos. There was no way this was a simple cut and dry homicide. He understood now why his sergeant was so persistent in keeping this case out of the public’s eye and it scared him. Somewhere, among the rows of the white picket fences and neatly trimmed hedges that made Bluehaven a lost grace of the American dream, a storm was brewing. It’s dark and hideously gruesome shadows creeping into the cracks of the town’s foundation. 

(A/N) I know that this chapter is short, but I've been stuck on it for a long time and even rewrote it a couple times. I've already continued onto later parts of the story and I really just need to move on from this part. I like what I have here and I think (or more hope) that it introduces the last character well enough to progress the story. That said, all feedback is greatly appreciated and if you have ideas on how to lengthen the chapter without it being too boring or dragging it down please feel free to leave your comments. Thank you!