He turned off the engine of his rickety old Volkswagen. He grabbed his hat off the dashboard and got out of the grey car. He slammed the door shut and wore the hat with his free hand. An officer in full uniform ran to meet him as he walked.
"Detective! I'm Officer Do-"

"-Officer Dominguez. Yes, I know who you are," he interrupted the officer. Said officer looked amazed and stunned as they kept walking. He couldn't exactly blame the young lad. Him being a living legend and all, most green cops figured he wouldn't know them. But he did know them; every single one of them.

Why wouldn't he? He was the one who vetted them.

"The captain has briefed me but I want to hear it from you. You were the first officer on the scene of the crime, right?" he asked the star struck cop as he slapped on his blue disposable gloves.

"Uh- uh y-yes, Detective. We got a call from the phone store just across the street. The cashier was heading home for the night and he found the body," the policeman replied as both of them ducked over the yellow caution tape, him holding onto his hat as he did so.

Forensics were sweeping through the alley, marking different points with numbered papers. There wasn't anything auspicious about the crime scene. It was an alleyway; it was as auspicious as an alleyway could be.

The man wearing a hat looked straight ahead and saw other unis barricading the press, blocking them from the crime scene. In all his time with the force, he had never met a hungrier generation of journalists than the current ones.

He walked over to the chalk drawing on the cold floor, depicting where the gangbanger died. He crouched down and stared at it; Officer Dominguez close behind him. A female with the forensics team; her jacket gave her away, noticed him and walked over from where she was swapping blood from the wall.

"Detective," she said in acknowledgement. He wanted to groan but he refrained himself. He was just so tired of hearing people refer to him as "Detective." He did have a name.

He wrinkled his mouth and stood slowly with a sigh. His bones weren't what they used to be. "Ah yes. Forensics. What do you have for me?" he asked the shorter woman.

She nodded her head quickly and pointed to the wall where she was swabbing blood. "Over there, we have blood stains on the wall. We also have blood stains on this wall and where the body was," she gestured at the wall above the chalk tracing.

"I'm guessing the bloods won't match," he commented.

"How can you be certain?" Officer Dominguez asked, glancing at the woman from Forensics. She also seemed to be asking the question with her eyes.

"First of all, I said I'm guessing. Doesn't mean I'm certain. And secondly, when you've been doing this for as long as I have, you'll just know some stuff," he smiled briefly, his bushy moustache becoming wider. "Now, you have the lab run some tests on the blood samples. Then cross reference it with the DNA samples of everyone in this city. Let's start from there."

The loud revving of an engine distracted everyone on the crime screen. They watched a black Range Rover park by the seasoned detective's Volkswagen. Four different people got down from the larger vehicle and made their way to the crime scene.

tallest was a woman who looked in her late twenties or early thirties. Her dark hair was tied up in a ponytail and she was dressed in a white loose blouse, tucked into dark tight pants and high boots. She ducked under the caution tapes as she wore blue disposable gloves.

The more surprising element of the arrival were the three kids trailing behind her.

They were fumbling with their gloves and they looked ashen and disoriented. They had obviously never been on a crime scene before.

The first kid had his dark hair cut low. His brown skin gave off his Hispanic heritage. Beside him stood a boy as tall as him. His sandy-blond hair was curly and puffy. Behind his glasses were deep sea-green eyes and he had freckles splashed across his nose.

The third kid was the worst of all. He was small, slightly chubby and yet scrawny with curly brown hair. His dark brown eyes were riddled with fear and he had freckles like the second boy. But the problem was, he had a bag of chips secured under his armpit as he fumbled with his gloves.

"Theo! I told you! No food at a crime scene! Go drop it in the car," the woman told him sternly. The other two boys looked on sheepishly as their counterpart went back to the Rover. He almost tripped on the sidewalk but he steadied himself.

The woman sighed and kept walking towards him, avoiding the forensics team and numbered papers. The kids behind her did their best to mirror her movement.

"Are you the person in charge of this investigation?" she asked when she got to him. Her eyes were constantly in motion as she observed the crime scene.

"Who are you?" Officer Dominguez asked abruptly and not on his behalf.

"I'm Agent Audrey. These boys are Rafael," she pointed at the Hispanic boy, "Robbie," she pointed at the boy with the glasses, "and Theo," she didn't point at the scrawny boy, since he was the only one left. "We're from The COSP and we're here to help with this investigation."

He observed them for a while before he replied, "A crime scene is no place for kids." He nodded in the direction of Theo who was about to tamper with evidence.

Rafael was quickest to react as he smacked the somewhat chubby boy over the head.

Agent Audrey rolled her brown eyes before she said, "We've had this song and dance before. The President of the United States gave us clearance and his backing to operate as we please. This...is how we operate."

Officer Dominguez opened his mouth to respond but he stopped the green cop.
"You needing that wig-wearing clown-faced Republican's backing is exactly why I don't trust you and your cops-spelt-wrong company," he said before he wrinkled his mouth.

Agent Audrey rose an eyebrow at the aged man's remarks. She folded her arms and waited for him to introduce himself.

With a sigh and a chuckle, he said, "I'm Detective Howard-"

"-Stark?" Theo piped in excitedly. Everyone stared at him like he had lost his mind before he continued.

"Burke... Detective Howard Burke, Homicide. And uh, we don't need your help, Agent Aubrey. We have things under control," the officer and woman behind him nodded in agreement.

"It's Audrey, Detective Burke. And I don't want to be that guy, but... if you refuse our help, we might have to involve the mayor," the dark-haired woman replied.

Detective Burke's phone vibrated and he removed it from the pocket of his jacket. He stared at his phone screen and said, "Well uh, involve whoever you want, but-"

"-Whomever," Robbie corrected him with a silent voice. It was loud enough for them all to hear though.

"Right... whomever. But this case is about to be closed. We got a testimony," the detective said before he turned to everyone at the crime scene.

"All right, everyone! Let's wrap it up and head over to the precinct!" he yelled.

He shoved past Agent Audrey and headed to his old grey Volkswagen. He was headed to the precinct himself. He needed to hear this testimony from the horse's mouth.

«»

The insistent beeping of his alarm made him stumble out of bed. He could barely see anything so he reached for his glasses and found it. He wore it and suddenly, his vision was sharp and clear. He forgot to turn off his alarm the previous night. It was the summer holidays so he didn't need to get up early for school anymore.

But since he was up, he might as well get himself a cup of coffee.

He clumsily climbed down the stairs and headed over to the kitchen drowsily. To his left was his average-sized and adequately furnished living room. The TV was on and the people on the morning talk show were debating on The COSP security company. It seemed he also forgot to turn it off the previous night.

"Hell no, Jim! Reports reaching us is that there was a uh, a dead boy found last night at an alley in Richmond and 9th. Where is The COSP? Uh? Nowhere! They were probably having a good night's sleep. While our cops- our cops responded and pulled an all-nighter. Going on patrols, securing the area. I'm telling you; these guys aren't worth crap! Pardon my French."

He drowned out what they were debating on as he warmed up his coffee. He scratched his bald head and grabbed a mug that had "World Best Principal" printed in red on it.

Normally, as an educationist, he would be totally against putting the lives of citizens in the hands of a security company that was unheard of. But after experiencing the brunt of insecurity, he supported whatever decision was made.

He didn't care if The COSP had no trace of existence. He didn't care if they didn't have a single-track record. They were endorsed by the mayor and The President. What more did the public want?

"Pardon the interruption but we've just received an image with what looks like COSP operatives finally at the scene of the crime." The people faded out and instead, a somewhat pixelated image appeared on the screen.

There was an officer in full uniform and a woman with a forensics jacket standing behind a man wearing a hat and a coat. Their backs were turned to the camera. The people who were facing the camera though, had him second-guessing his faith in The COSP.

A woman stood with her arms folded and beside her were three kids! One of them was reaching to touch something on the ground while the other had his hand drawn back, ready to slap him upside the head.

The image faded and back appeared the men in the studio.

"Oh my goodness, Jim. You know, I-I heard some rumors but I never thought it'd be true. Kids?! Kids?! Really?! Our security is in the hands of kids?! Is this a joke?! Unbelievable! I'm not even gonna talk about how wrong and- and disturbing it is for kids to be at a crime scene. Jim, come on! This is- this is just wrong."

The man presumed as Jim replied, "No, I-I completely agree with you, Dylan. No, this- this isn't right."

The "World's Best Principal" poured the now hot coffee into his mug. He wondered how kids would be able to stop threats like the man Captain Ruiz sent after him a month ago. He blinked and immediately dropped his mug, stumbling back in fear. Said mug shattered on impact with the tiled floor, it's dark content spilling.

Before him stood the dark-skinned man who brutally assaulted him at a corner by his church. Ever since then, he had been seeing the man from time to time. But a few weeks ago, the hallucinations became more vivid.

Usually, the man was always shrouded in darkness and in corners when he appeared. That was the same way he was on that horrific Sunday.
But recently, the man was no longer in darkness. Now, he was more prominent. He was out in the open, illuminated in light.

He fell to the tiled kitchen floor and the man stood over him menacingly. He started hyperventilating as he shut his eyes tightly and muttered continuously, "Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I fear no evil."

He slowly opened one of his eyes and saw that the dark-skinned man was gone. He sighed in relief and stood slowly, using the kitchen counter as support. His fingers touched a piece of paper and he checked to see what it was.

It was Dr. Julia Roberts' card. She gave it to him a month ago when she came to his office, asking questions about Michael McKing's sudden withdrawal from school.

She had offered her help but he had refused. Ever since then, his hallucinations had become worse. If he didn't get it under control, he might not be able to run Crestville Junior High anymore.

He loved his job. Maybe he'd use the summer holiday to get some professional help. He stepped over the broken mug and the spilled coffee.

He walked over to the wall and used the telephone to call the number on the card.

"Yes? Who is this?" came her voice from the other end of the call.

"Yes, Dr. Roberts? I'd like to schedule a session... as soon as possible."