Chapter 6

A Game of Cops and Robbers

LATER THAT DAY

THE SOUND of the fire alarm in Oakhills Elementary School blew immensely like an aggravated piece of plastic a day after Mickaela Andrews' death.

It was three in the humid afternoon before Detective Wybie Collins had finished scrutinizing men and women of all ages and sizes that bolted out of the many entrances and exits of the school, each with a different petrified reaction plastered on his or her face.

"We've closed out all the exits and have stations all over the building, Sir Parker." Detective Wybie Collins gestured his veined hand towards the four faces of the building.

He shook his head in an unhealthy amount of disbelief.

"Meaning whoever is behind the doomsday prank would not have had a fair chance at escaping. This being said, we are looking at the situation from as many angles as we can and are on the verge of considering the possibility of an inside job."

Coraline Lee felt the lump as she emptied her throat when Principal Tony H. Parker grunted at Detective Collins' words.

"Dare you say inside job, Detective?" He used his old tongue sparingly but was annoyed at Detective Collins for a deeper reason.

His blood tended to boil around infuriating and dumb-spoken people, mainly the police in the whole area of the Sacramento District.

"Affirmative Sir. But do read the words 'considering' and 'possibility' in my statement. In cases like these it is necessary to consider creating links between recent cases and is rather best to be presumptive."

"Nonsense. " Principal Parker barked through his head.

"I will, however, do what I can to avoid the pointing of random fingers, Sir."

"Quit the blabber, Collins. All I want is that sicko," He twirled his fingers in the air like a three-year-old.

"out of this town and most importantly away from my school."

"Ya got it?" He flashed his collar up and spat on the dirt as he approached the adults calling his attention on the opposite side of the school.

Little Andi watched a small smirk arise from the corner of Detective Collins' face.

"No problemo Parker." He tipped his hat and moved over to the side of the grass.

She lifted a hand or two and greeted him on his way to her. "Over here."

"So. How'd it go?" Coraline pressed her beanie tightly, securing the wig again.

"Smooth enough."

He raised his eyebrows and brushed the imaginary dust on his ever broad shoulders.

"Really? Cause you seem pretty distraught, Detective." She joked, trying to ease the tension rising in the parking lot.

"Who? Me?" He flexed his arms up front.

"Why, I'm the town's best shot at catching that bastard."

Detective Collins took out his notepad and spun his Bob-the-builder keychain on his finger. He crouched down to Andi's level and put out a fist. "So there's no need to worry about a little false alarm, Partner."

Andi Lee flashed her big eyes open and beamed a cute smile from ear to ear seeing a real life Detective Wybie Collins. She bumped her tiny fist into his and snorted.

"So, what do we know about this jackass murderer so far?"

Coraline nudged his right elbow in an attempt to get his attention.

"Well, for one we know it's a he. Back in Andrews' car we found a few prints on the lady's dress from a man's shoe."

"I'm gonna get him." Andi pranced around. She took the magnifying glass and moved it all over the place.

"That's a shame." Coraline took curious little Andi into her arms. "Men are really something else."

He held onto the back of his neck. "Can't say you're wrong." He frowned like a child.

Andi stopped at the sight of Detective Collins' hands.

"Is that a Lego piece?" Andi messed around and pointed at Detective Collins' Bob-the-builder keychain.

"Sure is. You a fan of 'em, too?" He fancied showing her the piece up-close.

"I don't like Legos." Andi dismissed him.

She buried her face into her mother's bleached ripped jeans and held onto her thighs.

"Well, too bad. I like them a lot." Detective Collins flashed her a warm tender smile.

Coraline Lee was flustered and bit her tongue. She knew that he seemed well like the guy who was handsome enough to be politely honest to children.

"Collins!"

Detective Wybie Collins bawled his eyes out at the sound of death quickly approaching him.

All three of them turned to see a policeman with an awfully done haircut and light stache as he fell onto his oversized stomach forcefully calling and yelling for Detective Collins' attention.

He immediately picked up his officer hat that was beginning to get away.

"We just got, we had. We took a call, we received a call from 23rd Street." He almost choked, eating his own words.

The policeman was sweating terribly and was close to losing his focus as well as himself during the process.

He bent down to his knees timidly.

"Ralph, calm the heck down." Detective Collins' put on a serious tone and pinned both of his hands on the policeman's shoulders.

"Hands off." He spoke.

"Fine. Now tell me," He requested urgently. "what exactly did the caller say?"

His hands were trembling and he wasn't excellent at hiding them.

"We got a new murder, Pal."

"It's those missing children. The three bodies were found in the lake." He added, licking his lips.

"Great." Collins ran a hand over his head and back.  "Now what?"

"But not the Mayor's kid."

Well well well, say hello to more dead bodies.

Hi favorites and monsters and humans alike. Today we celebrate the one day death anniversary of Mrs. Mickaela Andrews.

Guess what? The dirty deeds are definitely stacking up. Anyone at the top of your list? If you got a good hunch let me know in the comments below.

Vote, Comment, and Follow if you dare!

hugs and creepy bodies of water,
dilagmakata