AllFreeNovel
Share Us
CHRIS
“How much are you benching now, Chris?” the Chief of Detectives asks me though he can clearly see how much weight is on the bar. I know he didn’t come down to the gym to discuss my workout. He’s here to put pressure on me about this case.
I drop the bar on the rack and sit up, “What’s up, Chief?”
“You know why I’m down here. I’m getting pressure from all sides about this party girl case,” he wrings his hands as he speaks.
“I hate that people call it that. Imagine how her mother feels when the media refers to her dead daughter as nothing more than a party girl.” The thought leaves a wicked taste in my mouth.
“See, that’s part of the problem, Chris. The media isn’t talking about it at all anymore. It’s been six months and you haven’t had a decent lead. We’re wasting manpower and resources that could be better used somewhere else. The girl is dead. It’s tragic and sad but nobody can help her now. It’s time to start focusing on the people we can help. Protect and serve, right?” he tells me.
“I don’t think that letting killers go free protects or serves anyone but killers, Chief.”
“Then find them, Chris. You’ve got a week to come up with something viable or we’re filing this as a cold case and you’re being reassigned,” he nods his head at me and walks away.
I look back at the bar but my heart is pounding in overdrive, so I move over to the heavy bag and try to punch out my aggression. I never like having my hand forced, but this time is different. I saw that girl laying on the floor of that abandoned house with her pretty, blonde hair covered in blood and empty liquor bottles piled up around her like she was just another piece of trash that got left behind when the party was over. I held her grief-stricken mother when she was called to identify the body, and I ran the investigation into her background and learned what an intelligent, sweet, and popular girl she was.
I guess that’s the part that bothers me the most.
Everybody loved her but nobody will come forward to help me find her killer. I know she had friends who went to that party with her. You’d think just one of them would want her killer to face justice.
That’s what makes me so sure there’s more to this than just one murdered co-ed. These kids aren’t worried about getting in trouble with the law. They’re scared that someone is going to retaliate against them if they come forward.
There’s got to be one out there that’s willing to talk, and now, I have no choice but to find them. If I don’t, that pretty, popular co-ed becomes nothing more than a name in a file in the dusty basement. I wipe the sweat from my face and head to the shower. It’s time to get back to work.
Showered and dressed, I grab my notebook and set out on the streets looking for the one person who might be able to provide me with information to move this case forward. My victim's dorm roommate.
She hasn’t returned to school since the night of the murder, so if she’s out there somewhere, she knows what happened that night. She’s an emancipated ward of the State, so there’s no family for her to go home to. All I have to go on is a list of her friend's addresses and a hunch that she might be skipping from place to place for a few nights at a time to keep out of sight.
I sit in my car with my hands on the wheel and close my eyes. She could be anywhere, so where do I start? I open my eyes and look down at my notebook. The first address that catches my eye is the one that I decide to drive to. I don’t believe in luck or destiny, but if there is some unseen force out there, I could use its help right about now.
CAUGHT IN A TRAP
CARRIE
“Hey, baby, where you going in such a hurry?” a man in a hoody smoking a cigarette calls out to me as I rush by. I ignore him and hope he’s moved on to another corner by the time I have to walk past him again, but that’s unlikely.
In this neighborhood, everyone has their own corner, and they rarely move into each other’s territory. I shouldn’t have waited so long to walk to the store. I could’ve been there and back before the sun went down. I know the creeps come out in the dark, but I’d rather not show my face in the daytime when it’s easier to be recognized.
I thought this thing had blown over and that maybe I could move on with my life, but strange things are happening lately and I don’t feel safe anymore. My body tenses every time a car passes by too slowly. Footsteps in the hall put me in such a panic that two of my friends asked me not to come back to their places.
My paranoia is so strong it’s rubbed off on them. If I’m right and someone is looking for me, it’s better that I stay away from them. I feel guilty enough for what happened to Samantha. I don’t want anyone else getting hurt because of me.
The clerk rings up my stuff and hands me the bag. He flashes me a gapped-toothed smile and I cringe a little but force a smile back and say, “Thank you.”
I don’t belong here. I may not have had a family of my own, but my foster parents were good, upstanding citizens. They raised me to believe I was capable of making something of myself. This neighborhood is for the failures and the downtrodden, not for a girl with a full-ride university scholarship like me.
It’s crazy how one stupid mistake can destroy everything that you’ve worked for. Hiding in fear isn’t living and sometimes, I wonder why I even bother. I guess my survival instinct is too high for me to give up.
As expected, the man who catcalled me is waiting as I head back to the apartment. I cross the street to avoid him, but he sees me and runs between the parked cars ahead of me. He stands in the center of the sidewalk and holds out his arms to prevent me from moving past him.
“Why are you so unfriendly? Don’t you know how to be nice?” he says and the smell of his breath nearly knocks me off my feet.
“I didn’t know that you were trying to be friendly. I’m sorry if I offended you but my boyfriend is waiting for me so please let me by,” I answer.
“You ain’t got no boyfriend. You’re staying with that waitress bitch from the bar by the college. She thinks she’s better than everyone, too. Serving drinks to rich kids makes her forget where she comes from, I guess.”
“I need to go. Please let me by.” I’m shaking now. He looks around to see if anyone is watching, and I know what comes next. If it’s clear, he’s going to try to force me into the alley so he can rape me.
