Red Flag
Chapter 1
Holly Campbell entered her apartment after a long day at work. She placed a handful of papers and a set of keys onto the kitchen bench, and made her way across the room to the bedroom she shared with her boyfriend, Scott Stevenson.
"Hey Scotty, I'm home" she called out. No reply came from the room. That surprised her. He was definitely home, and there was no way he could be asleep yet. It was only nine-thirty.
"Scott? Scott?" she called out again as she reached the door. She opened it slowly, and gasped in horror at what she saw. Her boyfriend was lying, unmoving on the bed in front of her, blood slowly trickling from the side of his head to the puddle on the floor.
Lisbon and Jane made their way up the stairs to the apartment door, where they were greeted by Rigsby.
"What have we got?" Lisbon asked him.
"Scott Stevenson, about 28 years old, lived here with his girlfriend, Holly Campbell. She found the body. There's a gash to the back of his head, probably made by a sharp, heavy object. Estimated time of death is around six this evening" Rigsby informed them.
Jane led the way into the apartment, with Lisbon following close behind. Once inside the bedroom, he examined the young man.
"Well, what can you see?" Lisbon asked, slightly impatient. It was late, and she longed to be at home. It had been one of those days, and she didn't want to have to put up with Jane any longer than necessary.
"Well, he was a writer of some kind, I'd say a journalist. He did drugs, but came clean quite recently. Maybe only a couple of months ago".
"That's right." Lisbon and Jane both turned to see pretty, blonde girl in her late 20s, her eyes still wet with tears.
"You must be Ms Campbell" Lisbon said, "We're sorry for you're loss. Is it possible we could ask you a couple of questions about Scott?"
"Sure, come this way, and please, call me Holly" she said as she led them into the kitchen. "Would you like a drink? Tea, coffee?" she offered.
"No, thankyou" Lisbon declined politely.
"A tea would be lovely, thankyou" Jane said as he sat down on a bar stool. Lisbon glanced at him, rolling her eyes, then taking a seat herself.
"What do want to know?" Holly asked.
"When was the last time you spoke to Scott?" Lisbon asked, as she took a seat in the stool next to Jane.
"This morning, when he was leaving for work. It would have been about eight. He had a coffee and left, as usual".
"So he wasn't acting any differently?" Lisbon confirmed, and Holly shook her head, pouring two cups of tea, and handed one to Jane. He smiled his thanks.
"Can you think of anyone who might want to hurt him, might want him dead?" Jane asked.
"Well, there was this guy who he used to buy drugs from, Jordan I think his name was. He wasn't happy when Scott told him he was gonna stop buying. Threatened him a bit, but it was nothing serious. It was more than 4 months ago."
"Ok, we'll check him out. Thankyou for your time" Lisbon said as she stood up to leave. Jane drained his tea and followed her out of the room.