So, for those of you who have read previous stories of mine, you can probably tell I have a poor record of actually completing things I start. Doesn't stop me from sharing what I've come up with so far with you all, though! Really, though, maybe this one will see the end? Let's keep them fingers crossed!
(insert standard disclaimer of how I own nothing but the shirt on my back and my character, Kate O'Neill.)
Enjoy!
Kate huffed and brushed a long strand of honey blonde hair out her eyes for what seemed like the thousandth time in the last minute. The wind had been steady all day, blowing grey storm clouds up from the west and deepening the 6:00 PM gloom, which made flashlights already a necessity. The insistent strand of hair snaked across her face once more and she almost screamed in frustration as she wrestled it back into place. A chuckle sounded from her feet.
"Having some issues there, boss?" a young, male voice sounded. Kate rolled her eyes, yanked her hair from its binding hair tie, and slicked it back into another tight ponytail.
"Quit calling me 'boss,' Drew," Kate muttered, purposely ignoring his taunting question. The young man at her feet named Drew, glanced up at her with a smirk and quickly snapped a picture of her with his camera, temporarily blinding her with the flash. Kate swore and flicked him off as she rubbed her eyes, but Drew just laughed before turning back to his task.
Her younger brother by five years, Drew had grown up tormenting Kate her whole life in a playful, sibling-rivalry sort of way. And while Kate had dished it out as best as she received it, she had always taken care of him in a maternal way. They remained close through their adolescence into adulthood, and now even worked together occasionally for Boston's FBI division: Drew in forensics and Kate as a special agent.
"Find anything yet?" Kate asked, bending to a squat next to her little brother. Drew lowered the camera he had held to his eye after snapping one more picture and gave a half shrug.
"Not really sure, honestly. The ground is so torn up around here, I can't tell if these are remnants of some boot marks or just nothing, really," he said with a sigh, looking at Kate almost apologetically. Kate gave a sigh as well and laid a hand lightly on Drew's shoulders for a moment as she stood.
"Just keep looking around. Let me know as soon as you find something," she responded, turning to walk away.
"Sure thing, boss," Drew said smiling, as he raised the camera to his eye once more.
"Agent O'Neill!" came a voice from the direction Kate was already headed.
"What do you have for me, Chris?" Kate asked as she ducked under the 'police - crime scene' tape her partner lifted for her and peered at what he held between one gloved thumb and forefinger.
"The team found this near the base of that tree, there," he said, holding the small, limp object higher in front of Kate's face so she could get a better look without having to don gloves to touch it. Kate squinted and rotated her face around the object, getting a better look from all directions.
"A piece of fabric? Looks like it came from a woman's skirt or something. The flowered pattern screams of my grandmother's old dresses," she asked, commented sardonically. Chris chuckled and deposited the piece of fabric into an evidence bag a member of the forensics team was holding out for him. His glove came off with a snap, as he ducked back under the tape with Kate and the two began walking back to their cars; Kate's 5'10" frame keeping pace with his 6'2" frame easily.
"They think it's mostly intact, but obviously it was part of or near some sort of fire or explosion. You saw the singed marks and holes?" Chris explained, while Kate nodded. "They also found what looked to be small bones of some kind scattered in the area where the fabric was found. Perhaps it was a bag that held the bones or they may be unrelated. Forensics initially said the bones almost looked human, though, which is what's making them so unsure. Maybe even those of a small child or infant." Kate furrowed her brow in concern at this news.
This was the third scene of its kind she had been called out to investigate after the local police admitted they had no idea what to do. The very first incident had been reported by a local group of kids who had stumbled across the gruesome scene about a month prior. Local police had started off the investigation with a dead body in a clearing, no leads, and no suspects. Beyond the fact they had no leads or suspects, what confounded the authorities the most was that the victim appeared to have been hanged to death. How that would have occurred in the middle of a wide, open field, no one could guess. When the second body was found only a day later – also in the middle of a clearing, but appearing to have drowned – they immediately reached out to the FBI, realizing this was out of their league.
The finding Kate and her partner, Chris, had been called out to this afternoon was now officially the fifth in a string of grisly murders, and previously they had been operating on not much more than the information local police had gathered. Each of the victims had been transients, known in the general area to flit from town to town looking for a quick job and a warm bed for the night. Kate thought how lucky they had been that the victims weren't local townsfolk, otherwise the town would most likely be rioting over the fact their members were dying and police had no idea why. But with the possible evidence found by her brother and the bag with the bones recovered by the rest of the forensic team, Kate was confident they could get to the bottom of this sooner rather than later. At least she prayed it would be so.
"So," Chris started with a cheeky grin, his demeanour changing completely from hardened FBI agent to flirtatious and roguish rapscallion with the one word. He leaned casually on the driver's side door of Kate's vehicle in front of her, settling his left hand in his pant pocket. "Something spooky is going on here in Salem, huh?" He waggled his eyebrows at his implication. Kate just rolled her eyes and crossed her arms over her chest.
"You'd like to think that, wouldn't you? I swear; you and your horror movies, Chris. Life isn't a horror movie with monsters and the like. And just because it's Salem, doesn't mean a thing. It's just a normal, little New England town that happens to have a sordid past," she ranted, unenthusiastically. It was obvious she had had conversations like this one numerous times before with her partner, who was always insisting or trying to imply a cause for each crime more sinister in explanation than simply a disgruntled citizen or freak accident. Kate's words had no effect on Chris and his smile only broadened. Her right eyebrow raised at his expression.
"You know, speaking of horror movies, I never did get to really finish watching Paranormal Activity," he said in a low voice, closing the gap slowly between himself and Kate. She eyed him warily, as he stopped within a few inches of her and leaned his mouth next to her ear. To any onlookers it would have looked as though the two agents were sharing confidential words concerning the case, but Kate knew Chris' intentions better. "Something about you in nothing more than some scraps of black lace on top of me tends to be a bit distracting."
Kate's face flushed as her memory of the incident he described surfaced unbidden. The annoyed look dropped immediately from her face as her eyes shot around the crime scene furtively, trying to catch the eye of any potential onlookers. She cleared her throat, embarrassed. Chris stepped back from her to resume his initial position and smirked, enjoying the disruption he had just caused in his partner. He had always taken pride in his ability to get past her normally overly-serious nature, to the Kate he knew she really was: sensitive, soft-hearted, and incredibly feminine, though she liked to try and deny it. Kate brushed some strands of hair from her face that had somehow escaped her tight ponytail and looked up at Chris, her mossy green eyes now detecting more than just mirth twinkling in his own deep blue eyes.
"Chris, we've talked about this," she muttered, not wanting to go down that path with him again. Even though inter-office relationships were forbidden, six months ago, Kate and Chris had started ... something. It had never officially developed past post-shift and late night hookups and the like, but recently, Kate could tell Chris had started sharing feelings she had just felt emerging in herself as well. The realization had petrified her enough that she had put an end immediately to their little trysts, in the hope it would end the tension between them and they could resume normal life as just partners once more. She had never been good with serious relationships. Her longest had probably been in her senior year in high school when she dated a member of the soccer team for two months. Her friends had always accused her of being emotionally flighty and too serious natured to allow herself to get too close to another human being. The irony of it was that a deep, emotional bond was exactly what Kate wanted and never could seem to find. She never managed to blame herself, though, for all of her failed relationships.
Her efforts at putting a permanent end to her fling with Chris ultimately failed, however. He had continued pursuing her, making his thoughts and intentions known frequently enough that they rarely ever left her head, either. She couldn't deny her attraction to him; his dark blue eyes that held so much emotion, his dark brown hair that was nearly black, and his muscular physique toned from years in the marines prior to service as a police officer and now special agent. Every aspect was just about ideal. But beyond that Kate knew there was a reason their relationship had stagnated. It had lacked that deep emotional bond she'd been seeking but hadn't managed to find. Chris' feelings, she could tell, were stronger than hers; but she could never find it in herself to match them and had felt bad for potentially leading him on. The day she had met with him to end the relationship, she could almost hear her best friend at the time clicking her tongue in disapproval.
"Another boy chased away, Katie," she would have said.
"Look, I need to get going," she said, brushing past Chris and stopping the words that were about to come out of his mouth. His confidence wavered noticeable at her brusqueness and he shifted his weight as if it had physically knocked him off balance. Kate put a hand on the handle of the driver's side door and looked up at Chris patiently when he didn't immediately move away to let her in. He hesitated a moment more, his dark eyes searching hers for the emotion he was hoping see, before sighing and turning away in resignation when he couldn't find it. He pushed himself back into a standing position a few steps away and held the car door when Kate opened it and climbed in.
"Just think about it, Katie," he said softly to her, calling her by her nickname, before he swung her car door closed and walked off towards his own. Kate watched Chris' retreating back for a moment before sighing to herself, starting her car, and pulling away from the crime scene back towards the main road.
Her thoughts did not dwell long on Chris, though, before meandering back to the task at hand. What had that fabric been a part of and were the bones related? Had it been a small bag meant to hold the bones? If so, then why? Kate knew that the town of Salem drew a lot of tourists throughout the year, but always the most around this time of year: Halloween. That was when the real freaks came out. But somehow this all felt different than your run of the mill Wiccan-wannabe. Halloween was still a few days away, and Kate was just glad there had not been any evidence of escalation in these murders due to the impending holiday. The last thing she needed was to be reamed by her boss for not solving the case before more than one severed head was found at once.
After an arduous, traffic-filled drive and quick stop at FBI headquarters back in Boston to gather a few things, Kate finally arrived home. It wasn't until she had quickly changed into a loose tank top and faded, flannel pajama pants and settled on the couch with a glass of wine did she realize just how tired she was. This case had been testing every nerve for the past few weeks and the long hours she was putting in at the office and at home were beginning to take a toll. She sighed and rested her forehead on her drawn up knees for a few minutes, staring without really seeing at the beige couch cushion below her. She was irritated with Chris, too, for bringing their past up once again. She wished he would just get the hint and drop it once and for all. His constant hounding was really starting to mess with her head.
Mentally shoving her worries about Chris to the back burner, Kate sat up straight and took one last sip of her wine before swapping the glass for her laptop, setting the glass gingerly on the coffee table and pulling the computer into her lap. She booted it up and logged onto the FBI database. There was some research she wanted to do before tomorrow, so she spared herself one yawn before resolutely setting her tiredness aside for the time being to focus on the task at hand.
"fabric: scrap, bag, cloth, bones," she typed rapidly into the query bar and hit enter. A list of cases loaded on her screen and Kate inwardly groaned at the number shown at the top: "Showing 1-25 of 463." Kate fine-tuned her search a few more times before arriving at a more reasonable number and pool of potential matches. She was trying to find a link, no matter how small, to any other case in recent history that also involved objects akin to the fabric scrap and bones found today.
It was one hour later and two more glasses of wine before Kate found what she had been looking for. She scrolled slowly through the report, her lips moving as she read it silently to herself. She clicked a file attachment open and was presented with a picture that caused her heart to race for just a second. It was a picture of a swatch of fabric printed with tiny blue birds held in an unidentified gloved hand, which held a ruler against the fabric for measurement in the other hand. The fabric formed a sort of bowl in the person's hand, as its contents weighted the middle just a bit: small bits of bone, teeth, and tendrils of reddish hair.
"Bingo," Kate said with a smile. She closed the opened attachment and scrolled back to the top of the page and beginning of the report. Grabbing a pen and her legal pad, she scrawled the date and location this incident had taken place plus the case number for future reference. Fifteen minutes later Kate had found two other cases with the same MO and scraps recovered for evidence that appeared to be fragments of printed fabrics out of place for where they were found. She more curious than ever now about what exactly she was looking at. Where was this fabric coming from?
Kate pulled up Google on her browser and hesitated for a moment, contemplating what exactly to type. After a moment she made a decision and entered "cloth bags bones murders" then hit enter. Kate eyes scanned the results and she tried a few links that didn't amount to much. She was scrolling down the third page of results when a link's name caught her eye. She clicked it.
"Hex bags," Kate read aloud. "Bags used by witches, most often with malicious intent against a person. These bags are made of cloth, bound with leather, and contain a variety of ingredients; such as, herbs, talismans, and bones." Kate resisted the urge to roll her eyes instinctively at what she was reading. She didn't believe in this stuff, it was ridiculous. The fact that the webpage had a black background and ominous "horror movie sounds" playing on loop didn't lend much to its credibility or seriousness. She idly scrolled down and a picture caught her eye. It was of a supposed hex bag. A piece of leather had been bound into a sack sort of a bag; pink fabric peeked from inside the leather and Kate guessed it was the cloth component. A short description captioned the picture at the bottom: "Hex bag found in Washington State. Contains bones of birds, dried thyme and rosemary sprigs, and one human tooth."
Kate drummed her fingers slowly and rhythmically on the edge of the keyboard, her eyes pensively speed-reading the rest of the webpage with her chin resting in her left hand. Her left index finger tapped along to the same rhythm on the side of her nose as her drumming fingers.
"To destroy a hex bag, the bag must be burnt. Interestingly, the fire that burns a hex bag will burn a vibrant blue," Kate read. Her mind immediately recalled the singed marks on the cloth recovered from the site this afternoon and she frowned. There were so many similarities. Kate's mind refused to make the connection a realistic one, however. She jotted down into her notes to entertain the idea of a civilian cult or malicious tourists who were toying with common lore as part of their crime spree.
Even more exhausted and now perplexed, Kate tossed down her pen and exhaled a deep breath as she leaned back into the cushions of the couch. She yanked her hair free from its confining ponytail and relished the feeling of running her nails across her scalp as her hair fell just past her breasts. She seriously needed a trim. Glancing quickly at the clock and immediately wishing she hadn't, Kate grimaced at the ridiculous early morning hour it now apparently was. She logged out of her computer, snapping the screen shut when it finished, and arranged her notepad and other papers into neater piles on her coffee table as she cleaned up before bed. Lying in bed a short time later, she tried to shut her mind off to rest, but she felt ill at ease. Her dreams that night were dark and filled with exploding cloth bags and laughing skulls.
The next few days passed fairly uneventfully, which was good news for the drifter population, but bad news for Kate. There were no new bodies discovered and Kate worked diligently with Chris and other members of the team to try and recover any possible leads. She had been a little hesitant to share her initial research into the hex bags with her partner, who as expected, teased her at every opportunity for the entire day about her sudden conversion in her beliefs regarding the supernatural. But Kate ignored his jokes. She didn't even try to convince him of her theory, either, since he could never take a moment to be serious about it. She knew it sounded outlandish and just a little bit stupid, but hey - she was willing to do just about anything right about now to bring an end to this. Her boss had been a bit incredulous at first, also, raising an eyebrow at Kate's initial briefing of her new theory, but reluctantly gave her the go-ahead in the end to pursue it when she wouldn't quit badgering him with "Just one day of research into it and then I'm done."
Then the day of Halloween arrived and to say Kate was on edge would have been an understatement. Kate's one day of research had come and gone and revealed no new leads or credible evidence, much to her chagrin and annoyance of her boss. He had shared a few choice words with her before throwing her out of his office with the command of "End this already." But the verbal reaming wasn't the only reason Kate felt on edge. She felt that if there were to be any sudden escalation or new incident, it would occur today. Her head hurt just thinking about what would happen if another body was found along with another dead end.
Her mood soured considerably as the day wore on and her nerves became more and more frayed. She had felt so confident that the new evidence they had recovered from the last scene would reveal something, but never expected not a single damned lead. What was going on? Why was this damned case so difficult? Even the partial footprint her brother, Drew, had recovered amounted to nothing. The ground had been too torn up and the track mark too small to properly identify it against known cases. The other cases she had found on the database that had involved scraps of cloth had never been solved either and the leads those detective had managed to dig up resulted in dead ends.
"Knock, knock," came a male voice from the doorway of her office. Kate picked her head up from her desk and brushed the hair out of her face wearily. She had been lightly, but steadily, banging her forehead against the desk for the past few minutes in an attempt to force her brain to make a miracle, case-solving connection. All she had achieved was pin, sore spot in the middle of the forehead. Chris smiled affectionately at her disheveled look and leaned against the door jam. "I know you're worn out. Want to go grab a drink with me here in a few? I could definitely use one, and from the looks of you, so could you."
Kate just stared at him for a moment, her mind warring with itself silently over the decision. She shouldn't drink, knowing she could be called back on duty at any time this evening. And drinking with Chris? Maybe not the best idea …
"Fine," she decided abruptly and received a celebratory grin from Chris. Fuck it, she thought to herself as she gathered her belongings quickly, stuffing her case papers into her briefcase along with her laptop and other odds and ends. This case is going to shit anyway. Kate followed Chris out of the office, and they made their way out of the building to the underground parking garage where their vehicles were housed.
"Usual place?" Chris called, as they both headed for their separate vehicles.
"See you in a few!" Kate called back in confirmation. Kate nervously checked her reflection in the rearview mirror throughout the drive to her and Chris' local haunt, Trade. She knew this was probably a bad idea. She hadn't been really alone with Chris since they're talk to end things several weeks ago, and now she was meeting him at a place that held a lot of personal memories for the two of them with the very possible intention of getting absolutely shit-faced. What could she say; she had a bit of a self-destructive streak to her. At the next red light, Kate hurriedly adjusted her makeup and took down her hair, shaking it out with her fingers so the loose waves cascaded down her back in a shimmering gold. One final glance in the mirror was all she got before she turned the corner and the bar came into view.
"You're an idiot," Kate mumbled to herself, parked her car, and went to meet Chris.
"And then he looks at me with this absolutely stupid look on his face and goes, 'What?'" Both Chris and Kate dissolved into boisterous laughter at Chris' retelling of his favourite arrest. Chris wiped his streaming eyes as their laughter eventually died down, and Kate took another swig of her beer. She was three in and just beginning to feel the effects. Her head was buzzing pleasantly and she could feel her inhibitions falling away.
The bar was full to bursting, a majority of its clientele dressed in costumes that ranged from silly to gaudy to downright raunchy. Kate and Chris had managed two seats at the bar, but ended up sitting nearly hip to hip due to the crowd. As the evening wore on, the energy of the crowd only fueled Kate's intentions to have a good time without worries and that was where she found herself now. Her concerns revolving around their open case had faded to the background and the constant nagging in her head, asking "what the hell was she doing with Chris?" had been reduced to a low roar. She deserved her moments of carefreeness. When her job demanded so much of her – physically, mentally, emotionally – it was hard to find that balance without going insane.
Feeling the skin on the left side of her face prickle a bit, she turned and saw Chris watching her, a half-smile playing on his lips and his deep blue eyes flicking from her mouth to her eyes as they met his. Kate blushed a bit at his staring and smiled slightly. Was there something on her face?
"What?" she asked, taking in another mouthful of her drink.
"Want to get out of here?" he asked in a low voice, intention laced heavily in his words and his eyes dark with an emotion Kate just now recognized. She froze for a moment, the swig of beer she had just taken still in her mouth. All of her doubts and concerns regarding their quasi-relationship came surging back to the surface, leaving her momentarily feeling almost nauseous. After a slow moment, Kate swallowed her mouthful of beer noisily, licked her lips, and set the bottle down on the bar purposely before turning back to him. Her smile faltered slightly as she met his gaze.
"Ok," she agreed, giving a small nod. Momentary surprise flashed across Chris' face as he realized she had just said yes. He grinned widely and Kate couldn't help but match it with one of her own.
"Come on," he murmured into her ear, as he leaned forward to get off the barstool. He motioned to the barkeeper and paid their tab quickly, then grabbed Kate's hand and led her through the crowd towards the direction of his car.
The cool October air hit Kate's face as they left the bar in a hurry, turning the corner and heading down into the parking garage. When they reached his car, Chris used Kate's hand, which he still held, to pull her into the row of cars and press her tightly between his body and the side of his SUV. Kate's breath caught in her throat at the suddenness of the motion and the burning desire in Chris' eyes as they essentially devoured her alive. Chris pressed his right leg tightly between hers, pinning her effectively as one hand wound in her hair and the other gripped her waist. Kate's lips parted in expectation as Chris leaned towards her, both of their breathing heavy and ragged. Her heart was racing and she could feel his heart beat through their clothes; the tempo matching hers.
Just as their lips were about to meet, a raucous ringing pierced the silence. Kate jumped in surprise, her head hitting the car window as it snapped back at the sound. Chris growled in frustration, still holding onto Kate, knowing the moment was about to be over but clinging to it like a drowning man clung to a raft.
"That's our call, Chris," Kate urged gently after a moment when she saw that Chris wasn't moving. She winced at the dull ache growing at the back of her head and hoped there wouldn't be a lump. Chris looked deep into her eyes for a moment longer, his faces still inches from hers and Kate almost expected him to finish what he had started in spite of the incoming work call. Then he sighed angrily, releasing her and taking a step back to dig the ringing phone from his pocket. Kate took a deep, much needed breath to steady herself, then fished her own phone out of her pocket, already knowing who would be on the other line and with what news.
"O'Neill," she stated in greeting into the receiver, as Chris stated his own last name: "Ballard." The two agents listened to the news they were receiving simultaneously and exchanged glances. Kate hung up her phone a second before Chris did his and quickly bypassed him on her way to her own vehicle, avoiding the hand he reached out to stop her.
"Kate-"
"I'll meet you there," she called over her shoulder before Chris could say anything else or make an attempt to catch up to her. He didn't respond and instead she heard him swear loudly to himself and kick the tire on his car before climbing in and starting the engine. He sped past Kate whose car was parked closer to the entrance of the garage with a squeal of tires and not so much as a glance. Kate breathed deeply as she got into her car, started the engine, and began to back out. She was such an idiot; she never should have gone out with him tonight. Look at what had almost happened! Kate pealed out of the garage and flicked on her emergency lights, red and blue bouncing off neighbouring buildings as she sped towards the highway. Her guess at possible escalation had been correct and right on time, too, she noticed as she glanced at the clock on her dashboard and saw it was just after midnight. She hated being right. Kate merged onto the highway and began to head back towards Salem already dreading what awaited her.
Kate could see the crime scene in the dark even before she arrived at it, due to the large number of local, county, and federal squad cars all parked nearby with their emergency lights flashing. Red and blue dancing lights lit up the night garishly, casting elongated shadows from the trees that surrounded the clearing the crime scene was located in. A small wooden cabin sat at the edge of the clearing to Kate's right as she slowly pulled her car up and parked next to a state cop. The cabin appeared to have been abandoned for a long time, as it was obviously in a dire state of disrepair. This town was so old, she wouldn't be surprised if that cabin was one of the original buildings that had been long since forgotten with time. But tonight it was occupied once again.
Kate exited her vehicle and immediately began making her way towards the cabin, which was swarming with law enforcement officials. Yellow crime scene tape formed a giant "x" across the empty front doorway and wound its way around the entire perimeter of the structure. As she stepped onto the rickety porch, the old planks protesting beneath her weight, Chris appeared in the doorway and held the crime scene tape open enough for Kate to pass through. She brushed by him, purposely averting her gaze so as not to meet his eyes that were focused on her, silently urging her to look at him. She ignored him and moved towards the center of the cabin.
The inside of the old building looked as bad as the outside. Some of the floorboards were missing and the rafters of the ceiling were visible in spots where the ceiling had fallen in. The glass in the windows had been broken out long ago, and ragged edges that lined the window sills were all that remained. A cold draft blew through the cabin, sending an involuntary shiver down Kate's spine.
"What happened?" she asked, approaching a small group of members of the forensics team who were busy shuffling a large form into a body bag. The bag crinkled loudly as the body of a man was situated inside. A crime scene tech quickly drew the zipper up over the victim's body and face and hurried away to retrieve the paramedics, inadvertently leaving a small opening when he didn't drag the zipper far enough. A tuft of salt and pepper grey hair heavily saturated with dried blood jutted out from the top of the open bag. Kate grimaced.
"Found another body," came a male voice from Kate's right. Drew appeared at her side, studying a picture he had captured earlier on his camera. He tilted the display screen towards Kate and she leaned in to peer at a picture that depicted the graphic scene before it had been partially disassembled by those collecting evidence. The older man Kate had watched forensics stuff into a bag moments earlier, was pictured lying in a pool of blood on the rough, wooden floor of the cabin. Blood had poured from his ears, nose, and mouth and pooled around his head; covering the floor beneath him in sickly sheen.
"Gross, right?" Drew said with a chuckle and went to pull the camera away, but Kate grabbed his arm and squinted closer at the picture.
"Wait, why are his clothes all singed and burnt?" she asked, noticing the burn marks for the first time.
"Well, they think he was electrocuted," Drew replied in a "believe it or not" tone of voice. Kate cocked an eyebrow at him and glanced around at the interior of the cabin. This place had never seen an electrical system in its life.
"Elecotructed by what?" Kate asked, perplexed. Drew simply shrugged.
"That's your department, Agent Boss," he replied, cheekily. Kate rolled her eyes and opened her mouth to respond when Chris suddenly appeared at her side and grabbed her elbow to get her attention.
"Kate, we need to go. Just got a call of a body found in a house couple miles from here," he said breathlessly, stuffing his phone back into his jacket pocket, obviously just hanging up from the call that called them in. He leaned in close to Kate and lowered his voice, so he could speak directly into her ear. "Bunch of weird stuff found in the house, too. They think they might've found a bag like the one we found last week." Kate's eyes widened at that last piece of information.
"Seriously?" she asked, turning to look at him excitedly. She prayed this was the break in the case she had been waiting for. Chris nodded once, already speed-walking away from her back towards his car.
"Yes, let's go!" he called, ducking under the crime scene tape as he headed out the door. Kate whirled to face her brother.
"Scoot!" he exclaimed, motioning her away with his hand.
"Duty calls!" she said with a smile.
"Catch you on the flip side, sis!" Drew called, as she basically ran after her partner.
Kate's SUV screeched to a halt directly behind Chris' as they both arrived on scene at the same time. The neighbourhood the house with the body was located in was in the middle of the historic district in Salem. The street was lined with old Victorian homes, bursting at the seams with early American culture. On a warm, spring day Kate could imagine the sounds of kids playing mixing with birds chirping cheerily from the trees as the sun sparkled off the windows. But tonight the cold wind was gusting as the clock officially moved from late night Halloween Day to early morning All Saints Day. The moon was almost full and shining brightly, but not as bright as the garish emergency lights from a two cop cars splashing their colours over everything. It appeared they'd arrived almost immediately after the first responders, even beating the evidence team on scene.
Kate leapt out of her vehicle and hurried to the front of the two-story, Victorian at the epicenter of the crime scene. Chris caught up to her at the front steps and they entered the house together. The two agents flashed their badges quickly at a concerned looking town cop who greeted them at the door. The officer relaxed visibily at their identification and jerked his thumb over his shoulder towards the rear of the house.
"Victim was found in kitchen. Lady was a freak, if you ask me," the officer drawled in a thick New England accent. Kate ignored his out of line comment and re-pocketed her badge.
"How was she found?" she asked, eager to see the scene awaiting her in the kitchen.
"Anonymous 911 call. Caller just said there was a lady in trouble at this address, refused to identify himself, and then hung up. Partner and I were the first ones here and that's how we found her," the officer stated simply. Kate nodded her head in appreciation and motioned for Chris to follow her.
"Thanks," she told the officer, then made her way towards the kitchen with Chris right behind her.
The body of a woman lay in the middle of the kitchen floor, blood pooled underneath her from an obvious stab wound to her chest, just below her heart. She looked young, maybe about thirty. Her dark hair framed her head like a halo; her brown eyes stared lifelessly at the ceiling above her. But that wasn't what struck Kate most about the scene.
"Ugh, what is that smell?" Chris muttered, covering his nose and mouth briefly as a look of digust crossed his face. Kate wrinkled her nose, as well, resisting the urge to gag. Another officer who had been loitering near the body spotted the two agents and made his way over to them.
"Nothing like the smell of ma's homemade soup, eh?" he asked with a laugh, his accent as thick as the officer's who had greeted them at the door. Kate's eyes were watering slightly from the horrid smell, but she forced herself to overcome her nausea by thinking of anything but the smell. Chris had also lowered his hand from blocking the smell as he grew accustomed to it and was now wandering towards the body. Kate cleared her throat and blinked rapidly, clearing her vision.
"So, what is it, Officer Mitchell," she asked, glancing at the officer's badge for his name. Mitchell motioned towards the stove where Kate could see a large, covered pot resting on a burner.
"When my partner and I entered the home, the stove was on and that pot was boiling hot. Shit's that's in it is what you're smelling," Mitchell said. "Don't know what she was trying to make, but saying she needed some cooking classes is an understatement."
"What's in it?" Kate asked, curious now. She wandered towards the stove with Mitchell following close behind her. She reached the pot, pulled off the lid, and immediately regretted her decision to do.
"Ugh!" she exclaimed, slamming it back down and back off, gorge rising again in her throat. She saw Chris send her a worried glance. Officer Mitchell just chuckled.
"I warned ya!" he teased, missing the glare Kate shot his way. "Weird shit in there. My partner was braver than me and took a good look. He said it looked like there were eyeballs and the like floating around." Kate's stomach turned in an unpleasant way and she felt she was fighting a losing battle with her gut.
"Thank you, officer," Chris chimed in, coming to Kate's rescue. Officer Mitchell smiled and dipped his head before heading for the front of the house, leaving the two agents alone.
"You ok?" Chris asked Kate, looking at her worriedly. He brushed a tendril of hair away from her face so he could look into her eyes.
"I need some air," Kate blurted, knowing she couldn't make it. She practically fled the kitchen, running out the back door into the backyard. The cool, clean air that hit her face was a welcome reprieve, but minutes too late. Kate doubled over and retched, completely emptying her stomach of its contents. She groaned when everything was finished coming up and spat a few times, trying to get rid of the metallic taste that now coated her mouth. She stood up straight, her legs wobbling slightly, and paced towards the back of the yard, breathing deeply. If her brother found out she had lost her lunch at yet another crime scene, she was never going to hear the end of it...
The sound of an engine rumbling to life from the alley behind the house caught her attention. It was a deep and throaty sound, surely belonging to a motorcycle or some kind of souped up car. Kate wandered curiously to the fence that separated the yard from the alley and rose to her tip-toes in order to peer over the top. The tail end of a wide, jet-black sedan appeared in her vision. Its headlights and taillights clicked on as the driver threw the car into gear and rumbled off into the night. Kate attempted to read the license plate, but the shadows were too deep in the narrow driveway and all she could make out was the plate's state of origin: Kansas.
"Hey, you ok?" Chris called from the open back doorway, breaking Kate's concentration. She frowned slightly to herself, but headed towards Chris after another moment's hesitation.
"I'm fine," she called back an rejoined her partner at the scene.
