Disclaimer: I do not own Harvest Moon or the characters. This is a very graphic story including blood, gore, and a lemon or two. You have been warned. Please enjoy! :-D
It was a warm summer afternoon in the beginning of July. All of the townspeople gathered at Rose Square for a nice community barbeque to celebrate Independence Day. The weather was perfect, not too hot nor humid, and everyone enjoyed each other's company with smiles and merriment. The mayor was holding the event and had invited the whole town in which everyone came.
There were the bachelors, bachelorettes, married couples, and children that resided in this town. It was a laid back party and some went to the beach to soak up the sun while others stayed at the square to eat, drink, and converse.
I was new to this town and had come to live here for the summer. I had already turned 27 and thought to take a little vacation for my birthday. I contemplated in my head whether I would return to London or not, but it all depends if I could find work here to keep myself busy.
Women from this town adored me ever since I came to this place about a month ago. I was used to this type of attention, but I am more interested in my career as a private investigator.
My days were spent investigating murders and crimes which astonished me the most. There was no time for women as I was always busy with murder cases. While on vacation here, I might as well relax and keep my mind off of my work for a little while to focus on myself for once.
After a while of drinking and relaxing at the beach, I sat down on a bench by the sand bar and stared at my glass of rum and coke. Just then a cute bubbly girl came up to me trying to start a conversation. "Hey there! What's up?" I looked up from my glass to see a gorgeous girl with long curly pink hair and ruby eyes looking down to me. I hesitated for a second. "..Hey"
"What are you doing sitting on this bench alone? Come join the party!" She said in excitement. I couldn't help but smile and said okay as her hand grabbed my arm firmly and pulled me up and led me to the square. Once we arrived, she turned to me with a big smile on her face. "My name is Popuri Eddowes, nice to meet you."
"I'm Kai Macnaghten." I said revealing a small smile.
"So, Kai, what do you do for a living? What are your hobbies?" I was surprised to hear the enthusiasm in her voice, as I was feeling a little nervous because I never really talk to women that much. "..I'm a private investigator for the Metropolitan Police Service in London."
With that said, Popuri's eyes widened in interest. "You're an investigator from London?! That's so hot!" She yelled out causing others around to stare at us. I couldn't help but blush slightly and tried to tell her calmly to keep that down before a man noticed us walked right in our path.
"So, you're a private investigator from London? It's about time that I've met another one like me. The name's Gray Constable." The tall man held his hand out to shake mine. I smiled and greeted back shaking his hand firmly. The man was about 6'3 with strawberry blonde hair and blue eyes.
"Hello Gray, it's nice to meet you. I should have introduced myself to the other men around town to get better acquainted." I had now revealed my British accent that I've been trying to hide causing them both to look at me in awe. 'Great.. .' I thought.
Popuri's eyes widened even more. "Ahh! He's British too!" Popuri said in a loud tone all excited to see this gorgeous exotic looking man with a Europe accent before her. Gray just looked at her and sighed while rolling his eyes.
"Yes, well I have lived in London all my life, so technically you can say I'm British. But, I am also of Dominican descent." I stated with confidence in my words and Gray smiled pleased. "Well welcome to our little town Kai. I take it that you'll be an inspiration to our community."
A while had passed and the party started to die down after the fireworks went off. Some headed home, and some to the Inn to continue drinking. I headed off for a night stroll through the town to familiarize myself with it more because I was going to stay here for a while. I walked past a couple of farms and then decided that it was getting late and headed back to the Inn where I was staying.
I opened the door and entered a large room full of wild people. There was dancing, karaoke, and drinking. I myself used to be a party boy back in the day, but now my work has succumbed me to be calm and more mature which was a good thing for my reputation.
It was only about after midnight that I realized I wasn't tired yet and found myself a nice lonely seat by the bar. A tall man with reddish hair greeted me. "So, what are you having?" I thought about it for a minute and then ordered a Heineken. "Here you go, enjoy." Said the man. "Thanks." I said in response.
I watched the small TV that was hung above the bar and stared at it a while. Some silent horse race was going on. I wasn't much into sports which some guys would find strange.
After a couple of drinks I was about to head upstairs to sleep when the door barged open and a young woman with dirty blonde hair and green eyes started screaming.
"HELP! Someone's been killed!" Everyone in the bar was in panic and she ran to the nearest police who was Gray and this other officer that was with him. They went running after her and I quickly followed.
She led us down the street towards the cow farm and there lied a woman with long red hair that was covered in blood. "Stand back!" Yelled Gray as he approached the woman. He had to hold his mouth from disgust as he called the other officer and me over. "Harris, Kai, come look at this."
I came closer to the woman and noticed that she had two large lacerations across her neck, followed by her stomach cut open and some organs removed. I opened my eyes in horror and immediately ordered some of the townspeople that followed to go to their homes.
"This is terrible. Who would do this?!" Gray said while grimacing at the woman before him. "This kind of thing never happens in this town…" Harris spoke in disbelief. "This was Doug's daughter from the Inn..." Gray immediately called the Pathologist of the town.
"Hello is this Doctor Trent Phillips? Yes, we need you down here right away there has been a murder." I could hear the other man on the phone agree, and then Gray hung up. "He should be here soon, let's gather as much evidence as possible and let's figure out what the hell is going on." Gray spoke still shocked about what had happened.
I started looking around the mutilated woman to find any clues without contaminating the crime scene. From all of the murders I have witnessed, this was by far the worst. The look of terror still held in her lifeless eyes as I moved to the right of her to examine the other side of her body. I noticed something strange peaking from under her head as I asked Officer Harris to hand me some gloves.
I placed my gloves on and slowly pulled out a blood stained piece of cloth from under her. I looked at it more closely and it was a piece of cloth from a shirt of some sort, but it was not hers. It had some writing on it that I couldn't make out. Later, I would have to look it over with better equipment to find out what it says. In the meantime I placed the cloth in a bag and went back to where Gray and Harris were standing.
"What did you find?" Gray said looking at me with hope in his eyes.
"I found this piece of cloth by her head. I'm going to examine it later when I get my equipment because it seems to have some writing on it that is not clear." I said watching Gray nod his head in agreement.
There was a large crowd of people already standing a few hundred feet from the crime scene and I could see that there was a man rushing forward through the crowd to where we were.
"Where is she? Where's Ann?! I want to see her!" He screamed in horror and noticed his deceased daughter on the floor in front of him. Gray had to hold him back because he was more built and stronger than Harris and I. Doug started crying hysterically trying to beat past Gray to go to his daughter, but he eventually gave up and collapsed on the ground.
This was terrible. This was a crime that should not have occurred, especially in this small town. But, I knew something was wrong and that this wasn't over. The killer was still on the loose and by the looks of this mysterious cloth, I had a feeling that everyone was in for a rude awakening.
