Rock – a Bye Traders
Chapter 1: Murder
Johnny Topside was a tall, well muscled, blond man with scars over his cheek and forehead from previous missions. John worked as a cop, sharp blue eyes like the clear ocean. He was wearing a dark blue short sleeve shirt and jeans covering his figure. With him was his 18 year old adopted daughter Eleanor Lamb. Eleanor had short black hair and blue eyes that matched John's, the little girl was beautiful and too intelligent for her age. She had always been the best in school and John was proud of her.
"Father," She started before setting down a cup of tea for her dad, steam coming out of the cup. "My teacher asked for a report about markets of the country"
John took the cup and watched the steam coming out of it. "I'll get a report for you from the office" he replied before taking a sip of the tea, not bothered by how it stung his tongue with the heat.
Eleanor smiled at before she pushed her hair back and away from her eyes. "Thank you" she kissed his cheek. "I need it by next week if you're on a case right now"
The blond shook his head. "I'm free" Then there was a beeping sound from the fax machine. "Or so I thought…" He sighed. "Eleanor, could you please see what we got in the fax?" Eleanor nodded and smiled as she walked to the machine and started putting the papers neatly behind each other in the correct order and handed them to her father. John put down the cup of tea and scanned the words with his eyes. His brows arched and that was the sign Eleanor needed to know that her dad just got a bad case. "Sorry Eleanor, daddy has work, it's serious and-"
"It's alright father, I understand" She nodded, Eleanor wasn't bothered by her father leaving for his job, she had gotten use to it and she thought herself to be a lucky one, she gets to spend time with him and that's all she needed. "Can you drop me off at Amir's house on your way to the crime scene? We could finish our science project"
John nodded. "Sounds good, I'll call Juliet let her know I'm on my way there" he took the cup of tea and quickly drank what remained before taking his phone and went to change for work.
After the two got ready Johnny dropped his adopted daughter at her friend's house then drove to the crime scene. He reached a tall building with a sign that read "Sinclair Solutions" glowing in red and blue. Waiting for him in front of the company was a woman. She was extremely attractive as John had heard from many of her "Crushes" though John seemed to be the only one who wasn't trapped in her beauty spell. She had long curly brown hair tied back in a bun, her skin clear, and her eyes green like the grass fields; she wore a long grey trench coat with sunglasses covering her eyes.
"Juliet," John called. "You made it"
Juliet took off her sunglasses and placed it on top of her head. "There you are John; I hope traffic didn't keep you. Everyone is lined up to see what happened as if it was a circus. Police are working on keeping them out, well come on let's go"
The two went inside the large company only to be stopped by the guards who didn't let them pass until they showed their badges. One of the guards led them to the crime scene. The two looked down at the body before Juliet knelt beside it. "Any information about our victim?" John asked and before Juliet could answer the two heard the sound of shoes tapping on the floor. The two turned to see where the sound was coming from only to see a man heading their way, a hand in his pocket and a cigar in the other.
"Mr. Sinclair you shouldn't be down here, it's not safe" The guard said but Sinclair only smiled at him and gave him a light pat on the shoulder before shoving his hand back in his pocket.
"His name was Steven… poor man had a wife an' child. I remember him tellin' me before that he wanted a day or two off when his wife gave birth" The man said, the accent implying he was a southern man but.
"You know anyone who would have wanted to hurt Steven or his family Mr….?" John tried to remember the name the guard just said but he wasn't very focused.
"Sinclair, Augustus Sinclair chief. I own this company, an' about Steven…" He looked at the guard who nodded and left the man with the cops. "This ain't it, It's gonna get worse. There is a hurricane kid, an' it's comin' to wipe out this whole company."
"You know something we don't?" Juliet said while examining the body.
The company owner took his hand out of his pocket; he held an envelope and handed it to John. For a second the two men's eyes locked and John knew that look in Sinclair's eyes. Anger mixed with fear. He decided not to look for too long though and turned his attention to the envelope. Inside it was nothing but a small paper that read. "Ashes, Ashes, they all fall down"
"Say, what's your name son? I don't fancy workin' with people I don't know" Sinclair asked and John looked at him again. "Jus' seems rude" he continued.
"John Topside" The blond replied before looking back to the paper in his hand.
"A knight in armor," Sinclair pointed his cigar at John then chuckled. "It's a pleasure to meet you." He then looked at the girl waiting silently for her to introduce herself.
"Juliet Nivans"
Augustus nodded before looking down at the corpse. Steven had bruise marks around his wrists and neck, a trail of blood coming from under his eyes which were closed, his mouth hung open probably from surprise John and Juliet thought and his face pale and cold. "I believe this won't be the last murder. Won't stop till I got a bullet in my head…"
"You got something to do with this boss man? Debt? Stealing maybe? Or did you just anger someone? Any enemies maybe?"
Sinclair shook his head but then nodded. "Sort'a, when yer a businessman everyone will be on yer tail, companies battle it out to see who's best ya know? But none who would go far for murder. I was almost shot a couple'a times. Ain't sure if I'm the target or this whole company"
"We're going to need a list of people who work with you, associated companies as well"
"Easy, I'll give ya the list" Sinclair shrugged. "Anythin' else Johnny-boy?"
"It's John" John didn't like being called "Johnny" while he was at work, especially by strangers; he wasn't really one for nicknames anyway. "We need you to head back with us; being owner of this place I'm sure we can get a lot of information, maybe something that would lead us to our killer"
Sinclair nodded. John and Juliet both put on their white rubber gloves before they tried opening the victim's closed eyes to see where the blood trail had came from, to their surprise once the eyes were opened all they saw was a black gap where the eyes should have been.
"The eyes have been ripped out… ugh hope it was after the killer had killed the man, but not likely killers are never that nice, especially if they're a nut-job" John smirked. "The marks around his neck and wrists are likely to be from wires or ropes, bet if we checked we'll find a couple of broken bones, probably from struggling"
"We'll take the body back and see if we can find more about the cause of death" Juliet said before she stood up and took her cell phone, excusing herself as she walked away from the two men.
"Was anyone else here when Steven got attacked?" Johnny asked not even bothering to look at the businessman.
"Yes, I was at my office, the guards an' my assistant, some employees who were workin' late too"
John stood up and finally he looked at Sinclair. "I'm going to need the security tapes from your security cameras, if only your employees were here that means if the camera caught someone you don't recognize it has to be the killer"
Sinclair chuckled. "An' what if I told ya we ain't got security Cameras?"
"I'd say you're bullshitting me because you seem like the type of guy who takes good care of his business. If someone wants this company to fall that means you're a threat to them and if you're a threat then that means when it comes to business you play your cards right, a security camera is needed in every company so… you got to have one"
"I'm feel flattered chief, for that I'll get'cha the tapes" John's brow arched in a mocking matter, silently telling Augustus that he didn't have a choice anyway. "Ya ain't one for nicknames or jokes"
"You do realize your employee just died and someone is out there trying to put a bullet in your head don't you? Not really the best time for jokes"
The company owner shrugged. "Yer a cop ain't ya? Then it's yer job to protect a possible victim such as myself which gives me no reason to worry about bein' shot"
John rolled his eyes at that before he watched Juliet walk back to them. "They're coming to take the body, we need to visit the family, maybe they know something useful"
"Feel free to come back here if ya need anythin' else, I'll be more than happy to help"
The two cops nodded and exited the large company as the ambulance car came to take the body, placing it inside a black bag and loading it into the car.
This wasn't a normal case, John could feel it. Maybe Sinclair is right, maybe there is a hurricane coming and they best be prepared for it.
END OF CHAP. 1
