"That's the last man…" Arthur Kirkland sighed and adjusted his hat, looking down at the slaughter that had happened in the early night. Ten men, killed and disfigured by the hands of the crime boss, Star Widow. Her jobs ranged through various crime, from murder to robbery, arson and drug trafficking. She had the entire neighborhood, hell, perhaps the entire county under her thumb, forcing people to run and hide if they couldn't pay back the debts. These men weren't criminals, they were salary men, men who crunched numbers and figured out stocks for the elite players in the cities around the area.
Kirkland slipped on a pair of gloves and knelt down to the murder scene, looking for any evidence to collect. He wanted Star in jail for all the crime she committed, or even had a hand in planning. Kirkland was so close to throwing her away with a wire tapped witness, when the man wearing the tap was caught by Star. Her calm, emotionless voice was clear, giving him a deal that there was no way he could refuse.
Kirkland's back was to the alley entrance when an expensive car pulled up and a woman followed by two burly men exited the car and walked into the gory scene.
"What a tragic scene."
That cold voice, the lilt of the accent, the disregard for human life…
Arthur looked back at the figure dressed in black, face veiled in black mesh, looking bored at all the blood that spattered the concrete walls, looking displeased at the guts that were lying near the worst of the attack. She walked in Arthur's path, feet in high highs so high there was no way the gore would stain her shoes, looking at the blood, frown visible under the veil that masked her face.
"Ma'am, please leave! This is an active crime scene!" Arthur scowled and charged at her, stopping not when her two burly bodyguards stepped up but when she lifted up the veil and met his emerald eyes with her chocolate eyes. She told two steps forward and glared up at him.
"Those were my men. You, Kirkland, will step away and let me do as I please."
"What?" Arthur looked confused, "Your men?" the realization hit him like a bag of bricks, "You didn't do this."
"Of course not!" The sudden anger and disbelief of his statement shocked not only Arthur and the rest of his team, but her two bodyguards shifted uncomfortably, one appeared to be praying, the other was messing with his belt loops. Arthur realized he provoked the dangerous woman too much and changed his tone to a softer and more calm tone to see if he could get some information from her, "Miss…please…you…you cared about these men…"
Her eyes softened and she took a step back, "Yes…they had families, families that needed them. One of them just had a baby."
"I'm sorry…I would like to give my condolences to the widows when we identify them."
"I know them, let me identify them instead of the widows. Don't make them go through this. They didn't need to see their husbands, the loves of their lives, chopped up into little, itty, bitty bite-sized pieces."
"That's not procedure…"
"Neither is your undercover partner getting hooked on cocaine, but you don't hear him complaining…now that he has been through rehab that is." Her voice was unflinching, her tone more matter of factly than condescending, her face gentle and alluring, like the way a viper looks before striking, "Their wives don't need the nightmares, the horrific visions of the men they spent night after night waiting to come home and raise their children together; that would just be torture for the innocent. You want to spare them the nightmares, the anguish, right?"
Kirkland looked down and nodded, the lump in his throat forming. The part of his job that made him break the news to the families of the deceased was always the hardest part.
"Besides, you are willing to let the biggest crime boss walk away when you could have her in your grasp," she stepped closer and her eyes looked like melted chocolate, "that's like a spider letting a fly just fly away."
Her velvet voice raked a shiver up his spine, he gasped at how strong it was, "I…I-I!"
"You~?" She gently touched his bicep, squeezing softly, as if seeing how strong Arthur was and the worst part was he was flexing for her unconsciously. Her voice stroked up his back in another shiver, "Office Kirkland~…" another squeeze, "I'll bet that you are a smart, strong, young, ambitious man. You want to impress your chief~. Maybe I'll let you take me inside the station in your handcuffs." She blushed and smiled, "I'll let you take me in to get some information out of me~. You might even get a confession or two if you play along~."
Arthur felt his throat tighten, his pulse spiked and he felt his cheeks turn red, "I…I'll call you when we're ready for you to ID the men…"
"Good boy~."
And like the flash of a camera, the moment between them broke and she started walking away, the veil gently put back in place. The two bodyguards escorted her into a long black limo, the window slowly rolling down. She flicked a card two inches short of the beginning of the blood puddles and kissed the officers goodbye before the car rolled away into the night.
Kirkland pulled off his gloves and grabbed the card, the font was gold and the card was a matte black.
Star Widow. Problems will just melt away under Star. The business number was printed on the card, along with a meeting place for any people in need of her services, which Kirkland and many other police officers have searched before with very little success.
"…" Kirkland slipped the card into his pocket before barking orders for the others to continue processing the crime scene.