Duncan ran down the street, Courtney's last note clutched in his hand. Tears stung in his eyes and he prayed he was not to late. Courtney had know all along that the meeting was a trap, but she had gone anyway. She had promised him she wouldn't go and she had broken that promise. But none of that mattered right now. All that mattered was finding her and making sure she was okay.
Duncan arrived at the address Courtney had been told to go to. He bolted up the stairs and through the front door. The sight that met him made him stop dead in his tracks. Courtney lay, splayed out on the floor, a pool of blood beneath her, her eyes open and glassy. She was obviously dead. Duncan had seen enough death in his life to recognize it, and if the five gunshot wounds to her chest and abdomen had not kill her, the one in her head most certainly had.
He walked over to her, falling to his knees at her side. Tears streamed down Duncan's face as he gently lifted Courtney's body up. He held her body close to him and kissed the top of her head. She was still warm, and had obviously been dead for only a few minutes.
"Oh, Courtney why?" Duncan sobbed. "Why didn't you stay at the hotel? Why did you have to come to this place?" But even as he asked these questions he already knew the answers. She had come because she had wanted to, because that was the kind of person she was. Courtney had never been one to let other people stop her and somewhere deep beneath the grief Duncan was proud that she hadn't listened to him, proud that she had been strong enough to stand up for her beliefs, even if doing so had cost Courtney her life.
For several moments, Duncan simply sat there, cradling Courtney's body. Finally, after what seemed like an eternity he lay her back down. He glanced around the room noticing a gun lying on the floor a short way away form Courtney. He reached out and picked up the gun. It was a .45 pistol with an empty clip. As he examined the gun her heard distant sirens and froze.
"Shit, cops." he muttered. Seconds later seven police men burst into the house. Duncan automatically dropped the gun and raised his hands in surrender. He felt a heavy blow as a cop knocked him to the ground, placing handcuffs on as he did so.
"Well, this is an unpleasant sight." Duncan heard one of the cops say. "Alright, lets get him down to the station. And call an ME to take care of the girl."
Duncan felt himself be heaved to his feet and then he was in the back of a police car.
An hour later, Duncan sat in an interrogation room, facing two cops across a cold steel table. He stared at the cops, his eyes betraying no hint of suspicion.
"So." the larger of the two cops said. He was a slightly beefy white man with a large mustache and a scar above his left eye. He stared intently at Duncan before continuing "So, you thought you'd have a little fun did you? Thought you'd find yourself a pretty young girl and take her life didn't you? Well that kind of shit doesn't fly in this town."
"Yeah, is that so." Duncan asked, keeping his expression neutral. "Well, you may not know this detective-?" Duncan stopped for the cop to fill in his name.
"Shinski. James Shinski." the detective said, glaring at Duncan.
"Well you may not know this Detective Shinski, but I'm Duncan Reynolds of TDI fame, at that pretty young girl is my ex-wife." said Duncan. "Now you may think I killed her, but like I told your friends when they arrested me, killing her is the last thing I would ever do."
"Yeah, we hear that one a lot, Mr. Reynolds, is is?" detective Shinski replied. "So you'll forgive me if I don't quite believe that bullshit."
Duncan said nothing. He could see that convincing these men of his innocence was not going to be easy. But he had no other choice, he would not go to prison and he would not make a bullshit deal. The only thing on his mind was Courtney and how he was going to burn whoever had the balls to kill her.
"So, if you didn't kill her, then where were you at approximately 11:40 this morning?" the other detective asked. He was a tall, bald black man who looked slightly younger than detective Shinski. Duncan could tell that under different circumstances he would be a fun guy to hang out with.
"Sorry, I didn't get your name." Duncan replied, staring at the detective.
"Jackson. Lemar Jackson." the man replied. "Now where were you between-?" but Duncan cut him off.
"Yeah, yeah, I know." he said. "I was at the Imperial Hotel in downtown Toronto."
"Can anyone corroborate that?" detective Jackson asked.
"Yeah, I can." said Trent, entering the room.
"And just who are you?" detective Shinski asked, eying Trent suspiciously.
"My name is Trent McKenzie." Trent replied. "I'm a friend of Duncan's and he was with me all morning." He looked at the detectives and smiled.
"Well, that sounds pretty conclusive to me, James." said detective Jackson.
"Now hold on a minute Lamar." said detective Shinski. "How do we know these two chuckle heads actually know each other."
"Oh come on dude, don't you watch TV?" Duncan asked. "We were on TDI. Total Drama Island? What you never heard of the most successful reality show Canada has ever had?"
"Nope." said detective Shinski. "If there's nothing else, lets stick him in holding."
Just then another cop entered holding something in his hand. "I got something her you may want to see." the cop said. "The ME found this on her, apparently she was carrying a tape recorder. Got everything on tape."
That's my girl. Duncan thought. He glanced at Trent who smiled again.
"Alright, let's hear it." said detective Shinski, after a short pause. He took the tape and played it. They heard Courtney's voice, another voice none of them recognized, and then the six gunshots, followed by silence and then the distinct sound of Duncan entering the house. There was nothing on the tape to indicate what had happened to the shooter, but it appeared the detectives were not concerned by this. They turned away from Duncan and Trent for a moment and held a brief, whispered conversation before turning back to Duncan and Trent.
"Alright, it's obvious to us that the sound of the door opening and closing was Duncan entering the house, not the shooter leaving." said detective Jackson. "So we've got nothing left to discuss here."
Duncan and Trent hesitated, not sure if they should move. After a moment of silence detective Shinski looked up at them and said "You two can go." Trent nodded and he and Duncan exited. They were met by another cop, who lead them down to the autopsy room. They entered and the ME moved to the freezer boxes. He opened number 212 and slid out Courtney's body, cold, silent, and freshly autopsied. Duncan ran his fingers along Courtney's face, tears falling once again. Trent placed a hand on Duncan's shoulder, tears leaking out of his eyes as well. It was soul crushing to stand there next to the lifeless body of one of their friends, knowing that this time, she would not come back.
A/N: By the way, I do mean she won't come back, just so you're all aware. I know I've said that before, but this time I really do mean it, so all you Courtney fans out there don't get your hopes up, I'll only crush them.