A/N: A little late, but as promised, other stories of mine would be updated. I'm sorry for the delay, but I had a very busy, and unexpected day. But come tomorrow, I will have Forbidden Temptations updated and possibly the end to this story. I did say it would be a short one, but a great one. Stay tuned and thank you for the endless support and reviews. :) Happy reading!
"Are you sure, Whale? There has to be some kind of mistake." Graham said to Doctor Whale while reading over the autopsy report.
Victor shook his head as he walked over to Smee's corpse, peeling the white sheet off of him, and revealing his disfigured face, which caused Graham- who had seen it all in his career as a police officer- to cringe.
"I have been a doctor for many years, Sheriff. This was not caused by a fall." Victor looked down at the victim before turning back to Graham. "Someone beat him to death."
"Jesus," Graham murmured. "No weapon was found at the scene. Nothing that indicated he had been beaten."
"Whoever did this was smart." Said Victor.
"How so?"
"If you look here," Victor motions with his gloved hand over the victim's cheekbone. "The way the cheekbone is busted, sinked in so much that it tore the skin along his cheek." His finger hovered over the torn, bruised skin. "This was done with something heavy. A rock possibly."
"A rock?" Graham shook his head. "That doesn't make sense."
"He was beaten twenty times, Sheriff. And personally, if it were me, I would use a rock. It's easy to dispose of. No one is crazy enough to turn the entire world upside down just to find one rock drenched in blood. Whatever they used, could have been thrown at the bottom of the ocean."
"The mines were stripped clean of rocks." Graham's brows furrowed. "But there are plenty on the beach," he muttered to himself.
"Isn't that where Smee was last seen? He would never go out toward the mines on his own." Said Victor.
Graham's eyes locked onto Victor. "Unless someone dragged him there. But who and why?"
Graham went out into the beach, not seeing anything out of the ordinary. There were a few tracks here and there, but almost everyone in town came to spend a nice day out on the beach. There was no way to find any evidence out here that would give him a clue as to who was behind Smee's murder.
He picked up a small rock from the sand below his feet, walked a few steps toward the water, and flicked his wrist, watching the rock bounce three times before sinking.
"Ruby," he was startled as he turned, seeing Ruby standing behind him. "What are you doing here?"
"Jogging. Like always do." Said Ruby. "What are you doing out here by yourself?"
"Just looking around."
"Terrible thing what happened to Smee. I didn't think he would have any enemies." Said Ruby.
"I don't think this was an enemy."
"Is it true that Emma did it?" Ruby asked, filled with curiosity.
"No," Graham shook his head. "She and Regina had a pretty strong alibi that checked out, thanks to your grandmother. Turns out, they were in their room all night."
"Oh," Ruby frowned. "Well that's a relief. I suppose. But if they didn't do it, then who did?"
"That's what I'm going to find out, Ruby." Graham walked past the brunette, turning back on the balls of his feet. "For now, I would suggest you don't go out running late at night. Just until this dies down a little."
"Well, I can't make any promises, Sheriff. I have to keep in shape."
Graham frowned and nodded, walking away from the beach while Ruby resumed her jogging.
Loud rock music blasted from Sean's auto-shop. He liked it that way while working on his many cars. Or rather Gold's cars. Or anyone else who owned a car and wanted to come for him to have a look at.
And today was no exception. With the music blasting, Sean found himself working under a Mustang GT. Proudly owned by him. Followed by the red convertible. He reached for one tool after having set down another, until he rolled out from underneath the car, spotting Emma staring down at him.
Sean's first instinct was to lift his wrench as he was startled.
"Hey, whoa!" Emma raised her hands, backing up a step. "It's just me."
"Jesus Chirst," Sean breathed, sitting up until he was standing to his feet. "You could have given me a heart attack. Don't you know we have a serial killer roaming about?"
"Well, maybe you shouldn't keep your music too loud. You should consider turning it down. Sorry for startling you." Said Emma.
"Yeah, whatever." His hand grabbed along his chest as he threw Emma a dirty look before turning his attention directed at another car that held its hood open. He likes working on several cars at once sometimes. Keeping himself extra busy. "So, what do you want? As you can see I'm pretty busy."
"I was kind of hoping you could help shed some light on someone in this town for me."
Sean continued to work on the car, not giving any attention to Emma.
Emma waited a beat, deciding to continue as she obviously wasn't about to get a reply from him. "Tell me, Sean. You've been here all your life, so I've heard."
"Yeah, what about it?" Sean asked, his wrench clicking.
"How well do you know Robert Gold?" Asked Emma, seeing Sean freeze in place before his body rotates to face her directly.
"Why do you ask?" Sean stood still with a frown to him.
"Well, small town that he happens to run. You living here all your life, you just seemed like the right person to come to regarding information on him." Emma shrugged.
"Me?" Sean chuckled and shook his head as he turned his attention back to the car. "Why me?"
"I see you driving out every single night." Emma heard the wrench stop. "Sometimes with Gold, sometimes without. My question is why?"
Sean leaned against the car, his back turned toward Emma.
"You know, I'm a cop, too. And as a cop by profession, my instincts never cease to fail me." Emma walks a little closer to Sean. "And you know what mine tell me about you and Gold? That you two are hiding something."
Sean whirls around, startling Emma. "Why don't you mind your own business?"
"I'm just curious, Sean." Emma backs up.
"Yeah? Well, curiosity killed the cat." Said Sean, stepping closer toward Emma. "It's not your business what Gold and I do- which we do nothing."
"You're lying." Emma said matter-of-factly.
Sean chuckled, the wrench in his hand being squeezed by his grip. "We go for a drive. That car," he points toward the red convertible using the wrench. "It belongs to him. It's been giving him problems, and I'm simply repairing it."
Emma scoffed, her eyes locked on Sean. "Sean… I'll give you fifteen seconds to tell me what's going on between you and Gold."
"What the fuck do you care? You should be busy trying to find your fucking kid, who's probably already far away from here." Sean chuckled.
Emma's lips pressed into a thin line and anger took over her eyes. "What did you say?"
"Look, just get out of here, will you? I have shit to do and you're keeping me from them. Don't think that just because you're a girl, I won't think twice about kicking your ass." Sean turned back to face the car he had been working on.
"Do you know where my son is?" Asked Emma, standing her ground behind Sean.
"Hey! What the fuck-?" Sean felt a hand grip onto the back of his uniform and whirl him around, pressing his back against the car.
"What do you know, Sean?" Emma glared angrily into his eyes, her breathing heavy as she gripped onto the collar of his uniform until her knuckles turned white.
"Get your fucking hands off me right now." Sean hissed behind clenched teeth, glaring back into Emma's eyes.
Emma slammed him up against the car as Sean tried to loosen from her strong grip. "Tell me what you know about my son! Does Gold have him? Do you?!" Emma groaned as she felt something strike her in the stomach, causing her to bend down. She coughed, trying her best to gather breath back into her lungs.
Ssean jaw clenched as he walked up to Emma, grabbing her by the hair and pulling her back up. "Why couldn't you just leave well enough alone?" "He spoke close to her ear. His hand was strongly gripping around her throat.
Emma made a choking sound, and elbowed him back against his stomach. Her body hunched over the car, grabbing onto the open hood. And just as she turned back to face Sean, she felt a blow to her face, right above her eye that knocked her to the floor.
"Bitch, if you want to point fingers at someone, point fingers at Mary Margaret and David." Sean hissed, his arm rising with the wrench in his hand, ready to strike again.
"Sean, drop it!" Graham shouted, his gun aimed right at Sean and ready to fire. "I said drop it! Now!"
The wrench clanked against the pavement as Sean dropped it.
"On your knees." Graham warned.
"Come on, Graham. Arrest her, she's the one who started all this-"
"Shut up and get on your knees now!" As Sean did what he was told, Graham walked near him, his eyes slowly rotating toward Emma, who was standing up. "Emma, are you okay?"
After a few coughs, Emma nodded and was helped by another officer to her feet. "I'm okay." She breathed, her fist throwing another punch directly onto Sean's face as she felt she was being held back by the officer.
"Emma!" Graham stood before her.
"He knows something about what happened to Henry! He told me himself!" Emma shouted, glaring directly at Sean, who was being taken away. A trail of red running down her right eyebrow.
"Alright, calm down. I'll question him at the station and he will spend a night behind bars, but I really need you to calm down." Said Graham.
"Emma," Regina breathed, a worry taking over her eyes as she rushed over to her wife. "Are you alright?"
"I'm fine." Emma nodded, her eyes landing on Graham once Sean was taken away.
"Are you sure?" Asked Regina, glaring in Sean's direction who smirked tauntingly.
"I'll have doctor Whale look at that for you." Said Graham.
"No," Emma replied. "That won't be necessary."
"Emma. You might need stitches. Please. I'd feel better if he took a look at you."
Seeing that she had no other choice, Emma nodded.
"Uh, after you get stitched up. Please come by the station to give your statement." Said Graham, seeing another nod given by Emma before she left with Regina.
Regina paced back and forth as Emma sat on a hospital bed. "What were you thinking going there alone? Emma… We said we'd do this together."
"I know." Said Emma. "I'm sorry. I just had a hunch, call it cop intuition but, Regina I know Sean knows something about what happened to Henry. If not, why would he attack me out of nowhere?"
Regina shook her head, but then said, "Maybe you're right. I've had some suspicion of him myself."
"There's more." Said Emma, waiting until her wife was looking into her eyes. "I think Mary Margaret and David might have something to do with Henry's disappearance."
"Mary Margaret and David?" Regina's brow furrows and she scoffs. "Why would they-?"
"Sean told me. And I don't know about you, but I've seen them very suspicious these past couple of days. Haven't you?"
Definitely, Mary Margaret and David had been displaying some weird behavior here and there to Regina, just like Gold.
Regina scoffed and shook her head, "You might be right. Maybe they do know something, at least something that could help us. But, I think Gold knows something, too." She moved to stand close to her wife. "We have to figure this out, Emma. Find Henry and get the hell out of this town before it makes us go crazy with everything that's happening."
Emma nodded and jumped off the examination bed. "We'll find him," she held onto her wife's shoulders, looking her dead in the eye. "I promise you, we'll find our son. We'll find him."
Regina didn't think twice in embracing Emma into a tight hug, feeling Emma's arms wrap around her like snakes.
Ruby jogged the next night, along the town, and let out a muffled shriek as a gloved hand cupped her mouth and pulled her into the unknown darkness. The last thing that could be heard, followed by her screams was a hard blow.
By morning, Regina walked along the woods, alone and on alert for anything suspicious. Especially after having run into Gold at the diner and suspiciously, Ruby not coming into work that morning. She knew he had something to do with what was happening around Storybrooke, and along with Henry's disappearance.
She panted for a breath, walking along the woods in hopes of finding anything, any clue that would help her find her son. But there had been nothing. No clue, no sign of Henry… Nothing.
Regina walked along, her breathing heavily until she felt something land hard against her cheek, enough to startle her. Her bare hand came up, wiping away what felt like a warm drop, smearing it along her cheek before she looked down at her red coated fingers.
It was blood. She knew this as she brought it up to her nose and sniffed.
Regina's head tilted upward, looking up, feeling her body falling back first, hard onto the ground, as she stumbled upon Ruby's corpse, mutilated and struck with a knife directly into the heart near the biggest tree in the woods. This made Regina let out the most blood curdling scream the town of Storybrooke had ever heard.