Chapter 19- Through the Wreckage
"They haven't found anything."
"Are you sure?"
"Whatever evidence there might have been in there was destroyed in the fire. I'm guessing that kid was just trying to kill himself while his parents were out."
"Maybe. We'd have to ask him though."
"Injuries like that, he's probably dead."
"Hmph." Detective Johnson agreed while taking a sip of his coffee. "Well let's hope he's not. I have a feeling that this is bigger than just some crazy suicidal teenager. Much bigger."
"We can't run an investigation on your hunches, Johnson. We need evidence." Detective Brianna said.
"I agree, and I want you to be the one to get it."
"You can't be serious. I told you. The kid's probably dead. There's now way in hell that the kid can talk to us!"
"I never said anything about talking. I want you to go to the hospital-which one was it?...Regional I think- go there and get a list of his injuries. See if he's been in there recently, and if so for what. Also try to find if the kid has a history with drugs or anything. And be sure you get a name."
"But..." Brianna started.
Johnson was already walking away. "And take Dakotah with you." He called over his shoulder.
Brainna sighed in exasperation and turned to go find Dakotah.
After a few minutes of searching, she found him hunched over some ashes.
"Anything interesting?" She asked.
Without looking up at her, Dakotah answered. "No. Just getting some samples. What do you want?"
"Johnson assigned us to get the kid's file."
"Oh." He stood up and dusted off his pants. "Hold on, I just got to drop this off first."
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Bulma had woken up a half an hour early, and after she had gotten everything ready for school, had gone down to the med wing to pay Vegeta a visit.
Upon seeing him, she was absolutely amazed. Her dad really was a genius.
Vegeta's burns were considerably better, and it was much easier to tell who he was. He was still in a critical state, however, being that he had been shot in the heart, lung and stomach. Whoever did this to him knew what they were doing. She just hoped they found them soon.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Fifty miles outside of West City, Rehtaf was celebrating.
After the deed was finished, Shadow and Locke had gone their own way, right back into West City. Rehtaf wondered how stupid they could be. They had just killed a kid and they were going right back into the city like nothing happened. He'd heard of hiding in plain sight but that was ridiculous.
He didn't know why he was worried about it though, the fire was sure to have destroyed any evidence. And even if the cops did figure out who was in the house, there was nothing they could do about it. There were no witnesses, no evidence, no nothing.
Shadow and Locke had done this kind of thing before. They knew what they were doing, he supposed. Even if they were idiots.
But still, he had a nagging doubt that wouldn't leave him alone. Damn that kid! Even after he was dead he was haunting him. The more he thought about it, the more he hated him.
With a growl, he pulled back onto the road and continued heading east.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
"We're looking for the kid that was in the fire." Brianna informed the nurse flipping her badge.
The nurse didn't need to think about who they were talking about, much to the detective's surprise. "Sorry you missed him, he left us yesterday."
"Dead?" Dakotah asked.
"No. he was air bedded to Capsule Corp."
"Capsule Corp.?"
"Yes. We couldn't help him and Capsule Corp. had better technology or something like that."
"Oh...Well do you know the boy's name?"
"Umm...It was something odd...hold on." She typed something into the computer and then turned back to the detectives. "Vegeta...Vegeta Ouji."
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Detective Johnson was still 'overseeing' the search. So far, nothing had been found.
"Johnson!"
Johnson turned to see Detective Kyle striding over to him.
When Kyle reached him, he handed him a notepad. "We questioned some of the neighbors. According to a few of them, there was a red car- older model- parked at the house for the last two weeks. None of them had seen any people though. And the description of the car was vague. Apparently, whoever owned it usually left early in the morning and came home late at night. My guess- the kid's parents. He probably waited 'till they were gone to try and kill himself."
"That makes sense but it's best not to jump to conclusions. Anyway. If it was the kid's parents, why didn't they come back last night? Surely they'd heard what happened. It's the talk of the town."
"Maybe they did hear and just went to the hospital. That's what I would have done."
"Hm…So no one knows exactly who lived there?"
"No."
Johnson sighed. This was getting more complicated by the second. "Go find a record of the house's sale. See who sold it, who bought it, anything you can find. Also, be on a lookout for a car that matches the description. You got that?"
"Got it." Kyle said turning and walking away.
Johnson looked down at the notepad and started flipping through the info. Not two minutes later, he was interrupted.
"Sir?! Sir?!" A small scrawny man with coke-bottle eyeglasses and a trench coat was stumbling through the crowd of detectives and police officers. "Excuse me. Are you the one in charge?" He asked.
"They tell me that." Johnson said sarcastically.
"Oh. I'm Isaiah Thomas, arson specialist." He said extending his hand.
Johnson took Thomas's hand and gave it a firm shake, almost chuckling as the small man jostled about. "Well. It's nice to meet you. I'm Detective Kirt Johnson. So tell me. What is your deduction Mr. Thomas?"
"Well actually, I was here to ask you a question. You see I just got here, and well..." Thomas quit his ramblings when he caught Johnson's look and quickly got to business. "Was there anybody in the house at the time of fire?"
"Did you really have to ask me that? I'm sure anybody in West City can tell you that there was a kid in there."
"Yes well." Thomas shoved his glassed higher onto his nose. "Can you tell me where he was located in the house when he was found."
"I believe he was in one of the upstairs bedrooms, why?"
"Well sir, the fire seems to have been started on the first floor and was obviously not an accident. Either whoever was in there lit it purposely and then went upstairs after, or it was lit by someone else."
"Mmhm. Yes confirms my suspicions. Could you write down whatever you just said, for the record you know." He shoved the notepad into his hand.
As Thomas was searching for a pen, Johnson's cell phone rang. "Johnson... yeah... are you sure... I'll be right there."
With that he hung up, and walked away, completely forgetting about Thomas.