Chapter Twenty
Crime Scene
Some hours earlier in the evening, Hugh sat in his car as he looked ahead at the apartment where policemen and coroners were gathered as well as a small crowd including the press who were trying to get pictures in a hope of being first at publishing front page news.
The Police Chief sighed, this was an every day job for him but it never got any easier, especially when the press were trying to get in on the drama.
Walking over to Sargent Harris, he took a swig of coffee from his Styrofoam mug.
"What's the damage Harris?" he asked fearing that this was another of Diablo's exploits.
"A woman in her mid 50's found dead, and an injured 42 year old male battered in the kitchen area." Harris reported, "He's being tended by paramedics and explaining his story to another of our detectives."
"Any idea on the culprit?" Hugh asked.
"He claims it was his niece." Harris said "He says she killed her own mother and he tried to intervene but she attacked him."
"Where is he now?" Hugh asked to which Harris pointed over to an ambulance where he saw a man being plastered and examined as well as talk to another detective who was taking notes.
Hugh quickly sauntered over and he saw the man continuing to talk as a paramedic cleaned him up.
"...So I walked in and I saw her smothering her poor mama with a cushion..." he said, "I tried to stop her but she attacked me with a kettle."
Hugh frowned as he looked upon the man who was explaining his story.
"Good evening sir." he said to which the man looked up "I'm Police Chief, Hugh Beauregard."
"Dale Travers." Dale replied.
"Hello Dale." Hugh said taking out a pad of his own "Can you tell me the events that lead to this crime?"
Dale looked down as well as winced as the paramedic patched up his nose.
"I was in the kitchen, I was making some tea for my dear sister-in-law, suffering so terribly from Huntingtons..." he added with a slight sniff "While my niece, Sophie Erelah was working, at least that's what I thought."
Hugh cocked his head on one said as he listened.
"I went to the living area, and I saw Sophie, she was smothering her mother with a pillow, I walked in and confronted her, and she told me that she couldn't bare seeing her mother suffer!" Dale sniffed again and wiped his eye, yet Hugh saw no tears which made him slightly suspicious.
"I see..." he said as he kept writing "what else can you tell me?"
"I restrained her, and pushed her off then tied to resuscitate her mother, but it was too late, I went to call the police, but she followed me, then battered me with a kettle, she said I'd seen too much and I would have to be silenced, she battered me several times, then I fell to the ground and saw her run out the door."
Hugh nodded as he continued to listen and observe Dale.
Within his years of being a police officer, he had interviewed suspects and victims, and often saw the reactions of them as he heard their stories.
He had to be careful as he analysed each one, trying to sort the facts from fiction and who was a liar and who was genuine.
So far in this situation there were three people involved, one dead, one missing and one witness, and all he could gather evidence from was this battered and bruised man, there was another witness and that was Sophie, yet she was absent and according to sources, no-one knew where she was.
That also sent a alarm bells ringing in his head.
He had told the Chicago Knights over the Skype call that he had spoken to some people regarding Milo T'Challa's disappearance and that Sophie Erelah was one of them.
"Fuck me..." he thought "What if she's..."
He shook his head and tried to push it aside, trying not to jump to conclusions and decided to focus on the task at hand.
After Dale had finished speaking, Hugh looked at the paramedic who gave him a report on Dale's injuries.
"He's lucky to not have any more broken bones apart from a broken nose and bruises." the paramedic said "He doesn't need any further medical observation."
"Thank you." Hugh said gratefully then he turned to Dale.
"Will you be happy to come with us for further questioning?" he asked to which Dale nodded, yet Hugh noticed he looked rather nervous and on edge, as if he had something to hide which made him decide to do some more investigating.
Taking out his phone, Hugh quickly sent a text message before nodding at everyone to continue with the investigation.
Down in Mutopia, Jake was sitting in his room watching the TV as the news came on.
Normally he hated watching the News, it had always been so boring and full of greedy politicians and pointless stuff about celebrities and their latest scandals, but since the incident of Diablo, he had been watching it constantly just to see if there was any indication of his younger brother being sighted or any of his activities being reported.
He was also annoyed that the Chicago Knights still didn't want him joining in their missions because he still had a lot more to learn and train for before he could join them in the field so he dedicated his time to keep training as well as keep his eyes peeled for any news on Diablo.
Before long the news readers began to talk about local news and he leaned forward to listen.
"Good evening Chicago! It's been over two weeks since the Pastor of the Straight Truths Church was attacked in his own Church and he, along with his wife and brother are claiming to have seen the devil in the form of a black bird!"
Jake's eyes widened as he listened.
"The Pastor who made a name for himself for preaching Homophobia and Racism was found crucified to his own alter along with Satanic symbols carved into his skin, his brother and wife were also found two days later attacked in their home and they along with their children speak of seeing a large black bird, right now, police are sceptical of such claims but investigations are under way..."
"Brother..." Jake sighed.
"Also, A group of Red necks who were found in the same condition the Pastor was found in, also claim seeing a large black bird as they were attacked, they are still being interviewed about their claims as well as facing criminal charges for assault and hate crime."
Jake glared and punched the bed as he heard the news.
"Dammit!" he cursed then stood up, as he did so, he almost jumped out of his skin when there was a knock at the door.
"Enter!" he barked before muting the TV and the door opened to reveal Amber.
"Oh sorry..." Jake blushed "I didn't mean to speak like that."
"It's okay." Amber said then she saw the muted TV. "You still watching the news?"
"Still trying to find clues to where Diablo might be next." Jake confirmed then sighed "It's like an obsession now, I watch the news every chance I get, wondering if there's any news on my brother or if anyone has seen him."
"We've been watching it too." Amber said "And those people he attacked claim to have seen him, but so far no-one believes a word, well they were declared insane when they were found attacked."
"That's true." Jake said with a sigh then he felt his phone buzz to which he grabbed it and pulled it out of his pocket revealing that someone had sent him a text.
"Tyroth?" Jake mused then read the message.
'Meet me at the entrance, we're going topside'
Jake raised an eyebrow then looked at Amber.
"Sorry Amber," he said inching past her "Your brother's called another topside meeting, it must be Hugh, I wonder if he found something?"
"Okay." Amber nodded at him before watching him leave to go to the entrance then picked up the remote and turned the TV off before leaving the bedroom.
Up topside, Hugh arrived back at his apartment where he turned on the light to his living room to see Tyroth and Jake sitting on the sofa waiting for him.
"I was expecting you to be here." he said "I assumed you got my message."
"Hey Hugh." Tyroth said "Sorry about sneaking in before you arrived home, we had to make sure no-one saw us."
"Understandable." Hugh said "How is everyone in Mutopia?"
"Still trying to get on with their lives, some people have resumed normal activities, but many are still on edge, so much we've had to keep reassuring them that nothing will happen, not with the extra security and new drills." Tyroth confirmed "Yet Sharky's in a real state, he's still shaken from Diablo's attack on him and he's been too upset to join us on missions topside."
Hugh looked sad.
"Poor thing." he said.
"I know." Tyroth said "Normally Sharky never lets anything hold him back, but that attack with the Meth, he's just so traumatised and also rather ashamed because he now thinks he's a coward."
"That Shark's anything but a coward!" Hugh said "I've seen a lot in my career and I've worked with officers who had seen and experienced so much too, and many have gone through stuff they needed time off to recover, so he's not alone!"
"I've told him that." Tyroth said "And Sephie's trying to talk to him about what happened to help him deal with it and James has decided to have Sharky spend some time to recover and get his nerves settled."
"I do hope he feels better soon." Hugh said then he looked in his brief-case and pulled out an envelope of papers along with a laptop computer.
"I've just spent the last few hours going over a missing persons case as well as a suspected murder and attempted murder, yet something doesn't add up."
"What do you mean?" Jake asked.
"There's something not adding up about Dale Travers when I interviewed him," Hugh said "After I interviewed him on the scene and at the station, I decided to do a background check, both on him and his missing niece."
"And What did you find?" Tyroth asked.
"A lot!" Hugh said "Apparently Sophie's got a clean record, noting stands out about her, apart from the fact that she was a young carer to her mother who had been diagnosed with Huntington's disease, Sophie along with her father looked after her together until her father's tragic death in a car crash over six months ago."
Both Tyroth and Jake looked horrified.
Hugh nodded in agreement.
"I remember it." he said "Sergent Harris and I were on duty that night when a call came in about a car accident, and we went to the scene to see a full on collision, and no survivors."
"Jesus Christ." Jake said.
"What happened?" asked Tyroth.
"It turned out Mr Erelah was driving home late one night when four teens in a car came serving around the corner at full speed, it turned out that the kids had stolen a car whilst high on cocaine and had taken it for a joyride, then they collided with Mr Erelah's car head on!"
Jake gulped whilst Tyroth looked furious.
"I'll never forget it." Hugh sighed "I saw the bodies before the firemen and the paramedics arrived, all the teens had not been wearing seatbelts and were literally splattered inside the car."
"I don't understand it." Tyroth sighed "Why do young people do stupid things and put other peoples lives at risk because they want to have a laugh?"
Jake just shrugged yet looked rather sick.
"Anyway," Hugh said "After her father's death, Sophie became the prime carer as well as trying to keep two jobs, one of them being a barmaid at the Pussy Parlour."
"The same club Milo worked at." Jake confirmed.
"Exactly." Hugh said.
"I was then told by Dale that Sophie asked him to come in and help with her mother's care, he was Mr Erelah's step-brother, he claimed that they had a good relationship, but I can't help but think the total opposite."
"How?" Jake asked.
"Well Dale's got a bit of a track record that dates back to the ninties, let's see here..." he looked through the papers then handed some of then to Jake and Tyroth who took them and it showed Dale's mugshots in different situations and arrests.
"In 1997 he was arrested for fraud, and embezzlement, in early 2000 he was done for speeding and for making a racist comment at the officer who caught him, and here's the icing on the cake." he checked his laptop "He was given many restraining orders after assaulting and stalking several women in a previous workplace, as well as sued by a woman he assaulted outside her home when she kept blowing off his advances on her."
"What a jerk!" Jake said in disgust and Tyroth also agreed, a bit of fire erupting from his nostrils as he snorted in disbelief.
"Yeah." Hugh said "So the point is, I don't think Sophie murdered her own mother and attacked Dale without reason, from what I found out, Sophie was dedicated to caring for her mother, even putting dreams of going to University on hold."
"A selfless soul." Tyroth said.
"Sophie's got no record of trouble, but Dale has." Hugh continued "So, if I were to assume the guilty one, it's Dale! He's done something! And Sophie's fled the scene, but there's no evidence right now, at least not at the moment, the forensics and coroners are analysing everything as we speak."
"Has there been any sign of Sophie from witnesses?" Tyroth asked, he was starting to fear the worst again.
"Not as yet no." Hugh said "And more than likely Sophie's disappearance along with the crime scene is going to make the news."
Jake looked at Tyroth.
"You don't suppose Diablo will find her before anyone else does?" he asked.
"I don't know." Tyroth said as he looked out of the window "The City's huge! And there's no telling where Sophie might have fled, and even if we go looking for her now, we'll be exposing ourselves."
"I want to find her." Jake said "Maybe if I can, I can convince her to come to Mutopia before Diablo finds her first."
"You want to search the city for one woman?" Hugh asked in shock "You wouldn't even know where to start! She could have gone anywhere!"
"I want to try." Jake said "It's because of me Diablo's out there, it's because of me that two people were mutated and I want to do my part in making sure nothing bad happens to Mutopia!"
Tyroth sighed but he knew Jake was persistent.
"Look it's almost dawn." Jake said "I'm the only one from the sanctuary who can go topside during these hours, I just want to try my luck."
"Are you sure about this?" Tyroth asked looking at his human friend seriously.
"Very serious!" Jake said "Look, I'll look around the city as best I can, and I'll return soon, I promise!"
Tyroth closed his eyes and snorted then looked at Jake before taking his shoulders in his paws.
"Okay." he said "But promise me you'll be careful and don't do anything stupid!"
"I won't!" Jake promised then pulled open his shirt revealing his gun concealed under his arm.
Hugh frowned at Jake's gun.
"You know I'll have to do my job if anything does happen son." he said.
"I know." Jake said looking at Hugh "But I give you my word, I won't do anything out of my depth, that's a promise."
Hugh nodded at Jake with a wink then looked at Tyroth who stood up.
"Stay safe Jake." he said "I better get back to Mutopia before the sun fully rises."
So saying he stood up and walked to the window.
"Stay in touch." he said "Both of you!" then he jumped out of the window before flying off.
Jake and Hugh watched Tyroth go then Hugh turned to Jake.
"Do you want some coffee?" he asked "I can make you some breakfast if you wish?"
"Sure thanks!" Jake said before following Hugh to the kitchen area.
So Hugh's investigated the crime scene and interviewed Dale whose told lies! But thanks to Hugh's deep digging he doesn't believe a word Dale has said and now he's relayed the information to Tyroth and Jake, Jake's decided to stay topside to search during the daytime hours.
Where will all this lead? Well keep checking back to find out!