Chapter 4

July 10, 1998

"I feel cold, looking at her like this. She was hugging me only a day ago, embarrassing me in front of my friends outside of the dorms. I would give anything to feel that embarrassment again. I miss you, mom. I love you."

Anika Donivine never liked when it rained during a funeral. Considering the mood was already somber, she felt like it added an extra dreariness to the moment. Standing next to her partner, Harry Barnes, she watched from a distance as the Hector family said their goodbyes. She could tell that the oldest son, Shaun Gregory Hector, seemed to be the most upset. The husband, Dean, was clearly holding the newest addition to their family.

Anika was actually a bit surprised that they allowed for a funeral to take place, considering what remained of the body. Then again, it was a closed casket ceremony, so she probably figured that a funeral was still proper protocol.

She still hated that it was raining.

Half an hour later, after the coffin was in the ground, Harry saw that the family was breaking up and going back to their cars. He technically did not want to corner the family, but he had a ask a few questions that hadn't been possible the last few days. Everything had happened fast when Jennifer Hector's body had been found. The precinct had been going crazy, trying to close off areas of the surrounding forest to the public so that something like this couldn't happen again, if any of the possible theories were true. Most of Raccoon City was abiding by the new standards, but so many had been protesting, and a lot of the police department had been stretched thin due to keeping the peace and breaking up protests.

Making their way towards the Hector family, Harry cleared his throat.

Dean turned and took a good look at him, up and down. "Can I help you?" He asked as he handed the baby over to Shaun.

"I really hate to bother you at such a difficult time, but I have a few questions. Just to clear up a few things," Harry said. "I'm Detective Harry Barnes. This is my partner Anika Donivine."

They both flashed their badges.

Dean took a deep breath and let it out in the form of a slow sigh. "Sure, but I have to get my family home soon and get ready for work in the morning," he said. "Couldn't even get more than a single day off to grieve."

"That's horrible," Anika remarked.

Dean nodded. "I'm reconsidering my career choices, but I was doing that long before now anyway. Jen and I were going to move to Chicago for her work. I'm thinking hard about going now anyway."

Barnes nodded. "Well, mostly we just want to know if your wife liked to jog in those areas before or if this was the first time jogging in the forest," Harry asked.

Dean took a quick moment to glance around the area before turning back to Harry. "Yeah, she liked to jog all around town. Though I'm not sure if she did it in the forest before recently," he replied.

"So this may have been the first time in the forest?" Harry asked.

"Maybe, maybe not. Like I said, she liked to jog all around town. For all I know she was there before and never mentioned it," Dean said. "We didn't discuss every little aspect of our lives. Just the important things."

Harry nodded, and held out his hand. "Well, my condolences for your

loss. We are doing everything in our power to find out if this was a simple rabies attack or straight murder," Harry said.

"Thank you," Dean said before getting into the car, Shaun and the baby taking the passenger seat.

Harry stepped back and moments later watched as the car drove off.

Anika gave him a gentle bump on the shoulder. "Good job partner," she said.

"Yeah, well, I had to do it somehow. May as well get it over with while we still had them in the area," he said. He then fully turned to face her. "When we first arrived, you said that you'd discovered something that you were going to tell me after the funeral?"

"I did actually. So apparently Jessica Hector used to work for the Umbrella Corporation. I say used to because she was on maternity leave when she died," Anika explained. "I reached out for inquiries about her work ethics, but they have yet to reply."

Harry took into consideration what she said, and nodded. "So we have a worker for a corporation that has its facilities inside the mountain range that's within range of the pathway she was at when she got attacked. I would consider that a coincidence. How much of a coincidence I don't know," Harry said.

"You want me to keep digging into this little theory?" Anika asked.

"Sure, but don't let Chief Irons get in your way. I've been hearing he wants this case closed as soon as possible," Harry said.

Anika nodded, and then walked off.

Harry took another moment to look at the grave, which was still being buried, and then, he too, walked off.

William Zander Coen never thought it would go out like this. Sitting in his jail cell, he could see the rain falling outside his window. Just yesterday, his lawyer had been hoping to appeal his sentence, but that had been a false hope. Billy had hoped that this one final try would clear his name, but that was before they had somehow managed to procure evidence that sealed his doom.

In all honesty, Billy had felt like it was a lost cause from the beginning. It seemed that every time he tried to pull something from his hat that proved that he was innocent, evidence to the contrary came out in full force to shut him down. He was beginning to believe that fate was against him, and maybe it was true. But Billy was also beginning to believe one other thing: that this was a set up. Billy was meant to fall. If Billy managed to survive this, he planned to investigate further why it had to happen in the first place. He wasn't going to be anyone else's fall boy.

Lost in thought, Billy did not notice the officer standing at the door to his cell. A hard knock got his attention, and he stood up. Noticing the officer, he stood back and faced the wall.

"Yes, officer?" Billy asked.

"Don't be so surprised to see me. You have a visitor, and he does not like to wait," the officer said.

Billy, understanding what this meant, let a smirk cross his lips.

Joseph Frost sat on one side of the table. He waited patiently for the man he was visiting to show up, and when he saw him walk through the door, he let out a sigh of relief. He stood up and waited for Billy to walk over to him before giving him a big hug.

"You look well for a man on death row," he observed.

Billy sighed as he moved around the table, taking a seat, Joseph doing the same. "Yeah, well, it's the least I can do to keep myself from going insane. I need to know why everything is happening to me. I know what I saw, and I know they're the ones doing this," Billy said.

"But without the proper evidence you can't call them out for it," Joseph stated.

"I know. But I'm not going to be able to do anything about it while I'm in here anyway, so I may as well just do my best and hope somehow it gets out," Billy said.

"I tried to do some investigating, but every time I seem to get close to something, someone shuts me out. I'm starting to believe that you are right about this being a set up. Unfortunately no one wants to get involved, so if I'm going to do it, I may as well do it alone," Joseph said.

"Nobody close to the investigation is going to want to help you. I bet you the superiors in the marines are all involved. That's why you're getting shut down at every turn, because they know I'm trying to prove they are responsible," Billy said. "We need to try a new angle. I don't know yet what it is, but let me think about it. We still have 13 days."

"Okay. Just don't do anything stupid while I'm away doing S.T.A.R.S. business," Joseph said.

Billy smirked. "Stupid is my middle name," Billy said.

"No it's Zander, but sometimes I can't help but question that, you idiot," Joseph said, and they both smiled as Joseph put his hand on top of Billy's on the table. "I am going to get you out of this, one way or another."

"Don't put yourself in direct crossfire with the Marines," Billy warned.

"No promises," Joseph told him. "I won't loose you."