Ten minutes. The night was dark and chill. Moonlight fell weakly between the leaves of the park trees. Bushes rustled in the cool breeze. Baines waited in the shade of a tree. Her dark suit rendering her invisible against the shadow. She yawned and looked down at her folder.
John Crow - birth August 5th, 1855 (4:35) -death October 11th, 1889(22:13)
Mother: Mary Greenhow
Father: Henry Crow
Wife: None
Children: None
She looked up. Baines had been watching Crow for close to two weeks now. It was a routine case. He was an average joe, barely complementing society, much less contributing. The observation was mandated though, and she couldn't skip out this time. They were short on staff as it was. Now she was nearly finished. Crow just needed to walk into the park. She yawned and looked down at her watch.
Nineminutes.
A middle aged man, bulging at the stomach, seemed to waddle rather than walk down the dark garden path through the park. Baines looked at the man, down at her watch, and then back at the man.
Seven minutes.
Crow sat down on a park bench. A brief flicker of curiosity crossed Baines' mind, but experience quelled it. Crow pulled out a book and pretened to read it. His hands shook and his breath came uneasily. Baines chuckled at the ruse. A bush rustled behind her and she turned to see another man approach the scene. He wore a dark coat and his hat shadowed his eyes, hiding his face. Crow heard it as well and looked up, eyes wide and watery.
"Hello?" Crow set his book down. His eyes strained against the dark, but not fast enough. The stranger wove around the bench with lighting speed and plunged a knife deep into Crow's back. With a thump and a hollow gasp, Crow fell from the bench. The stranger whispered something in Crow's ear that Baines couldn't make out. Crow gave a strangled, desperate cry before the assailant ripped the knife across his throat. Crow was left laying on his side, back arched, blood staining his tweed coat, making ugly gurgling noises as the stranger stood and left. Baines looked at her watch: 22:08.
Five minutes.
She knelt next to the man, finally revealing herself to him. Fear widened Crow's already wet and red eyes. A shining string of film reel burst from Crow's wound. In it Baines watched the man's life play out. In truth, she didn't pay it much attention. She already knew all she needed to make an easy judgement call about his life.
"Shh," Baines crooned, looking at her folder again. She knew full well he wouldn't - couldn't - quiet the odd noises coming from his dying body, but it helped to keep some sort of verbal contact. Plucking a pen from thin air, she made a few notes at the bottom of the sheet of paper. "It'll be over soon, John. Just got to wait for your organs to shut down, your heart to stop beating, your brain to go quiet." she said briskly. She looked at the man and smiled pleasantly. "Only a couple minutes." He tried to groan as she patted his shoulder. More blood poured from his neck.
Catching onto his fearful, questioning look she elaborated. "Baines." She held a hand out, but quickly withdrew it and cleared her throat. "I'm here to see you off. That means I can't help you. Sorry." At that, she drew a pair of cruel curved shears out of her coat and used them to adjust her glasses. "Cause of death... blood loss. Notes... none." She whispered to herself as she finished the file and waited for the life to leak from Crow's eyes. At 22:13 exactly, Baines cut the film reel cleanly with her shears and watched it disappear into the air. Crow's chest stilled. His eyes went blank.
Baines stood and took a cheerful breath of air. With a single parting nod to the body formerly belonging to John Crow, she took a step and disappeared.