The FBI came, when she reported what had happened. She knew these two weren't FBI. Their excuse was that it was a public building, as if the FBI didn't have something better to do… like stop serial killers. There were three, oddly. Audre always thought they came in pairs.
"What was the kid researching?" Asked the green eyed one. He looked tired, but not as tired as the tall brown haired one.
"European families or something. I don't know." That was a lie. She had read every single note he had taken. But since the police had arrived, the notebook had vanished. She knew that it was related to the disappearance of the weird kid.
"When did you last see him?" Asked the blue eyed one in the trenchcoat. He was the most stressed, halfway to murder somebody and halfway to burst into tears. Audre guessed that either he was having a really bad day, or this guy knew the victim.
"I told you already. I gave him a book and he walked back to the study room. He was gone the next time I went back there, and…"
"Then you found the blood." Husky Green sighed, rubbing his eyes.
"I didn't see it until I was in the room. It was… well, the table is in the middle, right? So he was sitting on the left side of the table, near the door. All of his stuff was facing toward him, so I stood there. The blood was on the right wall, across from me."
"What're you saying?"
"I'm saying… somebody walked in. He stood up and walked to the other side of the table, the person caught him, and murdered him with… with something. I- I don't know how I wouldn't hear it. The study room has thinner walls than you'd expect…"
Tall Brunette looked at Husky Green, his eyes tearing up. Husky Green frowned.
"Do you have security footage?"
"Yes." Audre sighed in relief. "Yeah, we do."
"So… there's our perp, right? In the black hoodie, goes into the study room. But he's not holding any weapons."
"The blood isn't real." Tall Brunette said quietly. "You send that to a testing station, you'll see that it's not the blood of the victim. The blood pattern was wrong. The perp didn't kill… him… he wanted people to think the… victim… was dead."
"Who would do that?"
"Maybe the… vic… was on the trail of the kidnapper."
"The Steins." Audre said suddenly. She regretted it as soon as all three agents sucked in their breath. "The kid was researching the Stynefamily."
"Why would he be messing with them?" Husky Green said angrily.
"Because they were killing people, right? They're Steins… like Frankenstein." Audre whispered. "A serial killer family."
They watched the rest play. After the Stynehad gone into the study room, there were a few minutes of silence until Audre appeared, walking to the room, then away. They zoomed forward through the footage- Audre running back out, calling the police.
"Kid must've been dragged out the window. Are there street cameras, Audre?"