Chapter 4: Old Home Week—The Macabre Edition

[Author's Note: It's possible that I owe some people on this site an apology. I went to bookmark this story on my mom's web browser for her the other day and when I typed "Winterville" into the search bar, I realized that not only is there another story with that title, but also a second story that references it. My choosing to give this story and the fictional Vermont town that name was completely unintentional and coincidental, and I in no way mean to infringe on anybody else's creativity. In other words: that was my bad, and I apologize! Finally, Happy Holidays everybody!]

Winterville, Vermont
The Next Day
11:15 AM

The small riverfront town of Winterville, Vermont was a small historic municipality that sat on the state line with the nearby New England state of New Hampshire and also butted up against an assortment of more than half a dozen small towns and villages in Winterville County. The town was home to roughly 4,000 people and had once been known as a thriving industrial hub for that particular part of Vermont.

Alas, this industrious era came to an end in the late 1990's when the last of Winterville's two once prosperous factories went bust and since then, the town had become more known for the annual block party-style festival that was held every autumn, popular high-school athletics, and the top-tier medical care provided by Winterville Community Hospital. Also included on this list were the very well-trained first responders from Winterville's police, fire, and EMS departments.

Troy Harrison and Abigail Asher entered the lobby area of the Winterville Police Department, which was located on the ground floor of the more modern Winterville Municipal Complex, which was also home to the town fire department, town offices, and recreation center.

Harrison was dressed in a leather bomber jacket with a plain white cotton t-shirt underneath, blue jeans, and white Adidas running shoes with his Hope County Sheriff's badge hanging on a chain around his neck. Asher, meanwhile, was dressed in a dark green hooded sweatshirt with brown Carhart brand work pants and light brown work boots. Her Hope County Lieutenant's badge was on a chain around her neck.

As soon as they entered the lobby, they were greeted by the sight of a male and female pair of local uniformed officers. On the left was newly appointed Chief of Police Jayden Porter, a baby-faced, athletically built, redheaded white man in his late 20's. To his right was his second in command, Officer Jeanette Franco. Franco was a blonde white woman of medium height in her early 40's.

"Well, well, well" Harrison said as he extended a hand to the young Chief, "Jayden Porter! Oh, excuse me, 'Chief Porter'! Long time no see, young fella!"

A noticeably unenthusiastic Porter promptly returned Harrison's handshake, albeit quite flatly. "Hello Troy," he monotonously replied, "Or I guess I should say 'Hope County Sheriff Harrison'. So good to see you."

The chief's attention was then almost instantly diverted to Asher, who he very abruptly wrapped in a hug. "Hello Abby," he said as he embraced her, "You look amazing!"

Asher shot a discomfited look to Harrison with her eyes before Porter finally broke what seemed to her like a long embrace. "Uh," she uneasily replied, "Hi Jayden. Thank you. And you might want to go with 'Lieutenant Asher' and 'Sheriff Harrison' while Troy and I are here."

Porter then momentarily put both hands up in submission. "Understood, Lieutenant" he replied before gesturing to his officer, "This is Officer Jeanette Franco, my number two."

Franco shook hands with the visiting officers. "It's nice to meet you both," she said, "I've seen both your faces in the news after you guys took down the Eden's Gate cult a few years back. That was some very nice work."

Harrison gave Franco not only an appreciative smile, but a kind nod in return. "We appreciate that, ma'am" he replied, "Thanks."

"Oh," Franco said, "The 'ma'am' isn't necessary, Sheriff. 'Jeanette' or 'Officer Franco' is fine."

"Got it," Harrison said.

"I understand that we're expecting some other guests here as well pretty soon?" Porter asked.

As if by the power of suggestion, the lobby's glass front door swung open once again and Harrison's cousin and former FBI partner, William "Bill" Harvey stepped inside. Harvey was a tall, dark-haired, bearded white man with glasses who stood at a stature of roughly 6'2.

He was clad in an FBI windbreaker with a black Linkin Park concert t-shirt underneath, black cargo pants, and combat boots. He also had an FBI ID badge around his neck on a lanyard.

Harrison to see his beloved cousin into the room, at which point he practically sprinted over to him and the two embraced. "Goddamn it!" Harrison exclaimed as he tightly hugged the young man, "William! You tall, handsome son of a bitch! How've you been, man?"

"I'm great, buddy!" Harvey replied as their embrace broke, "Seems like very old times. You, me, a serial killer…"

Harrison chuckled as he put his arm around Harvey and walked with him toward the others. "Heh," he said, "No shit, right?"

The sheriff was in the process of introducing his cousin to everyone when the station's front door swung open once again. Seeing who was entering, he smiled once again. "Damn," Harrison said, "The power of suggestion's batting a thousand today, huh?"

Sergeant Hank Voight entered the station with his two detectives from the Chicago PD's Intelligence Unit, Jay Halstead and Hailey Upton, in tow. Voight was a tall gruff-looking white man in his mid-50's with short gray hair. He was dressed in a leather bomber jacket that looked very similar to Harrison's with a gray cotton t-shirt underneath, blue jeans, and brown hiking boots.

Detective Jay Halstead was a tall good-looking white man in his mid-30's. He was dressed in a zippered black fleece jacket, beige cargo pants, and black sneakers. Always the prepared soldier, the Army veteran also carried a green military-style duffel bag over one shoulder.

Finally, Detective Hailey Upton was a shorter attractive blonde white woman in her mid-30's who was clad in an olive green button-down jacket with a white jogger's tank top underneath, beige athletic pants, and brown work boots. Her hair was also tied into a neat ponytail.

"Talk about old times!" Harrison said as he went over to Voight and shook his hand, "Hank Voight! Thanks for making the trip, man. I'm sorry it's not under better circumstances. Welcome to Winterville."

"Hey Troy," Voight said, "Not a problem. We're glad to help."

Harrison then shook Halstead's hand. "Hey man," he said, "Sheriff Troy Harrison. It's nice to finally meet you."

Halstead promptly returned the sheriff's gesture. "Jay Halstead, CPD" he replied, "The pleasure's all mine, Sheriff. Call me 'Jay'."

"Got it," Harrison said, "In that case, please call me 'Troy'."

"Will do," Halstead replied before gesturing to Upton. "This is my partner, Hailey Upton."

The sheriff then shook the striking female detective's hand. "Hi Hailey," he said, "Troy Harrison. Nice to finally meet you as well."

"Likewise, Troy" Upton said, "As with Jay, the pleasure's all mine."

Asher then made her way over to the group. "Hank," Harrison said, "Of course, you remember Abby."

Voight smiled as he hugged her. "Definitely!" he said, "Hey kid."

"Hi Hank," Asher said as she held the embrace, "It's so awesome to see you in person."

Their embrace then broke. "You too," Voight said, "I have to say, I'd never thought I'd see the day that both you and Troy outranked me."

Asher chuckled. "Yeah," she said, "Well, I guess you have a crazy religious cult to thank for that."

"Oh, come on" Voight replied, "We both know you guys would've eventually made it up the ladder on your own."

Asher smiled once again and patted his shoulder. "Thanks for that, Sarge" she said.

"You're welcome, Lieutenant" Voight said, putting deliberate emphasis on Asher's rank.

Everybody made the necessary introductions with each other before Chief Porter lead everybody into the station's conference room, at which point everyone took a respective seat around the large rectangular table. "Okay," Harrison said, "Now that the formalities are out of the way, Jayden, why don't you run down everything we have on these murders, please?"

Porter nodded before putting a large photo of a very attractive brunette white woman up on the large white board opposite the table. "Audrey Buccio," he began explaining, "thirty-five-year-old white female, married, mother of three elementary-age boys. We found her dead in the basement of her home on Snowdrift Street on the evening of February Fifth. It appears that she was taking her laundry out of the washing machine when she was surprised from behind and had her throat slit from right to left. We found an arterial blood spray pattern on the washer door that seems to confirm that she died where she was cut."

"How'd you guys get the nine-one-one call?" Upton asked.

"Her husband, Vincenzo, came home from his weekly poker game and found her" Porter replied, "Thankfully, their boys were all at a sleep over when the murder occurred. And, before you ask, we were able to confirm Vincenzo's alibi thanks to three witnesses who saw him playing poker at a neighbor's house for four straight hours."

"Jayden?" Harrison asked.

"Yeah?" Porter said.

"I know this may be a bit of a tangent," Harrison replied, "But was the victim's maiden name 'Audrey Bartlett'?"

Porter nodded. "It was," he said, "She met Vincenzo Buccio during a summer in Milan during college. They fell in love, got married, and resettled back here in town. Vincenzo works as a family medicine physician at a small clinic in West Lebanon." He referred to the western part of the nearby city of Lebanon, New Hampshire. "Why do you ask?" he continued.

"Bill and I went to high school with her," Harrison explained with a very dismayed tone in his voice, "I took her to the prom."

With that, Asher put a comforting hand on her friend's shoulder. "Sorry," she whispered, at which point Harrison put his hand on top of hers with a nod.

"Was there…uh…anything distinctive found at the scene?" Harrison asked.

Porter then put a photograph of a very detailed-looking black star on the white board. "Actually," he said, "There was. We found a black star spray painted on the basement window. It appeared to us that the suspect spray painted it on the window before exiting the house through the bottom-level basement door."

"Point of entry?" Voight asked.

"The same basement window," Officer Franco chimed in, "We found no signs of forced entry on any of the other doors or windows. We also checked for other suspects and found that no one even seemed to have a harsh word to say about the Buccios. Just a normal, everyday Winterville family."

"Second victim?" Asher inquired.

Taking his cue, Porter put the photo of an older silver-haired white man appearing to be around 60 on the white board beneath Audrey. "Samuel Kneeland," the police chief explained, "white male, single, age sixty. He was found dumped in the sandbox on the kids' playground at Oasis Park on March Eleventh. A lot of similarities to Missus Buccio's murder, same cause of death, throat slit from right to left. I also found a spray painted black star on the hopscotch board a few feet nearby."

Harvey and Harrison traded looks with one another before the former spoke up. "We knew him, too" Harvey said, "He was Sarah Kneeland's father. She was a classmate of mine who I took to the prom. She moved to Philadelphia after graduation and became a nurse. Unfortunately, she died in a car accident there last summer."

"I remember that," Harrison said, "My mom told me just after it happened. Sorry, man."

"Are you guys going to be able to work this?" Voight asked.

"We're good, Hank" Harrison said, "Thanks."

Porter then put Nate Tucker's picture on the board near the others. "Which brings us to last night," he said, "Nathaniel Tucker, white male, age forty. Found dead in his family's barn. Throat slit from behind, right to left."

"Any black star this time?" Halstead asked.

"Yeah," Franco replied, "I was first on scene after Shirley Howard called it in. I noticed it after the medics arrived. It was on the barn's side window."

"Did my mom tell you guys anything useful when she gave her statement?" Asher asked.

"Just what she saw and that she tried to give Nate first aid," Porter said, "Aside from that, she seemed pretty shocked by the discovery, so I didn't want to pry too much."

"Why don't we bring her in later tonight and I'll talk to her," Harrison said, "Maybe my softer approach will help bring out some more helpful details."

"It might also help to have another female in the room," Voight suggested, "I mean, it may be a conflict to have Abby in there, but maybe a new face will be comforting." He then looked to Detective Upton. "Hailey," he continued, "Why don't you take the interview with Troy? Keep it casual."

Upton nodded. "Copy that, Sarge" she replied before giving Harrison a thumb's up from across the table.

Porter nodded. "Okay," he said, "I think I'll adjourn this whole thing for now and let our visitors get settled." He then got up from the table and started going for the door when he was stopped by Asher.

"Hey Jayden?" she asked.

"Yeah?" Porter replied.

"I didn't see Katie in the Dispatch Room," she said in reference to Katie Alvarez, "Is she working today?"

"Yeah," Porter replied, "But I put her on Nights tonight. She's been working a bunch of dayshifts in a row this week, so I decided to give her a breather. Do you have a place to crash tonight?"

"My mom's," Asher said, "Troy, Bill, and our Chicago pals will be crashing at the Harrisons' camp outside town."

Hearing their conversation, Harrison put an arm around Asher. "Actually, Abby" he said, "Before we get settled there, I have a stop to make first. You want to tag along?"

"Sure," she said.