Five minutes and 47 seconds.
That was how long it took for the police to search the house for any clues and bring the three of them outside to the ambulances.
Annie had a broken arm and a minor concussion, Chris was passed out in the back of a medical vehicle with an oxygen tank strapped to her. Emma was fine. Emma, the last one to come into contact with Jeff, was completely unharmed. No bruising. No cuts. No evidence at all that he had even laid a hand on her.
She sat there on the curb of the sidewalk as Annie and Christian's house was blocked off with police tape, a blanket around her shoulders and an untouched bottle of water at her feet. Her mind was reeling though her face was blank, the moments before the gunshot replaying in her memory a hundred miles an hour.
Why was he hugging her? Why did he seem to want to protect her?
She pulled the blanket around her tighter, wiping away a stray tear in the corner of her eye. She had feeling that he hadn't comepletely left, that he didn't flee like any sane person would. Then again, he wasn't sane.
"Emma!"
Her head whipped up when she heard the familiar voice and saw her brother duck under the police tape and run towards her. She was off the curb in a second, the blanket forgotten, and running to her twin. She buried her face into his shoulder, grabbing handfuls of his sweater and holding onto him tightly. Many would look at them and think something entirely different, the way Jeff held her protectively. But they would be met with a disgusted look and snort.
All they had was each other, why shouldn't they be protective?
"The hell happened?" He asked after they pulled away. Emma could only shake her head.
"It was like something out of those horror movies you always make me watch. I thought hiding from him and just waiting to be found was the worst of it...but I was wrong."
Jeff's brows furrowed together at his sister's response. "What exactly happened?"
Emma sighed and shook her head as she began telling her twin what happened. What she thought happened anyway.
Less than a hundred feet away, Annie was holding an icepack to her head with her good arm, her other in a sling strapped tightly to her chest. She wouldn't be moving that for a while. She was glaring at a pebble on her feet as she thought of everything she would do to Jeff when she got her hands on him.
First, she would break his arm like he did hers, then she would break his legs and smash his knuckles with a mallet. If at any chance she managed to tie him down, she would water-board him till he wasn't laughing anymore. Her thoughts may have been too dark for someone who was suppose to be protecting to people, but she had seen what he can do and realized she may have been in over her head.
Her bitter train of thought was interrupted by a suited man's shoes suddenly coming into her vision and she looked up. The man had to be in his thirties, tall and thin, built like marine. He had dark hair and dark sunglasses hiding his eyes. She had no idea where he had come from.
"Excuse me, Ma'am," He said in a careful voice, "are you Anne Brown? Chief of Police at DPD?"
Anne couldn't help but raise one red eyebrow.
"Depends on who's asking? Who are you?"
"I'm special Agent Tom Hoff. I understand you're the one investigating the Jeff Woods case?" He flashed her his badge.
She gave a nod, uttering a grunt as she forced herself to her feet, her ice pack forgotten on the ground.
"Yeah, and bastard almost killed me and my daughter for it," She growled.
Tom had taken out a small notepad and was writing something down in it, not looking up when he asked her another question.
"The police at the tape line told me there were three near victims. You, your daughter and..-?"
"Emma. Emma Overlander. She was staying the night with us when he broke in and attacked."
More note writing then he glanced up at her over his glasses. cornflower blue eyes met her brown ones.
"Anne, where is Emma at the moment? She wasn't in any of the ambulances."
"Emma wasn't hurt," She said, her jaw tightening as she remember what happened the seconds before she fired her gun. His words still buzzed in her skull, infecting her thoughts and poisoning her knowledge of the girl.
Tom noticed this.
"Emma was the only one who Jeff didn't attack? That seems unlikely.."
She nodded, a faraway look in her eyes for a moment.
"It was like she was his target, but not the one he wanted to kill. He didn't draw his knife on her." She was vaguely aware of Hoff writing down what she said, mouth in a tight line against his face.
"Looking back now on what he said..."
That really caught his attention and he stopped, looking at her fully now. She couldn't tell but his eyes were hard behind his glasses.
"He spoke to you? What did he say. Exactly."
He watched as Anne shook her head, as if what she had to say was putting a toll on her physically.
"He said..he said "She's not your fucking daughter. She's mine."
Tom gripped his pen a little bit tighter, clicking it and putting and his notepad away in his pocket. Then he looked at Anne and gave her a nod.
"Thank you, Ms. Brown."
He didn't wait for her to reply before he was moving, heading towards the frazzled pair of twins. she was going to yell at him to wait, but black lace had begun appear around the corners of her vision, resulting her to sitting down again to clear away the dizziness that swept over.
She just hoped to God whatever it was Emma and Jeff would tell him would help them track down that maniac.
Jeff stared at his twin, his eyes so wide there was white all around his iris. Did he hear what he thought he heard?
"He was holding you?"
Emma nodded, her arms wrapped tight around her upper-body as she finally remembered how cold it was. She wanted that blanket back.
"Yeah. It was like he wasn't a murderer. He was a different person for a moment it was hwat he said that scared me.."
"What did he say?" Jeff asked as he snagged the blanket off the ground, dusting it free of dirt and pebbles before draping it over her shoulders. Emma didn't like the cold, but it never bothered him.
"Before I tell you, there's something I need to tell you about what happened at the party."
Jeff paled at the mere mention of that night, picturing the clown that had chased him out into the forest and strangled him. He regretted ever talking his sister in going with him, somehow feeling like none of this would have happened if they didn't.
"Me too, weird shit happened that night."
"Does it involve a black and white clown?" She meant it as a joke, but the horror that spread across her brother's face made her blood cold.
"How did you know?"
She was about to say before they were both interrupted by a man in a suit stepping between them. They backed away and stood in front of the man, havin to crane their necks some.
"Are you Emma Overlander?" The man asked her. Emma froze some and gave a stiff nod. the man looked at Jeff and cocked an eyebrow.
"Who's this?"
"I'm Jeff."
"He's my brother, sir."
The man nodded, glancing between the two of them for a moment. "Twins, I assume?" He watched them nod.
"Are we in trouble?" Jeff asked, nudging Emma behind him some. Tom took note of this.
Male twin is highly protective over female twin.
"No, but you two could have been in serious trouble. I'm special Agent Tom Hoff. I've been investigating Jeff Woods for years now and since he recent wve of murders have been in Evergreen, I've been stationed here until he either moves or we catch him. Preferably the latter. I'd like to ask you two some questions, could you both follow me?"
He outstretched his arm around their shoulders and began to usher them towards a line of cars behind the police vehicles. He pulled them towards a black van.
"Wait here, I need a new pen," He said before disappearing around the van.
"You think this guy's for real?" Jeff asked as he crossed his arms.
Emma shrugged, holding the blanket tighter. "I'd like to think so. Anything can be better than having to be on the receiving end of Jeff's knife."
"Guess..unless you're getting chased through the forest-"
"-with a demon clown after you with intents to kill."
They looked at each-other and slowly broke into smiles, laughing softly at what they had done. Even when they had their lives on the line, they could still laugh at it as if it were nothing because they finished each other's sentences.
Neither of them noticed the two other suited men sneak closer to them before it was too late. Electrical shocks suddenly sparked across their bodies, two small cried of pain following the assault. Jeff and Emma collided heads as their knees buckled under them, collapsing to the ground in a heap.
The two agents put away their shock prods as Tom reappeared. He gave a glare to the two other men. "What are you standing there for? Get them tied up and in the van before someone sees!"
The men flinched at the order and grabbed the kids, opening the doors and pulling them inside. Tom stepped away, pressing a finger to his ear-piece and speaking quietly so no one would hear.
"This is Agent Hoff, we've captured and detained primary suspects. I repeat-629 and 630 have been captured."
