Bury the Past
Disclaimer: Don't own Victorious
A/N: IMPORTANT-I'm updating a little early to tell you this. Someone speculated due to the flashback from the past chapter, I need to clarify. The incident that occurred, Ned and Wallace DID NOT sexually assault a twelve year old child. That is not what happened to Trina. She was tortured in front of her father, yes, beaten and brutalized severely-but she was not sexually assaulted. I want to make that clear. The men from that time were not sex offenders, nor child predators. They wanted to make David suffer, and they did by inflicting a great deal of pain on his daughter.
Chapter 4 (Crime Scene Investigation)
The drive back to LA, though quiet, was filled with tears and broken ringing. Trina had tried desperately to contact Martin, sending him texts and phone calls which were never answered. She knew he needed time, but questioned how much time he needed.
She didn't say much in the one voicemail she left him, only reiterating how much she loved and needed him, and how sorry she was for not being honest with him about herself.
It didn't make reentry into LA any easier. She now worked for her father as a temporary homicide detective. Chief Perez gave her the time off, but said she would still be able to actively work if she needed-her contact between the departments would have to be through video if nothing else.
Commander Chapman of the SST wished her well too, saying she looked forward to working with her once she returned. Gary and Carol were sad to see her leave, but hopeful in her return, and of course Gary did offer to give advice on the case should they need him for anything.
"First stop." David pulled up to the house and Trina felt a chill shoot down her spine. She turned to look at the home, grimacing when she saw the shattered window. David turned, hanging his elbow over the seat and studied the home with pain filled eyes. "I know it isn't going to be easy on you."
"I'll be fine." She took a deep breath and pushed open the car door. It was horrible to come to her childhood home and see this. "No one's touched the crime scene?"
"Our forensics team of course, but no. Nothing's changed." David's voice was tense and breathy. "My name's still on the deed, I still own the home. It's a crime scene now, so I'm not doing anything to the house until we figure out what happened."
"Good." She tugged on her jacket and approached, denoting everything around her and being careful of where she stepped.
There was a rock positioned on the ground under the shattered window. She crouched in front of it and studied the lawn. "Any weather conditions? Strong winds?" David moved up behind her, shaking his head. She pointed to the rock, then to an area of the dirt between two bushes. "There's a partial shoe print here."
"Yeah we caught it too." David crouched beside her, staring at the dirt. An exhale drifted from his nose. His right hand hovered above the print, and his finger uncurled. "We took a mold of the print. It appears to be a workman's boot, possibly size ten or eleven."
Trina's forehead crinkled and her eyes drifted to the window. She could see a bit of blood on the windowsill. Her stomach churned and her heart began to sink. "Are you going to be okay Trina?" She knew in order to solve this case, they were going to have to separate themselves from the ties they had to it. David was able to do this with some difficulty, so she was going to do the same.
"Quit fussing over me. Let's focus on this." She pulled on a pair of black gloves and reached for the window. Hanging from it was a piece of cloth. "What's this?"
"Fibers from a shirt." David crossed his arms and cracked his neck from left to right. "Black in color. Cotton." He scratched his chin and narrowed his eyes. "Possibly torn as the perpetrator made his way inside."
"No prints?"
"No. Just the blood on the windowsill." He whisked his hand away as though it were pushed by a gust of wind. "It came back a match to Jade West and an unknown profile." At the mention of Jade's name, Trina felt a rush of air shoot through her. It reminded her just how real all of this was. "She was standing at the window when the perp shattered the glass. Somehow, she was cut first by flying shards."
Trina picked up a rock from off the sidewalk and stood in front of the window, contemplating the physics. "So. I'm standing here with a rock in my hand, ready to break in." She moved the rock forward slowly. "Breaking the window with the rock. Shards ought to be flying at me, right?"
"It's blunt force breakage, which tends to harbor slightly different rules than if glass is broken by a bullet." David motioned to the rock on the ground and Trina followed his gesture. "The perp pushed the rock forward through the glass and left it outside, so it was not thrown. Most of the shards have been picked up by the crime lab, so I'll have to send them in to collect the rest."
It seemed like the entire window had been blown out, so she was certain the perp didn't take a sole strike. With that said, it made more sense in her head how Jade could have been injured by the window fragments. "How close was she to the window?"
"The team reconstructed the window and found a hand print, with some blood. It was determined that she had her arm outstretched and her hand on the window as it was broken." Then it was possible Jade saw the killer. If she had survived, she would be a crucial witness.
"She's the best witness we have, right?"
"Yes and no…" David sighed and moved for the front door. Trina followed after him, furrowing her brow. "She's been so traumatized that she isn't talking, however paramedics indicated that she was conscious and alert when they arrived. Which means she saw the entire crime unfold." He pocketed his hands and stood in place on the first step up to the door. "Unfortunately it seems she is also suffering a case of amnesia. How strong or mild hasn't been determined yet."
"Shit." It pissed her off knowing the soul witness to the crime couldn't be of help. "Was she dating anyone? Where was her boyfriend at the time?" She didn't know if Beck and Jade were still together, but she had a hunch.
"Beck Oliver is her husband. They married a couple years ago. He was at home during the night of the attack, sleeping off a headache." David pushed open the door, holding his breath and closing his eyes. "Goddamn," he muttered, "It still smells in here."
The powerful scent of death and blood struck Trina's sinuses and struck her with a bitter feeling. When she stepped in, the nausea in her gut grew worse, flaring up like a storm.
Blood was all over the living room, splattered on the couch, walls, and pooled onto the floor. There were many yellow markers to indicate places of interest. The couch looked like it had been torn apart.
She brought her hands over her mouth, crying out into them as she thought about how much life she'd lived in this home. Now it was torn apart, destroyed by a criminal filled with hate. "W-What happened here, Dad?" David took a deep breath and extended his hand to a marker on the ground in front of the window.
"That's where Jade was cut by the shards of glass. She turned to run away, and was shot in the back. The bullet tore through her sciatic nerve, paralyzing her." Trina's stomach lurched and she started to look towards a blood pool next to the couch.
"What about there?"
"Andre Harris." David swept his hand down his face, still breathing heavily. His eyes filled with sorrow and anger. "Was shot point blank. Judging by the scorch marking on his forehead, the gun was a matter of inches away when fired. The bullet exited from the back of his head and lodged itself into the couch."
The next person she wanted to know about was the hardest for her to hear. She didn't want to know, but at the same time, knew how important it was that she did. "Tori?" She looked up at her father, watching how he trembled like he was about to fall over.
"She'd been thrown to the ground and beaten severely. Markings on her jaw and face indicated the assailant had some kind of tool on his hand. Possibly rings or brass knuckles." Trina coughed as bile shot up through her esophagus. "She's in a comatose state right now. We believe at the moment that Holly may have startled the assailant in the middle of this attack."
"Why?"
"She placed a 9-1-1 call. On that call we could hear Tori screaming and Jade saying something in the background. We heard Holly confront the attacker…she was shot three times. There were four shots, but one missed…" He pointed to a bullet hole in the wall nearby and Trina turned her attention to it.
It was higher up, indicating a trajectory that suggested the shooter had been aiming for Holly's head from the ground and missed. "Where was she shot?" She digested the news with difficulty and prepared to look at this as though she did not know the victims.
"One hit her on the right side of her upper chest, the next shot hit her in the middle of her torso, and the third struck her left abdomen. She was pronounced dead upon arrival to the hospital."
"Any potential leads on suspects yet?" David shook his head.
"No. I know because half the time it is a spouse or something, that we have to consider Beck as a suspect, but the crime scene doesn't indicate Jade as a strong target. She may have just been collateral, in the wrong place at the wrong time."
"The scene indicates Tori might have been the target." She knew if the perp pinned her sister down and brutalized her with their fists, then a lot of hatred was fueled in the attack, making Tori a good case for the key target. "We should focus on her then. Do you know of anything she might have been involved in, or if she knew anyone that might want to harm her."
"Sadly I can't say I do." David crossed his arms and continued to walk the scene with Trina, being careful not to step on anything. "She was a lot like you. After the divorce, she wanted nothing to do with me. Holly kept in touch once in a while, but eventually that tapered off."
"Why did the two of you divorce?"
"Long hours, lots of stress." He exhaled and shook his head. "I couldn't be there emotionally for them, and eventually we decided it was best to separate. It was mutual, but I know your sister thought I was giving up. She considered me a failure, said I failed at everything." David paused and ran his hand over the back of his neck, sighing loudly. "Maybe she's right. I couldn't protect them, couldn't protect anybody."
"Must be difficult." She slid her hands along her waist and into her pants. "Feeling like you can't protect the people you care most about." She took a deep breath and David's ancient looking eyes slid over to her. "I'm going to have to see the crime photographs, aren't I?"
She was dreading it, but there was no getting around it. "Yeah. You are." They examined the scene a little more, taking note of every little thing they could find that was out of place, then they moved to the backyard.
The glass door was wide open, with no fingerprints. There was very little disturbance to the environment. "They climbed over the fence and took off into the night."
Trina exhaled, remembering Ned and Wallace. "Just like those bastards…" She was determined now. She would find whoever did this and punish them with the fullest extent of the law. "California. Bastard should be put to death, but no. Fucking state doesn't believe in the death penalty. You commit murder, take a life from somebody knowingly and willingly, I think you should be sentenced to death. Plain and simple."
"People here don't see things through the eyes of a victim, Trina. They see a hardened criminal on death row and say 'poor guy has so much he could achieve in life if only they'd let him live'."
"Fuck that." She pulled off her gloves while walking to the car. "Whoever did this deserves to be lined up in front of a firing squad as far as I'm concerned. There was no mercy shown in this attack, so why in the hell would they deserve any mercy whatsoever?"
"I wish I could explain that. I don't think anyone can."
She yanked the passenger door open and looked out at David. "Whoever did this…if they get anything less than life without parole, I am going to start a shit storm."
"I think life without parole is a pretty good guarantee. Two murders, premeditation and intent to kill is clear. Two attempts-though if either of the two that survived…succumb to their injuries…it would be three murders. In the state of Texas, and others, that's death."
"Pity this isn't Texas." She settled into the passenger seat and slammed the door shut, glaring down the road ahead of her. "Let's go to the hospital first. I want to see Tori and Jade."
"Oh Jade too?"
"She's a damn witness, Dad. We have to see her, it doesn't mean I want to see her in the same way I want to see my sister."
"I know." David started up the car and placed his hands on the steering wheel. His expression grew tight and his hands started to shake. "I agree with you though. Whoever did this deserves nothing less than life in prison without parole, and then I hope they burn in hell."
Here we go, the investigation thus begins. What are your thoughts here?