Declan
Jason pulled up to the front of the house that felt like sunshine despite the weather. Painted in an orange-yellow hue with white frames, a red roof and a bright red door I felt myself tense at the thought of the news we were about to share with the family.
There was a small toddler bicycle resting on the porch outside, clearly left there with the promise that it would be ridden after school. Jason had mentioned that the Simon family had three daughters. Nina being the oldest at nineteen.
"When do you think he'll arrive?" I looked over to Jason as we climbed out the cruiser.
He looked down to the watch on his wrist, "five minutes."
"I'm going to take a look around to see if anything is disturbed in the meantime."
"I'll try to call the hospital to reach her mom."
I left him at the cruiser as he pulled out his phone and headed to the back of the house. It was a short walking distance to the mansion down a cobble stone road and another structure stood quite a few feet behind it that seemed to link to the mansion.
My eyes searched to see if there had been anything that was out of place that could show a link between the murder and the family. A crime of passion or someone who had a very deep personal vendetta. Yet the more I looked around I realized not even a rose in their flower bed was tilted wrongly.
It just seemed like a perfect family home which baffled me further. In all my cases I always had a lead. A good concrete way of figuring out who could be a culprit but for even a reserve as safe as this one to be targeted shocked me. Whoever was doing this was far too skilled to be a psychopathic serial killer.
My spine shot straight when I heard what sounded like something being dragged along the gravel road. Instantly I spun on my heels to try to locate where the noise had come from. Jason was still at the front speaking on the phone therefore I knew it couldn't be him.
For a second there was silence before the dragging happened again. This time coming from the barn-like structure of the mansion. Out of pure curiosity I followed the sound with careful movements so that the gravel didn't crunch under my feet.
When I approached the two slightly worn out barn doors my stomach sunk to the floor as I saw a trail of blood leading inside. The smell of it was hard to ignore in the air.
I reached for my holster to pull my gun out as I rounded the doors and saw a man dragging a body bag into the barn. His stature was big as he moved with harbored breaths. Blood on his hands. He placed the bag close to a table then stood to his imminent height.
The world stilled for a moment when I realized it was the same man from this morning! The very one who was speaking to Malachi outside the clinic!
Our eyes connected and with immediate reflex I raised my gun to him then screamed, "Freeze!"
He looked startled and I took in his face. The hard contours that made his expression more intense than I was sure he intended. His lips were firm yet plump with a darkly rich wine color that I almost believed was artificial. His nose was perfectly structured that it could make anyone feel insecure.
He had a jaw that could cut through glass covered in a short stubble but that wasn't what amazed me. It was the fact that only one of his eyes stared back at me. A toned hazel color that seemed to dance with specs of gold. His left eye was covered with a black eye patch. A scar clearly running down from just above his eyebrow, all the way down to jaw.
How would someone get an injury like that?
"What?" His voice was like a whip in the air. Cutting and clear. Yet held a rumble that made thunder jealous.
"Freeze and step away from the body," I took a step closer. "I am Détective Declan from the Enen Police Department. Now take a step away from the body, go down on your knees and lay flat on your chest. Hands in the air."
Instead of shock or slight fear, a smile crept onto his lips as he raised his hands and just as I had instructed went down on his knees. "A man with authority. I like that. Normally I prefer my strippers in uniform but I guess you'll do," he chuckled, forcing an unexplainable heat to travel to my cheeks.
"On the ground now!" I yelled as I pulled out my handcuffs.
"You only have to ask nicely, officer," he snickered before he went down onto the floor and allowed me to handcuff him.
Once I was sure he was immobilized I went to the body bag.
"Declan," Jason appeared in the doorway, his chest rising and falling indicating he had run here. "What is going on?"
I didn't bother to answer him as I pulled the zip down and instead of a body, a deer stared back at me.
"I just came back from a hunt in the woods. We were planning a night of venison. You should join us detective," the man spoke, almost tempting me to kick his face in.
Clearly he had been toying with me!
With a sneer I took out the keys and uncuffed him before he stood to his full height. He towered me so easily that I nearly had to crane my neck back to take him in. I was 6ft5 but the man was a giant!
Jason stared in shock as the man rubbed his wrists then without a word, left the barn as he whistled. It took me a second to realize he was only dressed in black denim jeans with no shirt and shoes as he walked away.
"Who the hell was that?" I frowned.
"That's Zion Zephaniah, the chief," Jason groaned as he ran his hands down his face. "Great first impression Declan!"