As Anna sat in the passenger seat in route to the Inn she pondered the irony of the fact that she had spent more time riding around in a police cruiser than she had spent in her own new home. Deputy Kato drove in silence, occasionally massaging his chin while her own head throbbed, making it difficult to have a coherent thought.
Her main concern was Lily. The pin had disappeared with the child as well, but at this point the pin was of no importance. Only the safety of the girl. In fact, as far as Anna was concerned, she hoped she never saw that cursed pin again.
The box on the dashboard came alive and roused her from her thoughts. "This is unit 54 in route to 411 Mockingbird Lane. Officer Buzz is on scene and reports that the subject child is present and unharmed. First accounts from the subject and subject's father state that the subject had been home or with subject's father all day. Subject did leave with subject's father around oh eight hundred hours to go fishin at the..."
"Oh for cying out loud, would you quit playin Dragnet and spit it out? Wait! No! Zip it! We know they're lying. Get your skinny ass over there and use whatever skills you learned during your one week stint at the FBI Academy and get the truth out of 'em. Don't call me! I'll call you!"
Deputy Kato turned the radio off and glanced over at his passenger. Wonderful! She was crying. "Ain't nothin worse than havin to deal with an emotional female!" he thought.
"I just don't understand!" she blubbered. "Is this whole town mad or am I?"
He decided to nip this in the bud before it turned into an Oprah episode. "Anna, listen to me. We will get to the bottom of this. Trust me. I will leave no stone unturned. Speaking of which..." He knew this would get her attention.
She stopped sobbing and looked at him out of the corner of her eye. "Yeeesssss?" she asked.
"Well, I tried to tell you this morning before you threw me out of your house. I found something of interest last night. Here." He flopped a faded, coffee stained folder on her lap.
"What's this?"
"Rose and Clyde's case file. I went thru the archived files last night and hit the jackpot right off. I haven't had time to look thru it all, but I did find something of interest."
"Really. What?"
"Well, I reviewed the Medical Examiner's report. The cause of death listed for Rose was a single gunshot wound to the head. They were both shot at close range, Rose from behind. Clyde apparently ate the end of a barrel. To be blunt, his face was blown off, completely unrecognizable. According to the report, the only way his father could I.D. the body was by his personal effects...the family ring he wore and the wallet removed from his clothing."
Anna looked puzzled, "But how could they know......."
To be continued
Posted by captainhoof
at 10:46 AM CDT