The Murder of Mrs. Black

Chapter Two

"Chief!" I yell, out of breath. "Chief!"

"What, Detective?"

"We found... Mister Black...," Mallet yells, finally catching up to me. I smirk at him.

"Wow, I run faster than you. And I'm in heels."

"Shut up, I wasn't trying," He says angrily.

"Detectives, focus! Why don't you have him out here in cuffs?"

"He's dead," I answer.

"Excuse me? Do something! We just lost our prime suspect!" Chief yells.

"He's not the killer. This isn't a suicide. This is homicide," Matthew answers, squinting his eyes against the sun.

"Right. He left a note," Mallet says, handing the yellow sticky note to Chief.

"Okay, we need to get investigators out here and get back to the station. Let's move," Chief says, shoving Matthew into the car and signaling that Mallet and I get into his car. I feel sick to my stomach.

Three hours later, we have the entire Reno Police Department in the interrogation room, because it's big.

"Okay," I say, pacing across the front of the room. "Mrs. Black was killed only three days ago. There are no signs of foul play, bullet wounds, knife gashes, anything. She is in an autopsy now, because possibly she had heart failure, lung failure, or something like that. But, most signs point to homicide. Detective Mallet, the Chief, and I were-"

"And me!" Matthew yells from the back of the room.

"-at the Black's lake house earlier today and found Mr. Black, dead, along with this note," Mallet pushes the sticky note under the projector.

"He knows who we are. He knows when and where we will be. We want everyone on this case," Mallet says.

"Yes, now I want my investigators at that house in three hours, which means you must leave now. Let's go!" Chief yells at the staff.

"Isn't this case out of our territory?" A man pipes from the back of the room.

"No, Blake, we have to take matters into our own hands since Mrs. Black was killed on our territory," I say, clasping my hands together.

"Audrey, Mallet, I want you two on killer watch."

"What does that mean?" Mallet asks, throwing up his hands.

"You went to school right? Ask Audrey."

She stalks from the room and Mallet turns to me. I ignore him, closing my eyes.

"Wait, they had a daughter and a son. They are next. Mallet, we have to go!" I run from the room, him following on my heels.

"Blake!" I shout as I pass through the front.

"Yes, Detective Young?"

"I need the addresses for Mr. and Mrs. Black's two kids. Tell me which one was older, first," I say, stealing a notepad from Mallet's desk.

"Um... Cara is the daughter. She's the oldest. She lives on 1496 Amber Hollow."

I scribble it down. "And the son?"

"Jacob is the son... he lives out of state."

Mallet swears, and I look at him. "Call Chief. Where does he live, Blake?"

"Denver. Detective, this is out of our diction."

Blood drains from my face. "I may not know too much about the Chief, but I do know that her brother is the chief of the Denver Police Department."

"Chief!" Mallet yells to the phone. He passes it to me when I reach for the phone.

"Chief?" I ask.

"Yes, Detective?"

"Can you call your brother and ask him to keep Jacob Black under police watch? He may be one of the next victims."

"Yes." The line goes dead and Mallet and I run out the door.

"Young, is your gun still in the car?"

"Yes. Mallet, hurry!" I say, climbing into the passenger seat.

Mallet gets out of the car, but I am already at the door.

"RPD!" I scream, kicking down the door.

"Audrey, wait!" Mallet runs in behind me.

"We do this together?" I ask him. His jaw sets.

"Yes."

He and I run into the bedroom first, guns up. There is nothing, but as I follow him into the bathroom, Cara Black, I assume, is dead in the bathtub.

"Everybody has been dead in a bathtub, Mallet," I look at him, and then notice the sticky note on the mirror.

I see you have found her. Smart you are, Detective Young. I will be watching and missing you. Come and visit soon. With lots of love, Your Unknown Killer.

"Mallet, he's going to kill me after he kills Jacob," I take a step back.

"Audrey, I won't let that happen. I will not lose a fourth partner."

"He's going to kill me, no matter what. He's going to kill Jacob, and then he's going to kill me."

"Audrey, stop it! He can't kill you."

"What's stopped him from killing the Blacks?"

"Nobody. But I will stop him from killing you."

I decide to bring it up again later and call Chief.

"Anything, Detective?"

"Cara is dead. You have to watch Jacob carefully."

"The Denver department told me that Jacob is dead already. We need to figure out the next victim."

"I think I may know," I say, blood draining from my face.

"Who, Detective? Who?"

"Me."