A Descent into Darkness

CCTV

Detective Bilal Mohammed was at her desk when she finally had her first major break. She had probably watched two hours of CCTV footage, retrieved from stores and homes with a view of the sidewalk and street surrounding the site of the stabbing from the night before, when she saw Nate Rivers walk by on camera. At first, it wasn't entirely suspicious. He had admitted to being out looking for his sister in the vicinity of his house. What was suspicious was when he came by the camera again.

His posture had changed. He was scurrying, that weird kind where you seemed to be moving as quickly as possible while trying not to draw attention. And while it was hard to be certain at first in the rain, she could make out blood on his clothing in the street light.

"Got you," she muttered under her breath.

"What is it?" Detective Constable Kovind asked from the other side of the cubicle he shared with her.

"Footage of a suspect in this stabbing case we're sharing with Homicide, moving like he's fleeing the scene, and covered in what looks like blood," Bilal replied. She checked the details of the address to whom the camera recording the footage belonged. It was a private household with a camera over the garage, a block away from the stabbing.

Kovind stood up from his seat and came to look over he shoulder. "What you thinking?" he asked. "I agree with you, that's blood, but will a lawyer be able to convince the jury it's bad optics in the rain?"

"I definitely wouldn't run this to the Crown on it's own," Bilal agreed. "But it's definitely enough for a warrant to search his house for those clothes and to bring him in and see what he has to say about this video. Here," she scribbled down a phone number on a sticky note and handed it to her underling. "Constables Hearst and Riley are watching him for me. Him and his friends tried to slip the back undetected but Riley was back there and we know they took an Uber to Veronica Dunbar's residence. At first I thought it was typical teen stuff but certainly seems they could have had more sinister reasons now. I need you to call Hearst on her phone, not the radio, I can't risk this guy having a scanner app. Confirm they're still at the location and send another car for backup. It's not an arrest at this point, just a friendly request. She can tell him it's at either my behest or Roger Murdoch. He'll know the names."

"You got it."

As Kovind set about his task, Bilal unlocked her own phone and dialed Roger Murdoch to ensure Homicide would be informed as well.

***

Veronica and Syed couldn't bare to look at Rachel, so they had retreated her kitchen and were chopping up carrots while trying to calm down while leaving Rachel on the couch. Now, Veronica was pacing the room nervously, knife in hand, after having only cut two pieces of carrot.

Nate had only been gone ten minutes, having gone out the back door to avoid the attention of any undercover unit out front. But she was already freaking out. What would they do if Rachel woke up? How do you convince someone they were drugged by accident? Even if they weren't planning on killing her anymore, thank God, kidnapping wasn't much easier, logistically speaking,

And she couldn't call Nate to ask. After making the call to Erin, he had turned off his phone and removed the battery so he couldn't be tracked to her house in case something did happen.

Syed was having similar doubts, made all the worse by his discomfort being sober this late into the day. Veronica could see him, shaking at the kitchen table.

She went over and sat next to him.

"We're doing the right thing, aren't we?" he asked, clearly not really believing it. He looked at Rachel. "I mean, it was an accident, but were we really going to knock her out like that and let Nate kill her?"

"Well, as you said, we didn't mean to." But Veronica was feeling Syed's doubts too. It was easy to be angry at Rachel. To hate her. But Veronica could not believe that Rachel had meant to give Liza an overdose. And the way she had come here. To own up to it. Would a terrible person have done that?

Veronica was no tough on crime proponent. Anyone other than Liza and she would have been out there advocating treatments, and social assistance so the dealer didn't feel they had no other choice.

"I mean, I get what Nate's feeling," Syed went on. "After what happened to Ali. I would want to kill them. But, this just feels different, doesn't it? Now that we've had a chance to think about it? I mean, Rachel's not a white supremacist."

"True," Veronica agreed. "Honestley, I'm glad she's not responsible. I wasn't sure I would have been able to go through with it."

Syed laughed. "I'm glad I wasn't the only one who wasn't entirely comfortable with where this was potentially going. Are we even going to talk about what Nate's done?"

She looked at him. "Are you saying you want to turn him in?"

"God, no!" he shot back. "But Vee, he has killed someone. It may have been self defence, but he's acting like he ran over a squirrel. Then there's the fact he very nearly murdered a defenceless woman in her home. I know we gave him a pass on that, but come on, at least part of it was us not wanting to get killed. I mean, I love him, but he need's help. We need to get him help."

Veronica sighed, glad Syed was saying what she was thinking. "You're right. But what are we supposed to do? Have him committed to a madhouse? You heard him. That doctor that was supposed to help him isn't going to be able to get here anytime soon. What about his therapist?"

Syed shook his head. "If he hears what's happened, there's no way he doesn't label Nate a danger to society."

"Fuck," she bit her lip. "Maybe a getaway to some remote cottage up North? Get him away from people, especially Erin, for the time being?"

Syed hung his head. "One of us should really have gone with him. Who knows what he's going to do, without anyone to whisper reason into his ear. Hell, I was temporarily all reved up about this and I'm not even a psycho."

"Debateable," Veronica muttered. "But your point is valid. If I'm being honest, I didn't go because I don't want to know what he might do."

"If we knew what he might do and didn't stop him, does that make us just as bad?" Syed asked. "Hell, aren't we guilty for not turning him in? I'm not going to, just for arguments sake."

The conversation was interrupted by a loud thump from living room, like someone had fallen off the couch.

"Fuck, is she awake already?" Syed cried as they jumped up from the table.

"Well, I don't have a cat, so take a guess!" Veronica exclaimed as they ran toward the living room door.

Rachel was already at the door. She unlocked it and made it onto the porch.

"Help!" she cried, stumbling from the effects of the sedative.

"Hey!" Veronica sprinted up and grabbed her from behind, putting a hand over her mouth. "Look, you don't have to struggle, everything's okay. I just need to talk to you for a moment!"

"Police! Let her go!" yelled a voice from the sidewalk. Veronica looked out and saw a woman point a gun right at her. "Let her go!" the woman shouted again.

Veronica immediately released Rachel who staggered to the other side of the officer.

"Drop the knife!" the officer yelled.

Knife? Veronica noticed she had never put down the knife she had been using to cut the carrots

"Veronica?" came Syed's voice behind her, prompting her to turn her head back. "What's going-"

Veronica just saw the blood explode from his chest as the shots struck him. She watched as her best friend collapsed to the ground.

"NOOOOOOOOOOO!" Veronica yelled. She turned towardthe officer who was standing there, her gun smoking, a stunned look on herface. As if she realized she had just shot someone for no reason. The rage of whathad just happened overwhelmed Veronica. In that moment, all rational thoughtleft her mind, replaced by nothing but anger. She charged the officer. It wentas well as you would expect.