A Descent into Darkness

Jackpot

Bilal Mohammed drove up to the police barricade, a block away from Veronica Dunbar's house, where a crowd of bystanders had gathered while the press broadcast the situation. She leapt out of her car, and ran toward the tape, her badge already out so the officers manning the perimeter knew to let her through.

Ducking under the tape, she frantically searched the scene for Hearst or Riley, from whom she was very eager to hear how this had led to two dead suspects. She eventually saw Hearst, sitting at the back of an ambulance, her face buried in her hands as a paramedic took her vitals.

"Hey," Bilal panted, jogging up to the pair of them. "You want to catch me up? How did a simple request to come in for questioning turn into this circus?"

"Well, we never actually got to the point of asking him to come in," Hearst explained, her voice trembling. "I was watching the house and waiting for back up when this girl, Rachel, comes running out, screaming for help, then that Veronica girl grabbed her from behind while holding a knife. I intervened and was ordering her to drop it when I heard the boy, Syed's voice. It startled me and... and..."

"I'm sorry," Bilal could not believe what she was hearing. "He startled you? So, you shot him? Did he have a gun?"

"Well, no."

"So, you shot an unarmed man?"

"I was focusing on the armed one," Hearst looked at her defiantly, though she clearly didn't feel the confidence she was trying to project.

"You are fucking kidding me," Bilal could not believe this. She turned back to Hearst. "Where's Rachel now?"

"Riley and a paramedic took her to the hospital," Hearst replied. "She said she had been drugged."

"What about Nate Rivers?" Bilal asked her. "Do we have a 20 on him?"

Hearst shook her head. "We found footprints at the back of the house and marks on the fence. That leads us to think he slipped out but some how we didn't see him this time."

"Fuck!" Bilal slammed her foot in frustration which didn't even phase her fellow officers in the vicinity. They were well accustomed to her reactions when things didn't go as planned. She looked around the scene and then back to Hearst. "Is Riley still at the hospital? Which one of you was supposed to be watching the back?"

Hearst sighed. "He says he turned his back to take a piss, alright? Yeah, he knows he fucked up and he'll have to pay. But we expected if they tried leaving again, it would be all of them. Not just one."

"Oh my fucking God." Bilal wanted to vomit. "So, you let our prime suspect in a murder, slip away, and then you shoot an unarmed suspect. What about Veronica? You say she had a knife? Was she doing anything?"

"She charged me," Hearst replied, as if feeling vindicated.

"No doubt because you shot her best friend," Bilal muttered.

Hearst just smirked. "Easy for you to judge when you weren't the one there."

"You and your incompetent partner let the suspect get away before any of that even happened, and apparently didn't realize a hostage situation was underway, keep your fucking trap shut," Bilal retorted, before storming away. Hearst was now the Special Investigation Unit and Professional Standard Bureau's problem. Bilal had a suspect to catch.

She walked up to an officer guarding the scene. "Who's the officer in charge of the scene?" she asked him.

"Sergeant Park, Detective," the officer replied.

"Where is he?"

The officer pointed to him, he was surveying the covered bodies of Veronica and Syed.