The Last of the Twenty: The Setting of the Board

Chapter 37

When Raymond pulled into the police station, he had no idea what to expect. The parking lot was as full as he’d ever seen and he had trouble finding a place to park. The night shift people who were usually gone long before Raymond started his shift were all still around, either getting questioned or filling out reports. Trying to avoid running into any of his superiors, Raymond looked around the crowded room for Keith, he wanted to find out what Keith knew about the break in before the chief sent him up to the hospital to talk to the girl. Raymond finally found him walking out to the parking lot looking discouraged.

“Keith” he said, motioning for him to come over. Keith nodded and walked quickly to meet him, grabbing Raymond’s arm and pulling him off to the side.

“This is just messed up” Keith whispered, “chief’s blowing a gasket over this. Nobody saw anything, nobody heard anything. I managed to peek at the screens when they were reviewing the footage from the parking lot. Man, all I can say is that whatever it was looked like a person, but moved too fast for the camera to get a good shot.”

“What do you mean moved too fast? I thought those cameras could pick up anything. How the hell did he even get in? There’s no door that goes into the evidence room from the parking lot” Raymond exclaimed in a hushed tone.

Keith just shrugged, “I don’t know how to explain it really, I guess it was like watching someone running in a movie with the fast-forward going full speed. You could see the person on camera and make out they were wearing all black and a mask, but man, I’ve never seen anyone move like that in my life. Seemed impossible really. And they got in through the window buddy.”

Now Raymond was really confused. “The window” he asked, Keith just shrugged again. “There’s no way, don’t we have that window fenced up or something?”

“Yep, re-enforced metal mesh bolted right to the concrete. Go out back and take a look, I think it’s still on the ground out there. You’ll see what I mean.”

Before Raymond could ask what he meant by on the ground the chief walked up. Keith nodded to him and patted Raymond on the shoulder, walking off before the chief could ask him what he was still doing here. Raymond looked to him and gave a quick wave before turning back to the chief.

The chief’s name was Chris Peterson, he had been in charge for almost two years now and, all in all, Raymond thought he did a good job at it. He had a medium build and was by no means the biggest guy on the police force, but he was the one nobody wanted to piss off. After graduating high school he joined the police force, making it through the academy at the top of his class and spending almost a year on the force before enlisting in the marines.  He then spent nearly ten years in the service before getting wounded in Afghanistan when a roadside bomb went off, taking him out of combat and leaving him with a permanent limp in his left leg. He received an honorable discharge and returned home where he won the spot of police chief by a voter landslide. He still kept his hair cut short and had the constant demeanor of a soldier, running the police station as much like the armed forces as he could without being too overbearing. He was the first police chief Raymond had worked for that he genuinely respected as more than just a politician.

“What happened” Raymond asked. Chris’s jaw clenched and he shook his head. Raymond could tell he was furious and had no idea where to start, or whose head to put on a platter for it.

“I’m sure by now you know there was a break in in the evidence room. Whoever it was took that bag of dirt we got from the crime scene in the woods. The sample we sent to the lab was stolen too not long after, same person as far as we can tell. Moved too fast for the cameras to make a positive ID and ripped the fencing over the window right off the concrete wall.”