Prime Suspect (When I Saw You In Remains)

Chapter 7: Bloody Thurday

As the calenders hit June 24th, the residents of Felt Beach woke up to the tragedy of two murders. Both murders were on the northeast of the woods, located in Maple Street.
The street being swarmed by the police in dawn, Detective Prince took over the case in the morning. Because it was the street Claire Dutchson was kidnapped in, it was the street Willow Nathaniel, the prime suspect, lived.
Prince entered the first crime scene. He looked at the officers working there and asked: “Where is the body?” The officer looked at him and replied, “There is none.” This wasn’t the answer Prince expected. The officer continued: “There’s blood splained everywhere in the bedroom. The trace continues all throughout the hallway, then it suddenly disappears. No sign of the body.” Prince cautiously walked upstairs to examine the crime scene.
…
I woke up as my mom burst into my room. She seemed tense, she told me to get up and come downstairs quickly. I got nervous over her tenseness, but I had barely sleep last night. So, I was basically moving half asleep. It’d make sense that I was tired but I somehow felt more tired than I should have been, like the energy in me was drained.
I walked downstairs curiously  even washing my face or checking my phone. I asked my parents “Weren’t you supposed to stay at the city for the whole night?” – “Yeah, we were.” she said and continued “The neighbours called us in the morning to inform us that there’s been two murders in the street. We drove back as fast as we could to check if you were alright. Now pack up. I can’t let you stay here, especially without us.” She was in her strictest moment that I’d ever seen, coming from a foundation of worry. And over here, I couldn’t digest what I just heard. Two murders! Two? Didn’t the Werecat say “Him” singularly. Even one murder was a tragedy that made me want to puke and cry, but two was rather a mystery because it didn’t meet what the Werecat said and it wasn’t a little detail, especially for someone like it.
I could see in my parents eyes that they were seriously concerned and over the fact that the Werecat had chosen me to frame, me staying away from the town for a while could help my case. I ran upstairs and started packing. Coming to the clothes, I took my suitcase from under my bed and opened it to my shock. There was a list in it that was written: A single puzzle piece, a mug that says Best Uncle, a fridge magnet from Pamukkale in Turkey and simple business card with the name Roger Jackson…
Under the list there was the said business card standing. I looked at it and the list back to back. None of this objects were familiar to me, so I didn’t know how they got into my suitcase. I took the card and went back to ask my parents if they knew anything. I asked “Who is Roger Jackson?” My mother said “His name seems familiar, it’s right on the tip of my tongue?” My step-dad joined our talk with the answer: “He is the guy whose husband just got killed.” I was shocked. Could that mean the other objects in the list were also in my house?
I was slowly walking back up and the doorbell rang. My mother opened it, it was the police with a search warrant. They pushed my mom and entered the house. I ran back to my room and started searching all over. In the back of my closet I found the mug. I could hear the police questioning my parents downstairs about the locked basement door. I tossed the mug over to the roof of the next house. It shattered up there, one or two pieces fell down but it wouldn’t be a problem. I continued to search all over my room, but there wasn’t anything listed I could find.
I decided to check the bathroom. As I opened my door the police was coming up. I played coy, slowly walked to the bathroom and locked the door after me. I heard the police storming into my room and I was extremely nervous as I was afraid there would be anything there that I had missed. I started to search the bathroom. All the counters and cabinets… I found the magnet, didn’t know what I could do with it in such a closed space. Then, the washing detergent hit my eye. I placed the magnet inside it, deep. Luckily, I also found the puzzle piece after a minute. But the police knocked on the door, ordering me to leave. “I’m coming!” I said with a pretentiously-okay voice. I threw the puzzle piece and the card into the toilet and flushed. I washed my hands for the illusion and left the bathroom.
A couple police entered there after me, another police stood right in front of me and said “Willow Nathaniel, you must come with us to the station.”
Meanwhile, Prince was working in his office. In his long career in such a sweet town, he had never seen such a terrible case. He was thinking If it’s connected to the Dutchson case because he felt genuinely responsible as this two murders are a result of him not being able to act on time. He added a sip of Scotch in his coffee.
Someone knocked on his door, it was Detective Chavez. “Hey!” she said “How are you doing?” Prince looked at her and answered: “How can I be? I feel that this is all connected, Chavez. We need to act fast! Have you managed to get close with Ms. Nathaniel?” – “I am getting close with her. I was with her whole day yesterday. She seemed quite normal, but you can never know. I’ll dig deeper.” She said. Detective Prince firmly “Do it!” Chavez almost dismissed herself when detective called her name again, she turned at him. He said “Benny! He was only 12.”
*Last Night*
Benny was still not in bed, despite -before leaving the house- his parents had told him not to stay awake past 10.30pm. He knew his parents weren’t going to be home until midnight, so he had taken his chance to play some video games.
He was highly focused on the game, thus he got so upset when the power suddenly shut down. He looked by the mirror. It seemed like the power was down in the entire street. Having been away from his headphones, he heard someone trying to open the door. He simply assumed it was his parents returning home early. He ran to his room quickly, closed his door and got into his bed.
He heard footsteps approaching him, immediately closed his eyes and started acting asleep. His door got opened and the footsteps got closer and closer inside his room. Keep your eyes closed! he said to himself. The person stood by his side for a minute. He was still acting asleep waiting for ‘whichever parent this is’ to leave. He unfortunately did not see whatever was next as he suddenly felt a wet napkin with a funny smell on his face. He opened his eyes as fast he could. Someone with a cat mask was standing over him. He tried to fight back with all his strength. But due to the substance on the napkin, it was getting harder and harder for him him to fight every second passing. After all, he just past out.
His parents came home much much later. The power was still down and they were a little drunk, so they went straight to bed. A few hours later, father woke up due to some noise in the house. Half asleep, he went downstairs to see the TV and lights were on. The power must be back he thought. He turned them off and walked back upstairs. He felt that the floor was slippery and turned on the lights. It revealed blood tracing to Benny’s room. As soon as he opened Benny’s door, he screamed his wife’s name in horror.
Both on the verge of having a meltdown, they called the police in dawn. Little did they know they weren’t the only ones to call the police.
*Present*
I was waiting at the station to be interrogated by the police. To my luck, I barely knew anything about the victims. But I still needed to get rid of the list in my pocket. At home, I was so focused on getting rid of the evidence on the list, that I had forgotten the actual list.
I got up and with the excuse of wandering around I started looking for ways I could get rid of it. Walked for two minutes or so. Then, before I was able to get rid of the list, detective's assistant called me to Detective Prince's own office. I walked in there nervously. In the room there was a board that was covered with a blanket, right across it was Detective Prince waiting for me. "Take a seat, Ms. Nathaniel." he said. I sat; he kept asking me questions, many of which I had no idea about since he seemed to care more about the other victim. Although, I was genuine about my answers, my tension due to me trying to hide the list was making it seem like I was hiding something. I can't blame him. It was true I was, but not in the way that he thought. It was a complex plan and very unfortunate not being able to cooperate with the police. When he turned behind for a short minute, I tossed the list in his trash bin and left.