Brook X GN Reader || I'm The Grim Reaper

Chapter 31

      Chase lowered his gun, but kept staring at the man. There was slamming before the metal bar fell from the door and Veronica slammed the door open. She looked at the place the man had been sitting, and where the man's corpse now lied, and her eyes widened. She looked back to Chase. "...What have you done..." Chase didn't say anything for a long while.

     "Go out, turn right. Walk for a block. Take a left on 42nd Street and walk three blocks. There's a park, with a small fishing reservoir near the back. Look for an abandoned car. They're there. Under the water. You probably have 15 minutes." He faced his mother, who stood there awkwardly for a moment. "What? How the hell do you know that-" "Chief! Fourteen minutes!" She looked at him, shocked, before pulling her walkie-talkie up to her face.

     "All units, please immediately head to the fishing reservoir three blocks from the station n 42nd street. Everyone needs to keep a lookout for a vehicle parked near the reservoir. If found, check the water near where it's parked for two children. She put her radio back in her pocket, then looked back at Chase. She was very upset, it was visible on her face. "Alright, Chase. I made the order. Now, explain how you know they're there."

       Chase looked back down at the mangled body of the man on the floor. "The first hint I got was his boots. Muddy. It hasn't rained at all recently. He was also wearing fishing waders, which is an unusual piece of clothing for someone to own. But those two things instantly hit me as suspicious, combined with the strange time limit he had apparently put on the deal. Since he had his hostages on a time limit, like something a criminal genius would do in a movie, I figured he was someone who had an overinflated ego. So I decided I would just try to get him to talk as much as possible. I'd insult his intelligence to get him to respond. And it worked. He gave me the piece of information that tied everything together. "...As the last breath comes into their lungs..." That was all I needed to know. He had the girls underwater. They were hooked up to air tanks, hence the suspicious time limit."

        "Alright. But that doesn't explain how you pinpointed a location. Did you just guess?" "Of course, I didn't guess. The location became obvious with the information I listed before. He walked in through the front door and gave us a time limit. I know that the typical air tank doesn't last more than an hour so he couldn't have walked that far. This goes back to his outfit. The strange fishing trousers. Clearly, only someone who has experience fishing would own those, and it just so happens there is a fishing reservoir a few blocks away. I've passed it many times. And there's no way he dragged them there without a vehicle... But there's no parking anywhere around here, so he definitely just abandoned it at the reservoir.

      The two stood in silence. "...Even if you're right... You can't come back from this, Chase."

"He deserved to die."

       His voice was cold and emotionless. His mother had never heard him talk like that before, and it was honestly scary. "...Chase... No one deserved to die!! They deserve punishment to the fullest extent of the law. Not death." Her voice was rising, and so was his. "He's a murderer! They're all murderers! Anyone who bears a threat to the innocent has no right to live! That's the point of us! The law! If we can eradicate all of the filth of the earth, no one else will have to die by their hands!"

       "And we can make that happen but not by death! We will imprison them and have them pay their debt to society! Our ability to look behind our primal urge for revenge in the form of murder is what makes us better than them! We, as a society, have risen above our carnal desires. We've created the law to rise above being mere murderers of murderers! We are better than animals! We are humans!"

      There was static coming from her radio before a voice of an officer replaced it. "Chief... come in, chief. We found them. They're both alive." Veronica looked down at where her radio was before looking back at Chase, whom was looking to the floor. "Well... I guess I'm an animal." He said quietly, pushing up his glasses.

     "...So, Scarlet... You are the Grim Reaper. You are the ultimate authority on if someone deserves death for their sins. Was I justified in killing him?"

     "...Well... I think... That we're the same. I still don't know how I feel about... Taking the lives of sinners. I don't know where the line is. What justifies murder. But maybe... You can help me figure it out."

       "The world has gone to shit. Selfish nihilism has stained humanity, and those of us who wish to purify our society are greatly outnumbered by criminals. There are hundreds of thousands of people who will never face justice. ...But I'm still going to try. So, Scarlet... I have thousands of unsolved cases, many of which include the likes of unforgivable sinners. I want to eradicate them from this world. Will you help me?"

"Thank you for the dramatic backstory." - Graveweaver

(Revised and checked for errors: Yes, once)

Words: 917