Morana Barnes: Murderous Love

6. Morana Barnes

September 4th, 2022 9:40 am

Found:

I stepped out of my black Dodge Durango SRT and my door slammed shut behind me. Sticks and leaves crunched under my black combat boots as I walked toward the group of people standing around the crime scene. Police were everywhere as they looked around the floor for evidence. I squeezed through the crowd of people and ducked under the yellow tape making my way toward Chaset.

I looked down at their CSI, Logan, who was snapping pictures of the body with his camera. "It's her, our missing person, Sydney Riker," Chaset said. Four days later we found her but not alive. I sighed but we both knew the chances of finding her alive were not very good but still, I hoped. "Well, what did you get from the body?" I asked Logan.

"Multiple defense wounds on her arms and hands. She has been stabbed a multitude of times, and the bruises around her neck suggest that she was strangled. She's been dead for a while now. I won't be able to tell you anything else until an autopsy is performed," he said, still examining her body. It wasn't that much information but it was better than nothing. We walked over to the group of bystanders as they looked on worriedly.

"Did you guys see anything?" Chaset asked, getting straight to the point.

"No, we just found the body. We thought we'd go and take a dip in the river but that's when we saw it,"

"Did you hear anyone in the area?" I asked.

"No, sorry,"

We nodded and walked away from the group, looking at each other. There was nothing here. No evidence said the crime happened here. This was gonna be difficult. "Well, now what?" Chaset asked. I didn't even know. The only thing we could do at the moment is wait for the autopsy and contact her parents to make sure it was her even though we knew. Her hair and the butterfly necklace wrapped around her neck said as much but we still had to make sure.

"Let's go," I said to Chaset. Chaset followed me away and we both got into our cars, making our way toward the Rikers' home. In my head, all possibilities of what happened were floating through my mind. Maybe the killer took everything with them but there's no way they managed to get everything they would've left something behind. All the evidence could be in the river but it could've floated away or the crime didn't happen there.

It happened somewhere else and they dumped Sydney's body in the river, which seemed the most promising. My car pulled to the side slowly and I placed it in park once I came to a full stop. I got out of the car and closed my door, walking around towards Chaset. We walked towards the front door, my shoes clicking against the floor. Chaset knocked on the door and we waited patiently. It was about 9:30 am and we didn't expect them to answer the door right away because they might be at work. After a couple of minutes, Chaset knocked on the door again a little harder and we waited.

A couple of minutes went by and the door opened to reveal Mr. Riker wiping his eyes sleepily. Right behind him was Mrs. Riker who looked just as tired as him. When they noticed our presence the sleep was suddenly gone from their eyes replaced by immediate pain and tears. "We're sorry to inform you that we have found Sydney. Sorry, we have to ask you to come down to the station and identify the body when you can."

I didn't want to rush them into it. Mr. Riker pulled his wife towards him as she let out loud, heartbreaking sobs. We didn't know what to do but stand there. There was nothing we could do. Saying sorry doesn't make anything better. "Thank you, we'll be down in the later today," Mr. Riker said, tears falling down his face as he tried to stay strong for his wife. "We appreciated your help."

We nodded solemnly and then walked away as he closed the door. The sounds of Mrs. Riker's cries could still be heard and it made my chest hurt. This was the part of the job I hated. Telling someone that their child, significant other, or friend died is always heartbreaking because the pain and anguish they feel is hard to watch, hard to watch.

I couldn't imagine losing someone like that but one thing I did know is that the pain must be unbearable. "Doesn't get any easier," I whispered to myself. Chaset looked at me, her chest feeling heavy as well from seeing the anguish on their faces. "No, no it doesn't." Chaset sighed walking towards her car.

I got in my car and started it up waiting for Chaset to pull off first. I followed after her and we made our way toward the station. We had a lot of work to do and I wanted to get started right away.

We watched as Logan pulled back the white sheet for Mr. Riker and revealed Sydney's body to him. Mr. Riker sucked in a breath and immediately bit his lip to stop the cry that wanted to escape his mouth based on the garbled noise he made. His eyes watered and the tears fell down his cheeks fast as he stared at the dead body of his daughter. Something in him was breaking and he was trying to hold it together.

His hand balled into a fist at his side as he tried to stop it from shaking. His whole body was shaking with the need to break down and it was painful to watch. This poor man and his wife. "That's her," he whispered. "That's my little girl." My stomach churned and my heart beat painfully at his words. Fuck that hurts.

"I'm sorry for your loss," Logan said.

Mr. Riker nodded and we let him know that an autopsy would be performed and that he was free to go and be with his wife. He left the room hurriedly and my eyebrows pinched together as a sad smile graced my lips. I was hurting for him. No parents deserve this. No one deserves this.

I turned back to Logan and he looked at me while shaking his head, a sigh leaving his lips. "Well, I better get this done so I can give you the information you need to find the bastard that did this,"

"Thanks, Logan. Call when you finish, and we'll be at the scene of the crime to see if we can find any evidence," Chaset said.

"Okay."

We walked out of the room and towards our squad car. Let the work begin.