In the Dead of Night

Chapter 4

I see Chrissy standing before me, a scared look in her eyes. She covers her mouth and tries to scream out. Her face twisting in horror as she stares at something in the distance I can't turn around to see. I try to reach out to her, but as I do she gets farther and farther away.

"Why? Please don't do this!" Chrissy is pleading with a shadow figure I can't make out any discernible features on. I am motionless watching the scene unfold before me. I can feel the helplessness Chrissy is feeling and I want to run to her, but my feet are frozen in place.

Suddenly I'm laying on the ground, the shadowy figure looming over me now. I can't move any part of my body, I can't scream, I'm just stuck as if glued to the ground. There is a glint of something shiny a few feet above me. It's a knife being held by a gloved hand. I see the knife coming down to meet my chest, my vision goes black, but then I see the faint image of a bloody knife laying on the concrete dimly lit by the moonlight.

I suddenly sit up incredibly fast and covered in sweat. I pick up my phone to check the time and shut off the alarm that has been going off for at least five minutes. I see a few messages from James telling me when to be ready because we have work to do. I sit upright in my bed just breathing and trying to calm myself.

"It was just a dream." I muttered to no one in particular. I head towards the bathroom to go shower and try to collect myself after the unsettling nightmare I just had. I start to wonder if the dream means anything, or if the situation has just been weighing heavy on my mind lately. I think the violent nature of this case is getting to me a little. I step into the hot shower and blast music to put my mind at ease.

I think about getting access to Chrissy's cellphone. I have this feeling tugging at me that it's just going to be a dead end. I can't imagine that the police just chose not to search it, there's no way it wasn't with her at the crime scene. Not to mention if Stephen has anything to do with her death he was the one who got it back, he definitely would've deleted any incriminating information off of it by now. I turn to face the water and just let it run over me. My mind is racing with a million more questions as I go over the weird scenario of Stephen having her cellphone. Why didn't her parents or any other family have it? Why didn't Stephen turn it over when he gave us the other documents for this case? It was all making him look very suspicious.

I step out of the shower and reach for a towel. I move quickly as I am running a little late due to my bad dreams. No doubt James is gonna show up early, it takes him about five minutes to get ready assuming he finds a matching outfit. I sigh realizing I won't look as professional as I hoped to today, but I'm hoping after meeting with Stephen we focus on the paper facts. I know James has not been looking through all the reports as thoroughly as he should. James also should realize we need to look at the crime scene, I'm not sure if that thought will creep him out.

Honking from outside is drifting up into my bedroom window. I know it's James without even peeking out the window. I grab a hair clip and plan to clip up my hair once it starts to dry a little more. I rush out of the house trying not to wake my siblings up as I run down the stairs. I can hear the hum of the car's motor when I step outside and James is waving at me excitedly. No doubt he's just happy to work on the case and have money coming in despite how unlikely it is that we'll solve it.

"Overslept today?" James eyes my wet hair and smirks. He hands a McDonald's bag and inside is a hash brown. As disorganized as he is, I can't ever imagine having a better boss than him.

"Thanks." I graciously accept the bag and start eating. "A lot has been on my mind I guess. I'm not too sure if the phone will have any leads." I shrug and look out the window. James has a look of concern on his face and he seems to be driving mildly better than usual. No doubt because he is carefully following the directions given by his GPS, Stephen's neighborhood is not one either of us venture into very often.