BLOOD MOON 10

SHATTERED TREE

It was a quiet, calming day, and the sun was hidden behind the clouds and fog. Sariph let out a deep sigh as he walked through the city, passing by people's lit-up windows, laughter filling the quiet, empty streets. Sariph likes the fog as it covers the world with a warm glow. The air smelled of rain as he stopped at a café he often visited for coffee and to say hello to the cashier. He gently opens the door to the bell's quiet good, bringing warmth to the café as he enters. Walking to the front counter, he sees an employee in the back and smiles, "Morning, Fae! Not a lot of customers today?" Sariph asked.

Fae sighs and responds, "You know not many people come on foggy days. You're the oddball of the group." She walks to the front counter and looks at the Sariph.

"Ouch, is it bad that I come here every day?" he asked jokingly.

She smiles and gives a snarky response, "Why would it be? With how much coffee you buy a day, you're keeping this place afloat!" she sighs, "Jokes aside, are you getting your usual coffee? Or will you finally get a different type?"

"Eh, I like to keep it plain and simple. I'll stick with my black coffee with two caramel pumps," Sariph gently laughed as he pulled out his card to pay as Fae taped on a screen putting in his order.

"You never really do change. How about this, one drink on the house, BUT it's my choice" she gives a triumphing smile as he sighs,

"Fine, but only because you're paying for that!"

He waited for his coffees to be finished, put them on a tray, and then looked at Fae. "Thanks for the coffee. Have a good day!" He gave a gentle wave and left the bell on the door giving a soft ring.

Cops and investigators filled the police station with the quiet mumblings of people starting their work. Lewis was chatting in the break room as Luke made a cup of tea, "Hey, Luke? How many cases do you think I will get today?"

Luke looked at Lewis and seemed to think as he leaned against the counter holding his tea. "If I'm honest, I'm going to guess 7."

Lewis chucked at that, "in your dreams! That's the average in a month! And most of them ended up being just fireworks."

Luke smiles and takes a drink of his tea, then replies, "yeah, I guess that's true, but there's still a chance! I guess I'm still not used to the little numbers of bombs here compared to Bentin."

Lewis was about to reply when Sariph walked into the room holding two cups of coffee., "Hey Lewis, Want a free coffee?" asked Sariph, holding up the tray of coffee "The barista gave me a free one today!"

Lewis took the coffee and smiled. "Thanks!" Sariph nodded and replied, "I better get to work, so I'll talk to you later." Leaving to go to his desk, Lewis sighs and looks at Luke. "We should probably get to work. There's a ton to look over today," Luke was about to agree when his phone rang.

"Let me take this call, and then I'll help out, promise" Luke smiled but seemed unnerved by who was calling as he left to talk somewhere more private. Lewis was confused by that. Luke never got calls from people unless they were work calls. Even then, Luke would share the calls with Lewis. Sariph shrugged it off as he took his hot coffee and went to his desk. The office was large, a ring of offices and convenience rooms held upstairs only separated from the first floor by stairs and a glass railing. The cubicle areas were painted a dull orange, clashing with the short grey carpeting all around the building.

Sariph got to work at his computer. He looked at different calls and files on older long-running cases in the department. He didn't like doing these menial tasks and preferred infield work and research. Still, he was happy to be so close to his dream job as a personal investigator. He pulls files and sends them to his boss for them to look at when he gets an email from an unknown person. Starting to read it, he becomes confused. The grammar was poor and looked to be written by a 10-year-old, but it's like the email writer wanted to sound threatening but failed poorly. He decides to shrug off the email and goes back to his work. The day went by fast as he focused when suddenly his shoulder was taped, and Sariph jolted, looking to see who did it. Lewis was behind him with a concerned look when he asked, "have you seen Luke anywhere? I haven't seen him since this morning, and it's starting to worry me" Sariph looks over at Luke's empty desk and then at Lewis to reply