Meet me in the Emerald Forest

Chapter 3 Clementine

I raked my hands through my hair in frustration, angrily yanking it up into a ponytail so it was out of my way as I paced back and forth in front of the glass board. Papers were spread out on a circle table in the middle of the room with files stacked up in the middle.

For a second, I was transported back to that day, seven years ago, when I sat face to face with a beast. The white wolf's haunting green eyes took over my vision like they so often did. Ever since that night, nightmares of seeing my parents' bodies plagued my sleep but one constant companion soothed my terrors; those haunting, forest green eyes.

"Earth to Clem." Caleb's voice made me jump and I spun around to glare at him.

"What did I tell you about sneaking up on me!" I snapped.

"I've been knocking for the last five minutes." Caleb rolled his eyes at me as he walked through my office.

"Oh." I grumbled and turned back towards the board.

"Anything new?" Caleb asked as he scanned the evidence board.

"No, nothing." I was visibly irritated.

"Well, time to call it. We have a case." Caleb said,

"Alright, let's go." I tossed the file in my hand down on the table and followed Caleb out of my office.

Down the hall was the round room where the rest of our team was already gathered. Aiden, our commanding officer, and Gabrielle, our tech guru, were standing on either side of the large screen that showcased pictures from the current case. Link, Liam, and Sofia were already seated around the large round table.

"Go ahead, Gabi, we're ready to start." Aiden said when Caleb and I took our seats.

Gabi flipped her dark hair over her shoulder and turned towards the large TV screen, touching the pictures to make them larger as she explained the case.

"This is the second home invasion this week in Dallas with no survivors and nothing stolen from the houses." Gabi said as she zoomed in on the pictures of the scene, "Each family unit is the same. A father, mother, and a daughter under the age of twelve."

"It looks like the father sustained the most torture." Sofia said, swiping through the picture on her ipad.

"In both cases, the father is restrained to the kitchen chair with evidence of being beaten and stabbed. Cause of death was a single gunshot wound to the head." Gabi said, pulling up a copy of the medical examiner's report.

"And the mothers were both found on the living room sofa with evidence of sexual assault." Liam observed, looking at his own tablet.

"What about the daughters?" I asked.

"The daughter in the first family was eight and the second family had a ten year old. Both were smothered with no signs of any other abuse." Gabi pulled up the pictures of the daughters.

"Both houses were within the same suburb and the invasions happened at the exact same time two days apart." Link was drawing on a map, already creating a geographical profile of the two cases.

"Which means we have 36 hours until the next invasion." Aiden said, "We're on the plane in twenty." He added before leaving the room.

We all stood up to gather our go bags before meeting up on the private jet. It didn't take long for us to reach Dallas and get started on the case. Aiden ordered himself and Caleb to head to the first crime scene while Sofia and Liam went to the second house. Link and myself jumped into one of the blacked out SUVs and drove to the police station. Gabi, our technical analyst, remained back at Quantico.