THE HARBOUR [EDITING]

Bateman

AUGUST 25TH PAST NOON

DETECTIVE BATEMAN

Detective Bateman stood in the office of his boss, Police Chief Sheryl Crawford, a short and slender humourless woman of sixty-two.

"A murder case in Caper?" He asked.

"Yes,"

"But that's a town over,"

"Yes," she said, brushing grey tendrils of hair out of her face.

"You are to leave immediately, Bateman."

"Frankly, you should be glad you're still getting homicide cases after your last screw-up."

Ah, yes. December 15th, 2014, five years later, and still no one on the force will let him forget it. He doesn't think he could forget it, much less forgive himself for it. He doesn't deserve it. Over the years, he'd lost all confidence in his detective skills and himself. The 2014 case had emasculated him, and he'd lost everything. How often he wished he could turn back time, he would turn down the case altogether- a lot of people would still be alive if he did. And he wouldn't have to live with all the guilt, he thinks. The only thing Bateman did not lose was his job.

It's not like it's much of a job now. His detective work has been reduced to robbery investigations, misdemeanours, and all the other insignificant shit his boss throws at him.

Now, five years after the 2014 case, the case of "The Butcher Of Boulder," the press had dubbed it. He is thrust back into the homicide department-only it's a town over. A town where if he were to screw up, the bad press probably wouldn't blow back to Boulder State Police Department.

He does not know much about Caper besides the fact that they do not have a police detective. Crime is not especially common in a town like that. You wouldn't expect a homicide in a pretty coastal town filled with villas and beach houses, home to aristocrats and their pampered-spoiled children. The last homicide reported in Caper was over ten years ago.

He wonders if the townspeople will shut him out, and be uncooperative, it wouldn't come as a surprise to him. Close-knit communities tend to stick together, how the rich love to protect each other.

"We're almost there." The woman in the driver's seat speaks, recalling him from his thoughts.

Alice Pines, a twenty-nine-year-old detective new to Boulders police force, had been assigned a missing person's case a few days ago and practically begged him to come along when she'd heard about his case.

"I think there's a connection with the two cases," she said, her eyes sparkling, "A woman goes missing visiting family in Caper, and a few days later a body is discovered in a town where murder is extremely uncommon."

"C'mon, I know you feel it too." he did feel it, his detective senses tingling. He is almost a hundred per cent sure the two cases are connected.

"I work alone" He said, "Detective," Alice said, "She's my friend, I need to know for sure what happened to her. If she's even alive."

He'd reluctantly given in and allowed her to be his 'partner' she reminded him so much of himself when he was in his late twenties.

"It's down this road," she says, turning the corner and driving into a secluded road encapsulated with tall-broad trees, their thick branches completely covered with leaves casting shadows over the hood of their SUV.

"How do you know this place so well?" He asks.

"I grew up here," she says, not offering further explanation. Philip notes it might be a sensitive subject considering how forthcoming his 'partner' usually is. He understands he has secrets of his own- he takes a mental note not to ask again.