The Hunt of Altswood High (The Altswood Saga #1)

Chapter 15 - Stained

Chapter 15 - Stained 

 It turned out processing was simply taking fingerprints, and then being prepared to be accosted by reporters as soon as we left the station. Most of the other kids were being interrogated by their parents. Thankfully, I had gotten that over with hours ago, at an actual interrogation table. 

"I'm trusting you'll be staying with a few others at Mayor Kingston's house?" Dad asked me as I filled in my information. As if he couldn't do this for me. Supposedly, I had an extra step since being new on the island meant I didn't already exist in the system. 

"I suppose so," I replied. 

 They had told us that until they caught this criminal, anyone previously affiliated with the Hunt—with extreme emphasis on the past tense—would require a police escort at all hours. Since there were only five officers that were available for rotation at a time, we had to keep in groups at one house. We decided Gabriel's house was the most fitting. And because the Mayor had been hovering over our shoulders. 

I signed my name at the bottom of the sheet I had been completing and gave it to Dad. He barely scanned over it before pulling open a filing drawer and tucking the paper into a folder. I noticed a red tab at the very back before he slammed the drawer shut. I'd seen that red tab marking a folder before. Dad guarded that folder pretty tightly every time it made an appearance at home. 

"Dad, tell me the truth: how dangerous is it for me right this moment?" 

He didn't answer directly, only saying, "We're working the hardest we can to follow up on every person involved in this twisted game. You don't need to worry." 

I picked at the chipped paint on the side of the table. That wasn't reassuring at the least. 

"Text me hourly updates, understand?" he said. "Grab some sleep. Go to school. Stick close to the officer on duty." 

I nodded. "You get some sleep too, Dad." 

He ruffled my hair. Somewhere along the way, I had lost my wig. "Gotta do my job first, Loosh. Be careful out there." 

Someone around back called him urgently. He left the main desk after one last ruffle, and as soon as he disappeared, I scrambled towards the files. 

I was violating so many levels of familial trust right now. 

"You're doing this for good reasons," I told myself, adding below my breath, "And hopefully I'm not walking towards my own death." 

I pulled out the red-tab folder and within the thick manila file, were several sub-files, color-coded and named at the top. 

Aimee Brown, Oliver Sun, Beatrice Willis, Caitylyn Queen. 

I stopped. I knew these names. Frowning, I tried to recall how, and with startling clarity, I remembered that these were the four players who had died previously in the Hunt. Freak accidents. So this was the lead the police were following now. The revenge theory was still valid. 

I opened Aimee Brown's file, and scanned down the notes. 

Case too old for — 

Useless. I turned to Oliver Sun's. 

Allergic reaction calls for economic gains, perhaps— 

That couldn't be true. These serial kills were too personal. I juggled the increasing papers in my arms, and casting a glance to make sure no one had noticed that I wasn't supposed to be behind the desk, shuffled into Beatrice Willis's folder.