The Carcajou

Chapter Eleven: Not Like Before

Luke, Tara, and Sam sat in a questioning room at the station, with pictures of the crime in front of them.

Luke folded his arms over his chest, making sure to hide the bullet holes in his torso and the slowly healing gashes in his knuckles. Detective Bailey then entered the room. In his hand was an evidence bag with a Ghostface mask inside.

"This was found next to the body at the apartment crime scene," Bailey said as he sat down across from the three young adults. "DNA says it belonged to someone named Richie Kirsch. Does that ring a bell?"

"We're familiar with him," Sam answered.

"But the one that attacked us had a different mask," Tara added. "It was kind of more beat up. Like it was older."

"Uh... I got to ask... do you have alibis for earlier tonight?" Bailey asked.

"Tara and I were at a party with our friends," Luke answered.

"I was at my therapist's," Sam added. "I can give you his information. You can call to check if you want. And then I met Luke and Tara at that party, where Luke nearly beat someone to death because they wanted to take advantage of my sister."

"Dude," Luke hissed to Sam, still trying to hide the bullet holes and knuckles.

"But that's unrelated," Sam added to Bailey.

"Was that before or after this happened?" Bailey asked. Pulling up his phone, he showed the trio a video taken when Sam had the drink thrown onto her.

"Before," Sam answered.

"The point is, we were all with people tonight," Tara summarized.

"So, our roommate's dad just happened to pull our case," Sam said.

"That'd be a crazy coincidence, right?" Bailey asked. "The detective who had the case, offered it to me because it involves Quinn. Um, but I can totally give it back if you're uncomfortable. It's up to you."

The three shared a look before Luke finally said, "You'll do, bub."

"So, if the man who attacked you did steal your license and plant it next to the body," Bailey said as he held up the bag holding Sam's driver's license, "it'd probably be someone close to you."

He then turned to Tara and asked, "How long have you known your friends?"

"Well, we moved here with Mindy and Chad for the summer semester, like, six months ago," Tara answered. "So, Quinn, um, Ethan, Anicka– all since then."

"I think I can vouch for Quinn, so that's one less you have to worry about," Bailey said, defending his daughter. "Do any of you have anyone that might want to target you?"

"Not anymore," Luke said. "I took care of them before we even moved here."

"Yikes," Bailey said, looking Luke in the eye as the latter continued to hide his wounds.

Just then, the door opened and an officer poked his head in. He looked at Bailey and said, "FBI's here, claiming jurisdiction."

"Where are they?" Bailey asked as he stood up to leave and take care of it. As soon as Bailey left, Luke lowered his arms and looked down at his knuckles. The cuts had scabbed over, so his healing was still in effect, but it was just slower.

As he left the room with Sam and Tara, Luke snatched a hoodie off a nearby hanger and zipped it over his blood-stained flannel.

"Kirby?" Sam asked as they neared the open door of a conference room.

Inside was a woman with short blonde hair. She had to be the FBI the police officer told Bailey earlier, because he was in there and appeared to be having a conversation with her before.