After Dark

Chapter 3: Clues

The police station in Falridge is more of a glorified office. Once a real-estate office, it was converted into a police station fourteen years ago, when they realised that the placement of the station, on the borders of the town, was not the most convenient position. This was not to blame the original planners, the drawers-of-plans for the town of so long ago. It was simply that Falridge's occupants were becoming less and less, and the homes at the borders had long ago been demolished. The people were most concentrated at the centre, and so that was where the keepers of the law moved. 

The station consists of four holding cells, complete with bars, a main room with a reception desk and a few couches and chairs, and an office, where the chief policeman, Mr Stone, has his name printed on a plaque on the door. At one point, it was golden and shining and new, but after twenty-five years of service, in the field and on the door, things tend to age, and the plaque has lost its sheen.

Sady sits in a chair in Stone's office, quiet and still, Hunter in another chair beside her. Mr Stone is not behind his desk; he does not need a symbol of his status, like Rhyes does. He has moved his chair around so he sits in front of the two teenagers, completing the small triangle. His expression is kindly and understanding, yet firm, his hands clasped between his knees as he leans forwards. Sady and Hunter have given him an account of their discovery of Felicity Greaves's body, and a small recorder on the desk has taken that account and stored it inside of itself.

"Is there anything else, anything that could help us, even the smallest thing?" Stone asks.

Sady looks at Hunter, and Hunter looks at Sady, and they both think for a moment before shaking their heads. Mr Stone sighs and leans back in his chair. "Alright, kids. You can go."

They both stand and head out the door, but Sady stops in the doorway, her hand on the wooden frame. She looks back into the room, her eyes narrowed in thought, and Stone waits for her to speak; from his own experiences, he has found it better to let people speak than to prod them. "Mr Stone," she says softly. "There was one thing."

"What is it, love? Anything helps." He watches her fingers tap against the wood as she leans slightly into the room.

"Felicity's fingers. Her hand was... she was pointing."

Stone leans forwards, one of his hands unconsciously seeking out the recorder. "Pointing where?" he asks.

"Into the forest," Sady says quietly. She shakes her head, her expression clearing. "I'm sorry, it was stupid. I know it doesn't mean anything. It could be nothing, but I thought I should tell you."

Stone nods slowly. "No, it's a good thing to know, Sade. Go on. Your mum will be missing you."

Sady smiles, but it is strained. Her hand falls from the door frame, and she turns and leaves. And Stone sits in his office, holding the recorder in his hand and listening to the tape over and over, trying to glean some meaning from it all. But it is  Sady's last words that stick in his mind, a minor confession, something that could be nothing at all. "Felicity's fingers. Her hand was... she was pointing," Sady's voice says, slightly muffled from the cheap recorder.

"Pointing where?" his own voice asks, sounding more anxious then he remembers it being.

"Into the forest," recorder-Sady says. And he closes his eyes and wonders when this small, nothing-town of Falridge started going to hell, and what it did to deserve the trip.

When Sady leaves Stone's office, Adam is waiting for her, sprawled on one of the couches in the waiting area, just behind the reception desk. He sits up as soon as he sees her, stretching his muscular arms above his head. "How'd it go?" he asks.