An Uneasy Accord

Chapter 41 - Evil Bitch

Brooklyn stood frozen in place with hands planted firmly on the top of the desk.

"Perhaps you didn't hear me the first time Miss Lockwood. What are you doing here?"

"I…uh…couldn't find my ring!" She thought quickly on her toes. "I've been staying with my uncle one town over and I have been searching for it like the last week and it's not there! So I retraced my steps and this was the last place I was at."

"Well you realize I could have you arrested for trespassing," Sheriff Stalinski was standing with his hands on his hips.

"Oh no please don't! I didn't mean any harm! I just wanted to find my ring!"

She beseeched the sheriff with her best wide sad eyes, letting those beautiful storm cloud hues slowly well with tears.

"Alright," he couldn't say no. "But after we find it I want you to leave."

"Oh no not a problem," she smiled in relief. "Thank you so much!"

"Right," he nodded and waved a hand as Brooklyn continued to search for her "missing" ring. She hung around the desk as she clutched a ring in her hand then with slight of hand put it down under the desk.

"There it is!" Brooklyn stood up holding the tiny silver band precariously between her fingers as she grinned victoriously.

"Alright you found what you needed," the sheriff waved an arm towards the door.

"Thanks," she hurried out the door and through the hall towards the front. Stalinski exhaled and shut the door behind him. He shook his head as he flopped back down in his chair and carded his fingers through his hair. What was with college kids this day and age anyways?

His hands floated over the files and photos he had left on his desk, still baffled over what the connection was between these murders. No one from the state police was available as they were working the serial killer case in San Francisco. The earliest any of them could even remotely set foot in town wouldn't be for another three weeks!

"Who needs them," Stalinski grumbled and sifted through the folders. He plucked the first one off the top of the pile and flipped the folder open. But he stopped when the contents were not what he was expecting.

"This isn't it," he frowned and went through the reports and folders until he found the case of the joggers on the very bottom. "Now I know I didn't leave them like this."

It was then Stalinski looked up and noticed the files were in the opposite order that he had them in. Instantly the alarm in his head screamed that something wasn't right and the sheriff's thoughts turned to the woman that was just there. She wasn't looking for a ring…was she? What if she was using it as an excuse to search his office for something but what would she be searching for?

A thorough reassuring check confirmed every last file, note, photo, report, article, and copy were there. Suspicion crept upward as the sheriff did a hurried search of the station only to see the woman had gone. He stood at the steps and darted his head down both sides of the street but nothing. It was as if she was never there; like a ghost in the night.

"Thanks for walking with me," Brooklyn shoved her hands deeper in her pockets.

"Yeah sure," Stiles caught the troubled expression as they hiked along the trail. He had to admit he was taken aback when the text from the hunter had popped up on his phone.

Meet me at the entrance to the preserve

"Your dad caught me in his office."

"What were you doing in his office?"