Starry Days & Sunlit Nights: Volume 2 - Haze of Shadows

Chapter 2.8 - Seeker of Truth

A police cruiser pulled up at the gate of a certain warehouse yard, sealed off from the public with yellow tape. It was here where Charles Greyford, the man behind the disappearances of several people at least two months ago.

One of those who had been kidnapped, a student at a prestigious school, had managed to escape him and lost herself in the woods, only to be found and brought back to living a normal life. Three of the other missing people were discovered within the week of her rescue; each of them were laying down in the warehouse yard itself, naked and a little burned. To this day, all three of them were still in a coma, to the dismay of their loved ones.

Charles Greyford himself, however, had eluded capture by the authorities, and left too few clues behind to track him down. But that was not why Bella Blanca was here.

Something happened here, something she could not remember for the life of her, despite having been a part of the first raid. She needed answers now, before it drove her insane.

Ducking down, the Filipina law enforcer slipped past the police tape, disregarding its inanimate authority. She wasn't actually allowed to be here, let alone have any kind of investigation warrant, but she was getting desperate enough to risk suspension at this point.

There were a few charred spots on the ground near the main building, in the same area where the three missing people had been discovered. Now that she thought about it, the police had been called over to extract them by an anonymous tip. Had a fight broken out between Greyford and an associate, leading them to flee the area and abandon their hostages?

Add that to the pile of theories the officer had been forming.

Entering the warehouse itself, Bella flipped on her flashlight and retraced her steps. While her mind might have forgotten, her body could still retrace its steps.

That empty crate over there to the side, she remembered hiding behind that, but from what? Had the ambush involved heavy gunfire? No, there was hardly any signs of a gunfight, apart from a number of holes on a single wall. According to the reports, all of the bullets and their casings had been cleaned out of the place, and not a single one of them belonged to anyone other than the police officers themselves.

Something was very wrong here, Bella could feel it. Nothing added up at all.

Clueless, she began to wander around while scanning with her flashlight, hoping to find anything that might give her an idea of what actually happened.

After a while, in a moment of carelessness, she tripped over a plank of wood from a smashed up crate. Catching herself mid-stumble, she shone her light on the object that had caught her foot.

Was that a cut in the ground? In all likelihood, it would be something meaningless and insignificant, but what if it wasn't?

Shoving aside the wooden planks on the floor, she discovered something she had not expected to see.

Scratch marks, four of them. They were far too large or deep into solid concrete to belong to any sort of animal that could exist in the city.

If it wasn't an animal, could it have been left here during construction of the warehouse yard, or manmade with etching tools? Neither of those theories made sense either.

"Ugh, isa pa to," Bella muttered in frustration at how a possible clue only made things more confusing.

She swept the floor with her flashlight, searching for any indication that this was not just some random joke played on her by the universe. As it turned out, it might not be. Scattered around the warehouse floor were several patches of concrete that was fresher and much lighter than the rest of the floor.

Someone was trying to hide these claw marks, although the missed one out of a dozen. But why would they do that? What could have left them to begin with? And how did either detail tie in with who exactly Charles Greyford was.

"Ay naku," Bella said, once again in her native tongue. At a loss of where to go from here, she rubbed her aching forehead.

Tap. Tap. Tap.

Bella's sharp, highly trained ears picked up the sound of faint footfalls coming from behind. Either they belonged to someone light, or someone was making an effort to sneak up on her. She pretended not to notice.

Once the footfalls came close enough, the Filipina officer spun around and kicked high in the air, stopping her leg just one inch from the side of her target's head.

Bella couldn't make out the details in the dark, but at least she was quick enough to stop herself once she sensed that this person exuded zero killing intent. Lowering her leg, she shone her flashlight on the new arrival.

A woman. One with short, sunset-colored hair and brilliant yellow eyes. Her form was tall and well-endowed, and more importantly, was clad in the same uniform as Bella's.

Bella berated herself inwardly. She nearly struck fellow police officer. She would be lucky if suspension was all she got for that.

The poor thing was rooted in place, trembling from nearly having her head knocked off. Bella smiled awkwardly and made an apologetic gesture.

"Sorry about that, I thought you were, well, a bad guy."

The shaken policewoman in front of her didn't respond immediately, and when she did, it was with a nervous chuckle. "N-No, it was my fault for trying to shock you with a 'Guess Who?'"

She nearly got her head blown off just for that?! Well, not that Bella could really blame her. She read the nametag on her uniform.

"You're Octavia Phillips, the daughter of the police commissioner and a former member of SWAT."

"That I am indeedy!" the woman replied with an exaggerated salute and a cheerfulness that was too youthful for her age. "Looks like I'm pretty famous."

She sure switched gears quickly.

"You've been in a relationship with about ten LCPD officers, two of them captains and three others lieutenants, as well as twelve witnesses and five suspects," Bella said matter-of-factly. "Then you retired from the SWAT."

"I'll have you know that half of those was just flirting they misinterpreted, but still." Octavia stuck out her tongue coyly. "You've heard those rumors, huh?" she said, embarassment lacing her tone. "But aren't you going to ask me why I'm here?"

"Not really," Bella replied, looking down at the floor. "I'm not exactly supposed to be here either."

But she did know that she had her reason for being here. Admittedly curious, she decided to humor her fellow policewoman.

"Okay, why are you here?" she asked. Her tone came out a bit more sternly than she would have liked, out of habit.

Octavia gave her a fox-like grin and answered. "I'm your new partner."

Bella blinked, taking a moment to proccess that.

"What?" she uttered in disbelief.

An even more baffling mystery had appeared!