The Rattlesnake

Ch. 1 : Dale in Dallas

I woke up, not by the sun nor myself, but the noise of commotion on the TV that I left on last night. I slowly blinked and opened my eyes to see my boss, Police Chief Grant was addressing the crowd something, but I wasn't sure what. "Our task force is working hard to find why, how, and who killed Bryce Wilson and left him on 12th Avenue." I asked myself sleepily, "Bryce Wilson....the famous realtor?" I reached for my phone, and found that I had 3 missed calls from my partner-in-stopping-crime, Carson. I quickly called him back. "Dale! The heck are you doing? You were supposed to be here."  "Thought I was my day off."  "It is, but he needed you there so they have assurance that Dallas's best cop is on the job."  "Whatever. I'll be there today unless I'm payed double."  "No sure that's gonna happen."  "I know. You know I go to work pay or not, but last night I just had a long day. Watched the rodeo, played baseball, and then, oh yeah, I had that uncooked chicken leftovers you gave me. Just kiddn'!"  "See ya in thirty."  In the next twenty minutes, I got showered, eat breakfast, and got in my uniform, which is my fancy sheriff uni (pretty fancy, JK). As I walked to my car, a man came up behind me, put me in a choke hold and said, "Who's the law?"  "Walker...the ranger."  "That's my boy!"  "The fuck are you doing here, Carson! Thought you were working."  "I'm off too, but heading to work as well."  "Well, how about you hop in my car."
Carson and I hopped in and drove off to work where we were greeted by my best friends....the fucking reporters. Over all the commotion, I just walk in the building, not making eye contact or saying anything, and Grant was at the door. "Carson and Dale, nice surprise seeing you, but I need to speak to you guys and the coroner." I was surprised that a realtor got this much attention. As we walked down, Wade was waiting for us. "Hello, Dale...Carson," Carson and Wade...well, let's just say they tolerated each other. "We have a situation. On the realtor's body was a deed to 5000-acres of wildlife land to be used for building, but on it our killer..."  "He was for sure murdered," I blurted. "Yes, Bryce was first stabbed thrice with a rusty blade and was then injected with rattlesnake venom. The killer was about 6' 1", and right-handed, but we aren't sure if he's male or female." "Nasty way to go out." "I wasn't finished yet, Dale. Bryce was de-fingered with the blade and his finger was used to write the sentence that is on the acre in blood that reads : I, The Rattlesnake, will stop killing as long as all of Texas is evacuated."  "What's his motive? Why does he want us to leave?" "Not sure yet, but it's either involving property of the killer's or wildlife.
Ring! Ring! The coroner picked up his phone, and put it on speaker. "Who's this? Is there a dead body or is it my wife?" "This is the rattlesnake."  The voice echoes throughout the place as if he was all over the place, which he was when a policeman walked down. "Sir, all of the TV's and computers are hacked and are all reading : Rattlesnake." Grant said, "Shut the power off before he gets any data!" The uniform ran to the breaker in the basement and shut I down. The coroner had a look of horror on his face. "We may have a killer to us and a vigilante to some. Before my call hung up, he said he's killing to save the wildlife, but who knows if that's his true motive."