We got report of gunshots fired at 11:22 in the morning.
The scene awaiting us was a horrid sight, blood splattered all over a playground. A child stood there, arms wrapped around her frail chest. She inched away from me, towards the corpse that was lying on the mulch.
A young women lies inbetween the swings and the slide, woodchips strewn through her brown curls, a pale yellow sundress fanned out around her body. Two bullet holes to the chest spill crimson liquid over her breast. As the girl creeps closer to who I assume was her mother, I notice the red tinged stain growing on the bottom of her robin's egg blue dress.
"John! I believe she may be injured," I motion towards the girl, who shrugs back, away from everyone at the crime scene.
I smile, hopefully sweetly, and hold out my hand to her. She hesitates before moving into range so she can accept my hand. Small, sweaty fingers enclose mine tightly. The child stares up at me, those eyes will haunt me until my last day. She has dark eyes, the eyes of someone who has seen too much but can't forget. Her pink lips open in a slight O, exposing a sore on her lip, most likely from biting it. With her other hand she pushes her thumb inside her mouth, eyes wide.
I kneel down to her eye level, her eyes trained on my every move, "Can you tell me your name, sweetie?"
She shifts from foot to foot, thumb hanging loosly from between her lip. I sigh, this was going to be harder than I'd originally thought.
John comes up behind me, "Who is this?"
"I'm assuming our victims daughter, but I can't get her to talk," I stand back up, glancing down at the girl.
"Well unless she's been in hiding for the last five years, she's not our victims kid," John says, raising his eyebrows at me.
"What? Then who's kid is she?"
"We'll have to find out and return her,"
The little girl gives a small gasp, gripping my hand tighter, she widens her eyes, looking up at me. What had happened to this child that would scar her this much?
John and I exchange glances. He shrugs and I sigh again.
"Let's get her checked out."
Scooping up the little girl, I place her on my lap in John's car, she squirms, trying to escape.
