Toxic

Chapter 4 : Bit by Bit

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Back in Saint Charles an hour later.

"Hello? Is there any..omg!! Parrish! Call the ambulance now! What the hell happened in here?!" Officer Smith spluttered when she saw the dead bodies.

"Officer Jones, we're covering the 2nd level. I received a call from a girl named Anna Somerset saying that her house was being attacked but there's still no sign of her" she continued.

"Madam..i am Anna.." Anna suddenly came out and stunned everyone. 

"Okay honey, i need you to remain calm and follow me" said Officer Smith while approaching her.

"Woof! Woof!" Tyson suddenly come running out of Heidi's room tore away the cop's attention.

Tyson ran up to Anna. Officer Smith heard another sound coming from inside the room. Her hand reached her gun. She then signaled Officer Jones to go forward. 

"Whoever you are, come out now! I repeat, now!" Officer Jones shouted.

When there was no respond, both officers slowly make their way into Heidi's room.

"My goodness! Why did you hide in here? You gave us a shock!" he exclaimed.

"Please officer...i need to find my sister. She's not answering... my calls and messages and i am really worried about her" Heidi stuttered.

"Honey, i need you to follow us first okay. This is a homicide, i cannot let you go now" replied Officer Smith.

Heidi finally gave in and followed them. Tyson ran up to her. 

"Officer my dog is hurt too. The killers..they didn't leave him out. I believe they attacked him while he was trying..to protect my parents" Heidi murmured  while stroking his furry back.

Officer Smith nodded while stealing a glance at Tyson. The sound of ambulance siren broke the silence. 

"Officer Jones, you're in charge of the bodies. Officer O'Brien & Officer Parrish, find any clue you can.  Ask around. Even though the houses here are big, they're very close to one another. You can see the neighbors' houses from here" she said while looking through one of the windows.

"I believe someone might have seen or heard something. I foresee this isn't going to be an easy case for us. Okay guys, get on with your work. I will take the girls with me. I want the place to be cleared and covered with the Crime Scene strap and i want no media coverage" she continued.

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Two hours later inside one of the wards of Claremont Hospital.

"Alright girls, i brought you some porridge. Have some. And oh, i forgot to introduce myself. My name is Officer Maya Smith. I hope you girls are feeling better?" she asked looking at them both.

"Yes.. madam i'm alright. But where is Tyson?" Heidi asked. 

"I've taken him to the vet behind the hospital to make sure he receives proper medication. Don't worry one of my officer is there with him" replied Officer Smith.

"Okay..but..i'm worried about Anna" Heidi crooned.

They both looked over at Anna who is fast asleep on the bed. Her right arm is covered with small bandages and her left hand has the IV tube attached to it. 

"Okay i will interview you alone. Let Anna rest for today. Tell me from the start" inquired Officer Smith.

"My name is Heidi Granger. I am the youngest daughter of Joseph & Juliet Granger. It started on Monday 23rd October. I was home alone and out of sudden someone knocked on my front door. I saw 2 men, one tall, another one was a plump guy, both wore the same thing ; dressed in black with a shiny cream tie and both wore black shades. My instincts told me not to open the door. I saw the plump guy placed something on my doormat. After they left, i quickly took it. The envelope was a customized one. It's a shiny cream colored envelope and it only had my Dad's name written in maroon. I left the letter on his desk afterwards and didn't think much about it" said Heidi, with a sad look on her face.

"Where is the envelope now? Did you notice anything else about those men?" the cop asked.

"I left the envelope inside my parents room. The only other thing i saw was their vehicle. They came in a White Mercedes but sadly i didn't see the plate number" Heidi continued.

"Okay hang on Heidi i need to inform my officers regarding this" said Officer Smith.

She quickly took out her cellphone and called up her officers. Her eyes lit up like as if she's found the main clue.

"Officer O'Brien, there is a mysterious looking envelope somewhere around the house. It is shiny cream colored and only had 'Joseph Granger' written in maroon on it. Please find it! This could be our main lead!" she exclaimed.

"Ahh that! We found it inside the master bedroom but it's already torn. The envelope looks exactly like how you described, just that the letter next to it looks half burnt. We've kept it as evidence though" replied Officer O'Brien.

"Alright. Thanks and please send it to the lab straight away" mumbled Officer Smith.

"Sorry about that Heidi. Okay let's continue. What happened today?" she asked.

"I was woken up by the sound of someone being shot multiple times and i heard my Mum screamed. Her screams were scary. I was in my room. Slowly i peeped through the hole and saw my parents lay in a pool of blood, lifeless. I heard two men talking, saying things like 'find the girl'. I thought he was referring to me so fearing for dear life, i quickly took my cellphone and wallet and hid inside my closet. The reason why they couldn't find me was because i was hiding inside a small room inside the closet itself. It was my secret little hang out place you know.." Heidi told the cop the whole story.

"Okay are they the same men who came earlier? And..Anna..who is she? How is she related to you?" the cop asked.

"Her name is Anna Somerset and i only met her today. Found her inside my storeroom. She claimed that my sister, Haley rescued her. She told me that she was kidnapped by the Minister of Foreign Affairs. According to her, he is a Gangster and he goes by name 'Panther' for his underworld stuffs and..."

"What?! Are you sure about this?!" Officer Smith cut her off. Her eyes widened in disbelief. 

"I'm telling you what she told me" Heidi explained.

"The thing is..this isn't the first time someone complained about Mr Henry Williams. In fact, this issue had reached our Commissioner and he himself had informed the PM regarding this but because we had no strong proof against him, the PM took this lightly and let him go. For the past 5 years we have been trying our best to track him down but he used a special system which makes it so difficult to locate him!" the cop sounds so frustrated.

"Wow..i didn't expect that. So we have something here right? In fact this is something big.." Heidi told her.

 "Alright..if whatever you're telling me is true, then we can save a lot of people. So many lives have been affected because of him. Okay tell me more about the men who came today.."she continued.

"The men who came today wore plain white shirt and had "P2NTH3R" written in maroon on their shirts. And i saw their car..a Black SUV and their plate..hold on... oh my god! I think i got something! Now i recall i saw only half of their plate number which started with 'P2NT'. That's the exact same thing i saw on the shirt.."Heidi remembered.

Once again Officer Smith's eyes lit up. She smiled and quickly wrote something down. 

'P2NTH3R'

She reached her cellphone and called someone.

"Chief, i got something huge!" she exclaimed.