The Good, The Bad, The Hunted

Chapter 2:

(Officer Donahue POV)

"Victim is a twenty four year old Caucasian female. Found dead beneath a rock wall at Hopley Elementary School playground. Victim was later identified by her step daughter as Sydney Bishop." Officer Blake said while placing a folder in front of my desk.

Oh dear. I think to myself. Yet another Bishop case. The Bishop's are notorious in our town for being involved in gruesome deaths. Especially the man, Jamison Bishop, who was arrested a year earlier for murder.

I lean forward in my chair and grab the folder off the table. I flip it open to see court documents on one side, and pictures of Mrs. Bishop and her family on the other.

"Any notable suspects?" I ask as I skim through the case summary.

"Our first guess is the girls biological mother was out for revenge, there were marks on the woman's arms that resemble nail scratches."

I look up from the folder and peered at the woman from the top. "Are you new to this town Officer Blake?"

Officer Blake smiled and nodded. I sighed and laid the folder down on my desk. "Well in case you didn't know, Mrs. Bishop's family is well known in this area. Particularly due to the husband's recent jail time for murdering his wife."

Officer Blake's flashy smile dropped. She quickly looked down at her blue uniform before looking back up and shaking her head.

"I'm-I'm so sorry I had no idea."

Flipping through some more papers I let out a gust of air between my lips and sighed. "Almost no one does, besides murder, the Bishop's are very good at cover ups. Some say the father, Jamison Bishop has some gang affiliation that keeps everything hush hush."

The Officer frowns and shows signs of sympathy.

"Poor girl," I hear Officer Blake say. I nodded in agreement and for a brief period of time we sat in silence.

"So, the girl. Any information there?" I ask as I begin signing some paperwork related to the case.

"We have sir, but all she speaks about her new friend, Cazz I think, was talking to her mom before she died."

I look up from the paper and drop my pen. "Where exactly was this Cazz talking to her mom?"

The Officer opens her mouth to answer when it clicks. Her eyes widen before she suddenly rushes out of the room to inform the team.

I shake my head and mutter beneath my breath. "Rookies."

I begin flipping through some old photos until I find something that catches my eye. I squint hard at the picture.

I lay it on the desk and take out my reading glasses. No, I wasn't imagining it and I wasn't nearly old enough to be going senile.

"How peculiar."

/:::::::::\

(Khloe's POV)

8 years later

"Happy birthday to you." My family sang.

I smiled and blew out the candles. When I was younger, around 7 or so, I had envisioned my perfect sweet 16. There would be faery lights, a large pink canopy as the tent, and my dad would be there to dance with me.

I looked around at the faery lights and canopy. You can't get every wish. But looking at my small smiling family I knew that everything that could be made possible had happened. My cousin came back from Chicago with his girlfriend Audrey, my Aunt Kate had refitted and updated my mothers old dress, and my Uncle Miguel had made us the best enchiladas known to man.