17
“It should be up here on the left,” Cassidy muttered, her face buried in her phone. Derrick glanced over at her and chuckled as she rotated the phone once, twice and then a third time. “Or it’s on the right. Maybe.”
“How about I just look for the throng of cop cars and lights? That might give me a good inclination.”
“Smart ass.” Cassidy swore under her breath. “Congratulations on expanding your vocabulary, though. That will be the word of the day.” She smirked at him and stared out the window. “This is a nice neighborhood.”
“Was a nice neighborhood. Home values tend to plummet once the word gets around that a serial killer tried to murder someone in the area.” Derrick made a right and then eased the SUV to the side, leaving a considerable amount of space between himself and the car in front of him. “This is it.”
“Not a very private area.” Cassidy slipped out of the SUV and grabbed her phone, following Derrick as he marched towards the mass of people standing at the cross street. “Show time.”
The two made their way towards the first line of police tape, their eyes peeled for Bellinson. As they made their way around the crowd, Cassidy grabbed Derrick’s arm and steered him towards a group of officers leaning against an oversized SUV. As they rounded the back of the vehicle, Derrick saw that it was crammed full of electronics-monitors, surveillance equipment, computers; this was their mobile command unit apparently.
“Bellinson?” Cassidy called out, hoping to garner someone’s attention.
“Bellinson’s not here, sweetheart,” the man facing the wall of monitors stated He had a phone cradled between his ear and his should, a tablet in one hand and an earpiece in the ear. After a moment’s pause, he slowly turned around, careful not to drop any of the equipment he was holding. “You must be New York.”
“Cassidy Danmark.” She extended her hand towards him.
“Derrick Mathis.”
“Bellinson though this could use a ‘fresh pair of eyes’, so here we are. Nope, still here.” He turned away from them, resuming his phone conversation. Derrick and Cassidy looked at each other, thoroughly confused and then back at the man. He had deposited the tablet on the floor of the SUV and had removed his ear piece. “I swear to God I’ve got four conversations going on in my head right now. Look, I don’t have the time or the resources to babysit you two, so here’s the ground rules. No touching, only looking and don’t talk to anyone. You’re here as observers – interfere with my investigation and I’ll send you back to New York with no badges. Do I make myself clear?” Cassidy and Derrick shook their heads in agreement and quickly vacated the area.
“Why do I have a feeling that if Abrahams finds out about this, our badges will be nothing more than paperweights?” Derrick commented. Cassidy shrugged her shoulders and ducted under the police tape.
“Take a look around. What do you see?”
“Organized chaos?” Derrick smirked.
“I meant the neighborhood.”
“Tree lined street, cars parked on the street.” Derrick did a 360, fully taking in his surroundings. “Brand new apartments here. Older apartments here. And behind us-projects?”
YOU ARE READING
Inferna Nuntius
Vampire“We both know I did what I had to do. You are mine to protect and that’s what I did. I protected you by getting rid of those who had hurt you. I remember you thanking me in your own special way.” His lips turned up in a sneer, turning her stomach. ...
