THE CRIMINAL FILES ~ Mona Lisa's Murder

F I V E

/I don't want a lot for Christmas, there is just one thing I need. And I don't care about the presents underneath the Christmas tree. I don't need to hang my stocking, there upon the fireplace. Santa Claus won't make me happy with a toy on Christmas Day. I just want you for my own, more than you could ever know. Make my wish come true, all I want for Christmas is you, baby/ ~ Mariah Carey {All I Want For Christmas is You}

Jackson's Perspective

Slamming the door all of us turned to the large monument that stood before us.

Pratt Castle was an older building that was now rented out for parties. It definitely had the space for it. It wasn't the biggest castle in the world, but it was still apart of Virginia history.

I followed my team up the walkway, as my eyes darted between the pillars and the large, brick wall surrounding it. I remember hearing that it was crumbling and some were planning to tear it down, but in order to keep such a vital part of our history, people had several rallies in order to make enough money so the government could restore it.

Now...it looked brand new.

It towered above us, the iron gates opening up slightly. On the side of the wall was a plaque with a black and white picture of the castle taken in 19-something. I made a small detour to the plaque while the rest of my team walked in. "Pratt Castle," I mumbled beneath my breath. "Was built in 1854 by William Pratt. The castle survived numerous fires and the Civil War." I skimmed past the rest. I never really enjoyed history. My teachers always told me something along the lines of, "we wouldn't have we do now without history" or, "World War One and Two divided our countries up and", blah, blah, blah. I stopped at near the end when my curiosity perked up and my interest increased. "Filled with mysterious tunnels, hidden passages, surprise staircases, and a locked away room where people could watch others throw paintings."

I stood up fully and looked up at the castle. I felt like it was staring down at me. I gulped, and continued to watch it in awe when I felt someone yank on the collar of my jacket. "C'mon, doorknob. We have work to do," Jess said, dragging me along behind her.

The two of us walked through the front doors, as the castle swallowed us whole sending me into a wild frenzy. The inside was more magnificent than the outside.

The ground was pure granite, designed with intricate patterns decorating the floor. The windows were stained glass. Thrown and melted together with an array of blue's, red's, orange's, green's, yellow's, purple's and pink's.

The walls stretched up towards the ceiling, trimmed with paintings and topped off with large, crystallized chandeliers that hung down from the canopy. I felt like a little kid again, imaging myself walking through the front doors into a large castle. Wait...that's what is happening....except, I'm not a little kid, I'm a twenty-two year old man.

Jessica navigated her way through the front room, down a long hall, and before a large set of doors she used the strength of her body to pry open showing the ballroom.

I caught a scent of blood, and rotting flesh. "Here we are," I told myself. Jess looked at me. "Just when I thought Kris was actually paying to take us on a tour." She shook her head and chuckled guiding me over to the...decapitated body.

I held my breath, and diverted my eyes to the ground quickly.

I tried to focus on keeping the contents of my stomach down. But it wasn't that much of a help. The way you could see some of the neck bone still attached to the head and the way the blood was already drying up and scabbing. I held my hand up to my mouth and pretended to cough.

Kris - who was kneeling beside the body - looked up and shot me a sarcastic grin. "Awe, Jacky - never seen a decapitated body before?"

"Only in movies." I added. Looking away again, mumbling for myself to not throw up.

She chuckled and heaved herself up. "Send him over to the Coroner's office. Let Lux take a look at him." The sound of the heavy doors hitting the wall pounded through-out the empty ball room revealing a tall, bald-man who looked less than happy thumping towards us.

"What is this?! Get him removed from here in an instant. Clean up the blood! The next party arrangement starts tomorrow and I can't have this released into the press." Kris shot me a confused look and turned her gaze over to the man, who tried not to ruin his dress shoes from the pooling blood.

Kris moved over to him, tucking strands of hair behind her ears and clasping her hands together. "Um, excuse me sir -" he turned to her. He was older, not by much, but he was... His body was dressed up in a suit that looked like it was made by one of the best tailor's in Virginia.

"Clay Anderson." He held his hand out the Kris who seemed confused at first and took it slowly. "I'm in charge of setting up all the parties here, as well as watching the castle. I live here."

Kris nodded. Shaking her head, she gave him a small smile trying to put on her sweetest, and most charming demeanor. "Well, Mr. Anderson...I hate to inform you, however, you'll have to reschedule the party tomorrow. We won't be done surveying the castle, body and crime scene."

He cringed and I swore his one eye twitched. "But you're all ready here. I need you to do it now." Everyone stopped what they were doing, staring at Clay who wasn't all that nice. "Why you're here. Isn't it?"

Kris was shocked and tried to form words. "Y-yes, but, it does take time...I'm sorry but..."

"So you want me to lose my money?! The people whom are renting this castle for the party are paying me three grand." Landon whistled. All of us were shocked.

Three fucking grand?

"Mr. Anderson we don't want you to lose anything. But -"

"No." He said, throwing his hands in her face, spinning around and looking towards the members of the ME's office the transport the body. "I need you two to discard of Mister, um..."

"Campbell." Owen replied. Anderson turned to Owen, his eyes shooting daggers.

He swayed over to him. And while the rest of us watched warily, Owen stood his ground, giving him a sarcastic smile.

"Yes," Clay repeated a few inches from Owen. "Mr. Campbell." He glared Owen, who glared back at him - before he turned away and shouted at Brad and Josie - the two ME transporters - to hurry the hell up. They bounced around the room, cleaning up the blood - although that wasn't there job - and putting the body onto a stretcher and taking him away.

When the two left, the eight of us stood there, looking around the large ballroom. "Now what?" D asked.

Kristen took one last look around the room and turned to walk over to the other side of the ballroom. "Brandon Campbell had a wife. Didn't he?"

We all looked at each other, followed by multiple sighs as we followed Kris through the castle.