Clue

Chapter 6

Chapter 6

Present Day

Monty shifted on her feet as her morning began with a much slower start.

She couldn't sleep all night, a nightmarish revenge haunting her dreams. When she woke up she'd gotten dressed, fully prepared to go to class, when her roommate abruptly shut down her sleep deprived day dreams.

"What are you doing up?" The snarky blond questioned, eyebrow raised over a bowl of cereal, "School's canceled because of yesterday, remember?"

"Oh," Monty flopped down in the bean bag chair that served as their couch, eyes drifting lazily to the television that was turned on.

"I mean if I were you, I wouldn't even be here right now. Goodbye college, hello, home sweet home," her roommate sang, mouth full of food.

Monty paid the talkative woman no heed, instead watching a name blare across the television report, words following that probably told of a suburban mom's milk run gone bad, Monty turned the volume up.

"Columbia College had quite the scare last night when an armed gunman walked into the Engineering department and started to shoot. The gunman was taken down by a teacher who prefers to remain anonymous, ten are injured and one confirmed dead.

"In other news a new gang is on the rise, calling themselves Death..."

The blond haired Sharon took the remote from Monty's grasp, clicking off the ancient electronic and setting the device to the side.

"I wouldn't worry about it, the police will sort everything out," Sharon piped up, patting the girl's shoulder, "But off that topic, you want to go to the mall, I saw a cute pair of shoes you'd like."

Monty blinked up at the woman, doubting that anything had ever pointed out to her had been even remotely what she'd wear.

"Fine, something I'd like. But I swear you're the richest college student I know, so you get those for me and something else for yourself," Sharon shrugged, a half-guilty smile spreading across her face.

"Um, no...Thank you," Monty stood, grabbing her bag from outside the door of her room, "But I've got to go to work, I'll pick up some food on the way back."

"Oh, but I thought..." Sharon never got to finish her sentence before Monty had left, the door snapping shut behind her.

This was going to be a very long day.

---

The map that displayed itself against the massive far wall was a far cry from any reference he had in his past, but his long line of work passing in centuries rather than years or even decades had accumulated into a broad network of carefully pulled together units.

Districts, if you may, showed a world full of monsters, and not just of the vampiric type. There were organizations that spanned the globe, and while they were bloodsuckers, they didn't need to kill their victims, just humiliate them and ruin their reputation. Though, they did kill them too.

But one grouping on the map stood out boldly among the districts, this thread somehow weaving itself through organization after organization. Reappearing time after time, after time, it continued through centuries, BC to AD.

It had a name to it, an important one, but no one would dare speak it even in the best of times, so they called it by another name, a safer name, Death.

---

Leroy shook his head, he shouldn't be doing this.

But he remembered the envelope, he remember the date, and the picture of the woman that some had gone to great lengths to steal. Making a memory flicker far back in the back of his mind.

He hadn't, however, expected to see it next to a corpse in the personal effects of a consultant of all things.

The room he was in smelled about as dead as the bodies that were kept there, that plus the soured smell of formaldehyde was enough to make him want to backpedal out of there in the first place.

Then he remembered the face of the man that walked into his office four years ago and attempted to struggle on, his palm sweating underneath the plastic of the latex glove.

"How you doin' there, Doc?" A burly man walked in, carrying a box of cannolis in one arm and a handful of coffees in the other.

"Wonderful, Jeremy. Although the same can't be said about this poor fellow," Leroy tapped the table beside the body, "I can't help but remember a time when such acts as this were frowned upon."

"Still is," the man who was now defined as Jeremy, set the box down on the table, "Catch anything?"

"No, nothing," Leroy replied, staring at the corpse that made itself the star of his morgue.

"Too bad," Jeremy replied, "Got the coffee you ordered. Higgins helped out, poor kid is bored to death over at the front desk, but Montgomery hasn't come in yet."

"Called to inform that she was at school, although, I can't say that I miss the experience," Leroy answered, "But it certainly was an interesting experience."

"That it was," Jeremy nodded, "Going to stay here all night?"

"I supposed we'll find out," Leroy replied, his eyes now focused on something in the pale body's mouth.

"See you around then," Jeremy waved somberly, walking out the door.

Leroy took the paper into his hand, it's broken edges crumbling in his light grasp, it was a familiar thing, forcing him into remembering the picture that was stolen from his so long ago.

They'd stolen it, now he had it in his grasp, feeling a careful anger seeping through his skin.

He knew exactly what he had to do.