Hung Noose

Chapter 6

"Male and a female? Why do you say that?" Gabriel looked at me puzzled.

"See these scratches," I put my finger near them, "These are from someone's nails. Not very many boys grow their nails this long. That's why I'm saying it's probably a woman. As for the male, unless their were two female body builders, I don't think two girls would be able to do this. There's multiple people involved."

"So, how do we figure this out?"

"Here's the plan, we're going to separate the guys and the girls. You will go look at the girls. Look at their nails and their muscles. I estimate this guy weighed about 200 pounds. They will both have to be strong. I'll take the boys and look at strength. If they meet the requirements, pull them aside and we'll question them later."

"One question: why am I taking the girls?" I stared at him for a second then looked down. "You think my dad is apart of this?"

"I can't clear anyone yet. I'm sorry." He glared at me and stomped away angrily.

We walked into the main room where everyone was gathered. "Everyone, listen up. Girls, you need to follow Gabriel to the main hallway. Boys, stay here." I watched as all the girls left. Most of them had friends with them except for a few. Elizabeth was last, again.

"Guys, will you get in a straight line, please." They all followed my order without a fuss. I first eliminated the children younger than ten. "Hold out your hands in front of you." I walked down the line and looked at their hands as well as their muscles. I pulled only a few out before I reached Father Jeffery. I glanced once in his eyes before looking at his hands. He has a few calluses, but what really caught my eye was what I saw peeking from under his sleeve. I pulled the sleeve up and looked at the red line on his wrist. They weren't deep, but were very suspicious.

"Where'd you get these from?" I looked in his eyes, just to see if he was lying.

"I was in the kitchen earlier today and I cut my wrist."

"Was there anyone to verify that you were there?"

"No. It was after curfew." I pulled him forward to separate the suspects from the others. After looking through the rest of the men, I leaned out of the door and called out to Gabriel. He looked at me, and I could tell he was still angry for me even thinking about accusing his father, but boy was he gonna be pissed when he found out that I had his father labeled as a suspect.

We reunited the innocent boys and girls and threw the suspects into another room all together. We called each one out, one by one to talk to them. I realized that Elizabeth had been piled into that mix.

We called her back to a little table in Gabriel's room to question her. She took a seat across from us and simply stared at us. She was fidgeting in her seat with her hands under the table.

"Elizabeth, could you put your hands up on the table, please." I told her. She did exactly as I told her and laced her fingers together.

"Where were you right after curfew?"

"I was making my rounds, making sure all the children were in bed."

"Was there anyone to verify?"

"Father Jeffery." I shot a glance a Gabriel, but quickly looked away.

"Did you see anyone out of bed?"

"No. I only heard you guys scream and that was about fifteen minutes after I had checked that area." That was weird. In her other answers, she was short and didn't include much extra detail, but that question freaked her out a little. She twitched her wrists a bit. I looked down and saw the red escaping.

"What happened to your wrists?"

"I fell. I was doing my rounds and I tripped over my own two feet. I crashed into one of the benches."

"May I see your wrists?" She was hesitant, but lifted her sleeve. The cuts went all different directions.

Gabriel pipped up next to me, "That's not from a bench." She swallowed.

"You can't tell anyone this, okay?" We nodded, "Ever since my husband died, I've been so upset with everything. I used a razor blade."

Oh. That wasn't something to be expected.

I shot a glance at Gabriel and raised my eyebrows. He shook his head.

"Thank you, Elizabeth." She nodded, but looked slightly flustered. She stood up and walked to join the suspects.

I waited until she was out before I turned to Gabriel and said, "Do you believe her story?"

"I don't know. She's been here since she was young. We call her old, but she's only fifty-something. She could do it, but does she have a motive?"

"It could be the cutting. Those wounds didn't look deep for a razor blade, so maybe she stopped or escalated to something worse."

"I hope not."

"Did you notice that when I asked her if anyone was out of bed, she responded with a no and then turned it back to us finding the body?"

"Yeah. I thought that was weird."

"I don't want you to be mad at me, but I want Father Jeffery in here and you out." He turned his head to glare at me, before shutting his eyes, sighing and walking away.

"Father Jeffery," I called out. They turned to look at me, but no one stepped forward. "Where is he?"

"He went to the bathroom and he didn't return after five minutes, so Elizabeth went to check on him."

Just then, a scream sounded. It was female. Gabriel grabbed my arm and led me to the bathrooms. Elizabeth ran out of the boy's bathroom panicked.

"Elizabeth, what happened?" She only stared at us wide eyed. I turned and walked into the boy's bathroom and stopped dead in my tracks. I heard Gabriel come in after me. I turned and tried to push him back, but he fought me to see what was in there. When he saw, he stopped and fell down to his knees.

A dagger popped out of Father Jeffery's chest. I put myself in front of Gabriel and tried to talk to him, but his senses seemed to be halted. I cupped his face in my hands and forced him to stare at my face.

"Gabriel. Gabriel, look at me. Look at me." His eyes snapped back to look me in the eye. "You should get out of here." His eyes welled with tears which started to poor down his face. I wiped the tears of off his face with my thumbs.

"He's dead. He's dead. My dad is dead."

"Get out of here. Go be with everyone else." He snapped out of it and looked at me. He put his hands on mine and swallowed.

"I'm gonna find this sick son-of-a-bitch and when I do, there will be hell to pay." I blinked. Were you allowed to curse in a church?

I turned my head to look at the body. Gabriel stood up, but never let go of my hand. There was a pool of blood surrounding the body. He was killed here. I gazed into the wide opened eyes. There wasn't even a hint of clouding. I didn't even bother touching the body because it would still be warm.

"His ring," Gabriel whispered next to me. I looked at the ring sitting in the pool of blood inches from his finger.

"What was the ring for?" I asked.

"His wedding ring. He didn't take it off since mom died." I glanced at him. Could this be a dying message?

I leaned over the body and looked at the ring. There wasn't any blood on the top of it. It was set there after the blood had been spilled.

"Wait," I turned to look at Gabriel, "Would that mean that the killer has blood on them?" he asked. I looked at the sinks. Only one had been used and I could see a trace of red in the drain.

"They did, but they don't now," I replied.

He was my main suspect for the boys. What the hell was going on?