Ordinary Life: The Challenge

Harrison Avenue

Dead.

Blood splattered among the wall, pictures destroyed, and furniture tossed. I ordered my team to take photos as I spoke with chief sheriff.

"When did the call come in?" I asked. "6:06" He said. "Why did it take your department three hours to inform us?" "We had to investigate first..." "That is not your job. That is ours. The next time you call my department, you let us do our job and not have us here, looking like idiots." I say. That was a red flag, in which I will put in my files later on. "Where's the coroner, I need to speak with them." The chief pointed them out to me and I walked over to them.

"Chief Genevieve Reynolds." I flashed my badge. "I request..." I took deep breath. "...to observe the bodies." "I'm sorry ma'am, but I am not authorized to do so." "She's my sister. I'd like to see her...please." The man tightened his lips and looked around. "Okay, but this is one and only time, I will allow this."

He pulled the black body bag out of the car and placed it onto a gurney. He unzipped the bag from the top and there, lied my sister. Her face had no damage, but looking closer, she had bruises on her neck. She was strangled to death, at least I assumed.

"Oh Gen." I whispered. "I'm sorry." I hated expressing emotions at work and to keep that reputation I said, "Zip it up. If there is any news in regards to my sister, you call me personally. Not only am I chief, but, this is my family. Do you understand?" I asked. "Yes, Ma'am." The man zipped her back up and placed her back into the car.

I walked back to the house and found Justin hovering over two of our employees. "Yes, that's a good one. Take some more over there and log it in." Justin said. "What did you find?" I asked. "We found some books, possibly diaries. We haven't looked inside yet. There's no evidence of a break-in, so we don't have any suspects at the moment." "Well, if Brandon killed himself and if my sister is ruled a homicide..." "You think he killed her?" "There's too many people in this world. He's one of billions."
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"Hey baby" Bruno greeted me with a kiss on the cheek. "How was your first day as chief? Did you get the flowers and the picture?" He asked with a joyous smile on his face. "Yes, I received them and they were all so lovely. Thank you..." Bruno's smile slowly faded. "Something wrong." He said. My face scrunched as I began to cry. He held me in his arms and rubbed my back. "What happened?" He whispered. "My sister is dead. Along with Brandon." "Oh Genevieve...I'm sorry baby. Is there anything I can do?" I released myself from Bruno's hug. "No, it's done and over with. So much for my first day huh?" I tried to laugh off the pain but it wasn't working.

"Genevieve, can I tell you something? Or at least give an opinion?" "What is it?" Bruno put his hands in his pockets and walked into the kitchen, where I followed. "Whenever, you spoke of your sister, you spoke ill of her." My eyes danced. "But at the end of the day, she's my sister. We grew up together. I had some love for her, even though she had very little for me." I say. "I'm lost for words, Eve." Bruno continued to rub my back. "But, I'm going to be there for you, through all of this. I promise."