Sickle-y Cruel

Chapter 2: The Beginning of a Case

The police come in, followed by a young man.

"Crap! Jane!" The man shouts, starting to rush over to the victim.

June quickly flings herself into the man's arms, stopping him. "Oh, William! It's terrible! Simply terrible!"

The man, William, looks extremely uncomfortable with June clinging to him. He gently pushes her away by the shoulders. The chief of police comes over, fuming.

"What have you touched, Raven?!" The chubby, frost blonde man accuses, his light blue eyes filled with anger.

"Nothing, Mr. Goose. I only just got here. But, you must know, Miss Sparrow," I start, nodding in the direction of the girl, who's frantically explaining and trying to cling to William. "She has a habit of touching stuff. She picked up the more than likely murder weapon and tried to hand it to me. I placed it back where she found it."

The goose growls in frustration. "How do I-" He starts to yell some ludicrous accusation at me, but I calmly cut him off.

"Also, the one on the floor is her sister, Jane. Their nephew, Peter, is a possible witness." I explain, putting a hand on the chief's shoulder to move him out of my path. "And, for the record, Miss June came to get me; I had to send Mike to get someone to fetch you. Now, how does it seem when they trust to come to the detective and not the police?"

I leave the frustrated man and go to the worrisome one. Miss Sparrow continues to try and cling to him, earning uncomfortable glances from his dark eyes. He runs a hand through his messy, brown and blond speckled hair in both annoyance and worry. I make eye contact with the man, who seems to plead that I distract the female in some way. I give a small nod in understanding.

"Mike, how's it going?" I say to my companion, who is currently trying to question the child from earlier.

"I can't get him to talk to me. It's as if he thinks this is a game." Mike responds.

"Then give it a break, and maybe question Miss Sparrow." I advise.

"But, isn't she on the floor dead just there, Mr. Raven?" Mike asks.

I sigh, in pain from the shortsighted question. "Her sister, Mike. The one that's alive."

"Oh... Oh! Yes, Mr. Raven! Right away, Mr. Raven!" He hops up, coming over and gaining the females attention. "Miss, if you could, please come sit with me for a moment. I would like to ask you some questions."

"Oh, but I'm in great distain right now. And, am in need of comforting." The woman argues, bringing herself closer to the poor man trying to get away from her.

"I understand, Miss. But, you may have information vital to finding your sister's killer." Mike counters, gently taking her hand to lead hear away.

Mike gives one of his charming and sincere smiles that bring out all his features from his messy, shiny black hair to the kind yet odd glow of his red eyes. This smile is one of the many reasons I keep him around. Not because of my fondness of it, though it does give my friend some appeal. But, because it convinces most to cooperate. He's better with people than I, so he handles that while I look for clues.

"Oh." The woman sighs, staying sort of stubborn. "Very well, but let us make it quick."

She lets go of the male, allowing Mike to lead her to one of the bakery's tables. The man she was clinging to sighs with great relief, then peeks around me to look worriedly at the victim on the floor.

"Hello, Sir." I greet, holding a hand out to him and catching his attention. "For what reason have you stumbled upon this unfortunate scene?" I question.