RED: Welcome To Fayetteville | Complete ✔️

Chapter 52: The Ashes

The photographer let the shutter click in their camera as the flash went off. Sheriff Mullins stood behind them next to Deputy Evans. The red hoodie nailed to the tree was sagging lower than when Danny shot it.

Surrounding them was a yellow police tape wrapped around and between the trees. The wind was making it flap in the air. Other cops were walking around in the crime scene perimeter. The blue lights were flashing in the distance.

"They left a note... ," Sheriff Mullins crossed his arms.

"Not that easy," Deputy Evans repeated the note. "Was this for us? Or for whoever is in that cabin?"

Deputy Evans walked away from the tree and toward the burned cabin. "They didn't just kill someone out here... they were up to something."

Sheriff Mullins followed at Deputy Evans' side. "With Genni and Jasper, it was a crowbar. With the Thompson boy, it was a gun." He leaned down and grabbed a small log and tossed it from their path. The orange leaves were crunching beneath their feet. "If this was RED that burned this cabin and killed the man inside, why did he do it like this?"

"RED didn't just kill them... they took out his cabin, too. Something was in this cabin."

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Sheriff Mullins leaned back in his leather chair at his desk. His arms were still crossed. "If you had a daughter that was killed and the murderer couldn't be caught, what would you do?"

"I'd go out and kill the psycho that did it," Deputy Evans said. "I wouldn't sleep until he was dead."

Mullins uncrossed his arms and reached out. He unraveled his hand and pointed at the photo of the steaming cabin. "He was after RED."

"And somehow RED caught onto it."

"He got too close..." he crossed his arms again.

They didn't really need the photo on the desk. The image was scorched into their brains. They could remember the smell of the burnt wood... the burnt flesh.

The cold air made the warm logs steam more than usual. The logs of the cabin were crispy and the black ashes looked like a pile of charcoal. Under the ashes were what was left of Danny and all his evidence and accusations. RED took it all out with a toss of a match: the evidence, the puzzle pieces, and Danny himself.

"What did Danny do that was so special? RED knows we're out for him and he hasn't killed us... not yet anyway... but what about Danny made RED want to kill him?" Evans looked down at her badge, then met eyes with Mullins.

Sheriff Mullins picked up his phone and called someone in the next room. "I want Danny's everything. I want his texts, his emails, his google searches, I want to know what he had for breakfast last week. I want everything on him... make it happen."

Deputy Evans waited for Mullins to hang up the phone. "And how did RED figure out that Danny was onto him?"

"Stalking? Maybe RED was watching him. He was after Genni at some point. Maybe it's about the Fisher family."

"And what about that?" Deputy Evans pointed to the crowbar in the large plastic bag on the corner of the desk. Red spray paint was covering it. It was still a little sticky and was sticking to the insides of the bag.

"His trademark. He wanted to make sure we knew it was him..."

"I know... I mean what are we going to do about that? RED has these trademarks now. It's like he's a mythical creature or something. Red hoodies and crowbars everywhere taking people out..."

Sheriff Mullins pulled his hat lower over his face. "I'm about tired of RED killing people in my town. We're finding this bastard, and we're finding him fast." He tightened his fist around the arm of his chair. "It's one of those kids in Derrick's squad. They've been under our nose and we just play their games. It's over. We're cracking down."

Deputy Evans grabbed the corner of the bag with the red crowbar and walked out of his office.

Sheriff Mullins leaned forward in his empty office and spun his thumb around his index finger harsh enough to make it burn. "This isn't happening. Not in Fayetteville."

***Did RED mess up by leaving the red hoodie and note up? Why did RED make sure to let everyone know it was them that killed Danny? What will Deputy Evans and Sheriff Mullins do next?

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