G.I. Joe: Agent Blue Jaye and the Beasts of Lakeside

Chapter 17

The Friday morning sunrise created an orange and red glow across the sky, painting the bottom of the clouds as the sun rose into the new day. Jessie sat in Ordinary Grounds, sipping a coffee, typing away on her laptop. A small hawk feather was tied into the right side of her hair and she wore a beaded turquoise necklace, fitted brown leather jacket, jeans, and sneakers. The morning rush had not quite started and there was only one other person sitting in the coffee shop reading his newspaper.

Jessie's fingers moved quickly across the keyboard as she ran a background check on Courtney Thompson, the girl identified as the second victim. Jessie had not been able to access Courtney's social media pages like she had for Craig, but through the public records database, Jessie was able to identify her siblings and was now checking her parents.

As the inquiry processed, Jessie toggled back to the local news website that had posted a brief article on the second murder. Jessie had already read it over five times. Taking a sip of her coffee, she read it a sixth.

Yesterday, at approximately two thirty in the afternoon, Courtney Thompson, age twenty-one from Richford, was found deceased near Emerson Cemetery. Police have not indicated if there is a connection to the murder that occurred at an apartment building on Pine Street the previous evening. Police have reported they are currently pursuing a suspect, but do not have any additional information to share at this time. Lakeside Police are receiving assistance from all possible agencies in the area who are pooling their resources to apprehend the suspect.

For the next forty-eight hours, the police will be enforcing a nine o'clock curfew at night for anyone under the age of twenty-five. Police also encourage people to try to carpool and drive to their destinations. If you are on foot, you are encouraged to walk in groups of two or more. The police will be providing ongoing updates as they uncover more information and are urging anyone who was in the area of Emerson Cemetery around two thirty in the afternoon yesterday and saw anything suspicious, to please contact the tip line below.

Jessie frowned as she read the report. What did it mean when the police said they were pursuing a suspect? There was no mention of a description of who they were looking for. The only solid piece of information the article provided was the name of the second victim.

With that, Jessie toggled back to the public records page and saw her previous search had generated a list of names. As she read through the list, the name of the victim's grandfather jumped out at her, Private First-Class James Thompson. Just like the first victim, Courtney had a grandfather associated with the military. Jessie wondered if this was the connection she was looking for. As she did a search of the Private's name, a few hits appeared. Jessie read that Private First-Class James Thompson had been dishonorably discharged.

Jessie stopped reading and lifted her head to think. While both victims had grandparents with military associations, one was a posthumous hero, and the other was discharged dishonorably. The two couldn't be farther apart Jessie thought, as she frustratingly folded her arms and wondered if there was anything she missed. Pondering the connection between the victims, Jessie saw an email alert appear in the bottom right of her computer screen.

Toggling to her email, Jessie saw the message was from her editor. He wanted her to stop by his office right away when she got to campus. Jessie realized that she hadn't contacted him since everything had happened. She figured he probably wanted to make sure she was ok.

Jessie replied to her editor and let him know she was on her way. Closing her computer, Jessie heard her phone buzz and looked down to see Elise had texted her. Just like Jessie, Elise had received an email from their editor and was heading to the Journalism Department. Jessie finished her coffee, put her computer in her backpack, and headed out the door.