Officer Takeda sat on a small wooden chair in the main branch of the Livingston County Police Department. Across from him, a young African-American woman was hastily relaying in rough pencil outlines the descriptions that the officer was doing his best to recreate from memory.
Captain Ortez stood behind him, talking to two other uniformed individuals. One was a middle-aged Caucasian woman, the Brighton Chief of Police. She had ordered both Ortez and Takeda to report to the County office for their part in this "disaster."
The other individual was an older Caucasian man, the Sheriff for the larger Livingston County.
"...but should we really be making this public?" Ortez was saying, one foot tapping anxiously on the worn tile. "People will panic—they'll be too scared to call 911 or use emergency services."
"Not to mention," Chief Harrison stepped in, nodding her agreement with Ortez's concerns, "that in Brighton emergency services is our fifth-biggest employer. We risk alienating, or even endangering, a large portion of the local population if this breaks."
The Sheriff rubbed his face with one hand, his arms crossed high on his chest. "A news story this big'll break with or without us letting it out. We need to be on the front end of the reporting cycle to maintain control," he replied, his voice tired.
"What we need to do is make it look like we almost got it figured out already, that the bastards are practically in our hands. That's where you come in, Officer Takeda, Miss Faith," he continued, nodding to the two who were bent over the table, poring over the sketches.
Faith raised a silent thumbs up, although like Takeda never took her eyes from the sketches. The officer reached forward, swirling his finger around the shorter figure's midsection.
"..Less round here. He was wide but it looked like hard fat," he said in hushed tones. Faith nodded and leaned forward to make the adjustments.
Sheriff Jones sighed, running a hand over his balding grey head as he watched them work.
He turned to Otrez and Harrison. "I just can't believe you figured this out." He paused. "Where in heaven's highest reaches did they find a corpse that fresh and that close to the original? It even fooled the damn family."
"I don't think heaven has anything to do with it, sir," Ortez mumbled, her face numb. She didn't know if she should be happy or horrified that Takeda's wild stunt had paid off.
"Just what did you uncover, Takeda?" the Sheriff said, mouth a grim line.
The officer in question finally looked up from Faith's work.
"I don't know, sir. But I hope that once we get the lab results back on the dummy corpse we may find some answers."
"Very optimistic, officer," Jones said. He shifted his arms, clasping them firmly behind his back as he shook his head. "I have a bad feeling that every new piece of data we get is just going to uncover something bigger, probably more than we can handle."
"You think we'll need to call in the higher-ups?" Harrison asked, face scrunching in her displeasure.
"God I hope not, but it may be. Let's just wait and see how this pans out. Who knows—maybe this is all just a fluke," Jones said, releasing his arms and raising them up in an open-ended shrug.
Ortez and Harrison exchanged a look.
"...very optimistic, sir."
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Pearl
Mystery / Thriller[Wattpad Picks: Editor's Choice] A research team dedicated to advanced medical care is in the process of creating a bandage that seals and heals all injuries almost instantaneously. The catch? The bandage itself is a living organism that burrows ins...
