Rampage - Patrick Hockstetter

Chapter 25

"Dad." Jay mutters as she slipped on her jacket and rushed to her father. "Hi sweetheart." Dexter mumbled back as he slipped his arms around his daughter.

Jay felt a sense of relief when the sent of her father's cologne entered her nostrils. A sense of a comfort and nostalgia.

"What happened?" Jay asked as she pulled away. Dexter handed her a pair of latex gloves and walked towards the closed off area of the scene.

It was different this time. Unlike the last crime scene, isolated and quiet, this location was in the middle of Derry. An alley just a couple blocks away from Jay's house.

The two ducked underneath the yellow police tape, coming across the body which was draped with a white sheet.

"A male body. Age, around seventeen maybe fifteen. Ethnicity, caucasian. Name, Eric Voscez. Attends Derry Private High School. Very well liked student, has no enemies. Any parents dream to have a kid like this."

Jay scanned the sheet up and down until she finally brought back the sheet, revealing a bartered and bruised Eric.

"Cause of death?" Jay asked as she traced her glove covered fingertips over his face. "Unknown but forensics is assuming that blood loss played a massive role in his death." Dexter replied.

A laceration mark burned into his neck visibly noticeable along with rope burn along his waist and wrists.

"Rope burn." Jay mumbled to herself. "What?" Her father asked.

Jay stood to her feet, her eyes looking up to her fathers. "Rope burn on his neck, wrists and waist. Something that the last victim had only on her neck. Maybe this time the suspect knew Eric was going to be tougher and more likely to fight back."

"I agree." Dexter handed the clipboard off to another officer. Jay slowly rubbed her hands together as she continued to examine the body slowly.

"Hey!" A voice rang out.

As Jay turned around, she struggled to process anything that was happening but quickly pieced everything together once she was Patrick Hockstetter bounding towards her.

"Pat-!" Jay exclaimed, Patrick's lips cutting her sentence short as he smashed his with hers.

Jay pushed him away fortunately before any other moves could be made. "What the fuck are you doing Patrick!" Jay yelled, grabbing the attention of other officers.

"What the hell are you doing here?!" Jay shouted again. Jay observed his breath, quickened in pace and loose, like he'd been running.

"I-"

"Hockstetter!"

The sound was terrifying, like the sound of a god preaching down from the heavens himself just to get the attention of the hormone raging boy.

Jay switched her gaze to Butch Bowers, standing only a few feet away from the pair. Butch had a hard stare and his lips pierced together but if looks could kill, Patrick would be six feet under by now.

"Get away from my officer now." Butch barked at the boy. Patrick quickly distanced himself from the girl and walked towards Butch.

"Butchhh comonnnn. I was just having some fun with little miss Jay over here." Patrick stated as he placed his hand on Butch's shoulder.

Butch slowly traced his eyes over Hockstetter's hand like a sickly disease before slapping it away.

"But when 'little miss Jay' is in the middle of an investigation, working harder than half of the slackers here, that's not an invitation to interrupt."

Patrick swallowed hard as Butch gripped his fist around the boys collar and dragging him to the police tape.

Jay let out a shaken breath before turning her eyes back to the body laying before.

"You okay." Her dad asked, resting his hand on her shoulder. Jay tore her eyes away from the lifeless ones in front of her and connected them with her father's. "Y-Yeah." She nodded.

"Want to head down to the station with me? Family is coming in for identification, I-I really think I'll need some moral support." Dexter asked as he peeled his latex gloves off of his fingers, throwing them away.

As Jay opened her mouth to reply, the sound of police tape tearing interrupted her thoughts and caught her attention.

"Looks like you don't need to go down to the station for that." Jay muttered before rushing to a determined, mascara soaked mother.

"M'am we can't have you back here." Her father attempted to calm the woman down. Jay quickly kneeled next to the body, covering the boys face with the opec sheet. Creating a boundary between life and death.

"Is that my son?" The woman screamed. Her voice was hoarse and raw almost as if she had been screaming for weeks, non-stop.

"M'am, you have to stay here until you are allowed behind the tape." Dexter gripped her shoulders his hands. Jay remained in her distance from the woman but before she knew it, the woman was closing that distance and pushing past her.

"M'am-"

"It's fine, honey." Her father interrupted her as he pulled her away from the scene.

Jay peered over her shoulder to the woman as she dropped to her knees next to her son's lifeless body.

Her body wracked with every gut wrenching sob she managed to scream out. Her shrieks drilled into the ears of innocent bystanders passing by.

Imagine creating something worth more than anything in the world. No amount of money could account for this thing that you grew. Something you made with blood, sweat and tears.

Imagine it being ripped away from you without warning. That one thing that you would trade your life for. Now gone.

"Jay come on." Her father called again as he slid into his cruiser. Jay glanced over her shoulder once more before stepping into the passenger side of the cop car.

The two sat in silence, both accepting and processing what they had just witnessed.

"If there's one thing that I know about women, it's that, when you come in between a woman and her kid... it'll get messy." Her dad mumbled.

"I didn't know someone could cry that hard." Jay breathed as she shook off her jacket.

Dexter chuckled as he dug into his pocket, fishing out a cigarette and lighter. "That's something you'll see a lot when you work with dead and missing kids." Dexter mumbled, the cigarette bouncing up and down as he spoke.

The rest of the ride was quiet. The sound of the crackling tobacco complimented the smell of burning paper and smoke.

"I have to go shopping for a party tomorrow. Can you drop me off down near the shops?" Jay asked.

Dexter glanced to her then back to the road, "A party, eh?"

Jay rolled her eyes, looking out the window to the passing trees flying by. "It's just a little thing at friends house it's nothing too extravagant."

"Why do you always use those huge ass words, y'know I don't know what those mean."

"Can you just drop me off dad." Jay chuckled. Dexter reluctantly nodded and pulled into the local, and sadly smallest, shopping center in town.

"You have money correct?" Her dad asked as Jay pushed open the door. "Yes, Dad." Jay responded.

"Okay- I love you!" Dexter shouted through the window as Jay chuckled to herself.

"I love you too."