Foretold

#3

Mark stopped the car near my house and helped me attend to the wound.
"Should I stay? Will you be alright alone?" He asked.
"I will. Go home, get some rest."
"You know I can stay, right? What if you need something?" He said.
"Are you sure?" I asked.
"Of course. You can barely use that hand. I can just freshen up here tomorrow and we can leave for work." He said and smiled, like it was not inconvenient for him at all.

"Alright. Will you be okay on the couch?"
"More than okay. You want me to cook anything?" He asked.
"At 4AM? Let's just sleep. We'll pick some food on the way to work tomorrow."
"Sounds good."

***

I woke up to the alarm at 8AM. I was still very sleepy and looking at how sound asleep Mark was, I decided to let him have a few more minutes of sleep. I went to the washroom, took a shower and combed my hair in front of the mirror. There were dark circles below my eyes, and they kept deepening since the last week.

I changed into a formal skirt and a royal blue tugged in shirt and finally woke Mark up.
"Get up! It's 8.30."
"Seriously?! We gotta reach the asylum by 9.30!"
"Yeah, so freshen up quick!" I laughed.
"You could've woken me up early. You're ready!"
I laughed again and he rushed into the bathroom. He used to stay over a lot, so he'd kept some of his spare clothes at my place. I took a pair out and hung them on the doorknob of the bathroom.

He came out fully dressed in 15 minutes, his hair clean and new, his sleeves rolled up, screaming my name.
"Carly? Carly! I need socks!"
I sighed. "How do you find them at your place?"
"Because that is my place!"
I pulled out a clean pair of socks out of his things and gave them to him.

"Come on, now. We're late." I said. Jim had just woken up and was stretching his legs. He jumped off the bed and walked towards the door. I opened it, took my keys and went out. Mark limped behind, tying the shoelaces of one shoe. My hand was much better now. I drove to the asylum and was greeted by Madison at the reception.
"How is he?" I asked.
"Much better, Caroline. I just gave him his medicines. He's fast asleep."
"Great, may I see him?"
"Sure. Let me accompany you."

"Was he calm after I left?" I asked.
"Yes. He was. He didn't create any more problems."
"That's great."
We reached cell 20. He was asleep, just like Madison said. The grin was gone, he was calm and had that look on his face, the look he used to have. The look of the young, handsome and honest officer he used to be.

"He looks nice when asleep. Kind of handsome, I'll say." Madison said.
"Oh yes. Had you seen him three years ago, you'd have fallen in love with him. Everybody did." I laughed. She laughed back.

Kaitlyn

"Captain Ivanowski asked for you." Hitesh said. I got up from my chair and walked in his office. I saluted the captain and he asked, "Miss Wilson. Are Marcus and Caroline here yet?"
"No sir. They're not."
"Alright. Call them and ask them to come to this address at once. And you too, take Hitesh and your team and leave at once. A murder has been reported."

I saluted him and got out of his office.
"Hitesh! Get the team ready. We've got something that needs our immediate attention." He nodded and I walked to my table. I opened my drawer, took out a notepad and a pen, put my pistol in its cover on my belt and dialled a number on the telephone on the desk.
"Marcus? Please note this address down. I need you and Caroline to come to this address as soon as possible."
"Sure, we'll be there. We're just at the asylum." He said and I hung up.

We got the cars ready, I got in one and Hitesh got in next to me. Another car followed us. There were eight of us. We reached the crime scene, which seemed like a dark alley, a place like those where bad kids go to smoke up. We couldn't see a body when we reached, but we saw a woman, in her mid-thirties standing there in tracks and a T-back.

"Hi. I'm Inspector Kaitlyn Wilson."
"And I'm Inspector Hitesh Shah."
"Oh yes. Hello. It was me who called. I'm Joanna Hawkins."
"Where's the body?" I asked.
"Follow me." She said. I signaled the rest of the team to follow. We took a turn inside the alley and there she was. She was a woman, a beautiful one, in her late-twenties. She had straight black hair, a fair complexion and thin lips.

We got right to work. Two of us marked the crime scene, me and Hitesh examined the body, two of us looked for evidence and the rest two drew the body's outline using a chalk.
We heard a car arrive and we saw a dog's face peeking out of the back window. Caroline and Marcus got out of the car and walked to me.

Marcus looked fine, but Caroline looked around and her face went blue.
"Are you alright, Caroline?" I asked.
"Oh, yes... I am. What happened?"
"We just got here too. No idea. Will you check the body so that we can question the witness?"
"Sure." Marcus said and me and Hitesh walked to Joanna.

"Miss Joanna Hawkins?" Hitesh asked.
"Mrs, please. I'm married."
"Oh sure. So when did you find the body?" Hitesh asked.
"The minute before I called you."
"Did you panic and touch anything?"
"Oh, no. I didn't panic. I'm used to seeing dead bodies. I'm a surgeon. People die at hospitals everyday."
I kept taking notes while Hitesh questioned her. I looked back at Caroline and Marcus. Marcus was using a magnifying glass to examine something on the victim's neck. Caroline was looking at something to the left of the alley. And her face was still blue. I'd never seen Caroline like that. I'd never seen her scared or not engrossed in work. I'd never seen her distracted.