Sin and a Shotgun

Chp.1: Started with a bang

Usually Wednesday nights were boring for Caitlin Kennedy. Usually being the key word. But, no, this particular Wednesday evening was much different for Caitlin. Much, much different.

 

As usual Cait could never rely on lectures to finish on their appointed times. So, as her criminology lecture ran two hours behind schedule Cait had successfully lost her ride from campus for the night. Sighing at her bad luck and rotten side of the situation Cait set off towards her little cottage home on the other side of town. Which of course meant Cait had to walk through a part of New York city - it's reputation was less than serene - with little to no protection. Unless you considered the dark and mysterious alley ways littered with trash, rats and the occasional feral cat, protection or in anyway safe.

The air was cool and crisp, which was of course expected in autumn. Cait raised her wrist and checked the watch settled there. 9:45 p.m. What a wonderful time to be walking around in the dark with spaghetti noodles in place of arms. She could totally protect herself. Hah! She snorted and shook her head making a mental note to raise hell when she got back home. A loud noise caught Cait's attention. It seemed to come from the alley to her left a few paces from where she stood.

'Just ignore it Cait. Remember the cat and its damn curiosity?'

Against her better judgment Cait took a hesitant step towards the alley. Angry voices and the sound of fists connecting with flesh could be heard above the frantic beating of Cait's heart. She took the final few steps and peeked her head around the corner. The last thing she wanted to do was interrupt a drug exchange gone wrong. Luckily for her it seemed only to be two men having a disagreement of sorts. One of the men was seemingly tall, with broad shoulders and a hood covering his features. The other was shorter but by no means less broad, he was blonde from what she could see in the dim lighting. The blonde man was bleeding from the corner of his lip, his eyes squinted at the tall man. There were the sounds of muffled anger, coming from the man in the hood. He was saying something gruff to the blonde. There was an underlay of pain in the tone of his voice. Determined not to be involved, Cait turned away from the mouth of the alley.

BANG

Cait froze. That couldn't have been gunfire could it? No, absolutely not. It must have been the men hitting the dumpster in the alley again. But, there was only one thing wrong with that thought process. . . The angry voices had gone quiet.  In fact the entire night had just gone too quiet. Swallowing quite audibly, Caitlin quietly spun on her heel. And froze.

One of the men lay face down in a puddle, the blonde, his body not visibly moving. The other man was towered above him an object pointed at his head. Caitlin couldn't breathe. She tried to focus in on the standing man's outstretched arm to make out the object in his hand. Her blood ran cold as her fears were verified. A gun. The barrel still had a small smoke trail drifting from it. Then Cait did something stupid.

She screamed.

The sound of Caitlin's shrill scream made the murder's head jerk in her direction. He rose his gun at her and before Cait could discover what he was about to do, she turned and ran. She ran as fast as her legs could carry her and she thanked God for the two years of cross country she did in high school. She peeked over her shoulder to see if the man was still following her. Bad idea. Her foot caught a slight hole in the sidewalk and Caitlin was propelled forward, her body smashing into the concrete.

Before she could fully comprehend that she had just smashed practically face first into the cement someone grabbed her shoulder and Cait let out another high pitched scream.

"Miss, calm down! Miss, my name is Officer Rogers. Are you alright? Can you tell me what you were running from?"

Cait focused in on the heavy set balding man in front of her. A police officer. Cait began to sob as relief wanted over her. She clutched the officer's arm as she opened her mouth to speak. Her words ran together. She was stuttering as the adrenaline in her veins was crashing. She was shaking now, still clutching the officers arm.