Blood Bath

Chapter 19

When Colton finished his meal, he excused himself and went to his room to call Lacie. They talked for over an hour. She said she had taken another pain pill, but overall she felt better. Their discussion ranged from Colton's disappointment with Friday's big game to her fears for Jenny's life.

"Let's promise to forget about Jenny and her creep boyfriend. They're nothing but trouble," suggested Colton.

"That's a promise," responded Lacie. "Call me after you get home from your newspaper deliveries. I think Mom needs me to help her, but I'll be able to take a break. Good luck and please avoid hitting those beautiful deer on The Point."

"Will do," Colton said.

After a chat with Seth he checked his Facebook page and was ready for bed. It was early by most people's standards, but he would need to be awake and ready to do his newspaper route at two in the morning.

Dressed in my best black suit, I headed downtown, to the Detroit Police Headquarters. Imagine me, Colton Blackwell, a Detroit Homicide Detective. It was hard work, but I made it. And today I join Detective Albert Doyle, my new partner.

I walked into the large room and saw Doyle talking to several other officers. He saw me and smiled. A friendly smile, not a smirk. I stepped toward him and he motioned for me to stay back for a moment.

He finished his chat and approached me with an open hand.

"Detective Blackwell," he said. "We have a murder to investigate."

As we walked to our car, Doyle caught me up on the details of the case. It was a domestic abuse gone wrong. The boyfriend was beating on his girl when the girl's best friend showed up. She tried to stop the fight, but the boyfriend attacked her with a butcher's knife. The coroner pronounced her dead at the scene and the CSI team is there now.

"I understand the scene is a mess, but at least the boyfriend is in custody. He was hiding in the back yard, covered in blood."

"Sounds like an open and shut case. So why are we being called in?"

"His girlfriend, Jenny, says he didn't do it. She blames intruders. We need to investigate."

When we arrived, I could see the boyfriend in the back of a patrol car and Jenny was in the living room. I looked into the kitchen and saw the pool of blood surrounding Jenny's beautiful friend. I must have turned white, because Doyle asked, "First murder?"

"No." I replied, "She looks like my girlfriend back home. It's unnerving."

"Lacie?" he asked.

"Ya, Lacie."

We checked the crime scene, talked to the girlfriend, and then went outside to talk to the accused killer. He insisted it was someone else, but we read him his rights and took the two of them to the station.

The accused killer was Luke Hadderton. Tall, black hair, handsome and in good physical shape. I noticed something strange about him though. There was an emptiness in his eyes, and pain and anger ran across his face.

When we presented him with the overwhelming evidence we found, including his fingerprints on the weapon, he laughed.

"Dumb bitch," he mumbled. "She deserved it. Never interrupt a man when he's beating his woman. It's bad form, and she got what was coming to her."

He burst into a chilling laugh.

Colton woke and reached for the ringing alarm clock. He turned it off and headed to bathroom. When he returned, he slipped into this work clothes and went downstairs. His mom had set the coffee maker, so there was a pot of hot coffee waiting. After filling his stainless coffee tumbler and a Thermos, he was ready to face his night of deliveries.