Victor Black - And the Garden of the Gods

Chapter 30: A Dilemma Downtown

The drive for the three cars only took ten minutes. The city seemed vacant. Victor and his friends drove through it to reach the lake.

Downtown, with the fog at a minimum, they witnessed some strange goings-on. The cars made their way through the college first toward the center of town.

"What's with all the parking tickets on those cars?" said Willow, pointing at the various vehicles parked in front of parking meters. She noticed Josh in her mirror, doing the same thing.

"Yeah, so many have tickets. Look, one has a boot on its wheel—and another."

Victor pointed out the obvious. Cars had been left by owners who had not yet shown up to drive away. Many vehicles had more than one ticket on them. The same scene played itself out as they rolled through the college and into the downtown, and Acacia Park. Car after car. Oddly, few cars passed them on the way.

A police cruiser had blocked the intersection of Bijou and Tejon where, during the attack on the protestors, military men were gunned down. The stage Darius died on sat empty at the edge of the park, but still had yellow police tape wrapped around it, nice and tight.

In the center of the intersection, beyond the police car, the body of a person remained where it fell, poorly draped under a yellow tarp. The lights of the police cruiser flashed, shooting their colors across the facades of the many businesses surrounding it.

"Wait here," said Victor. He stopped Willow's Mini Cooper, put the hazard lights on, got out, and walked over to the officer standing by his open door. Behind Victor, Alan and Pam had the same idea and were not too far behind him.

"What happened, officer?" said Victor.

Police cars had blocked all four corners of the intersection. Closer to where the body laid, covered, Victor got a better look. A spray of long hair covered in blood shot out from under the tarp. A leg, broken, with protruding bones, poked out close to it. Chunks of red, in a pool of blood, created an outward pattern of red, chunky lines, as if the person—a woman, Victor guessed—had splattered in all directions.

Victor was horrified. Pam walked up next to him, quickly raising her hands to her mouth to block a scream. Alan silently turned away and walked back to his car.

"Young man, please, go back to your car, you can go around the park to detour," said the officer.

"Who is she?" said Victor. "Do you need any help?"

"We don't know, but you need to get going, please."

"Looks like she fell out of the sky!" said Pam. "There's no other way her body could be so messed up." Pam turned away too, following Alan. She hitched, trying not to throw up as she made her way.

The officer looked Victor in the eye, a spark of recognition coming over his face.

"You're John Black's kid, right? I know you. You better get going, your dad, and his men, are all going to be here at any moment. This whole area is going to be off-limits for quite some time. Oh, and, sorry about your friend, we all lost people."

"It's ok, officer, I think we're all in this together if you ever need any help." Victor felt he could cry, but held back, like a good soldier. He nodded to the officer. "Thank you, sir. I'll get these guys to turn around, we'll head around the other way."

Victor had another question and cleared his throat to get the attention of the officer who had turned back toward the intersection.

"Sir?"

"Yes?"

"Last question. What's up with all the cars, and the parking tickets everywhere?"

"Don't know. It's happening all over town. People seem to be missing." He flashed his microphone at Victor, signaling he needed to talk to another officer. Victor got the hint and left for his car.