The Sirens Four

Chapter 10

According to Kubler-Ross model, there are five stages of grief. Denial. Anger. Bargaining. Depression. Acceptance.

Sandra was still at stage one. She stared at the wall of the guest bedroom of the Gregorys' mansion ignoring everyone around her. A few days after the fire, the bodies of her aunt and uncle finally were recovered.

Nestor Gregory funded their funeral services remained indifferent to it all. It just seemed so surreal. She did not want to deal with the truth that her only living relatives and parents were dead. He had been kind enough to act as Sandra's temporary guardian, until further arrangements could be made for her well-being. Everyone tried to make the transition as painless as possible as she adjusted to the loss of her love ones.

Her boss, Clee, gave her two weeks off from work while, they attempted to find a suitable Human Resources replacement for her Aunt Britta. Principal Meyers followed suit by authorizing her leave of absence from school though he felt two weeks were a bit much for bereavement. Thankfully, Calliope stopped daily by to deliver her schoolwork.

Callisto and Calypso were supportive as well by giving Sandra some space to deal with this situation. Strangely enough, even Eleanor and Jason Gregory displayed sympathy toward her loss as they welcomed her into their home. However, even with the full backing of everyone, Sandra could not accept the fact that Aunt Britta and Uncle Lee were gone.

A knock on the door woke her up from trance. It was Nestor.

"I'm sorry Sandra," he apologized. "I didn't mean to disturb you. Detective Turner is downstairs. He wanted to give you an update on the case. Look, if you're not ready to for visitors I can send him away..."

"No, no, Nestor," she answered turning her head towards him. "I'm know I was going to have to deal with this some time. I'll talk to him."

Sandra came down the stairs clutching the railing as she made her way to the bottom of the steps. Detective Turner stood in the foyer admiring the Gregorys' artwork when he heard Sandra taking small steps behind him.

"Miss Shan," he greeted.

"Detective Turner. Any news?"

"We had a break in the case. We issued a search warrant to investigate Chip Laughlin's home and we found some rather disturbing evidence."

"Like what?"

"It seems the bodies of Chip's parents were discovered in one of the bedrooms, in a locked trunk. You don't need to know the macabre details. The fingerprints found at the crime scene match his so that makes him our number one prime suspect."

Sandra feigned shock clutching her chest in surprise. She secretly knew that the demon possessed Chip was capable of murdering even his own parents, but she did not realize what lengths he would go to serve Gadeirus.

"I don't know what to say," she told Detective Turner.

"We believe that the murders of your aunt and uncle are connected," informed Detective Turner. "We are just piecing everything together. I do have a couple questions though."

"Maybe you should be out arresting Chip then!" she spat. "Obviously, we both know this psycho is out there killing people. Do you think you should get off your behind, and find him already instead of standing asking me questions that are waste of my time?"

Rage and fury emitted hateful emotions toward her. Sandra's empathy must have switched on. The feeling of anger building inside Detective Turner was full hatred, filling his soul. She found this rather odd but then again, she knew how to push someone's buttons.