Halo And Horns

Chapter 04: Greed

Sam banged his fist onto a tree and swore, looking at the dead officer as his lifeless body lay on the hood of a car, his arms and legs dangling from the sides, blood still pouring from his head. Officers-- forensics and uniformed-- went back and forth investigating and looking for clues and there stood a younger cop, in front of Sam, clearly frightened at his senior's anger as Charles waved him away after he gave his report.

"He was right there!" Sam said, angrily glaring at Charles. "He was right there! Cornered! Surrounded by cops from every angle!"

"I know!" Charles said, trying to calm him down. "I know! I heard the same report you did! We're all frustrated."

"He got away!" Sam yelled at him. "He got away! He got one of us and several of the people!"

"Look! I get it! But we will catch him, okay?" Charles said, reassuringly. "He's coming out into the open! He's announcing his arrival. He's underestimating us."

"Underestimating? I think he's not underestimating us at all. I think he knows how incompetent we are."

Charles was saved from giving him a reply as Sam's phone started vibrating in his pocket. He rummaged in his pockets and struggled in pulling out the device due to his frustration which only made him angrier and he swore again, loudly, making heads turn.

He saw that it was his wife calling him, as he took out and gave a glance at the phone. He breathed and calmed down as much as he could before answering. "Hey, honey!" He said, calmly. After his wife said something, Charles realized, he nodded and said "Alright. Love you!" and hung up.

"Everything good?" Charles asked, careful not to trigger him again.

Sam nodded. "Yeah! She asked me to pick Beth up from school." He said then sighed and looked back at the homicide scene.

"Go! It's fine. Maybe seeing the kid will help you calm down."

"Thanks." Sam said then patted Charles on the shoulder before taking off.

The school bell rang loudly and the front doors opened, spilling children of all ages into the yard and into the arms of their parents. Sam waited outside his car leaning against the door as he always did, waiting for his little girl to run up to him and hug him before telling him all about how school had been.

He waited and the crowd of people lessened, slowly but surely, until there was no one left. No one was left, but Beth never came out. He stayed where he was, at the car for a bit more as he understood that she could be in an individual meeting with a teacher or something but soon, he stiffened and started having thoughts about the worst-case scenario. He tried pushing his thoughts away but it all kept coming back to the same thing. Him being targeted; Beth being taken by the Joker.

He pulled himself together and away from the car then ran into the school. Past the doors, past the empty classrooms, through the halls he ran, his footsteps echoing in the emptiness. Sunlight speared into the corridors from the rows of windows which lined the opposite wall from the row of classrooms and he felt the heat each time he passed a window, eyeing each classroom he saw. Every one of them was empty. There was no teacher nor staff in sight either. It was as if he was in a lonely dream.

He had soon finished running all over the school, checking every single classroom in the building and he fell into a kneel in front of the last. It was empty just like the rest of them. He dug his fingers into his hair and stared at the floor, sweating immensely, onto the floor when someone called out to him from behind. "Excuse me, sir?" It was a woman's voice and he turned to see a woman with fair hair, holding a bunch of paper in her arms. Beth's homeroom teacher, he recognized.