Being Played

CHAPTER 21

RAISE A STONE TO END HIS PAIN

The lady in red followed the young officer to the crime scene. It was out in the open. Church's and elementary schools were closely packed in the narrow streets. The mutilated body of a little girl was lying on the steps of a church.

Mercy Frey took in a breath as she saw the little body. Sometimes she wondered why she had this job. The little girl was barely five. Her honey hair and emerald eyes stood out against the blood ridden ground. Blood dripped down the steps and traveled a path down her arm, single blood droplets falling from the side of her hand. The young officer accompanying her felt his heart stop and stomach lurch when he saw the little girl. He emptied his stomach in a nearby bin. Mercy patted his back, "Calm down alright I know it's hard but I need you to focus."

His eyes, unfortunately, traveled back to the little girl. "I know; it just looks like her..." He said but he regretted it when he pictured her in the little girl's position. He cringed and tried so hard to think of something else. "Never mind let's just get this over with."

They returned and gathered all the evidence. Mercy felt like her head would explode. There had been twenty-five new cases of deaths similar to this in the last three months. A young child ranging from 4 to seventeen, their throat slit and their bodies cut to pieces' post-mortem. It has been determined that this is not an individual but a group. Each victim follows has the same display of wounds and cause of death but the strength in which the cuts and bruising is made divers. They think it's possibly related to the recent increase in petty crime. A vindictive group of teens has taken to the streets terrorizing the town's citizens. It was blue-collar crimes but it got worse quick and now Mercy was sat with 26th victim.

"This was done very sloppily, the little girl put up quite the fight. Her wrist showed signs of restraints meaning she was most likely kept somewhere before she was killed. Unlike the other victim's her body temperature was higher than the rest. The incision on her neck was not deep enough to strike an artery. It's estimated that she died two hours before when we reached her. The sole of her feet is bruised. We believe that she was running away from her killers. Cause of death was blood loss."

The conclusion was that either they had a new killer on their hands, a copycat or the people were becoming sloppy. At first, it was thought that these cases had nothing to with one and another but the most recent deaths had been mixed children with green eyes and natural blond or honey hair. Both boys and girls but the last three had been girls. She knew they looking for someone, testing response time and stirring up distrust. The community grew more and more with unrest as their children were taken from them, there was a cry for help but it was not heard. Mothers and fathers wanted solace.

Gail Larson felt uneasy he worried for his little sister. She matched the description perfectly. He would never bring it up. She had enough to worry about with that asshole fawning over her and his damned gang. He had talked to his father and convinced him to hire private security. He was surprised when his dad almost had an aneurism when he heard that Grace was targeted and could most likely become a victim. He was responsible for her brother's transfer. Hell, the man even stayed home a few days to check on his baby girl. He never thought his dad, a man of such extreme power and stature would take time to visit his baby girl. The same man who abandoned his sister and then his wife.

"I hate this." Mercy whispered slumping on the desk. The paperwork was getting to her.

Gail hummed in response. He wanted to see his sister again. Make sure she was safe.

"Yeah, I just want to catch these guys. No more deaths."

The night sky was showered with stars by the time they called it a night. The paperwork was done and their suspects where written up.