Badly Broken

Chapter 36

Kai's POV

I walked out of our extra room holding a yellow manila envelope that was completely stuffed with papers. I bit my lip out of anxiousness as I exited the office and made my way to the kitchen where Lucas was sitting at the counter, nervously tapping his finger on the granite counter.

"Are you ready?" Lucas asked, his voice nearly a whisper.

"Yeah," I croaked, fully aware of the things I would have to relive when we got to the police station.

Lucas slid off of his seat and fell into step next to me. He laced our fingers together as we made our way to his car. He didn't let go of my hand the entire car ride there.

We pulled into the small parking lot of the Silveredge Police Department. From the outside it looked like any other building in the area, it was several stories tall with countless windows lining the off-white walls. The station was very modernized which made it feel uncomfortable inside.

The second I opened and stepped through one of the large double doors, everyone stopped what they were doing and popped their heads up, barely sparing a glance before they all resumed their work.

There was a front desk to the left. Just beyond it were several desks all placed next to each other in rows with cops and detectives buried in paperwork or on their computers.

Lucas and I stood in front of the front desk, just feet away from the entrance. We were silent, waiting for the tall man to notice us.

"Hi, how can I help you?" He asked, still working on his large desktop.

"Um," I started, "I'd like to report a crime..." I was unsure of how I was supposed to go about this, it was my first time.

"Sure, sure. What's the nature? Animal abuse, theft, assault?" He continued to list several others.

I gulped, barely able to swallow. My voice slightly cracked, "Murder."

That got his attention. His wide eyes snapped to mine, "Murder? Oh, um, that would bring you to the violent crimes unit. You'll need to go to the third floor. Once you get off of the elevator you'll head straight. The first door on the right will take you there. Just knock on the door before entering..."

I gave him a curt smile as Lucas and I walked away, his questioning eyes following us until we disappeared beyond the automatic metal doors.

We walked through the hallway, the only noise coming from our footsteps. As we approached the brown door we could hear muffled shouting. There was a blurred glass window and we could see several figures running around.

Lucas knocked on the door three times, making sure it was loud enough for them to hear over whatever chaos was happening on the other side.

"Fuck!" There was a loud shout as a man tripped over a stack of papers while opening the door. Right when he was about to faceplant Lucas caught his shoulder, pushing him back up as the guy stumbled. "Thanks," he grunted.

"Sure," Lucas let go once he had both feet firmly planted on the ground.

The guy's height was slightly shorter than Lucas but his build was bulkier and more muscular than either of us. He had deep eye bags on his face and his complexion was pale, almost sickly.

"Can I help you two?" He asked, seemingly unused to people coming by his unit.

"Uh, yea," I started, "the guy at the front desk told us to come here..."

"Are you sure?" He stood in the doorway. "This is the violent crimes unit, so whatever teenage angst you got going on with your friends that led to graffiti, smashed windows, assault, whatever you got, you're gonna want to head to the second floor because we only deal with serious shit here," the man spat as Lucas and I stood awkwardly in front of him.