The Scottsville Vampire Invasion

Chapter 24

Chapter 24 

"Death of a Deputy!!! Another Body Disappears Under Mysterious Circumstances!!!" 

"Last night, for the first time in the history of Scottsville, a police officer was killed in the line of duty. How exactly Officer Pete Green died is unclear. Sheriff Clark Hamilton has not released a cause of death but, according to sources, the fatality resulted from a neck wound similar to the ones found on the other victims of this never ending crime wave. 

As in all of the other murders, the body of Officer Green has disappeared. However, in this case, the disappearance is unique. In the other instances, the bodies were either in the morgue or at the funeral home for one to several days. This time the body was gone from the morgue before the morning. Several reputable sources are suspicious that the body was removed by someone from the inside the investigation. The tip-off was that the video system that records the activity within the morgue was blank for a key ten minutes when Officer Green went missing.  

As someone who was a close friend of the Officer, I can tell you that the family, already overwhelmed with grief, is beside themselves that there is no body to properly bury. Officer Green was a brave, hardworking servant of this community for more than fifteen years and to have his passing desecrated like this is unforgivable. It was no secret that Officer Green did not hold Sheriff Clark Hamilton in the highest regard as he, and other officers, referred to the Sheriff as 'Concussion Clark' for the Sheriff's obvious mental shortcomings. The family of Officer Green is calling for an independent investigation to find out what happened to his body and all of the bodies that have vanished. 

News of yet another death was just another punch in the gut after successive shots to the community. 'My family has lived in this town for generations, but I can't take it anymore. I have to get out of here,' one resident said. Another was eager to lay it on the doorstep of the Sheriff. 'Dead people getting up and walking out of a morgue is nutso, crazy talk. Obviously, someone on the inside is doing this and the one person who has access and motive is Sheriff Hamilton. He's incapable of solving these murders so he's destroying the evidence. It's not that complicated.' One other resident had a more spiritual response. 'It's the apocalypse. The dead walking in the streets is in the book of Revelation. Everyone knows that. All of us need to put our business in order and be ready for the return of our Lord and Savior.'"  

I drop the paper on the desk. I know how that body disappeared from the morgue, and I know who did it. I look out of my office and into the bullpen where Bear and Josh are whispering to each other at Josh's desk. Bear says something to Josh, who nods his head, looks up at me, drops his head and goes back to talking with Bear.  

Pete's body didn't just disappear. My two best officers just committed a crime. I run my hands over my eyes. On top of everything else, now I have to deal with this. My marriage is a disaster. The town has the worst murder spree in its history. People are picking up and leaving, and now I have an internal crime from my only reliable officers. 

I try to suck in some air but can't get anything in. My chest feels like it is cramping up. I take a deep breath, and this time I can get some oxygen. I close my eyes and try to focus. I can handle this. I can take care of my marriage and this investigation. Emily was willing to come back in town to talk. If I didn't have to run out to Pete, I could have convinced her to stay.  

I've got Glen in my crosshairs for the murders, and I'll get him. I'll stop taking these pills as soon as all of this is over. I can take control of this. I can do it. I just need to have the same discipline I had when I was in sports. I'm the same person I was when I lit up the football field. I just need to get back to that same mindset, and I'm going to start right now.