Inner And Outer Demons

|10|

Tris's POV

Walking in the next morning, Four is already at his desk bright and early. Hunched over his keyboard, typing furiously and completely unaware of anything else around him.

"How long have you been here?" I ask him, setting my jacket on the back of my seat and sitting down. He glances up at me, but looks back down at his computer screen just as fast.

"Few hours." He answers and his reply is short and cut. I wonder if something is bothering him this morning, or if it's just his usual icy greeting that I've somehow grown used to. Or maybe it's just one of those days since he's here hours earlier than everyone else.

Sighing, I take a seat. Logging into my computer, I expect that he'll be snippy all day, but then Four suddenly speaks up.

"How was your date?" His question takes me by surprise, and I stop what I'm doing to look across the desk at him. His voice is calm yet irritated and I know there's an underlying emotion but I have no idea what it is.

"It wasn't a date," I shake my head. "And it was fine."

It certainly was not a date.

I want to ask him why he's asking, or why it sounds like he cares but I bite my tongue. Four looks up at me briefly, letting our eyes meet and just with a simple glance I know he wants to say something more but he goes against it. Looking back down at his keyboard.

"Eaton, Prior," Captain shouts, exiting his office and waving a slip of paper at us. "Caught a fresh one."

He hands the slip with the address to Four. "Media is already all over this one, so be careful with anything you say. Oh, and Eric will meet you guys at the scene."

Getting up I follow Four out of the squad room to the elevators. "Who's Eric?" I ask him, as the doors shut. We're alone in the elevator.

Four just stares blankly ahead at the doors, his face expressionless. "He works in sex crimes."

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Like the captain had said, the place is swarming with news cameras and vanes. Reporters buzzing around like locus, hoping to get their story one way or another. They cover the front yard as the perimeter is still getting set up. How they all got here so quickly is beyond me. Why are they all here for this case? I have a feeling there's something I don't know yet about this one, and I fear I may not want to know.

Although morning, the sky is gray and the sun is no where to be found. Making it seem more like dusk, and with the destination we stand at now, it feels like a scene out of a horror film.

It's some old abandoned warehouse, the siding peeling and the cops had to break down the door as it was locked tightly. Walking inside, the place smells deeply of mold and must. The floorboards squeak, and the place makes my skin crawl.

"Four." A man nods, as we approach an opened doorway. He's tall and to me, somewhat intimidating. He has an earring in one ear and tattoos that fade under the collar of his jacket.

"Eric," Four nods back at him. "This is my partner Tris Prior."

Eric acknowledges me and moves to tell Four about the scene.

"Caught another one, this is number eight in three months." I may not know everything he's talking about, even though Four clearly does. But what I'm finding out, Sex crimes, number eight... none of it sounds like a good thing.

"How old?" Four asks, and he stuffs his hands in his pockets.

"Ten." I feel sick.

"C.O.D like the others?" Four asks and I wonder how much he's worked with Eric.

Eric nods, "Asphyxiation. Locked them in a closet, mixed the same chemicals. Bleach and ammonia." Shutting my eyes, the images that swarm my mind are nauseating.

"Them? There were two?" Four questions and I open my eyes, looking over at him. His face is serious.

"The victim, Maisy Williams, she and her sister were abducted and brought here. Maisy found a small hole in the plaster that let in just enough fresh air to breathe, let her younger sister have the opening."

My head is spinning, this ten year old little girl saved her sister, knowing she would die in the process.

"The sister?"

"Paisley Williams, she's with EMTs right now." Eric points behind him, the ambulances located out back. "She's six, and hasn't said a word."

"I want to talk to her." Four says quickly, and I'm a bit shocked by how adamant he sounds about it.

"Don't want to see the room or the body first?" Eric asks, and Four shakes his head.

"Sure." Four walks off and I'm not sure if he's expecting me to follow him or not. Looking to Eric, I ask him a question that I know I'll regret asking.

"Four said you're from sex crimes?" Eric nods and I hope I don't have to voice my entire question. Luckily, he sees where I'm going.

"I've been working this string of murders for about four months now. The pattern consists of abduction of young girls under the age of twelve, then he brings them to some abandoned building that's off the grid. Keeps them locked in a room like this one," Eric says pointing to the small closet that we haven't ventured into yet. "And a day or two later, kills them using a mix of chemicals. Then, rapes and discloses of the body. Sometimes, if they are places far off like this one he'll leave the bodies, but others he usually dumps."

I'm horrified. I can't even fathom how someone can do that to children, to anyone. And I think of all the things I see, but I can't imagine all of the things Eric must see on his job.

"Do you want to go on in?" Eric asks me, and in my head I'm screaming no. But nodding silently, he leads me. There is a fan blowing out the remaining traces of the chemicals so that we can stand inside, I'm guessing they've already taken samples.

The room is small, dank, and eerie. And laying in the far left corner, covered by a large yellow police tarp, is the young girl's body. Walking over to her, I bend down and peel back the tarp until I can see her face. Fortunately, her eyes are shut but even so, I can see the fear that froze to her face in her final moments.

This girl, this young girl, is a hero.

Standing up, I cover the girl who is dressed in a cute pink dress with buttons. "You handle cases like these often?" Eric asks me, knowing I'm still slightly new.

I shake my head, "No." One, and I had no desire to catch another case involving young children anytime soon.

"I'm going to go find Four, see if he wants to check the room out." The photographer is taking a hundred photos, so he'll have those to look at. But it's still different than really being in the scene.

I walk outside, out back where the ambulances are, and spot him. He's bent down toward the back of one of the rigs, and as I get closer I spot two tiny arms wrapped around his neck. Her skin pale and standing out against his tan skin.

It's the sister. She's draped in a blanket, and I also spot Four's jacket he had brought with him, wrapped around her shoulders. She's small, young and she's adorable. Bouncy white blonde curls and she's wearing a similar dress as her sister just in blue. But the thing I can't stop looking at about her, is the way she clings to Four. As if he's her father, as if she's known him her whole life. As if he's a lifeboat as the ship she's on is sinking.

And Four isn't pulling away. He stays there, his hand rubbing her back softly. Letting her cling tightly. It's a sight indeed.

A/N: Short chapter but an update nonetheless!