Carl arrived outside the Moonflower. The owner had called in a double homicide, a pair of lovers murdered violently. The girl lived upstairs in an apartment owned by her boyfriend and a nasty stink coming from inside had alerted him to the scene.
The stink was for business downstairs. When was someone going to clean that shit up, he wanted to know. People kept asking if something had died in the wall. That upstairs apartment, it turned out, was a regular beat and the registered residence of Liam Cayes, a known drug dealer.
The sun glared down on the cop cars and emergency response vehicles, reflecting off the white roofs and burning Carl's eyes.
"First responders found one of them was still alive," Detective Hersh told him as he crossed the street. "They're giving him fluids. He should be fine. But, Lieu... it's your son."
Carl felt like Hersh had just suckerpunched him in the stomach. Years of being on the force had taught him to hide his interior self. He looked up at the apartment windows. "He's okay?" He needed to hear it again.
"He was still unconscious when I left but his vitals are stable."
Carl took point and the detectives proceeded inside the apartment building. Hersh went up the steps at an even pace, while Carl climbed the flights like a gust of wind. The narrow stairwell reeked like a bag of meat and excrement cooking in the sun. Carl reached into his pocket and dapped some Vicks VapoRub under his nose. He saw the door off its hinges, saw the blood on the floor, saw Tom laid out on a stretcher with EMTs working to secure him.
"Tom!" Carl shouted.
"We're taking him to Coastal. You want to ride with us?"
The headless stiff in the corner crawled with maggots. The crime scene photographer was taking photos of every square in of the crime scene.
"I'll bring your car over, Lieu," said Hersh. Carl nodded and handed him the keys.
"Let's go," he whispered.
"Ask him about these when he wakes up," said Dorn, emerging from the blood spattered kitchen with a stack of spiral notebooks. "I think our killer tore out the last few pages. Your kid might have the rest of the story."
Carl nodded, taking the notebooks and following the EMTs downstairs.
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Music: Muse "Con-Science"
YOU ARE READING
Dark City
Mystery / ThrillerMixed with the music of Muse, this cerebral thriller plays on suburban fears and superstitions. A young war veteran honorably discharged after losing his leg returns home to find his community torn apart by the death of a young girl. As he deals wit...
