Chapter 49
“What the hell just happened here?!” Lieutenant Branagh asked as he rushed into the room.
“Officer Miller came in, claimed he had been sent to relieve me,” Kevin said as he didn’t even lift his head from where it was leaning back against the wall he was sitting with his back to. “He wasn’t on the authorized detail, so I told him to leave. He hit me with a stun gun and then went in to kill Valentine there,” Kevin inhaled a ragged breath as blood dripped down from where he had been kicked in the head. “I woke up and wasn’t able to move very well without being dizzy, so I got a good position and took the only shot I could.”
“You good, Valentine?” Marvin asked the woman as she gently touched her neck.
“Yeah,” her voice came out low and gravelly. “You should see the other guy.”
“I think I do,” Marvin laughed a bit as he opened the cell door. “I’m going to have to get more cops in here, you want a new guard?”
“Yeah,” Jill rasped out in a whispery voice. “I want Mark in here, Kevin needs a hospital, and I’m not sure who I trust right now.”
“He’s on a SWAT detail right now, but I’ll see what I can do,” the dark-skinned man sighed. “Until I can get him in here, I’ll take care of guarding you myself.”
–
–
“She’s in the conference room for now,” Marvin said as he opened the door. “We’re not locking her in anymore in case someone else decides to try and kill her.”
“You green, Jill?” I asked as I entered the room where Jill was spinning around in an office chair lazily.
“Sure, if you count sheer boredom as green,” Jill replied, her voice still recovering from the incident earlier.
“Well, I’ve got a pack of cards in my medbag,” I glanced at Lieutenant Branagh and waited for a nod. “You can at least play some solitaire while we get things sorted out.”
September 15, 1998
“Man, this is disturbing,” Detective Peterson muttered as they looked at the late Chief Irons’ house, the size of the building making their own apartments feel small.
“Tell me about it,” his partner Mike Evans agreed. “Think we’ll find anything here aside from creepy stuffed animals?”
“No clue,” Peterson shrugged as he tossed his cigarette on the ground outside and smashed it under his boot. “But we’ve got a warrant and the Chief is dead, so let’s just see if there’s any clues that might point to more murders or anything else.”
The two of them opened the door with gloves on, a key taken out of evidence working on the lock.
“Seal it back up,” Evans told Peterson as he handed the other man the key before turning the handle and pushing the door open with a slight shove, the well-oiled hinges nary making a sound.
“The door doesn’t squeak,” Peterson remarked as he rejoined his partner. “That’s a bit unusual.”
“Irons made enough money that he could probably afford to do proper maintenance,” Evans shrugged. “Now, let’s see what secrets lie inside.”
—
—
“Well, this was a bust,” Peterson sighed as he looked at the bookshelf in the home office. “Seems the Chief didn’t bring his extracurricular work home with him.”
The detective glanced down at the bookshelf, actually looking at the book titles for a minute before turning to Evans.
“Where does something like a hardcover copy of the Constitution fit in with books about Taxidermy?” Peterson asked as he tried to pull the book off the shelf, only for a click to sound behind the gas fireplace and it to slide behind another part of the wall.
“I’d say it doesn’t seem to fit,” Evans said as he pulled a flashlight from his belt and clicked it on. “Let’s go see what lies behind the secret passageway, shall we?”
Moving through the small hallway, the two detectives came across a room.
“Oh fuck,” Peterson breathed as he stared at the blond woman on a pedestal in the room, another one laying on a table in various stages of being turned into a stuffed figure.
“Move!” Evans said as he covered his mouth, despite the things he had seen people do at their worst, this one disgusted him on a level that nothing else had.
“Go,” Peterson said. “There’s a trash can in the office, puke in it, we need to preserve this scene.”
“I think this is enough to rule Jill’s case as self-defense,” Chief Raymond said as he looked at the new crime scene. “Irons doesn’t have any family pressing charges, and the Department certainly isn’t going to be trying.”
“Well, the body that’s already on a pedestal has been here for at least five years,” Detective Peterson said as he closed the door behind them. “So that means he’s been doing this sort of thing since well before he became Chief of the RPD. And given he was chief, who knows how many investigations into his crimes he stonewalled and had us drop.”
“Fuck man,” Evans sighed. “We had the kind of criminal we’ve been trying to put behind bars for years right in front of us the whole time.”
“Don’t beat yourself up over it,” Raymond said as they walked out of the house, forensics and CSI moving in to take over the scene. “He fooled most of us. Now I’m going to have to go through the list of personnel he fired to try and find out why they were let go,” the new Chief sighed. “Maybe some of them will want their jobs back.”
“Might want to look into calling the FBI too,” Detective Peterson remarked as he lit up a cigarette and puffed on it. “Irons was really close to Mayor Warren and they might have been working together to cover this sort of thing up. Irons was appointed by the Mayor, after all.”
“You got another cigarette?” Chief Raymond looked at the detective.
“Yeah, but I thought you didn’t smoke, boss.”
“I think I’m going to pick up the habit,” the Chief accepted the cigarette and lighter and lit up, coughing a bit as he first inhaled but then relaxing as he got into the flow of it. “It’s that or drinking, and I’m not going to drink while working.”
“We got your back chief,” Evans said as he leaned against the unmarked vehicle. “You gonna go back and let Valentine out of her cell now?”
“She’s been moved to the Conference room for now,” Raymond sighed as he finished the cigarette before stamping it out. “Had someone try to kill her yesterday while the two of you were out investigating the sewers for more clues.”
“Man, the people from STARS just can’t catch a break,” Peterson shook his head. “I’m glad I never tried to join up.”
“Well, the three remaining STARS members in town are going to be rejoining the force,” the new Chief of the RPD moved towards his patrol car. “We need the manpower if nothing else, and they’re better than most of the department’s beat cops. Good work today, guys. Go get some rest and come back to HQ in the morning. I might need you two for something.”
Author's Note: The bit about Irons' house isn't anything you'll find in canon, but it's something that I figured made sense given his history.