Pieces of You

Chapter One: Detective Fox

Detective William Fox had been doing paperwork. It seemed like all he did anymore, ever since being demoted after that goddamn Vasquez case. But, oh, it had been worth it just to punch that child-murdering piece of scum in the nose. Since then, he'd been pushing papers like it was--well, it was his job.

Then the call came in.

Someone had found a human nose on the trails right outside Aurora. He'd scrapped his plans for a cold one with the boys to drive out to the boonies and interview the poor woman who'd found the body part. The whole way, he'd been talking to the cops who responded to the call. They'd driven out there expecting to find some chick who was high or drunk or both and a prosthetic nose from a costume shop. The newbie kid had about shit his pants when he realized it was real.

Now, he was standing outside the patrol car, contemplating the dazed woman who sat inside. She looked like she was living in a nightmare, and the poor thing probably was, given what she'd seen. He tried to give her a reassuring look when he knocked on the window.

He worried that she'd be too out of it to answer his questions, but she shook her head and seemed to look at him with some clarity. She was shivering beneath a blanket, despite the 90 degree day. She was wearing jeans and a blue t-shirt. Her dark hair was swept back into a disheveled ponytail, and she'd be pretty if she didn't look so terrified.

He got into the car and introduced himself, asked her a couple of softball questions.

"Do you live around here, Jana?" He didn't bother with a notepad. His memory was exceptional, and he'd type up the report as soon as they were finished talking. Besides, he didn't want to make her self-conscious. She was trembling and looked like she might vomit at any second. 

"Over by the hospital in Oak Hill," she said meekly, referring to a neighborhood he knew well. It had been run down until a couple of years ago when younger folks starting buying the older homes to fix up for cheap. He sometimes went there to run in the evenings, just to get his mind off the shit he was dealing with at work, especially lately. There was a nice park nearby, and he liked to pretend he was a regular joe with a wife and kids, maybe a dog, and a 9-5 job, something he could leave behind without thinking of abducted children and convenience store shootings. 

He nodded. "What were you doing out here?" He already knew from what the responding policemen told him on the phone, but he wanted to ease her into the conversation.

"Geocaching," she said, her voice lilting up at the end as if questioning if he knew what it was. 

It was a hobby he was familiar with. His nephew, Parson, was into it for a while, and William had gone out on a couple of runs with him before the kid lost interest. He'd thought about doing it by himself when he had some time. The treasure hunt aspect of it appealed to him. It would be like hunting for a killer, but without the dead bodies.

"Is that something you routinely do?"

Jana stared back at him glassily for a moment, then answered. "I've been geocaching for a couple of years. Found a little under a hundred caches. I didn't think--"

Her face crumpled, and she started to cry.

William reached into his pocket and pulled out a couple of Kleenex. He'd been carrying a pack since his allergies had been acting up. He folded a couple and handed them to the woman.

"It's okay," he said, going for a comforting tone. They were hollow words. He was always telling people things were okay when they most definitely weren't. That was the nature of the job, dealing with people on the worst days of their lives. "Let it out."

Jana thanked him for the tissues and dried her eyes. "I'm sorry. I just can't believe this is happening. That thing looked like..."

He couldn't let her go on that tangent. If she got hung up on the horror of it all, he wouldn't get the facts he needed to know, and fast. If the nose was fresh, that meant the owner might still be alive, bleeding out. They needed to catch the culprit as quickly as possible. 

"I know. It's horrific, what you've been through. But we've gotta get this information down. You'll be home before you know it." He made a mental note to send a patrol with her to see that she got home okay. She probably shouldn't be driving in her state. "Can you tell me how you found it?"

She sniffled. "I go on this website. GOGeocache.com? It lists all the caches in the area."

"Do you have it on your phone?" he asked. "Can I see it?"

She fished a phone out of her pocket, fumbled for the app, and handed it to him. "Click on 'recent caches'." 

William followed her directions and saw a list of locations pop up. The most recent one was highlighted as finished. He sucked in his breath. Whoever had planted the nose would be aware that she'd completed her search. They'd know that someone had found it, could even be watching them, relishing the chaos they'd created. 

He didn't want to scare her, though. 

"These are the people who've recently visited the cache?" he asked, clicking on a list of usernames belonging to folks who had also finished the search. 

"Yes."

He glanced at the list, knowing that he'd be doing a more thorough search later, not that it would mean much. Whoever had left the macabre gift behind wouldn't be stupid enough to announce that they'd visited the cache. But they were people he could follow up with to establish a background to the crime, providing they could find this fucker. 

As he was staring at the app, a message popped up from someone with the username "Demon-Slayer." 

He clicked on it, opening the message.

DID YOU ENJOY THE PRESENT I LEFT BEHIND?

Shit. It had to be from the person responsible. What other gift could they be referring to, if not the nose?

"What is it?" Jana asked, a look of dread on her face.

He didn't want to panic her, but the nutjob that planted the nose knew who she was. That put her in serious danger. Did he tell her or not? There was no way he could send her home alone. He made a quick decision.

He slid the phone into his shirt pocket." Jana, I'm going to have to keep this. We're going to go through the app and see what we can find. In the meantime, Officer Jenkins will take you to your house to gather some things. I'd like to put you up in a hotel for a few days, just to be safe while we figure this thing out."

She looked overwhelmed, but said, "Okay."

Fox was on his feet already, motioning for the kid, Jenkins, to take care of Jana. The young policeman listened to his plan and nodded his understanding.

"One more thing, Jana," Fox said. "Stay off social media." 

He didn't want to give this creep the chance to terrorize her even more than he already had.