Gluskin & Ichor Family Funeral Home

Part 12 (Hunting Dog)

"Same as old times..." Maddox sighed.

So what brings you to the capital, Maddox?" Beau asked as they walked down a bleak corridor to the detective's quarters, "You looking for family records again or just can't mind your own business?" he laughed. "Honestly, I don't know how Minnie has put up with you for so long!"

"Minnie is dead Beau, so is my business partner, Aleksandr Ichor, both of them."

Beau and Call stopped dead in their tracks, flipping their heads to face him, a look of shock and concern all over them.

"What?" Beau walked closer to him, placing both hands on his shoulders, boxing him in as he whispered to him. "Why didn't you say anything sooner, this is vital information, Maddox," he explained to him.

"I'm aware Beau, I figured I'd tell you within the walls of your office, and not in the middle of a hallway, however." he motioned to the hallway with officers and suit-wearing people giving them passing glances as they walked past them.

"Ah, yes of course." he let go of Maddox, "Let's go then, there must be plenty you want to tell us."

"Hello, Exland police, this is detective Egorov speaking." Sasha picked up the phone expecting another redirect to the head office and not for him. "MADDOX?!" he quickly stood up from his chair, startling the other detectives around him.

"What's going on Sash?" one of them whispered.

"Get our phone signal trackers on my line right now, don't ask just do it, fast."

"Y-yes of course!" the detective rushed into the technology closet to set up the signal tracker.

"What's going on Maddox, we thought you were dead!" he practically yelled into the phone, "Your daughter and everyone else is worried sick!" he stammered.

"Sir, the wire is set up, as soon as you end the call we should be able to give you results." the detective answered.

"What do you mean, of course, you missed stuff you dumbass!" he grumbled. "We lost our lead, I got attacked by our new one, and two new people are dead!" he huffed.

Sasha sighed, trying to compose himself...

"We lost one of our own, Maddox, you need to get here fast, I don't know how much longer I can go without breaking the news to the rest of them."

The phone hung up.

"Maddox? MADDOX!" he yelled into the phone "GODAMMIT!" he slammed the phone into the receiver, sighing as he slowly realized the case wasn't getting any easier.

Just a day ago, he was called out to another crime scene, this time Heidi was there before him, standing over the edge of the tracks, all trains halted for the day.

"Detective Egorov," she greeted blankly "You're going to want to see this, she motioned to the tracks in front of her."

Sasha was appalled at the sight, the mangled body of his coworker laying lifelessly on the tracks, broken bones, and open wounds exposed to the cool morning air, he couldn't help it, he vomited off the side of the tracks.

"Sorry," he gagged, "I just-"

"I understand, even I was shocked at the state Matt was in, you didn't bring your little friend Tammy with you by any chance, did you?"

"No, she's still sleeping probably, we went out last night." he sighed, staring down at his vomit on the dirt, making sure it was far away enough to not tamper with the body.

"Ohh, I see." Heidi snickered, implying they did something dirty. "Anyhow, I know that these two were good friends, probably not best if she saw it, ever since her reaction with Ryeo you told me about." she pointed to something seamlessly, as if she already knew it was there. "What's that?"

Sasha shifted his gaze to where her finger pointed. The broken form of something wooden lay just feet behind the corpse, possibly evidence, he'd have to make sure. Hopping down from the platform and avoiding his vomit, he covered his gaze from the corpse and walked over to the object.

"A wooden baseball bat?" he mumbled to himself, "What are you doing here?" he crouched down, quickly applying a bright blue rubber glove to his hand before touching the object. fingers lightly grazing its splintered form before picking up the larger piece of the broken bat.

"I saw it earlier but I didn't know if you saw it yet, plus I'm not a detective, I have no right to butt in on these things." she popped up behind him out of nowhere, making Sasha jump.

"Please make noise when you walk for the love of God." he grumbled "What is this doing here, why is it so close to the body?" he asked out loud.

"Maybe it was smashed with the body underneath the train?" Heidi implied, "I noticed with the condition of the body, it looked like it was hit by the train, which was how the body was initially found. But I don't know if it was the murder weapon or not, maybe some kid just threw his bat onto the tracks?"

"I don't know anymore..." he sighed.

"I still don't know..." Sasha sighed again. "What happened to you, Matt?"