Black to Blue

IV. Luke and Carrera

Mark's murder news shook the city into silence. Police patrol strengthened. Vehicles were inspected in every corners. No one was allowed to walk past midnight on the streets alone.

A week later, things rolled back to the way they were. Gun shots were not heard any more. Patrolling stopped. And the atmosphere was clear for the beast to act. Farra was warned to stay alert until the killer is arrested. They hadn't reached any closer except assuming Liam Ruth as the suspect. The police contacted him and found him innocent. Eric and Phil went to Hassan's. He was on his phone talking on the backyard. They went and sat near the pool. Hassan brought a bottle of wine and poured two glasses for the visitors. He sat ending the call and went for another glass. Eric gazed at Hassan frowning. It was too sunny out there.

'how you doing Hassan? We got another victim too. Farra's student, Mark Winston' Hassan looked frightened.

'is he coming for us? Our family has nothing to with anything in this city'

'I don't think he's after you. I think he's after all of us'

'What do you mean all of us?'

'Mark is Martha's son. And she's Cat's childhood friend. She was also married to Liam. I think It's someone who knows us better than others'

'Who could be it? And why? What did anyone do to him to be so cunningly mad?' Hassan bottomed-up the wine and poured some more. Phil raised for another drink.

'Are you guys sure there's nothing cruel you've done before? I mean there's no reason to come this far to killing people unless you've done something serious to him' Phil pointed out to Mark and Hassan. 'You guys are 40, all these years, look, just try to remember any invasions that angered the person'

'I better look into my past records. I might find a location for this bastard' Eric stood up to go.

'Look mine too. I can't come for two more weeks' Hassan wasn't allowed in the department until his suspension expires. Smith is very strict about that.

'Fine then, we'll see you soon. Be safe' Eric and Phil left the house.

They drove through the streets as usual. Patrolling the city. Just when the radio started calling out 'shots fired, shots fired. We got a suspect on the run, middle town 24th'. Phil turned the car around, the tyres squeaked on the road. 'copy that' Eric responded. As they reached middle town, an old ware house surrounded by cops were already in position.

'what do we got here?' Eric enquired.

'fired three shots and ran inside there, he's still in there'

'what happened?'

'he's found handing drugs to that girl over there. When we saw him, he took the gun from behind and shot'

'Where's the girl?' Eric went straight to the girl and asked 'what is he like?' she was frightened by the guns and cops. She was trembling 'tall... white... slim. Had tattoos on his shoulders'

'what were they?' Eric pushed more.

'it was some letters, I.. I.. didn't see exactly' she started to cry in fear.

'Take her to the office. See if she had some of it' Eric ordered a female cop and she was taken away from there.

'Phil, and you two, come' He held his gun on a side and swiftly went back to the back door. Entered the warehouse and moved crouching. The man was pointing his gun towards the front gate. He was holding a phone in one hand trying to contact someone. The other two officers with Phil jumped on him just when Eric showed himself on a corner. He shot in the air aimlessly.

'Got him guys' Eric said through the radio.

'He will come for you suckers' He yelled at the officers 'He will kill y'all and your children and your whole family'

'Luke Rampart, 28. Two homicide, five attempted murder, one kidnap and juvenile records' Phil read and folded the files. He looked at Eric. He wasn't interested in this convict. His phone number seemed familiar to him. Eric went through his contact numbers; 312-452-453-7. he stopped scrolling and looked at Luke's number. It's the same. But Eric had no idea how it got there.

'where is John?' He asked Phil.

'He's right over there; coffee' He raised his jaw.

He gave the number to John and said 'No one should know, find out who's number actually is this'

'OK, sir' He finished his coffee and went to his desk.

Eric went to the girl and enquired her past informations. Her name was Carrera, she had done drugs before. Her parents were divorced and they both got married to other people. She was left in the middle of nowhere and she went straight to her aunt's and lived there since. Her uncle was a sweet person. One day while they were watching football and her aunt was out for food, he grabbed on her thighs and began feeling her. She didn't bother stopping it and let him in her. When her aunt found out about them, her uncle hit her head with an extinguisher. She fell fainted and lost conscious. It wasn't late when they realized she was dead. They buried her body in the backyard and left the story unknown for weeks. When the grocery man noticed the absence of her, he informed the cops. They searched the house and found the ruined body under 5 feet in the backyard. The judge plead him guilty of the murder and declared her five months in prison for hiding the felony. She began using drugs from the prison squads and made friends with some people in White Field. She hasn't even tried to quit them.

'Sir' John whispered. 'I think we have a problem'

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