Fox-Run v Ryan

Chapter 7: Fire and Blood

8 DAYS UNTIL TRIAL

Amanda Ryan spent four days examining the pictures that she took in the bathroom at the high school. The girl thoroughly examined the details of each one, noting patterns and appearances of the evidence. She attempted to connect each piece of evidence with the murder. Unable to come to any conclusions, the girl laid her head back onto her pillow. She closed her eyes. I need more information, she told herself. Before her conscience could stop her, the young woman had picked up her phone and dialed Doug's number.

"Hullo," her boyfriend said in his smooth and deep voice.

"Doug, I need your help," she said faster than he could understand.

"Whoa whoa whoa, Amanda. Slow down. What do you need?"

She took a deep breath and a gulp before trying again. "I need you to help me steal the death records and case file for Hunter's murd-"

"What?" he interjected. "Amanda, it's already bad enough that we broke into a crime scene. Now you want to break into the police station and steal legal documents?" Amanda knew Doug would not approve.

"I know it sounds crazy, but what we found in the bathroom is useless unless we understand what the police think happened. All we have are pictures of bloodstains and a knife. We need more." She could hear Doug's sigh from across the phone.

"Three a.m.," he said quietly into the phone.

"What?" she asked him.

"That's when the police at the station are switching shifts. Most will be in the lobby or parking lot. If one was to sneak in through the back door, they'd be able to get in and out of the office unseen."

Amanda resisted the urge to ask her boyfriend how he knew this. "So, you'll take me?" she said in a low voice.

Doug did not respond for several moments. After pondering his position, the young man came to a response. "Amanda, I'm gonna regret this. You're going to regret this."

She chuckled. "Maybe we will. And maybe we'll get away and find something to help Alex. I have to take the risk because I know he'd do the same for me."

She hung up the phone and grabbed a bag from her closet. Putting several things into the bag, Amanda heard a knock at the door. "Just a second," she called out.

"Amanda, it's me," came her mother's voice from outside. Hurriedly, Amanda cleared her bed of the pictures and threw the bag of things underneath her bed. She opened the door without missing a beat.

"Hi, Mom. What do you need?" she asked through gritted teeth and several pants.

"Hi... your dinner's ready. Your father and I are going out soon, so you need to watch Vinny."

"Mom," Amanda groaned, "Doug and I were gonna go out."

"Not anymore," her mother said. "We need you to watch Vinny. It's important that your father and I spend time together. We need to talk about everything that's been going on the past few days." Amanda stared at her mother with a blank look. She moved around her mother and headed downstairs. When she saw her daughter make it to the bottom of the stairs, Shannon Ryan stepped back into the bedroom. Amanda always managed to keep her room spotless, but Shannon noticed something sticking out from underneath the bed. As she approached, she noticed that it was a picture.

She picked it up to get a closer look at it. With a gasp of horror, Shannon dropped the photo and backed away out of the room. The picture on the ground was of a large bloodstain on the wall of the bathroom. The stain, however, was not just any stain. Within the mix of red blood on the white paint was a handprint. The handprint was dragged over two feet, from one end of the photograph to the other. Shannon's shock was visible when she appeared downstairs ready to leave with her husband.