Chief Potter passed several of the out-of-towners as she drove up to the crime scene, and as she parked her car, she rolled down the window and called, "Cosgrove!"
"Yeah, Chief?" the officer responded, jogging over to the car.
"They're not letting the witnesses leave, are they? My orders were to keep everyone here until I could speak to them!"
"No, ma'am," he said. "Those guys just walked up here to check on their friends, and I sent 'em home."
"Good," she responded, exiting the vehicle and walking up the overgrown driveway until she found Sergeant Gibbs.
"Okay, Roy, what have we got here?"
"One adult male, deceased, massive trauma to the abdominal area," he replied. "Doc Bigelow estimates time of death somewhere between 10 PM and 3 AM, but he says he may be able to tighten it up when he does the exam."
"Any ID on the victim yet?" she inquired.
Gibbs looked up from his notes and replied, "Yeah, that's actually the least shocking thing about it. It's Frank Soames."
"Damn!" Potter said, running her fingers through her hair. "I always knew he'd come to a bad end, but this wasn't quite what I expected. So how did our visitors manage to find him?"
"Apparently, they got a little tired of being cooped up in the house and decided to go for a walk. They say that they found a rifle on the ground, with some footprints leading away from it, so they followed the tracks to make sure nobody was out here injured or something."
"Well, I guess 'or something' might cover it," she muttered. "Do we have the gun yet?"
"Working on it. Hartzfeld took one of the witnesses to show her the location, so she could get pictures on-site before she brings it back," Gibbs answered.
"Excellent. So , where are the others?"
Gibbs pointed toward the derelict house, and Chief Potter saw the young woman, Ms . Scanlon, along with two of the men. Purdy and Flanders, if memory served. They all looked somewhat shaken, but she we happy to note that no one seemed to be hysterical. It wasn't necessarily unreasonable, or even unexpected, at scenes such as this one, but it made it a hell of a lot harder to gather information.
As she started toward the group, she saw Officer Hartzfeld emerge from the treeline , holding a rifle in gloved hands, trailed by another of the visitors. Biersack, she recalled.
They approached her, and Hartzfeld said, "This was about a quarter-mile from here, footprints seem to be mostly from the victim, and maybe a couple belonging to the fella with the camera. He was apparently the first to see it, and he walked over to get a better look. I taped off the area until we can get casts of the prints."
"Good job, Officer, now go get that tagged. Mr . Biersack, would you come with me, please?"
Andy followed her to where the others were waiting, and he moved to stand next to Joe, putting a hand on his cousin's shoulder.
"You folks are just not having a great vacation, are you?" Potter inquired dryly.
"We're actually supposed to be here working, but we're not having much luck with that, either," Andy stated.
Chief Potter began to question them about the days events, having them walk her through the details several times. By the time she was satisfied that she had gotten as much information as possible, it was nearly dark.
Finally turning to Joe, she said, "I see that you have your camera with you, Mr . Flanders. Did you happen to get any actual footage?"
He turned pale, gulped, and muttered, "Yeah, while we were walking. Not of ...that."
"Would it be possible for you to make me a copy? Otherwise, I'll have to take your camera as evidence."
"Yeah, if you can give me an email, or a website, I can go back to the house and send it directly to your computer," he replied.
"Well, then, what say you folks come with me, and I'll drive you back. I don't really like the idea of anyone walking around after dark just now. Plus, I need to be present while you do that, to preserve the chain of custody," Potter told them.
They followed her to her car and climbed in, with Faith up front and the guys crowding into the back seat.
As they pulled out onto the road, Faith glanced at Potter and inquired, "That man ... does anyone know who he is? Or was, I guess?"
Glancing briefly toward the younger woman, Potter responded, "I can't give his name until all the formalities have been taken care of, but yeah, he's a local."
"Damn, I feel bad for the guys family," Ashley murmured.
Chief Potter glanced up for a moment, catching his eye in the mirror, and stated, "It's probably not very professional of me to say this, Mr. Purdy, but I honestly felt sorrier for them when he was still alive. That one was a real piece of work, I've had him in lockup more than once. If Mr. Devashar hadn't made it known to everybody that he had his place covered in cameras, you more than likely would've had him outside your window some night, Ms . Scanlon."
"Sounds like a real charmer," Andy muttered sarcastically.
"Not exactly the word I would've chosen, Mr. Biersack," she retorted.
When they reached the house and went inside, Joe and the chief immediately headed to the computer, so he could copy his footage for the chief. Everyone was practically bursting with questions, but Andy and Ashley convinced them to hold off until she left, while Faith excused herself to her room for a few minutes.
When Chief Potter finally departed, everybody began rapidly firing questions, which the guys answered to the best of their ability. A few minutes later, Faith came back downstairs, and Ashley walked over and stood in front of her.
"I saw you taking pictures of that truck awhile ago. What was that about?" he asked.
"I sent them to my brother," she responded. "His girlfriend works in the language department of the college there, and I wanted to know if those marks were actual writing or not."
At that moment, her phone rang. She glance at the display, then answered the call, saying, "Hey, Todd, that was fast! Yes, it was. Yes, we're all fine. Hold on, I'm gonna put you on speaker, so everybody can hear you."
She put the phone on the table, pushed a button, and said, "Okay, go ahead."
A male voice instantly burst out, "What the fuck do you guys have going on out there?"
"That's what we'd like to know, big brother. Did you have any luck with the pictures?"
"I guess you could say that. Sarah took them to one of the professors at the university, and apparently the guy practically blew a fuse! So did I, when she told me what he said. I'll tell you right now, kiddo, I don't like how this is shaping up one little bit!"
"So I assume those were actual words, if you're that weirded out," she observed. "What the hell did it say, anyway?"
"Apparently, it was written in Sumerian, which has been a dead language for fucking centuries!" Todd explained. "As for what it actually said, the guy could only give her sort of a loose translation. I guess a language that old doesn't necessarily line up with modern shit. But I can tell you right now, you've got one sick fuckin' puppy running around out there."
"Pretty obvious, if somebody's writing shit in blood," Ashley stated.
"Yeah, that, and the fact that it roughly translates to something like 'Playtime', or, 'Let's play'."
There was suddenly a loud crash as Joe's coffee mug slipped from his fingers and shattered on the floor. At the same time, Yanni began swearing under his breath, and both Jinxx and Jesse went pale. Everyone looked at them in confusion, and from the phone came, " Sis, what was that? Is everybody okay?"
"I'm not sure 'okay' is a viable choice right now," Faith responded. "I think somebody knows something that the rest of us don't."
"I think you're right!" Jon interjected. "So spill it now, guys!"
Jinxx and the others began relating the story of their earlier experience at the old house, while the rest of the group listened quietly. When they finally finished, Todd said, "Shit, that sounds worse than I thought. I think I should call up some of the old gang, have one of them come out there and check into this."
"I was actually kinda hoping you'd say that," Faith said. "I'm not sure what's going on, but better safe than sorry."
"I'll get started as soon as I hang up, see who's available. I assume it's okay to have them contact you directly, right?"
"Absolutely, just do what you can, and let me know. I'll let you go get started now. Bye!"
After she ended the call, Andy cocked an eyebrow and inquired, "What 'old gang' was he talking about?"
"Some of his friends. Before he got hurt, Todd was what you might call a 'thrill - seeker', or an 'adventurer', and most of his buddies were the same way. And a lot of the stuff they did involved finding weird books and artifacts and stuff for some guy they knew."
"Why, was he planning to take over the world or something?" CC asked.
"No, from what I understand, he was pretty much hiding the stuff from those kind of people," she replied. "And I'm pretty sure Todd does that himself every now and then."
Nodding in understanding, Ashley said, "So an 'antique' might not just be a dresser or an ugly old couch, but maybe something a bit more ... unique."
"Yeah, kinda like this," she replied, pulling down the neck of her sweater to reveal an unusual necklace. It was a somewhat tarnished silver choker, which appeared to be comprised of old coins, or tokens, fastened together with links of chain.
"He gave me this for my college graduation. Apparently, it's supposed to be consecrated, or blessed, or something, so I dug it out and put it on. I figure it can't hurt."
"So now what?" Jake inquired.
"Well, we obviously can't leave, since we're in the middle of a murder investigation," Jon stated. "So I guess we just sit tight until Faith's brother can maybe find somebody that can figure out what the hell is actually happening here."
"Somehow, I don't find that entirely reassuring," Jesse commented.
And judging from the looks they all traded with each other, neither did anyone else.