WARNING: Graphic depictions of violence
Chapter Eight
The smell of coffee filled my nose as I stepped into the Sheriff's Office, watching a few deputies run past me towards their squad cars. The air in the office dripped of tension and anxiety as I looked back up, almost running into a crying woman.
"How could he do that?" She was sobbing, hitting the deputy in the chest as he took her statement, trying to calm her down. I was confused, no one had texted or called me, what was going on?
I heard a door shut, my eyes snapping up to look directly into Sheriff Nedley's eyes. He sighed as he zipped up his coat, shaking his head at me, trying to walk past me without an explanation.
I grabbed his arm, hearing him sigh loudly as he turned to look at me. "Agent." He said, looking at me as if I had done the horrible thing that woman had been talking about. My head was filled with so much confusion, what on earth had happened?
"Sheriff, what's going on? I wasn't called." He chuckled and shook his head, motioning me to follow him out to his squad car.
"You'll see." He said grimly, the radio in his car going off, the dispatcher stating that the coroner was en route to the scene.
Coroner? What the hell?
He pulled up outside a dilapidated house, Dolls' squad car was already parked there along with three other department cars. We got out of the car, several people coming in and out of the scene. I started to take note of all of the things wrong with how the scene was being handled, the deputies not allowing the scene to be processed correctly.
No one was standing outside of the house logging who was coming and going, effectively losing any aspect of understanding who may be tampering with evidence inside the house. I glared at one of the deputies, he smiled at me gently before he quickly turned his body away from me, throwing up into the yard. I scowled, noting he had just ruined more of the crime scene.
I felt irritation fill me as I walked up the three stairs onto the porch, Nedley opening the door for me with a gloved hand. There were several people huddled in the living room, all looking at something. Almost immediately I was hit with the smell of decaying flesh, my nostrils flaring before attempting to get used to the scent. Nedley put his hand over his nose and mouth, not being able to ignore the smell as I was.
Dolls noticed me first, standing up quickly to stop me from observing anymore of the scene. He put his hands up, trying to stop me. "No Lyons, this one is too bad, even for you." I pushed past the taller man, locking eyes with Nicole as she stood up, looking down at the child that was lying on the floor.
"Too bad? Dolls I witnessed my parents' murder, what the fuck are you talking about?" I shot out, feeling slightly overwhelmed by how everyone in the room started to look at me, not even looking at the child's dead body laying on the floor.
His throat was visibly slashed, almost to the point of decapitation, blood everywhere in the living room. The child couldn't have been older than 10.
"And what the hell are you all doing in here, this is far too many people in here staring at this poor child. Jesus christ Deputy Haught, do you have any control over this crime scene; everyone get out!" I yelled, my voice booming off of the white walls as Nicole's mouth fell open, looking as if I had stabbed her. Wow, maybe it was too soon to make that sort of joke...
"Agent Lyons, this is not in your-"
"It obviously is if you can't secure a damn scene, now get out, all of you!" I yelled again, directly at the deputy as she looked at me with fire in her eyes, walking past me and out the door followed by everyone else.
"Lyons that was out of line." Dolls said behind me, pulling a blanket to put over the child's body.
"They can't make a spectacle out of a dead child." I retorted, looking at the blood spatter on the ceiling.
"Why wasn't I called?" I shot out, trying to avoid stepping in the blood that soaked the living room carpet, noticing that the little boys' shoes were untied.
"Because I knew you'd get like this. Your past has traumatized you more than you care to admit. You fought to have your parents' murder better investigated, but you need to just come to terms with the fact that your father killed your mother, then himself." I chuckled, holding my stomach as I looked at him. I knew he thought I was sick, he had a concerned looked in his eyes, but I didn't care. He had no right to bring that up.
"Witnesses bare more truth than they will ever admit." I replied, his eyebrows raising as he looked at me, cocking his head to the side. He shook his head, deciding not to go further with my comment.
"They think it's a murder-suicide. Deputy Haught assumes the boy on the floor went upstairs and killed his little sister while she slept in her crib. Stabbed her to death, actually. Then he killed himself down here. The deputies said that the boy showed signs of mental illness from a young age."
I scoffed and shook my head, heading upstairs to look at the other scene. Dolls followed behind me, walking down the hall towards the room at the end with the door ajar. I stepped into the room that had pink wallpaper along with a pink carpet, a very large bear propped up against a rocking chair as if it were sitting in it.
I looked to my right, the gruesome scene burning into my memory as I looked at all the blood. I looked away towards all the blood spatter on the walls and ceiling. "So did he fall?" I asked, turning to look at Dolls, watching as he turned to look at me from taking notes of the scene in a small pocketbook.
"Excuse me, agent?" He asked, lowering his pen from the notepad.
"Did he fall down the stairs, it's a simple question. Or, did he just randomly decide to untie his shoes before cutting his throat that deep." Dolls glared at me, knowing he was about to yell at me.
"Are you mentally alright, Lyons? I know that evaluation was a week ago but still, you're acting very strangely."
"Dolls the boys' shoes are untied, how did you not notice that? Also, another flaw, how the fuck could a young boy cut his throat that deep? He couldn't have. Jesus Dolls, use your brain. He could not have almost decapitated himself." I watched as realization hit the agent in front of me, closing the notebook.
"Holy shit." He said quietly, quickly turning to walk back down to the other scene downstairs. He looked down at the shoes that were still untied on his feet, looking up at me with surprise. "Who could do this?" He asked, running his hand over his head in confusion.
"Or what." I replied, looking back down at the body before I started to head towards the door.
"Where are you going?" Dolls asked, catching up to me as I started towards our squad car.
"To consult one of our agents." I replied, starting the car as he got into the passengers seat. I could feel Nicole's eyes burn into me as I put the car in reverse and left the scene, not bothering to look at her.
I pulled the car up to the Homestead, getting out quickly and entering the house, the door hitting the wall from the force I had used. Wynonna, Waverly and Doc were all at the table, Wynonna standing once she caught site of me.
"Dude, what did you do to Deputy Haught-or-not? She's texting me in all capital letters right now." Wynonna stated, scrolling through the many texts Nicole had sent her in such a short amount of time.
"Agent Lyons overstepped her boundary and questioned the Deputy's competence." Dolls replied for me, earning a glare from me. This man really needed to stop interrupting my lies with the truth.
"That's not what I came here to talk about, Waverly, I need information." I looked down at her as she smirked and stood up, saluting to me.
"What do you need, captain?" She asked cheerfully, a smile filling her face.
"How much information do you have on child murderers that were around this area?" I asked, the question catching her off guard.
"Um, well, I don't have very detailed notes on that, so not a lot." She replied, quickly grabbing a box, leafing through all of the papers in it.
"Try hard, this is weird even for you." Wynonna commented, Doc not saying a word the entire time.
"Dolls will fill you both in, Waverly come with me then." I replied, zipping my coat up as Waverly grabbed a scarf and tossed it around her neck. We both were walking down the porch steps as another squad car pulled into the Homestead, a pissed off deputy getting out, fuming towards us.
"Lyons." She snapped, fire in her eyes as she drew nearer to us, Waverly getting into the passenger seat of my car to give us some privacy. I sighed as Nicole stood in front of me, her hands on her waist.
Damn, she's captivating.
"Lyons what the hell is wrong with you? You can't just-"
"I'm going to stop you right there, deputy, I'm busy right now." I cut her off, her mouth falling open in rage and shock as I got into my car and drove off, leaving the deputy in the snow.
I sighed as I headed towards our destination, trying to not think about the conversation Nicole and myself would have to have at some point if we wanted to continue what ever the hell this was.
"I won't make you talk about what you said to her, but I just want you to know that Nicole has a very kind and loving heart, it takes a lot for her to not like someone. Please don't be one of those people, Lyons, she really cares for you whether you want her to or not." I rolled my eyes and nodded at her statement, allowing myself to admit that Waverly was right.
I didn't want Nicole to be upset about what I had said, I was angry at the time, I was out of line. It just wasn't something that I could tell her right now, I had far more important things to think about; like the child murderers of the past.