I was already waiting outside when Bryce pulled into my street. I was sitting on a chair, my hands resting on a small coffee table. Alice had told me that our small veranda was too plain, so she went out and purchased a table and chair set, even though there wasn't anything to look at. However, since she had left, I found myself sitting out here more and more often.
Maybe I should give her a call, yes, I would give her a call. As soon as I had met up with these people and gathered a spare moment, I would pick up the phone and give my younger sister a call.
I stood up out of the chair and walked down to Bryce's car. Pulling open the door and sitting down.
"Good morning," I said, flattening my dress and pulling the door closed, allowing Bryce to kickstart the motor and move onto the road.
"And good morning to you! I must say, Rose, I have a good feeling about today. DO you know where you want to go first?" He replied excitedly,
I opened up the notebook that I had resting in my hands, "I want to go see the doctor. He has a meeting at lunchtime, and then he is booked out with appointments for the rest of the day. I don't really want to wait for tomorrow to go see him, so we're stuck with this morning. Afterwards, we'll head into town and then to the main police department. He shouldn't be hard to find."
Bryce nodded, "Makes sense. So what are we going to be talking about exactly? I so I have an idea of it when we go in."
I slumped into my seat, "Well, we want to get some information on the bodies. We know that most of the bodies were killed through gunshots. But if there was something else involved, then we need to know."
"We have a problem with that," Bryce interrupted. "We're technically just civilians, regardless of how popular you are for your music. The doctor won't release any information to us."
I raised a finger, "That's where you are wrong my friend. Right now, we are Sargent Kensington's, I suppose, helpers, for the case. We're going in to collect information for him to help with the finalisation of the case and for the victim's profiles."
Bryce raised an eyebrow in disbelief and sighed, "What if he doesn't believe us? I mean, wouldn't Sg. Kensington ring ahead or something on our behalf?"
I shrugged, "We just need to hope that he thinks what we're saying is the complete and utter truth. If not, then it's a lost cause and we just head straight to the police station."
Bryce spared me a glance before looking back at the road, "If you're sure.." He trailed off, his tone of voice still telling me that he was unsure.
The road suddenly became full of cars, leading to us getting stuck in miles and miles of traffic. My vision was filled with flashes of cars and all I could hear was horns beeping and the screeching of tires since Bryce had gone silent.
"I've noticed that you've been sitting outside a little more often," Bryce spoke, breaking me out of my trance. "I hope you're not waiting out in the cold too long for me?"
I shook my head, "No, I'm not. I just get lonely sitting inside. Even if Alice wouldn't be sitting in the lounge room with me of a morning. She would be somewhere. I would be able to hear her, she probably would have come and said good morning. At least when I'm sitting outside, I'm not completely alone."
"Oh yeah?" Bryce teased? "Who's keeping you company? The birds sitting on the rails?"
I shoved his arm lightly but played along. "The cars pretty boy, they're my new besties. We even gossip about you behind your back!" I sent him a toothy grin.
"I thought I was you're best friend!" He pouted, and while I knew he was just being silly, I could see the questioning glance he was sending me.
"Of course you are my best friend! Other than Emily obviously. It's crazy just how close two people can become when they solve murders together."
Bryce hummed, the smile evident on his face, "Yeah. Best friends." His voice was different, an emotion I couldn't put my finger on. I didn't call it out, letting the conversation simmer into an easy silence.
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It looked like a regular doctors office. What would have been clean, pristine white walls were smeared with brown and black from the dirt. A large door, accompanied by a large red cross. It was what looked like to be a two-storey building, its back extending giving it more space.
"Are you sure that this is it? I would have thought that a professional would carry out the autopsy, not a regular doctor..." Bryce said, slamming his car door shut and standing next to me on the walkway.
I nodded, "It's a safety thing. The police department uses a regular doctor who has been trained specifically for the type of situations that the police may need a medical opinion. It's to make sure that it isn't as public."
Bryce raised an eyebrow, "If they use a regular doctor for security reasons, how did you find out that they used this doctor in particular?"
I grimaced, "Two years ago Alice got really sick, and I mean really sick. No one really thought she would recover. I took her here and spied the police medical reports and the doctor's desk. When I asked about it he became super defensive. I did some extra searching around on it last night and found out about his job."
Bryce looked bewildered, "I honestly don't know how you find all this information, but gosh it's helpful."
I flashed a grin in his direction, "I know. Do you want to head in?"
"After you mil lady,"
The inside of the office was the complete opposite to the outside. The brick walls were painted in a cream white. Chairs lined the edges of the room as well as a strip through the middle. At the front desk, there was one woman sitting in front of a box-shaped computer. Her desk was decorated in small flowers sitting in crystalline vases. It was a quaint atmosphere. At least, it would be if it wasn't for the sick people occupying the seats. All I could hear was a chain of coughs and sneezes. Parents rubbing the back of their children as they held a bowl to their mouth. The sickly faces, the worried counterparts. It was enough to make me shiver. Bryce snaked his hand around my waist,
"Breathe, let's head up to the desk?"
I didn't send any sort of reply other than the forward movement of my feet, dragging us forward. I plastered a fake smile on my face.
"Hi! I have an appointment for a Bryce Redfield?" I asked cheerfully, catching the attention of the receptionist.
She looked up, "Of course!" She looked down at her computer and typed in a few words, "With Doctor Morris?" I nodded again.
She looked at the computer, "And Mr Redfield, your sister booked the appointment?" Bryce looked down at me nervously and then back at the lady, "Ugh, yes. That would be correct?" It came out sounding more like a question, but the receptionist mustn't have heard anything different.
She nodded, "I do apologise, we, unfortunately, don't let siblings accompany the person into the office unless the person who is sick is a minor." She quickly explained. My smile was becoming more and more stretched.
"Yes, she was a little upset, but she understood," I replied, making sure to keep my voice cheery and bright.
"Alright then, Mr and Mrs Redfield. Doctor Morris will be waiting in room 12, just head right down that hallway and turn left when you reach the end. You should be able to find it from there." She raised herself slightly from her chair, pointing down the aisle that was too my left.
"Thank you so much!" I said, dragging Bryce with me towards the room.
He looked at me and raised an eyebrow, a playful smirk on his face, "Did you book the appointment as my wife Rose?" He whispered as soon as we were out of earshot.
I launched my elbow into his side, ignoring his cry out in pain, "Not a word about it pretty boy. There wasn't any other way I could accompany you into the meeting. My only other option was your mother, and we both know I couldn't have pulled that off."
He silently chuckled, and looked back up, "Whatever you say."
I scowled and shoved my elbow into his side again, this time with a little more force.
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"Good morning. I would guess that you're Mr Redfield?" Doctor Morris asked as soon as we walked into the room, extending his hand forward.
Bryce took it eagerly, "Yes, it's nice to meet you Doc, this is my lovely wife Rosemary,"
I nodded my head in greeting, The doctor looked me over before returning my gesture, "It's lovely to meet you both. Please take a seat and tell me what's wrong."
We all sat down, Bryce and I next to each other and Doctor Morris sat opposite to us, unlike what I was used to, there wasn't a desk separating us.
I cleared my throat, "Doctor Morris, we were wondering if we could have the autopsy results for Sargent Kensington?"
His face changed, I held my breath, my heart racing a hundred miles, He took a breath and looked over to his desk, "Of course. The Sargent alerted me that he would be sending someone to collect the information."
I tried not to let my relief show. The pure coincidence... my heart didn't slow down.
"We really appreciate this Doctor," Bryce said, "Was there anything out of ordinary about the bodies?"
The doctor grabbed six files out of his draw, each of them being about an inch thick. Large names were printed on the front page. "All were killed the same way, bullet wounds. There wasn't any trace of posion or any other object within their systems. It seems that each murder was the same... but different at the same time. Not one body has been shot in the same way. Some have bullets straight to the brain, others to the heart, and then some have been hit in the vital organs but they wouldn't have died immediately. I would gather that blood loss played a major part in at least three of these people." He handed over the files in Bryce's direction. Instead, I reached forward and grabbed them, shoving the files into my coat.
"Thank you again for doing this, especially under the conditions. Is there anything else we need to know?" I asked, closing the flaps of my coat, hiding any evidence of the files being there.
His brows furrowed, "Based off the pattern of the bullets. I would say that we're dealing with someone extremely unstable. But our killer in question would most likely give up a regular front. From the civilian's eye, you wouldn't be able to tell that anything is wrong." His voice turned grave, "I would advise that the Sargent takes great care when he arrests them."
I took in his words. Mr Clarke has said the same thing. That the killer was unstable.
"Thank you again," Bryce replied, standing up out of the seat, pulling me up too. "The Sargent sends his thanks."
Bryce didn't hesitate. Immediately getting us out of the room. "I didn't want to risk it," He whispered, "The sooner we got out of there, the better."
I nodded in agreement, "I wasn't planning on waiting any longer either. Gosh, we are so lucky that the Sargent had already planned on sending someone and alerted the Doctor."
"We could get arrested you know. Sent to prison for what we're doing." He admitted, his voice laced in worry.
I sighed, "I know. But look at it this way. If we figure out who this is, they won't arrest us. Not if we've turned in the culprit."
Bryce let out a breath, shaking his head, "Then we better pray that we got this right, Rose."
"We have," I assured, even though I wasn't too sure myself. "Let's head to the police station before they notice something's wrong."
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Lol it's been a while since I've done and author note but I gotta say some thing so If you read this that would be amazing.
Thank you guys so much.
Like seriously, I haven't even finished publishing and we are nearly at 200 reads and we just passed 50 votes. I know it seems small but it means so much to me that you guys seem to be enjoying this book.
Second thing - I revealed some news on my Instagram, and it's kinda big. While you can kinda find it on wattpad, I haven't really announced it so hop over to my insta @ erynrainestories to check it out.
Again, thank you guys so much for the support. You have no idea how much it means to me xx
See you in the next chapter!
Eryn