“Mr. and Mrs. Brown, is there anything more you can tell us about your daughter running away? Do you have any idea of where she may go? If she would contact any of her friends?”
They were finally able to make it at the Brown’s and were all sitting in their living room. Mrs. Brown had brought out hot tea for everyone and Claire was the only one to take a cup but has yet to sip it. The dream she had kept playing in her head, something nagging at her about it. She tried her best to follow the conversation but only retained every other word.
The couple looked at each other then turned to Raven with their red eyes Mr. Brown speaking, “No. She never told us anything about where she had gone or if she stayed with anyone.”
“She never mentioned anything?” Raven was quickly scribbling away in his notepad as Mrs. Brown turned to him.
“No, a few times she would return covered in dirt but whenever I asked her about it she would shut me out.”
“Covered in dirt how?”
Mrs. Brown whipped at her eyes, “Like she’s been sleeping in it.”
Raven made another note as he asked more questions, “Did you ever contact any of her friends when she ran away?”
Mr. Brown squeezed his wife’s hand as he answered, “The first time she had missed school. The school called us and we tried calling her but she never picked up. We even went to the school and met some of her friends. No one saw her or heard from her. We searched at all her favorite places and never found her till we came home that night. She was on the front porch waiting for us.”
Mrs. Brown bowed her head as she whispered, “She looked so terrible.”
Claire turned her head, attentive for the first time in the conversation, “Terrible? What do you mean?”
Mrs. Brown suppressed a hiccup as she spoke, “She was so pale, like she hadn’t eaten all day or never seen the sun. She was practically white. We tried to get her to eat dinner but she refused to answer any of our questions and went to bed. She slept all night and into the next day. She slept for 24 hours almost.”
“Hmm.” Claire held her chin with her finger as she thought. Raven made a mental note to ask her thoughts as he went back to his questions.
“After that the durations of her disappearances would become longer, is that right?” They both nodded their heads, “Did she always leave quietly?”
Mrs. Brown answered, “Yes, we would wake up in the mornings to find her gone.”
“Do you know when she would disappear?” She shook her head, “Ok. Would she take anything with her as the hours turned into days?”
She nodded her head, “Yes, she started taking her duffle bag. Her favorite blue one.”
Raven raised an eyebrow, “One with a false bottom?”
They both visibly stiffen as Mr. Brown spoke, “Yes. She loved that one. She would hide her favorite souvenirs in it when we go on trips. Did you find it?”
Raven slowly nodded his head as tears begun to shine in their eyes once more. Mrs. Brown voice slightly shook as she spoke, “May we have it? Please?”
Raven heaved a heavy sigh, “I’m afraid it’s evidence right now, but I promise as soon as the case is over you will get it back.” They weren’t pleased with that answer but consented for now, “Do you think you could list some of the items she would take? Something you noticed that would always disappear when she did?”
Mrs. Brown waved her hand, “Just some clothes and her toothbrush. I could always tell how long she would be gone by counting how many spare clothes she took.”
Mrs. Brown began to quietly sob as Mr. Brown comforted his wife, “She would also take her dream catcher with her. She never slept without it.”
“A dream catcher? Can you describe it?”
He slowly nodded his head as his wife’s shoulders shook, “We gave it to her when she started having nightmares as a child. We bought it from that Indian trinket shop down off of 44th. She never had another nightmare until recently, she loved that thing. It’s small with 4 eagle feathers and 3 wind chime bars. Please, are we finished? My wife and I…”
Raven quickly stood, snapping Claire to attention, “Yes we are finished. I thank you for your time. We’ll see ourselves out.”
Claire set the tea cup on the coffee table as she stood, “Thank you for the tea, it was lovely.”
They didn’t hear her as they began to sob together. Claire and Raven quietly made their way to the door and let themselves out. Claire was quiet and brooding as they went to the car and Raven yanked the door open. They peeled out and raced on the open streets just as lunch hour began. Stuck in traffic Raven glanced at Claire to see her sitting quietly with her arms crossed, thinking.
“What are you thinking? I can hear the gears turning from here.”
“Hmm, I’m not sure.” Before Claire could say some more her wrist began to beep. She answered the call absently and gave it her attention when Tessa spoke. Hanging up she turned to Raven, “That was Tess. She says the autopsy is done.”
“Can’t she just send us the file?”
Claire shook her head, “She said there’s something she wants us to see.”
Raven heaved a sigh as he fought the traffic, sluggishly making his way to the ME’s building. They stepped from the car into the muggy air and quickly made their way up the steps. They found their way to Tessa’s office quickly and found her much as they did yesterday.
“I’m glad to see you were able to clean the place up,” Claire said as she looked around seeing no residue left of yesterday.
Tessa looked up and smiled as she adjusted her glasses, “Yes, Dillon was nice enough to clean it up while we were still outside.”
Claire smiled, “Yep, he’s nice that way.”
Raven felt a twist in his gut clenching his jaw, he wanted a smoke, “You said you wanted to show us something about Emily’s autopsy?”
“Yes, this way,” Tessa turned and showed them to the wall where the bodies laid. Back when the concept of morgues were first created they were always limited to how many bodies they could hold due to limited space. Now, thanks to the power of technology and the combination of magic instead of a limited amount of drawers they now have walls with built in inter-dimensional slots, creating more space. She pulled a slot out extending it to its full length then grabbed the handle on top and pulled up creating a silver box the size of a coffin from the flat slot. She twisted the handle and the lid clicked as it unlocked and she pulled back, the lid folding in on itself as it revealed Emily’s covered body.
Tessa stood next to the body as she revealed her findings, “Time of death was approximately 2 weeks ago around midnight. COD is asphyxiation.”
Claire raised an eyebrow, “Someone strangled her?”
Tessa shook her head, “She strangled herself.”
Raven gestured a hand to the body, “How is that possible? You can't just strangle yourself.”
“Take a look,” Tessa pulled back the sheet covering Emily to her chest revealing her head and shoulders.
Claire walked up beside the body looking closely at her neck as Raven looked behind her, “What is that?”
Around Emily’s neck was a solid black mark approximately 1” wide. It looked as if a chocker necklace but the bruising on the edges indicated it was physically squeezing her neck.
“That’s her magic.”
Claire turned her head looking at Tessa, “She used her own magic to strangle herself?”
Tessa slowly nodded her head as Raven spoke behind them, “Then this isn’t murder, it’s suicide.”
“No, no! This is murder.” Claire spun to look at Raven as she pointed a finger behind her to Emily’s body, “This girl did not commit suicide. Someone murdered her.”
Tessa quietly spoke, “I’m sorry Claire. The evidence says she committed suicide.”
Claire looked back and forth between them as she pleaded with Raven, “Raven please you have to believe me. This is murder! Something’s just not right in order for this to be suicide.”
Raven raised a hand, “Claire look I believe you, but we have to find the evidence. Otherwise we’ll be forced to close this as suicide.”
“Then let’s go find it.”
Claire quickly made her way out the doors leaving Raven behind. He sighed as he turned to Tessa, “Think you can hold off turning in that report?”
Tessa was quiet as she covered the young girl back up and put the lid back on. She turned the handle again, locking it in place and pushed down as the box became a slot once more. She was pushing the slot back into the wall when she answered, “I can hold it off as long as I can, but I can’t promise very long.”
“That’s enough.”
They said goodbye as Raven went out the door looking for his partner. He found her leaning against the wall of the stone steps of the building waiting for him.
“Someone did this to her. Someone tortured her, made her suffer.”
Raven pulled out a cigarette and lit it, filling the air with smoke, “And again, I believe you. We’ll find the evidence.” He waited a few minutes smoking his cigarette, “What’re you so attached to this case for?”
Claire sighed as she slowly shook her head, “The look on her face. The look of pure…horror.”
“Claire, every victim has that look. You can’t let it get to you.”
“It’s not just that Raven,” she turned to him and he saw the pain in her eyes, “I’ve seen that look before. It’s not just fear it’s…overwhelming fear.”
“Fear of what?”
Claire bit her lip as she turned back to the street. He waited as she whispered, “Fear of yourself. Fear…that you’re going crazy.”
“You think that’s what she was? She thought she was going crazy?”
“She thought she was.”
He took one last smoke then flicked the butt into the ash can, “What do you think?”
Claire was silent as she thought finally saying, “I think someone made her afraid.”
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