Skip to main content

Pandora's Children - Part 23

"What about the rest of you?" I asked.

They shook their heads.

"Take them out to the "Why not?" I asked.

"Dana told her you were coming," Aurora said, her behavior more #effervescent than before. "Hope was incensed and killed them all for letting you get that close. She sent everyone away hours ago. They're probably all over the country by now."

"Shit."

***

"We'd better call the captain," I said. "Have the CSIs go through this place with fine tooth comb. Collect everything."

You don't really think that's going to be a #panacea, do you? What do you expect to find? Hope probably stripped this place before we had the warrant."

***

"I'm not giving up. We'll find them," I said and then slapped my forehead. "Get Aurora back here. Now!"

"What?" Jaci asked.

"I'm going to have a #sapid talk with her. She knows more than she's letting on."

"How can you be so sure?"

"Trust me. She's very important."

***

Aurora was dragged back in, surly now. "What do you want?"

"I just wanted to congratulate you on your masterful misdirection...Hope."

Her expression changed for a microsecond, but I caught it. Jaci gasped.

"I'm going to take pleasure when I #inure your jail sentence."

***

"How did you know?" She asked.

"You thought you were smarter than us, and you had to stay to give everyone else time to escape. You also knew too much for someone who hadn't become a full member yet."

"Victory is such sweet #ambrosia," Jaci said. "You're under arrest."

***

Hope smiled thinly. "You'll never find them. You'll never catch them. You'll never find the #penetralia they each chose. I win."

"You're going to get the needle for this. And I will track down every last one of your killer cult members and put them behind bars. We win."

***

Two days later, the house had been processed, everyone was in jail or dead, and I was sitting at my #carrel in the bullpen.

"The FBI is going to take over because they'll probably cross state lines," the captain told me. "You solved a lot of cases. You should be proud."

***

"I am, but I'm exhausted. I've seen so much the last few days. I just need time to unwind."

"Take some leave, you have enough built up. Go home. Don't think about the job."

"I think I will, thanks."

Outside, a #zephyr ruffled my hair. I headed home for a long break.

END

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Welcome To 2020

Welcome to my new blog, fresh for 2020. This will be primarily used, at least for now, for my Twitter #vss365 murder mystery entitled Pandora's Children. I plan to put other stories up on here as well, short stories and vignettes. Anything I write until I decide to publish it elsewhere. See you soon. Marc
Post a Comment
Read more

Atlas Missing - Part 1

I came out to the lake once a week, sat on the edge, and stared. We'd recovered a lot of bodies during the case to stop Pandora's Children, a cult of serial killers, almost a year ago, but the rest had become #benthos, fodder for the bottom feeding life under the water. *** When we learned that the cult members had escaped, the captain tried to #constellate a task force, but the FBI took over, claiming that the killer cultists would cross state lines. Turns out they were right. Special Agents across the country are trying to track them down. *** I took a leave of absence to clear my head, but found myself trying to #ingurgitate as much as I could about cult culture, to learn the dynamics, and what drove them. The cult leader may have been dead, and her daughter in jail, but I knew someone would take over. *** I remembered one of the cultists had claimed the Indigenous term "Orenda" as a religion, and I almost thought about getting a #periapt to protect myself, but I d...
Post a Comment
Read more

Pandora's Children - Part 5

"What time is it?" The Lt. asked while the ME looked at the body. "Six o'clock, why?" "It's Friday night." Realization dawned on me. "Eugh, #curry night." "Don't knock it till you've tried it, detective. Why don't you join us? The wife keeps asking me to invite you." *** The Lieutenant's house was nice. There were the usual family pictures & landscapes but a statue caught my eye. It was made of a green crystal. "It's #serpentine," the lieutenant's wife told me. "It doesn't look like a snake." "No, that's what it's made of," she smiled. *** We sat down at the dining room table to eat and I was initially skeptical, but the chicken curry was nice and not too spicy. They were a couple in love. I saw that each one had framed their wedding #vow & hung it on the wall, a reminder of what they promised each other. *** "Whass inis...
Post a Comment
Read more