Excerpt: Bookworms

Prologue

“Sit there.”

I wasn't sure what he wanted, but I did as he requested. I had since I joined the force, and I wasn't about to stop doing so now that new information had come to light. Information that would implicate myself and two others in a series of crimes that took place more than ten years ago.

A wooden chair sat in the middle of the room, pushed up against a long table. It had been years since I'd been on this side of an interrogation room, and were I not steadfast in my duties as an officer I might have been a lot more nervous than I was. I lowered myself slowly to the hard wooden seat, leaning forward just enough so that my elbows sat upon the table.

He circled around the table, each step falling with a heavy sound upon the bare linoleum. In the otherwise empty room, the sound reverberated against the walls, and the two-way glass that I knew was opposite of me. I didn't have my guns with me today – I was off-duty, and here I was, locked in a room with the precinct's most terrifying beast; the Chief of Police.

I didn't shift my weight. I inhaled so shallowly, that were it not for the slight movement of my chest, I might not have been moving at all. I was like a mannequin in a store's display window, quietly waiting to see what it was he wanted, all the while staring across the room, wondering who was on the other side of that mirror.

“It seems you've been withholding information.”

I didn't respond. If he knew this already, there was no point. If he was merely speculating on it, the accusation would be followed by questions in order to pinpoint where I was on the nights of these horrific crimes.

My lack of response caused him to frown. He hovered for a moment, and I learned first hand what the term 'breathing down one's neck' meant. Still, I did not flinch. I would not.

“Information that could see someone on the city council losing their position if it were to made public.”

At that, I had to reply. He was giving me no choice on the matter. “Information that bears no basis on fact. Mere speculation on the part of the department now that they have been made aware of a few things.” My elbows slid off the table as my arms came to cross over my chest. “Things which, I don't think I need to remind you, were brought to the department's attention back then, but were ignored due to... what was it Deputy Carlson told me?” I pretended to remember what was said back then. Only, I knew full well what was said.

I was the one it was said to.

“Oh, right. That silly little schoolgirls should not be going around making up stories about respected members of our community.” I pushed the chair back, nearly toppling both it and the police chief to the ground. “That was about an hour before Becca St.Croix was found murdered.”

Grabbed by the shoulder, both in order to steady himself and to whirl me around to face him, the Chief of Police growled at me. “Deputy Carlson was let go after that incident. His actions do not reflect those of the entire police force.”

I jerked myself away from him once I was certain he wouldn't topple over. “I suppose you want the full story then? The truth, and not what was put in the reports?”

“It would be a start.”

I looked at him then, noting for the first time how old he seemed to be now. Here was a man I knew my entire life. The man who raised me. Suddenly, I felt awful for treating him this way. Exhaling a long, very drawn out sigh, I moved back to the chair and set it right. Then I took a seat.

“Way I see it, Sir, the city needs people like me. The type that goes after things the police can't... or won't catch. There are more monsters in this world than murders, rapists and petty criminals.” I no longer had the journals with me, but I could remember the events as clear as if they'd happened yesterday – these events are the ones that marked me for this life. “You won't like what you're hearing, but I'll start at the beginning. Our story begins with Hope...”