Dorian and the others had just arrived at the second house, which was swarming with local police officers. A large crowd had gathered at the edge of the property but were held back by a wall of officers. “Please, stay back everyone! This is an active investigation! We urge the cooperation of the public so we can complete the investigation as soon as possible!” Despite the pleading of the officers, more civilians gathered, both curious and afraid about what had happened.
Digby sighed. “This is going to be a pain trying to get through this crowd.”
Dorian nodded. “Yeah, but we have to know what happened here. Let’s go to the outer edge of the crowd and see if we can’t get an officer’s attention.”
After managing to break away from the ever growing crowd of people, the group managed to be escorted by an officer to the farmhouse. Unlike the previous location, this piece of property was much smaller, consisting of a single field of corn and some free range chickens for eggs. As they approached the house, Dorian spotted a man wearing a different uniform from the rest of the officers. He had broad shoulders, a large, almost comically so, mustache, and a small scar that ran across his forehead. He immediately glanced in their direction and scowled.
“So…you’re the group of students I’ve been told to babysit while you’re here.” He grunted and looked over the four of them. “As you can see, we are quite busy conducting an investigation, one that hits close to home at that. I’d appreciate it if you kept out of our way and let the professionals do their jobs.”
Digby glared at the man. “With all due respect…sir…we’ve been given authority to investigate. You have no right to try to stop our investigation.”
The man scoffed and waved his hand as if to shoo them off. “You may have been given special…privileges…from the commander, but this is under our jurisdiction. As such, I must insist that–”
Dorian stepped up to the man, a smirk on his face. “If I may, Officer, I’m not sure you have quite the authority about this investigation as you claim to have.”
The officer glared at Dorian. “And what do you, a mere student, know about jurisdiction that we don’t?”
Dorian took another step forward. “The military has already gotten involved in this investigation. They believe this could be a matter of national security. What would their superiors, and yours for that matter, have to say if it comes out that the chief of police in the city tried to stop their investigation? What if your actions here in slowing us down helps cause more victims?”
The man’s glare towards Dorian quickly changed towards one of intense anger before taking a deep breath. “Fine then. I’ll let you investigate. Let’s see if you can back up your words. However, if I feel that you are inhibiting our investigation in any way, I’ll block you from any and all crime scenes I deem to be connected to this case, regardless of what the top brass may say. Understood?”
Dorian nodded. “Thank you for your cooperation sir. If you’ll excuse us, we have an investigation to conduct.”
Dorian began walking to the house, followed by the other three. Digby quickly caught up to Dorian. “What brought that on? We probably could have contacted the commander and he would have–”
“Remember, we ourselves are being tested. It wouldn’t hurt our grade to ask for help, but getting access to the crime scene from our own efforts…that’s bound to help increase our scores.”
Digby chuckled and shook his head. “I’m glad that analytical mind you have is on our side.”
As they entered the house, everyone could clearly see that a struggle had occurred. Tables and chairs were overturned, large chunks of the wooden wall were missing, presumably from a blunt weapon striking it. At the end of the dining room was a fireplace, with a body covered by a white sheet directly in front of it.
Olive shook her head. “Looks like the officer didn’t go down without a fight. Looks like the culprit brought with him a blunt weapon…a bat maybe?”
Farnell shook his head. “No, I don’t think so. The holes in the walls look like they were created by something somewhat bigger than a bat. As to what it was…” He glanced around the room, which had a similar layout as the first house, with the exception of the kitchen being somewhat larger and with more modern kitchen equipment. Despite looking around the room, nothing stood out as being the weapon used.
“The weapon was a club.”
The four of them turned to an officer, who had approached them without them noticing. “The club was discovered outside by the entrance, bloodied and nearly split in half. Whoever used it had enough strength to nearly break it.”
Olive nodded. “I see…I assume the officer must have been struck in the head then?”
The officer shook his head. “Unfortunately…that wasn’t the case. His head was perfectly intact, no signs of trauma. However…the rest of his body had been beaten to a pulp. His leg and arm bones are shattered, his torso smashed in. We suspect he was kept alive for a while after he was subdued. Probably tortured for information if I had a guess.”
Dorian looked at the sheet lying over the body before turning back to the officer. “You’re being awfully generous with the information you’re giving us. Like night and day compared to your superior.”
The officer slowly nodded his head and took a deep breath, exhaling loudly. “The victim’s name is Victor Ulm. Graduated the police academy with me three years ago…and he was my childhood friend. I don’t care about jurisdiction or pride. I just want whoever killed my friend brought to justice through any means necessary, even if it means going against my orders and telling you all the information you need to know.”
Farnell placed a hand softly on the officer’s shoulder, a sympathetic look on his face. “I’m sorry for your loss. We’ll do our part in making sure his killer is arrested.”
The officer smiled weakly and nodded. “Thank you…”
Dorian looked back at the body. “You said you think he was tortured for information. What information would he have that the killer would want?”
“Patrol routes and schedules would probably be something the killer would want to know, but most likely our culprit was wanting to know what exactly we knew about the missing persons case.”
“Considering that the other house was ransacked, that’s probably what the killer was after.” Digby said while turning to the stairs. “Have the other rooms upstairs been inspected?”
The officer nodded. “They have, and like you said about the other crime scene, this place was also ransacked.”
“Who discovered your friend?” Dorian asked.
“A rookie officer who came to relieve Victor of his duties. Didn’t see him at his post and that the front door was ajar, as well as the bloodied club. He walked inside and saw…well…this.”
Dorian nodded. “I see…find anything upstairs during your inspections of the rooms?”
“No, we didn’t. No trace of fingerprints either.”
“I see…” Dorian walked to the stairs. “Mind if we took a look? Maybe some fresh eyes could–”
“Be my guest.”
Dorian nodded and began to walk, Digby and Farnell following while Olive stayed behind, looking over the kitchen. As soon as the three of them reached the top of the stairs, they saw books, papers, and some small furniture scattered throughout a large room. At the end of the room on both sides were two doors that led to bedrooms and one door closest to the stairs that led to a small bathroom. “Looks like this place got the same treatment as the first house.”
Digby nodded. “Whatever happened to the families, there was obviously something worth kidnapping and killing for.”
Farnell sighed. “Just what could be so important from two farmer families?”
Dorian walked over to some books and tried to look at the titles of the books, which were all books about how to raise different crops and livestock. “I have no idea, but I’m certain there’s a lot more to this case than we could possibly solve within just a couple days. Then to top it off with this strange man that’s walking the streets…there’s something seriously wrong going on behind the scenes.”
240Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNdAdfL4xxx
240Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFWTKZlCmL1
240Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIJwNU1dXk4
