Lights | A Forever Fanfiction

Chapter Four: Firing Squad

Everything past this point is unedited. It's all pretty crappy, so you've been warned.

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Jo tapped her pen against the table patiently, waiting for someone to speak. Faint beams of sunlight slipped through the window of Dr. Morgan's office, spilling across the desk, leaving golden bars on the piles of paperwork strewn on its surface.

"Snooping isn't good for your health," Dr. Morgan decided, breaking the silence. "Why did you snoop through my mail?"

"I wasn't snooping," I protested weakly. "And..."

"Okay, so let me get this straight," Jo sighed. "You snuck in here behind my back to get information that you could have asked me for any time, and then you went sifting through Henry's mail, for no reason, whatsoever?"

"It wasn't like that!" Dr. Morgan and I argued in unison. We glared at each other from across the table.

"So, what was it like?" Jo demanded, giving me in incredulous look. "Great. So, now we have a dead guy with no hand, and we don't know who. Labs are still running tests, but why would someone send a hand to you, Henry?"

"I don't know," Dr. Morgan said defeatedly. "If I knew, I would explain. Also, they might not be dead. The way the blood coagulated suggests that the person was still alive when their hand was severed. What's more, is that the way the cut is positions suggests that they used a very sharp knife and that it was self inflicted." Dr. Morgan paused, his eyes darting towards the manilla folder that had my father's files in it briefly. "They used a light anaesthetic, but they would have been in excruciating pain."

There was a long silence.

"What did you find on the hand, Henry?" Jo asked quietly.

"Gunpowder. Salt. All kinds of things. The interesting thing was the debris under their nails," Dr. Morgan replied.

"It was a woman," I announced. "There was a small amount of chipped nail polish coating the base of one of her nails."

"It might not have been nail varnish," Jo said. "And, how do you know it was a woman?"

"The finger lengths," I explained.

"The ring finger and index finger were the same length, suggesting that the owner of the hand was either a woman or a gay male," Dr. Morgan continued. "How did you come across that?"

I snorted. "The Internet. It's this thing. I suggest you use it."

"Okay, fine, little-miss-hacker," Jo sighed. She turned to Dr. Morgan. "Tell me what you found under the fingernails."

"It's bomb residue."

"And?"

"Well," Dr. Morgan hummed awkwardly. "It's bomb residue."

"What kind?" Jo added.

"You wouldn't know it," Dr. Morgan said placidly.

"Yes, but what kind?" Jo insisted impatiently.

"Hexanitrodiphenylamine," Dr. Morgan answered reluctantly.

"What?!" I exclaimed.

"English, Henry?" Jo asked at the same time.

"It is English!" Dr. Morgan objected, wincing at our responses before sighing. "HND is formed from nitric acid and... nevermind. My point is, it's an explosive material. Its use was pretty much discontinued after World War II due to its toxicity, but-" He broke off, thinking, his mouth slightly agape as something dawned on him. "Jo, what was that message you found at the scene of Mr. LaVaughn's murder?"

"Um, I think it was-" She dove for her purse, looking for the files.

" 'The fire that will consume the city shall burn you first,' " I recited. "Yes. I memorised it. If that's the first thing you see when you arrive at the scene of your father's murder, it remains in your mind like glue."

"Your father was involved with some people who wanted a bomb. As an instrument maker, he had access to all kinds of chemicals," Dr. Morgan said eagerly. His excitement was almost palpable. "People were probably threatening him. He didn't have a lot of money, so they demanded that they give him resources - nitric acid, and all these other things that are used in the making of HND. Oh, this is clever."

"Why?" I asked Dr. Morgan. I turned to Jo. "Why is this clever?"

"Because it's a joke," Jo replied quietly. "A cruel, deadly joke."

"Exactly," Dr. Morgan breathed. "My bet would be that our father refused to help them. So they killed him, and as a joke on you, they left that message."

"They're going to bomb New York," Jo guessed. I could practically see the gears turning and whirring inside of her head. "The fire that shall consume the city shall... Oh my god." She and Dr. Morgan locked eyes. "We have to evacuate you apartment building, Lights," she said without looking at me.

"If it's not too late," Dr. Morgan added.

"Why?" I repeated, not wanting to face the truth.

Jo and Dr. Morgan stared at me, and then Jo finally spoke. "Because the first bomb has been planted there."

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