𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐦𝐚𝐧 [s. harrington]

WITHOUT A FACE

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(the body)

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Beth swore and hit the steering wheel as Officer Callahan stepped in front of her car just outside the driveway of the Byers' house. Police lights flashed red and blue just a couple free in front of her, and Beth could see police officers bustling back and forth on the other side of the haphazard barricade they had thrown together that night.

"C'mon man," Beth groaned as she cranked her window down and Officer Callahan stepped around and leaned down towards it. "Of all the days to be a dick, this ain't it."

"It's just standard procedure, Beth," the man said. "The house is part of a police investigation."

"Is this a joke?" He shook his head. "I will run over your feet if you don't let me go. See if my dad will care. He asked me to come."

"He didn't tell me that."

"Since when do you care enough to actually do your job correctly?" Beth huffed in annoyance. "Just let me in, man."

Officer Callahan leaned in, his head nearly wholly inside Beth's car as he whispered in her ear. "There's a couple of Feds here. Damned if I know why, but just pull over a bit down the road and sneak in."

Beth cocked an eyebrow, confusion painting her features as she soaked in what Officer Callahan had said. The Feds? Officers from the federal government were in the middle of nowhere Indiana over something as nationally routine as a missing kid. Well, now a deceased kid, but nonetheless. This should all be standard procedure for the department, if anything, maybe, just maybe, the state troopers would step in depending on where the body was found, but there was no logical reason for the federal government to be involved in any manner. Unless something was different about the case of Will Byers. Something very different.

"Fine!" Beth threw her hands up in the air as she yelled, making a big scene. "You know what, fuck you, Officer! How dare you follow your orders and turn me away from this crime scene!" A person in professional, official-looking attire looked over at them briefly due to Beth's little outburst, and after he looked away, she winked quickly at Callahan, backing out of the driveway and driving a few minutes down the road.

She walked through the forest to the Byers' house, carefully stepping under some yellow caution tape that was wrapped around the perimeter of the lot by the shed. She brushed herself off and straightened up quickly as a man in a state trooper uniform passed by her, too distracted by the documents in her hands to notice the out-of-place teenager. Thankfully, he and the man from earlier seemed to be the only law enforcement at the house that wasn't Hawkins PD.