Small Town, Dark Secrets

Chapter 1| Small Town, Dark Secret

Simon

Tw: slight mentions of SA

Another day passes by, they seem to just repeat themselves after a while.

I spend most days in my house here in Leon county, home and alone.

I don't have many friends, and the friends I do have all live thousands of miles away from me, so most days, I spend them alone.

Currently, I'm sitting at my kitchen table in silence, sipping on a cup of coffee (which I shouldn't have made but still) that I made just a few minutes ago. The article that I was reading on Reddit wasn't the most interesting thing I've seen all day, and if I showed you, you probably wouldn't also be amused.

I'm taken away from my thoughts by the excruciatingly loud sound of the phone Blasting through my ears. My concern, it's 1:27 in the morning, whoever was calling me now is either a telemarketer or finally, my agency has a case for me.

I reached for the cracked phone that was laid face down on the countertop "hello?" I say Swiftly picking up my phone and answering it "Detective Simon, it's me, Collin, we have a job for you" it was Collin terrace, my manager.

I worked for a somewhat local area, I worked only for the 6 towns surrounding us, My town, Lakefield county, tornid county, Dalin county ect, ect.

"Oh yeah, what's going on?" I say pressing the phone to my ear with my shoulder "have you heard about the things going on in Lakefield county? The murders, we don't have a name for it just yet" Collin sounded quiet, like quieter than usual.

"Murders? No, I've been trying to not stress myself out with the news" it was true, I was trying to enjoy the little time I had off, which was given to me by the agency, as they were concerned about my mental health "well, hate to break it to ya but, your anxiety is not gonna take this well".

Little did I know, this one small conversation was about to end with me packing my bags and bussing for an hour to Lakefield county.

Now it was my time to shine.

I can solve this mystery and I can do it alone. I can finally prove to everyone that I'm just as strong and intelligent as the rest of them.

But to my despair, the world had a different choice for me.

As I walked over to the police station, which was clearly untended to (It was covered head to toe in vines and moss) and I took a deep breath, what would people think of me just so suddenly coming back?

As I walked in, Tiana, the beautiful lady who worked the front desk, noticed me almost immediately. "Simon! Hey it's good to see you, how have you been, I heard about you going on break" she said with an enthusiastic tone and a kind smile.

"It's nice to see you Tiana, I'm doing fine, and I need to see Sargent Collin, is he in?" I asked, returning a smile to her.

"Can you give me a second, I'll call him for you" Tiana says, turning to the phone and dialing in the number. After a short call, she turned back to me. "He's waiting for you."

Tiana led me down a hallway to Collins office, her dark frilly hair bouncing on her shoulders. I mentally gulped, nervous about finally talking with him once again.

As I walked in, Collin turned around and frowned at me.

"Detective Salice, there you are, you're late" Collin said with a clearly annoyed tone "yeah well it was a two hour bus ride, you know I don't have a license" Collin did know but considering the fact I told him that a year ago. "Simon, you're 28, it's high time you get a license" I rolled my eyes at his statement.

Collin motioned for me to sit down at the chair across from his desk, there was a cork board on the wall with many pictures hanging on it, all from different cases and mysteries. "So as of recently, we've had to open a new case there's been a sudden wave of murders happening, it was so random, people just started dropping like flies" Collin says, getting up and turning to the corkboard "you told me that yes" "but a few things we've taken as a clue for this crime is that, well" Collin stops himself. He opens a filing cabinet and searches through it for a second before finding something and handing it to me.

"Every victim seems to be a somewhat middle aged male, half of them having criminal records specifically for sexual assault and or rape" When I tell you I sat there dumbfounded, I mean it. I was just sitting in the middle of the room with my mouth slightly open, an eyebrow raised with crossed arms.

"I'm so confused" not because of the gender, but because of their charges of SA. I took the case file into my hands and began to look through it. "All serial killers have a motive, it could possibly be an attractive woman with serial killer tendencies or feminists. Or their victims, that could also be an option, or just some person who wants to kill rapists" there were a lot more possibilities but I was just going off of the more believable options.

"Yes you're right, and that's why I'm putting you up to the case." Collin says, probably more happy than he should be "really? You guys haven't given me a case alone for 7 months hell, you haven't given me a case in 7 months" I was wondering, why now did they want me, to do this.

"That's the thing, we haven't given you a case alone, you are going to be working with a local detective I.e, With a partner"

What? It's been 2 years since I worked with someone, they always said that I was better off working alone.

"With someone? I thought you said I was better off alone" genuinely, I wasn't mad, just disappointed. "His name is Tyler Delish, he's a nice guy, and he's a great detective, just don't get him around alcohol, he's bad with anything that can give him an escape from reality.

That makes more sense. Guess today marks the day I sold my soul to our agency.

And the day I sold my soul to my partner.

(1081 words)