REVENGE

MARY MOSES!

As frustrating and shocking as it was, detective Blake Tanner couldn't help but see the irony that came with the details of the latest call she had gotten that morning. A church, a priest, a murder all existing in one sentence was something that hadn't been heard of in a really long time, that is as far as everyone she knew had heard. It had probably never happened in history. Like what kind of sicko would even step into a church and take out a servant of God, as old as father Anthony had been?  Even if it had been doing him justice, the old man had been mere couple of months from his grave. The killer could have just left him to face it naturally.
The colleague who had called her that morning hadn't given her much details about what exactly had happened so she would have to get there to know. She drove straight towards the church whereby most of her colleagues already were but since she was in charge of the crime scene following the upcoming retirement of her captain, no one was supposed to do a thing until she got there. She rolled up the windows of her car to keep the unexpected cold breeze at bay. It sure as hell was the worst summer day.
   She walked purposely towards the gathered crowd in front of the church wondering why they hadn't been driven away. There would be no mass obviously and they had no reason to stand there interfering with a crime scene. She however had no strength to talk to them and since there was already crime scene tape keeping them off, she went straight inside.
                "What do we have today Carnie?" she asked the forensics officer who was busy taking the crime scene pictures. The body was covered in a white sheet, already stained with blood on some parts. The young woman went ahead to reveal it. "Seventy seven year male, strangled before his heart was ripped out of his body, literal meaning of taking the life out of him."
                  "Jesus! Who the fuck would do that?"
                 "The question you should be asking detective, is what, not who." She looked at her puzzled, wondering what she meant by that. "Look at these patterns. These look like claw marks which is crazy to even think about it but unless this killer has some kind of claw like weapons he uses, we are looking at something much more deadly."
                  "What are you saying?"
She smiled. There wasn't a person more thrilled about her job than this woman. None that she had ever seen. The problem was that being thrilled wasn't the only thing to expect from her but also having to deal with her wide imagination in every situation. Her mind was always running wild with all kinds of absurd explanations to everything. This wasn't an exemption and she was already guessing her next statement before she even said it.
                   "Do you believe that there's another world out there different from humans? Werewolves, vampires, witches and warlocks?"
                  "Oh God, please stop. That is unheard of Carnie," she said and moved closer to the body studying it. "This is just a twisted person who has no emotions, at least not healthy ones." She stood up. "Who found the body? I have to go talk to them."
                    "That nun over there. I don't know if she's done saying her hail Marys though. It might be a good idea to let her calm down first," Carnie replied and went ahead to carry on with her work.
Blake was about to head towards the nun when her Captain's voice stopped her. She turned around to see him walking towards her with another woman. She was tall with long dark hair and a pressed pant suit as if she was walking into an office and not a bloody crime scene. She had not seen her before and she wondered who she was and what she was doing there. She would find out soon enough.
                    "I didn't think you would come out here Captain," she said after greeting both of them.
                   "I just thought that one day to my retirement wouldn't be a bad idea. I also wanted to show detective Amari Hunter around since she will be joining the team, working with you." She turned to the woman who looked at her as if she would know everything about her just by observing her which annoyed her but she offered a polite smile which the woman returned with a light handshake. "She is supposed to report to work tomorrow but when this one was called in, I thought it wouldn't be a bad idea to start early." Blake took the hand.
                 "It's nice to finally place a face to everything I've heard about you detective."
She turned to the captain who had a slight smile on his lips, "Everything, huh?" she questioned wondering exactly what the woman knew and how she knew it.
He sighed, "Amari is my daughter. The one who was working with the bureau overseas, I'm sure I have mentioned her before. She just came back." So, that was how she knew. It seemed like the old man was talking behind her back a lot and that annoyed her. Well, not as much as what the woman decided to do next.
                "We have some nuns to question, let's go." Blake looked at her silently but after those words, she decided that she hated her from that moment. This was her crime scene, she was supposed to be leading, giving direction on what to do but suddenly this entitled woman comes in and takes the lead? Who did she think she was? Fucking Mary Moses ready to lead the Israelites across the red Sea? She turned to the captain who just smiled at her.
                   "Looks like you've got some competition for the captain position," he winked and left following his daughter.
  *That bastard!* she muttered under her breath and stood there watching them.
                   "What are we looking at?" Carnie asked joining her.
                    "Did you know that his daughter was joining the team?"
                    "Who, Amari? I have read some of the cases she has handled. So clean. She is really good, a great addition to the team especially now with the captain retiring." She turned to her. "Do you think she will take after him?"
Blake couldn't explain the source of the anger she was feeling boiling inside her. It wasn't like she had already taken the position but the thought of it being taken by the daughter of the former captain, especially this entitled woman who seemed to want everyone to fall under her shadow wasn't a pill she wanted to swallow. She had worked so closely with the captain and suddenly she came out of nowhere, joined the team, started giving out orders and for some reason, her work overseas impressing everyone around her.
                     "That doesn't make her a leader though. She is literally a baby in this department, she just joined. It doesn't matter where she came from or whose daughter she is. Some of us have worked our asses for this and that's just going to be flushed down a drain as if it doesn't matter?" she found herself saying without thinking and only realized it after she was done and Carnie had her mouth hanging low in surprise.
                    "Uh- oh! Someone is pissed."
                   "Sorry, I'm just gonna go join them," she said and left her standing there.