Conspiracy

Chapter One

Her body laid under mine as I kissed just below her ear. I could feel her body hum as I ran my tongue down her neck. "Please baby," she said at barely a whisper. It had been a while since I had seen her and the way her back arched trying to get herself closer to me I could tell she had missed me. As I straddled her I pulled her forward and pulled off her shirt, "Patience love," I leaned back into her ear to breathe. I ran my hand down the middle of her body and just as it pressed against her center, my cell phone dinged. "Fuck," I said in a huff and went to get off her. "No come on, you have to be kidding," she laid back down frustrated. I looked at the message knowing there was only one person it could be at this time. "I'm sorry, you know how it is, I have to go." I sat down at the end of the bed to put my shoes back on. I felt her crawling down the bed, she wrapped her arms around my neck and started sucking on my neck, "Come on baby you know you don't want to leave." She was right I didn't, it had been just as long for me and I was in the mood, but I didn't have a choice. I put my hand on hers and grabbed it and kissed it, "Sorry love you know how this works." I stood up grabbed my gun off the dresser and strapped it back to my belt. She looked defeated but duty calls. I walked out the door got in my car and headed downtown.

My name is Kelly McMaster and I'm a Detective with the local police department. I grew up in Sprucewood, went to high school here and went to college just out of town. I never thought I would still be here, but you know what they say about best laid plans. When I finished high school my girlfriend Amy and I had this great plan about what we would do when we got out of college. However, life had other plans, because our junior year of college she died in a car accident and I was lost. So after barely being able to finish school I came back to town and have been here ever since. I'm pretty young to be a detective but although Sprucewood isn't a really small town, it isn't exactly a big city either. It didn't take long before I solved a couple of cases and people started to take notice. Most of the time when I get called out in the middle of the night though, it's for something like a B&E or a drunken disorderly. Tonight however that was all about to change. I was about to begin the case that I didn't know at the time was going to change my entire life.

I pulled up to The Honest Lawyer and there were patrol cars everywhere. All the text had said was get down here now, so I really didn't know what I was walking into. I walked passed a few of the rookies in our precinct that were keeping the news and gawkers at bay. I waived at them and headed toward the door. As I walked up I could see the glass from the front of the bar was smashed all over the sidewalk which meant it was broken from inside the bar. Maybe this was a fight gone bad. There were two ambulances outside but it didn't look like there was anyone being treated and as I made my way through the doorway I realized why. The entire place was destroyed, but that wasn't the first thing that you would notice. There were bodies on the floor everywhere, without actually counting I would say close to 10. Standing over a body was my partner Bailey Webb, we went to school together and have been working together for what felt like a lifetime. "Hey B, what the hell happened here?" I asked as I approached looking around. "Nice of you to join us Mc," she said without looking up from her notepad. "Sorry I was a little busy," I responded. She finally looked up with a smirk on her face, "Oh I bet you were. Which one was it? Jess? Mel? Beca?" I slightly pushed her, "Shut up!" She just stared at me with that look until I finally said, "It was Mara, can we work now?." She laughed and started to go over the crime scene. "We've got eight casualties and the owner," she pointed to the guy sitting at the bar giving his statement to an officer. "Who says they were having an after hours drink and a couple guys came in her and shot up the place. " I looked over at the owner who looked scared but somehow with broken tables, chairs and glass everywhere, not to mention the bullets that were clearly flying and other than an untucked shirt and his hair a little ruffled he looked fine. I rolled my eyes, "Right, after hours drinks. Have you talked to him?" She shook her head and smiled, "No, you know I wouldn't have all the fun without you." I chuckled, "Well after you then."

We walked over to the bar and when we got closer I realized that he looked familiar but I couldn't figure out why. "Hi I'm detective McMaster, this is detective Webb, I know it's been a long night but we need to ask you a few questions." He didn't seem too happy about it but he knew he really didn't have a choice. I continued to ask questions while Bailey took notes. "So Mr," I hesitated since I had no idea what his name was. "Jones," he said. "So Mr. Jones, what exactly happened here?" He was really fidgety, kept looking around, and I could tell he wasn't really listening to us. "Mr. Jones," I said a little more stern. He finally made eye contact, "Can you please tell us what happened here tonight." He was still distracted but started to answer, "I already told them," he said pointing to the other officer. "We were just sitting here and two guys came in and started shooting. Now look at this place, it's destroyed." I looked at Bailey and she looked as unsurprised as I did. "Not to mention all your friends are dead," I said and he still barely acknowledged what I was saying. "Ya of course," he was drinking what looked like a glass of bourbon. "Did you recognize the shooters?" He just shook his head no. "There's an awful lot of bullets and holes around here for just two guys, are you sure it was only two?" I asked looking around at what looked like a war zone. He shook his head again but wasn't saying anything. "I'm going to need some actual answers here," I said as I was starting to get irritated. "There were only two, he repeated again," I could tell by the way that Bailey was looking at him her and I were going to have an interesting conversation when this was over. I was getting ready to ask him another question and he interrupted my train of thought, "Can I go now? I don't know anything else." I wasn't sure if it was just shock or if he was just a dick but something was off. "Just a couple more questions. How do you know these people and why were you here so late?" He looked irritated that I was asking but he didn't seem too broken up over the deaths of all these people so I didn't think they really knew each other that much. "They are just some friends they come and have a drink with me once and awhile after work." It was a short answer but I clearly wasn't getting anymore answers out of him tonight, "Just one last thing, with all this carnage you were really lucky to be alive. How did you manage to avoid the bullets?" He looked up at the ceiling, where there were also bullet holes before he answered, "Well, I...I hid behind that booth over there and they must not have seen me." I looked over to where he was pointing and looked at Bailey. "Ok Sir, you are free to go home but make sure you stay available we might have some more questions." He barely registered what I was saying and got up and started towards the door. I nodded to the officer he was talking to earlier to follow him out, I wanted to make sure that he didn't touch anything on his way out.

"You buy any of that," Bailey said to me as he walked away. "Something isn't right, let's figure out what it is." We walked over to the booth he said he was hiding behind, and it was really obvious that he was lying because there were bullet holes all over the area. There was no way that he was back there and didn't get at least wounded. "Well that was clearly a lie," another officer came over to give us an update. "Do we have any leads on the shooters?" He shook his head, "No, there were no witnesses and the cameras in here are apparently not working. We are looking for footage outside that may have caught them coming or going." I nodded and he walked away. "What are you thinking B? This seem crazy to you?" She was looking at her phone, "Well it's been a long time since we've seen this kind of shooting. You think it's gang related?" I shook my head. "I don't know this place has never come up on anything I've heard but we should look into it just incase." I was looking at some of the notes I made but wasn't really seeing them. I couldn't shake the fact that I felt like I knew that owner. I felt a shoulder bump, "What is it Mc? I know that look." I looked up at her, "I don't know, Jones just looks familiar and I can't place him. Do you recognize him?" She shrugged, "I don't think so. You know we see so many people maybe we came across him before." That could have been the case but there was something in my gut that said it was something more. I didn't have a chance to think about it more when a man and woman in suits walked through the door. "Excuse me, who's in charge here?" She was tall, blonde, with light blue eyes. She wore a black suit with a white collared shirt and a pair of heeled boots. She was walking towards me like she owned the place and I didn't know if I should be pissed off or impressed. I was debating when I heard Bailey whisper, "Stop drooling and answer her." I looked over at her, "What?" She nodded her head towards the two walking towards us, "Oh right. That would be me and who exactly are you?" I said trying to be firm but not come off to irritated. As she walked forward her hand came out to shake mine, "Special Agent Angelica Rivers, FBI." I returned the hand shake, Detective Kelly McMaster, what can I do for you agent?" She held onto my hand a little longer than I would have expected her too. "We need to talk," she said and the way she was looking at me, I had no problem with that.