DEATH AND HAVOC. Pt: 1

CHAPTER: ONE.

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Detective Logan O'Brien and his partner Conan Doyle were assigned to a crime scene in the downtown area of Hillburn City. They had both been working in Hillburn for nearly six months now, since his graduation from the academy with honors in homicide. Detective O'Brien was the youngest detective in the HCPD's entire history, so that made him quite popular among those who worked the streets, as well as among detectives of other departments and agencies.

Logan didn't care about this fact very much, but Detective Doyle seemed quite fond of it, and they were going to take advantage of his attention to detail.

They got out of the car and looked around at the crime scene. They'd arrived late on purpose so that they could see everything, but as they did, Conan noticed something else that caught his eye. "What are you doing?" He questioned.

Logan was looking up at the sky, trying not to look too curious as he did so. "I don't know," Logan said simply. He had his gun in his hand and pointed up at the darkening sky. "Maybe we should go back to the car," he muttered. Something didn't sit right with him. He wasn't a kid but he could have sworn that most times the clouds form deep red eyes the shape of the moon and glare down at him angrily. It was a strange thing for a man of his age to keep seeing but he often chucked it down to stress from work.

He has never told anyone about it either.

What grown man would say to another grown man, 'I think the sky is turning into red eyes and staring at me like it wants me dead?'

It sounded ridiculous.

He wasn't seeing anything because as soon as someone called him and he looked away just a second later, the red eyes would be gone along with every other thing he might have thought he saw. This case wasn't any different, as soon as he had taken his eyes away to respond to his partner and looked back up into the sky the whole thing was gone.

It was a strange type of hallucination.

"It'll be faster if we just walk," Conan stated matter-of-factly.

With nothing to say to the Older man, Logan shrugged and began walking ahead. The pair continued walking through a series of alleys before they reached what seemed like the front entrance of a building. The structure was dark and decrepit which meant it was probably abandoned or otherwise forgotten by its owners. Conan stopped short however when he thought he spotted movement inside. A light was glowing behind them. They turned to check where it was coming from and found another building a few feet off to the side. This one also spotted lights on the roof. There didn't seem to be any obvious danger and as they approached the building, the two cops heard faint whimpering.

They stood on either side of the building and listened closely. When they couldn't hear any noise, further along, they decided to enter the building quietly. Conan had one hand poised above his gun while Logan was using his other to hold open the door with his body weight. Inside they found a set of stairs that lead deeper into the building. Once they went all the way down they came across several doors and finally found a hallway. Conan led Logan left towards where the sound seemed to come from. As they walked deeper into the hall, they could hear the whimpering grow louder, muffled by walls that they walked past without ever having seen a person. As they walked past another room, a figure came into view. Logan froze instantly upon spotting the face.

"Ellie..." he asked confusedly, tucking his gun back into the holster to go hold the frightened little girl. Conan followed suit. The little girl was dressed in black clothes with a green scarf wrapped around her head and arms. She had long black hair hanging loosely down her back. She looked terrified and she stared at Conan with wide eyes. "Shh shhhh," Logan said soothingly. The two crouched on either side of Ellie as Logan took off his jacket to wrap around her shivering shoulders.

"Where's your mommy?" Conan asked. She shook her head, still crying. "She's not here. Is your mama somewhere else?" Another shaking nod. Conan looked over his shoulder to make sure that no one else was there before asking again: "Where is your mama?" Ellie pointed to what appeared to be the end of the hallway. At first glance, it looked like someone had thrown a blanket over part of a doorway. Conan and Logan knelt beside it before looking at the little girl. "Is this blanket yours?" Conan asked and she agreed with a nod.

Conan smiled reassuringly at the girl and then at Logan. "Can you show me where mommy is?" he asked, motioning for Ellie to follow him into the darkness. But the little girl was still shaken up for some reason and refused to follow them, rather she pointed in that direction once again and backed up into the wall as if running away from them.

"I think she's afraid of something, Doyle, come on, let's go check it out."

Conan nodded and together he and Logan moved slowly through the hallways until they came upon an opening with a wooden gate. On closer inspection, Conan saw that it led to a large field surrounded by trees. In the center of the field was what appeared to be a large, round table covered by white sheets.

"Do you think that's a gravestone?" Conan whispered to his partner. Logan nodded silently and walked forward. He knelt and pulled aside the sheet covering the Stone.

"A grave." He murmured. He carefully examined the surface. "Looks like it might have been dug recently."

"More like it was dug mere minutes before we arrived," Conan added. "Is that a coffin?"

"Clearly."

"Oh, God, is someone inside?" Conan asked, noticing the blood pool soaking into the earth.

"Help me lift it off the ground, the grave is shallow, come on!" Logan encouraged and the older detective helped him lift the piece of the coffin from its place. "Shit!" Logan cried, abandoning the graveside and dashing toward the fence where he grabbed onto it and began to retch his guts out.

Conan studied the content of the coffin for a while before putting the cover back. He began to walk toward Logan and once he was with him, he patted the man on the back and whispered. "You okay, buddy?"

"No!" Logan choked out, his voice breaking into silent sobs. "Who could have done something like this to her?" He muttered with a shaky breath.

"This is the first time I'll be seeing a murder that heinous, whoever did this is a monster." Conan spat into the ground before speaking again. "Let's call in and get the body to the morgue for analysis and see how things shake out and as for the girl. You bring her home with you, Welfare will take over in the morning."

"I'm not leaving her there..." Logan protested.

"Look," Conan said firmly. He kneeled next to the grieving detective and put his hand under Logan's chin and tilted it upward. "I've had to deal with a lot of gruesome deaths in my line of work. Trust me, you'll be relieved." Before the detective knew it, Conan dragged him off the scene. He tried to resist but Conan only shoved him down until they were beside the little girl once again.

Who knows if she had witnessed what happened to her mother?

"Don't worry about it right now, we need to get back to the station to get statements. We may need to interview everyone she's come in contact with before her death this is an abandoned place, I wonder what brought her out here by this time of the night, maybe her little girl will shed some light when she's less shaken." Conan held the girl's hand and dragged both man and child out of the scene and toward the car.

Once he had made sure they were all sat and comfortable he rushed over to the driver's seat then made his calls before he started up the car and turned back to Logan who sat slumped against the passenger seat.

"Hey, you're gonna be okay. Just breathe, okay?" Conan reassured as best he could. Logan gave a small sniffle before nodding and turning away.

*****

This was by far the worst night of his entire life. He had only been going out with Avery for less than a month and now she was dead. Murdered and left in that shallow grave. Her body was mangled as if her limbs had been ripped out and tossed over her upper half, bones scattered around like pieces of a puzzle, her organs missing. The coffin was a puddle of blood, limbs, and bones. Blood had pooled everywhere and was smeared into the dirt, her face was frozen in a look of horror and her hair was spread out like wings in the pool of her blood. Her eyes were wide open and staring straight into his. Logan felt another round of bile churn within his stomach, this wasn't like the cases that he'd had to solve. What normal human being in their right mind would do that to another human being?

Fuck, he was starting to cry again. Logan wiped furiously at his eyes and took in a deep breath. His heart was pounding against his rib cage, sending shockwaves of pain throughout his body with each rapid beat. It was difficult to breathe properly, let alone talk. He closed his eyes tightly and forced himself to take another breath and calm his racing nerves. When he opened his eyes he looked behind him to see that Ellie was lying in the back seat already asleep. His heart broke for the poor kid. Avery was all she had and now she's gone too. Who's going to look after her like her mother did? The thought almost had his tears going once again but he fought to stay steady. Taking his eyes away from the little girl he met Conan's eyes.

"I'm gonna try to keep her."

"Adoption?"

"If I can get that then it'll be perfect," Logan whispered. Conan nodded in response as they drove on in silence.

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