A Bad Feeling

       7:30 A.M.

       Outskirts of the Pits

 

       Haven city police detective veteran Gregory Tanaka took a drag on his cigarette before letting the smoke swirl around his head.  Before him was a scene that he had seen too many times.  It made most of the younger members of the force, and even some of the older members, leave lest they lose their stomach. For Gregory, however, it filled him with anger and a small glimpse of something similiar to happiness. Munir Clayton's body had been chained to a garbage dumster, mutilated so badly that they had to use his fingerprints for identification.  His face had been carved up so badly that it looked like it went through a meat grinder.  In his right hand he held what was his heart, all plugged up and full of his blood; making it look like a water ballon.  His intestines had been torn out and wrapped around his neck like a noose. Gregory was looking at the letters "SOP" written in blood above Munir's body.  I can't believe it he's back, he's really back. Gregory thought. He balled his hands at his sides as memories of a bloody room and a dying voice crying out for help entered his mind.  "Samuel!" Gregory yelled.
       A scrawny, yet eager young man carrying a satchel ran over to Gregory's side.  "Yes sir!" He said.  Gregory was still looking at the bloody letters.

       "Do you have the notes I asked for?"

       "Yes sir. They're in my bag."

       As Samuel searched for the notes, Gregory turned to get a better look at his new partner.  At the age of twenty four, Samuel Trench was a very good looking man.  If he put on a few more pounds the ladies would be all over him. Gregory thought amusingly. Samuel's neatly combed chestnut hair and light blue eyes that were filled with life were a contrast to Gregory's own black mop styled hair and tired, dark eyes.  Samuel was new to the force yet he had shown promise.  This had gotten him stuck as Gregory's partner.

      "Read them to me."  Gregory said, looking back at the letters.

      "Yes sir. The victim is a Munir Clayton.  He used to be a professor at a local university but quit and became a private investigator."

      "Got too many of those these days." Gregory muttered as he took another drag on his cigarette.

      Samuel flipped through his notes till he found what he was looking for.  "It is estimated that the victim was killed around one this morning."

      "Anyone see what happened out here?"

      "Some people are saying that they heard some commotion but nobody saw anything."

      "Who found the body?"

      "An Erika Brown. That would be her over there sir." Gregory looked in the direction that Samuel indicated and saw a woman in an old knit cap and one too many coats standing at the end of alleyway being questioned by another police officer.  She was fidgeting and constantly looking at everyone that passed by.

      "What made her go into the alleyway?"

      Samuel hesitated before answering. "She says that an angel led her to the body."

      "An angel?"

      Samuel stratched the back of his head. "Yes, a little girl angel girl dressed in white led her to the body. Miss Brown says the angel then told her to call the police. After using a local phone she returned and says that the angel just disappeared. Miss Brown is a known drug addict and has a rap sheet."

      "Did anyone find any sign of a girl in white?"

      "No sir."

      Gregory stood in silence as he looked at the bloody wall, deep in thought.  Samuel shuffled his feet, unsure if he should continue or not. Finally Gregory continued in his questioning. "Tell me Samuel, do you know what these letters mean?"

      "They stand for Shadow Of the Pits, right? I heard one of the guys mentioning it."

      "Yes. Can you tell me who uses them?"

      "Well if I had to guess I'd say that it's a reference to the Shadow gang.  This certainly fits their brutality."

      Gregory shook his head, "The Shadows don't operate around this area and most gangs try not to mess with P.I.'s since the Amy Parken's case."

      "Isn't that where multiple P.I.'s took down the Skull Crew gang for killing one of their own?"

      Gregory nodded. "Yeah, that was a huge mess that we had clean up.  Amy was a good P.I. I'll give her that. Ever since gangs have an unspoken rule against killing P.I.'s."

      "So if it wasn't a gang that killed him, then who?"

      "Have you ever heard of the P.I. killer?"

      "Wasn't he the one who killed those six P.I.'s two years ago?"

      Again Gregory nodded. "Yes, he had also killed another three the year before."

      "What does Shadow Of the Pits have to do with a killer from two years ago?"

      "SOP was his signature. He'd write it above his victims in their blood. It's supposed to tell people that he's always in the shadows, watching them."

      "What happened to him?"

      "Nobody knows."

      "Nobody knows?"

      "He just stopped killing after awhile. Nobody could understand why. He had everybody scared and many P.I.'s were thinking of retiring.  Then it just stopped."

      "Anybody knows why?" 

      "A lot of people were confused by him to begin with. No one had seen what he looked like and the time frame between kills were extremely inconsistent. One murder was six months after the last one.  Another was only two days after."

      "So do you think he's back?"

      "Yeah, he's back alright."

      "Aren't there experts on this sort of thing that we can get to help us?"

      "Those idiots couldn't find their way out of a wet paper bag."

      "Then what do we do?"

      "First we'll see if we can find out why Mr. Clayton was wondering around the Pits in the first place. Did the victim have any relatives?"

      "Yes, a sister.  She lives near the Garden of Eden. Captain is sending out some men to see her."

      "Go with them."

      "Sir?"

      "You heard me, go with them and see if you can get anything useful from her."

      "Ok but sir, what will you being doing in the meantime?"

      "I'll go to Munir's old university and see if he talked to anybody there about what he was doing. Now get going."

      "Yes sir!" Samuel started to run out of the alleyway.

      "Oh, Samuel!" Samuel stopped and looked back at Gregory. "Quit it with the sir business, all right?"

      "Yes si...yes."  Samuel smiled and ran out of the alleyway.

      "He's still got a lot to learn, doesn't he?" A voice asked behind Gregory.

      Gregory turned around to see the Captain of the Haven police force, Henry Color.  Color had a grin on his round face that seemed to be mocking Gregory even if Color wasn't intentionally doing it. Color's stomach was poking out a bit from under his uniform. Gregory blew cigarette smoke above the Captain's head. "He'll learn fast, he's got potential. He just needs to loosen up a bit."

      Color waved at the smoke and shook his head.  He looked at Munir Clayton's body and sighed wearily.  "Greg, maybe this is one you want to sit out."

      "Sorry but I can't do that. I know more about him than anyone else in the Department."

      "I know that but you have a personal matter in this and you have a partner this time Greg. So if I can't talk you out of it, then at least try to watch out for something other than your own a*s. I don't know about you but I got a bad feeling about this one."

      "I appreciate your concern Captain but I'll be fine.  I'll try to keep the paperwork light this time." Gregory walked passed Color and exited the alleyway. He then walked over to his car, flicked his cigarette on to the ground and stomped it out. Before he got into his car and drove off to Munir's university he muttered, "I'll get you. Just you wait, I'll get you, you b*****d."

Reviews

[Ace D Portgas]

Wow I just loved this chapter! This story needs WAY MORE VIEWS

I'm a big mystery nerd so anything with detectives and I'm in!

I really enjoyed the dialogue between Samuel and Greg. They reminded me of Arthur and Cobb from Inception lol

We got to know a little more backstory such as the P.I Killer and the Shadows of Pits...Now its making me wonder who actually killed Munir since we seen three reapers and they don't seem to fit the bill.

Also ugh, what happened to Munir makes me feel really bad for him...To get his body all torn up like that is just nasty

One small thing you said Miss Brown was figiting and it should be fidgeting lol...Not trying to be a grammar Nazi but I really love the story so far and want it to be the best

Looking forward to checking out the next chapter and this is a story you really need to promote