[hayleysucks.com]

Synopsis: A guy is killed, Detectives Jack Thomson and Samantha McGee investigate. Some minor romance.

Author's Notes: I did this for my English Extension class, year 12, just posting here to see what people think of it, so, Feedback's greatly appreciated.



The sky was dark and cloudy, the only light coming from the moon. It was half past midnight, and nobody was around to see what was happening.

A black car screeched to a halt in front of the warehouse. A tall, heavily built man stepped out, and moved to the door of the warehouse. He pulled open the roller door, then walked back to his car and drove it inside. A minute later he reversed out, and drove off.

The sky was bright, but cloudy, giving the day a bland feeling.

"It is way too early for this." Jack said as he sat next to the car.

Sam got out of the driver's seat, picked up her bag, juggling the coffee cup in her other hand and closed the door.

"And way too bloody cold." She said as she adjusted her coat and scarf.

"Why do people feel the need to murder at this time of year?"

They moved towards the warehouse, where the district police were.

"What've we got?" Asked Jack, in his demanding tone.

"Uh..."

"Speak up, boy."

"We got a call this mornin', early, an anonymous tip. Said there was a kid in this, here buildin'. We went in and found a body, but didn't touch it. We know how territorial you guys are."

Sam just looked at the two officers, expressionless. She brushed past them into the warehouse. It was dark inside, the only light streaming in through the boarded up windows. Jack followed her in a moment later, after scrawling a few things down in his notebook.

"Jesus. These guys are ridiculous. Hicks."

"What's up your..."

She turned and glared at him before he could finish.

"...you're pretty." He said with a sheepish grin.

"Anyway." She said, turning away and walking over to the body. "We should get started."

Jack, as usual, followed. Then dropped his bag, taking out his camera. He moved towards the body and took a few photos. Sam knelt down next to the body, looking for something. She gasped.

"It can't be..."

"What?" Jack asked.

"This isn't good..."

"Sam, you start a sentence and don't finish it one more time... I swear to God."

"Sorry. Look at this." She said, pointing to the neck of the body.

"You've never seen a gun shot wound to the neck?"

"No. I mean, of course I have. What I'm saying is, he's been shot in the neck, and he's been stabbed in the back, what, three times? This guy was slaughtered."

The autopsy room was lit brightly from the roof, the walls, the benches; practically everywhere but the floor.

Sam and Jack came in, and moved over to the table where their body was lying.

"So, Doc, whaddya got?" Jack asked.

"After I examined the body, I ran a few tests and found something you might find interesting." He said handing Sam a folder.

"What?" She said after reading for a moment.

"What does this all mean?" Jack asked after he finished reading.

"Well, not only was our boy stabbed three times, and shot in the neck, he was also drugged, shot in the foot, shot in the head, and he had cancer of the liver."

"So, what killed him?"

"I'm not exactly sure just yet. Some tests are still being run. They should be back in a few hours. So..."

Sam cut him off. "So we'll be back in a few hours."

She started to walk out.

"Wait." The doctor called out to them. "His name is Luke."

"Thanks Doc."

"Boy, these people must be rich." Jack mumbled as they started towards to the front door.

"Yeah." Sam rang the doorbell.

After a moment, a blonde girl answered the door. "Can I help you?"

"Uh, yeah. Hi, I'm Detective Samantha McGee, this is Jack Thomson."

"We're with the Crime Lab, we're investigating Luke Wilson's death."

"Oh, come in, come in." She said in a hushed voice.

They followed the girl to what was presumably the dining room.

"So, how did you know that I was seeing Luke?"

"There were a few things in his wallet, photos. We assumed." Sam said after a moment.

"Your relationship was a secret?"

"My father didn't know. Still doesn't. Thinks he was just a friend."

"Any particular reason for this, if you don't mind me asking?"

"Yes, actually, there is. My daddy's very protective of me. Doesn't like boys to hang around. Thinks they'll get in the way of my schoolwork."

"Would your dad ever get violent if he found out?"

"What are you implying? That my dad found out, and he killed Luke? No way." She said, wiping the hair from away from her face, revealing a bruise on her forehead.

"Nice bruise you got there." Jack said.

"What? Oh, this? I fell down the stairs, I'm a little clumsy."

"Pretty nasty for falling down the stairs."

"Uh, the door was open, and I..."

"Fell into the doorknob?"
"Look, it's not what you think, my Dad doesn't hit me."

"Right."

"No, really. Dad has never laid a hand on me. But..." She paused, shaking her head.

"But what?"

"But Luke does... did get violent."

"Did Luke own a gun?"

"Uh, yeah, I think so."

"Ok. That's all we really needed to ask. We might get you to come down to the station later, when you're ready. Thanks. We'll show ourselves out." Sam said, rising from the table.

"I had to do something." Anne said quietly.

"Thanks for your time."

When they got back into the car, Sam finally spoke again.

"I think we should pay a little visit to her daddy."

"Yeah."

The interrogation room at the police station was a dark, dank place, with a little desk lamp sitting on the edge of the table in the middle. Karl Stevens sat on one side of the table, his elbows on the table. Sam walked in. Jack followed, slowly closing the door behind them. Sam sat down at the chair across the table from Mr. Stevens. Jack stayed in the corner, watching this with interest.

"Mr Stevens. How are you?" Sam said with a cheery smile.

"Um..." He looked up at the woman. "Good... Why am I here?"

"Do you know a Luke Wilson?"

"Yeah. That jerk has been dating my daughter for the past two years."

"That jerk?" Jack asked from the corner.

"Uh, do I have to listen to the dude in the wheelchair?"

"Yeah, you do." Sam glanced at Jack, smiled, and then turned her attention back at the man across the table. "You were saying?"

"Luke... uh, Wilson, was it? Was dating my daughter for two years, and I didn't know until a few days ago."

"How did you find out?" Jack asked.

"An anonymous letter." He said as he pulled a piece of paper from his pocket.

"Came in the mail a couple days ago." He handed it to her.

She looked at the letter. The handwriting was basically incomprehensible, but she could make out the gist of it.

Your daughter has a boyfriend Two years Luke

"Thanks." She said after reading the note. "I hope you don't mind if I keep this?"

"No, not at all."

"Do you own a gun?"

"Yeah, it's in the constitution, ain't it? I'm allowed to, I have a licence. What is this about, Officer?"

"Detective." Jack sneered from the corner, as he took the letter from his colleague and put it into an evidence bag.

"Luke Wilson was murdered two days ago."

"Oh. And you think I did it?"

Silence filled the room.

"Where were you Tuesday night Mr Stevens?"

"At home, with my daughter. Yeah."

The doctor walked out of the autopsy room, and snapped off his gloves.

"First, he was poisoned, stabbed a few hours later, but it was the gunshot to the neck that killed him."

"What about the gunshot wound to the foot?"

"Self-inflicted."

"Oh... Kay. Not at all odd." Jack mumbled to himself.

"But, I rang his physician, a Doctor Weiss, I believe."

"And...?" Sam probed.

"He only had two months to live. The cancer was killing him. The murder really wasn't necessary."

"Damn."

The apartment building of Jane Scanley and Harry Turner was on the outskirts of town. Sam and Jack arrived at approximately noon, and made their way up to the third floor, via the elevator. Sam knocked twice, and then patiently waited for an answer.

A dark-haired girl, in her early twenties answered.

"Hi, you must be the detectives. Come in." She led them into the living room, sitting on the sofa, and turning off the television.

"Anne called. Said that you two had dropped by her place. I figured you'd come over here, too."

Sam sat down on the sofa next to the girl.

"Oh, right. I just have a few questions."

"Yeah, that's fine." She said.

"Harry! Come here!" She yelled in the general direction of a hallway.

"Harry, my roommate. He was friends with Luke. A while back."

"A while back?" Jack asked inquisitively.

"Yeah, we all had a bit of a falling out. When Luke and Anne got together. It was fine at the start, then they just started to drift away, you know, only spent time with eachother. Surprised her dad didn't find out - boy, he must be pretty daft."

"You still talk to them?"

"Every now and again, you know, when we have to."

A tall boy walked out into the room. Stopped when he saw the detectives. Dropped what he had in his hands. A knife.

A very sharp knife, with something, is that blood, on it. Jack noted.

"Harry. This is Detective..."

"Samantha McGee and Jack Thomson." Sam interrupted, just in time to save the girl from embarrassment.

"Oh. Hi." He said, picking up the knife and putting it on the nearby kitchen counter. "You here about Luke, I take it?

"Yeah, they are."

"Where were you two Tuesday night?"

"At my girlfriend's. The both of us were. Her birthday." Harry told them. "Anne was there too."

"Sympathy invite." Jane said, carelessly.

Sam furrowed her brow.

"I mean, she was invited, but nobody thought she'd turn up. Alone, at least, those two are joined at the un-hip. They don't go anywhere without eachother. That's kinda why they don't really get invited to things anymore."

This time, Jack's brow was furrowed.

"Everyone is so uncomfortable when they're around. They used to be cute, now they're sickening."

"How well do you know them?"

"Me and Anne have been friends since grade school. Harry and Luke were like this." She crossed over two of her fingers.

"Okay. Did you know that they were having problems?"

"Not 'til Tuesday night, when Anne turned up alone."

"With her hair down." Jane added. Furrowed brows.

"She always, and I mean, always, has her hair so tightly pulled that... well, let's just say it's really tight. But, at the party, she had her hair down, and her bangs, covering her forehead. I went to the bathroom, to freshen up, but she was already in there, and I noticed that she had this red mark on her forehead. I asked her about it, and she just said she was clumsy and..."

"Fell into a doorknob?" Jack asked smugly, writing in his notebook.

"Yeah. How'd you... Never mind. Eventually I'd gotten it out of her that they had a fight, and he got violent. Then she left his place and went to the party."

"Right. Okay." Sam said, then glanced at Jack.

He nodded slightly.

"We should get going."

She got up from her place on the sofa, and started heading towards the door.

"Wait." Jane said.

Sam turned to face the girl.

"There's something you should know."

"Jane, don't." Harry whispered to his friend
.
She looked at him, defiantly.

"Um... we wrote an anonymous letter to her dad, telling him about Luke. I just thought that he should know that his daughter had been lying to him for the last two years, that's all."

Harry looked at her. Then looked at Sam.

"It's true, but we didn't do anything else, I swear."

"That's not entirely true." Jane said hesitantly.

The entire room looked to her.

"Um... I gave Anne some X. She seemed really upset, so I thought she could use it."

"Thanks." Sam walked out.

"Oh, one last thing."

"Yeah?" Jane questioned.

"Drugs are bad, mmmkay?" Jack said as he followed Sam out of the apartment.

Sam sat at her desk, chop-sticks in hand, trying to decide whether to go for the last piece of Honey Chicken or Mongolian Lamb. It was a hard choice.

"I've got it. It took me all day, but I finally got it."

"You finally got what?" Sam looked up from the box of Chinese goodness.

Jack wheeled over to her desk, notebook in hand.

"Oh, the case. What does your trusty notebook hold this time?"

"Oh, ye of little faith." He smiled at her. "Well, ahem... This is what happened. Harry and Jane sent the letter to Karl, informing him of his daughter's relationship with Luke. He gets angry, goes to his daughter for an explanation. She thinks that Luke told her father. So she goes to Luke, they have an argument 'cause he doesn't know what she's talking about. He gets impatient, and hits her. She leaves and goes to the party, where Jane finds out, and gives her the ecstasy. Anne goes back to Luke's, drugs him, thinks that'll fix all her problems. Turns out that it didn't, it just made him sleepy."

"Ecstasy made him sleepy?"

"He's got A.D.H.D. - Attention Deficit Hyperactive Disorder. He takes six Ritalin tablets a day; X is nothing for this kid."

"Oh. Good to know."

"Anyway, he's pretty much just drugged out, and when he wakes up, he has a little visitor."

"Karl."

"Hello Mr. Stevens. He takes his gun out, just to threaten him, you know, scare him off a little. But things get a little out of hand, Luke gets out his gun, but before he gets the chance to defend himself, his gun goes off and he shoots himself in the foot. The noise startles Karl and daddy shoots him in the neck. The boy ain't dead so he shoots him again, this time in the head, to, well, you know, put him out of his misery, I guess. Karl freaks out so he dumps his body in the abandoned warehouse."

"Still doesn't explain the anonymous call though. And the stab wounds."

"Will you hold your horses? Geez, woman. Learn some patience."

"Continue."

"Harry Turner."

"Ok, trying to connect the dots, but..."

"Harry didn't much like Luke, especially after he was ditched for the blonde girl."

"They were together?"

"Uh, yeah, that guy had gay written all over him. You didn't notice?"

"My Gaydar mustn't've been turned on as high as your's."

"So, Harry's pissed that his ex-boyfriend's got a new girlfriend..."

"But I thought that Harry had a girlfriend?"

"How do you know this girlfriend wasn't just a friend who was a girl? That's right, you don't. Anyway, Harry's all hurt and jealous and brooding, so he goes over to Luke's place while everyone else was at the party. Things get a little heated, but don't you worry, Harry's got his trusty knife with him and he just stabs the guy in the back, literally. Turns out everyone wanted him dead. So, we gotta pay a visit to Anne, Karl, Jane, and Harry. The D.A.'s gonna have a heart attack."

"How do you do it?"

"There is method in my notebook-induced madness."

She touched his arm. Smiled.

"Hey."

"Hi."

"It's good to have you back."

"Yeah." He smiled at her. "We've got some arresting to do."

"There's always that."

[DarkPower]

After reading that I dont think I will need my healthy dose of Law And Order tonight.

The story moved along well.

[Sith Lord Jim]

An awesome story! Keep up the good work! Harry shouldnt have been gay, but at least it was only speculation. Ha.
Yours Truly Jimmy

[Wordsmyth]

I liked the story. Had a bit of "Murder on the Orient Express" in it. The story did move right along ...maybe a little too fast some times. Maybe you could put some kind of transition in between scenes. Sometimes took me a couple of lines to realize I was in the next one. The endindg was summed up really quickly. Was looking for a little more.
Good story.... Keep up the good work!!!!

[Mickey]

Hmm....intresting. I liked it. Good story.

[Hurricane]

That was an awesome story. It really got my brain working. Keep up the good work.