The Dance Of Blood

They continue their way up to the entrance of the police station. Nothing more is said between us all. I know well within myself I can take my own way of silence. I am not going to say a word. I know Jim is on the same page. We won't be here long.

"So, we have two for holding." Officer Hart announces as we go through the second set of doors.

Oh, just wait, Barry, I'm going to go for your job with this shit. I feel the blood rushing in my face from the level of aggravation from the humiliation attempt he just made. I feel like my blood is boiling inside of my skin.

I try to remember that my mom said I shouldn't just react to everything. I wasn't guilty of it even, so don't play into the rage. Let this come to pass. I find myself focusing on keeping calm. It is a difficult thing to do, when your in pain from the handcufss around your wrists and they proceed to aggravate you.

"Alright, let's go this way." Officer Hart says as he pulls me along by my handcuffs.

"Well it's not like your exactly giving me any choice." I say, scoffing.

"You're funny, kid." Officer Hart turns me and pushes me into the chair across from the seat of his desk.

It seems to me that Jim has moved to another section of the police station. Again, this is too much like a cops episode. They are probably in the other area telling him I am talking about how we pulled this all off. They wouldn't get anywhere anyways, but the idea has me smirking.

"What's got you in a good mood?" He asks me.

"Not a good mood. I just find it funny you are wasting time on my cousin and me." I say. "If I was a murderer why would I have my cousin place the 911 call?" I ask.

"That's actually what I wanted to ask you. It doesn't make sense, unless it was not on purpose." He crosses his arms and kicks up his black boots onto the desk.

"That makes as much sense as the idea of a haunted killer car." I joke.

"Ah, a King fan huh?" He smirks. "Most murderers would be."

"It's not like that, I like a thrill." I grin.

Me and this cop are playing chess with our words. He is trying a way in under my skin, which I wont let him. If only he knew I wont give nothing to him. I want him to give me the details. He makes it almost impossible to keep this in my mind as an animal attack. The clock strikes 6 PM and I see a bunch of officers going in and out of the station for shift rotations. I never got to see this before, but I admit, it is kind of neat, they look like regular working people to me in this moment. Who would ever thought that some of these guys are really heroes.

"So, who's your inspiration, Hogde? I am sure that Jim's already telling my colleague about the murder." He says flatly and it is obvious the man has his own motives in this approach.

"Honestly, I dont get inspired by killers. I vow to hunt them down." I say to him.

"Gonna be a cop eh?"

"No, you're not the ones who really catch killers. You just like to think you do." I say.

His face turns red as a tomato as he slams his fist harshly against his deep oaken colored desk. Everyone in the room jolts their head to him. I can't help but smile, I won, Officer Hart. Just wait.

"Are you trying to insinuate police like me aren't needed?" He replies with a near shout.

SLAM!

A door on the end of the room swings back shut when I look up, a man that is bald in a white dress shirt in a tie comes marching out. Bingo. Round two, Hart, let's play.

"HART!!!!" The stout bald man screams to the officer across from me.

"Sounds like your boss wants you." I say.

Officer Hart gets up from his spot and begins to make his way to the office of the stout man. Everyone is watching like me, in utter silence. When he enters the office, the man points to a seat as he grabs the doors handle.

"I OUGHT TO FIRE YOUR-" The man starts screaming at the officer again.

SLAM!!!! The door makes its noise and echoes in the room. The detective who is seated beside the officer interrogating me is giggling quietly to himself. I suppose this is a typical thing.

"Kid, you've got balls." The detective says to me.

"Sir?"

"You just told of the deputy. With legal manner too. Bravo kid." He actually is praising me. "Your father would be proud to see you right now, standing up for yourself." He admits.

"Know your rights." Is all I say. I cross my arms and put my feet on the officers desk.

The office door swings quietly and Hart comes to his desk with a box. He says nothing to me and the chief emerges from behind him. He looks rather worried. I would too after having the officer pull a stunt like that on him. The chief sits across from me while Hart fills his box with his personal effects.

"I would like to apologize for Officer Hart's behaviour." He says quietly.

"You're lucky I didn't just call the presses." I say with a scowl worn on my face.

"He is suspended without pay as of the talk we had a moment ago." The chief says.

"How long?" I ask, the two of them looking t me like a deer in the headlights.

Either I have a knack for their kind of work, or I catch everyone by surprise, either way it matter not to me. I sigh with my entire lung capacity. I exhasperate loudly as I lean over the desk to reach for the phone.

"Indeffinitely." The chief says just as I Have my hand touching the phone.

"What?!" The shock in Hart's voice tells me everything.

"You are going to also let me know whats going on. I went through false accusations, I deserve the very least to know why." I demand.

"Kid, I can't just divulge that." He says and I lift the phone from the reciever. "Wait.. Okay... Come to my office. This is confidential." He says.

"What's up?" I stand up and walk towards the office they had walked from earlier.

He waits until we get to the door before he even makes a sound. Hart seems to be getting his shit packed up. He is so screwed when my father hears about this. I know what my rights are. Even with that, I am ecstatic this prick is being told off. They are playing into my hands just because they mistreated me and my cousin.

"Well, I first, think we need your cousin in here. Mr. Song." He says as he hits a button on his desk. "Hey, get that Song kid out of the interrogation room." He says.

"Roger." Comes from the speaker he has next to it.

"So, it's not a bear at all is it?" I say flatly.

"No. We think this killer is a comic book fan. A highschooler like you. That is part of why i want you and your cousin." He explains a little bit.

"So the killer is a thing." I say. "I didn't want to believe that, but Officer Hart, he made things look weird." I add.

"The mentality we got from being avid fans of sherlock holmes and the hardy boys." Jim says as he comes in and closes the door quietly.

"Well then, you boys may just love the offer I have for you." He says. " Hodge, I heard you want to be an investigator of sorts." He adds.

"Yes sir, I want to go into forensics." I reply.

"Bro, that's some intense work. I wouldn't want to be in the field if I worked in that line." Jim says to me. "I'd rather be in the lab analyzing samples."

"Then it's settled. Your salaries will be tweny eight thousand a year, and increse with help of moving into the proper schools and even better, in field experience. If you are doing this line of work, we may as well use your brilliance to our advantage." He admits.

"Brilliance?" I ask.

"I have been trying to find a way to have Hart suspended for years, but you causing that scene just opened the vote for the board. We can launch our underground investigation team. No one know of it yet and so this gives us the best chance to give you a shot." He explains.

"So, we are like apprentices?" Jim asks.

"Yes, of sorts. We will train you on self defence, you will always have four full fledged detectives also around in the back ground for the time of your training and employment until liscensing or a diploma of forensics is presented." He says.

"Alright, I am in." I say.

"Then me too." Jim adds.

"Alright, so, you kids are familiar with the comic heroes right?" He asks.

"Yeah, I read comics every night." Jim admits.

"I'm more of a true story kind of reader." I say.

"We initially were going to say a bear attack, but, we discovered this." The chief says as he pulls out a rather heavy looking metal claw that is in an evidence bag. "He made wearable bear claws." The chief says.

"So, who was the victim?" I ask hesitantly.

"She would have been your classmate this year. Mary Wiltson." He says with a saddened voice. "Her father identified the body just twenty minutes ago at the coroners." He adds.

"No, that was Mary ?" Jim says holding a hand over his mouth.

"You knew her?" The chief asks.

"It was his crush, Sir." I say for him.

"Damn."

"What a way to go.. Who would go after her?" Jim starts uttering to himself.