by James Hunt
Another squad car appeared on Cooper’s left and joined the pursuit. The thump of helicopter blades sounded over the din of sirens, and the radio blared the chopper’s view from above. “Suspect has switched directions and is now heading north on Chester Street.”
Tires screeched, and Cooper felt the tug of the wheel as the weight of the car shifted, and her shoulder slammed into the door, flinging her in the other direction as she straightened out. Every muscle in her body tightened as she floored the accelerator. Her knuckles flashed white on her grip on the steering wheel. Her eyes remained glued to the back of Kate’s car, which maneuvered dangerously through the streets.
The chopper pilot’s voice updated Kate’s position. “Suspect is now heading east on County Road 36.”
Cooper mapped Kate’s trajectory in her head, and she suddenly realized where she was heading. She snatched the radio, screaming into it over the sound of her engine and siren. “This is Detective Cooper. Suspect is heading to Baltimore Storage on Highway 86. I repeat, suspect is heading to Baltimore Storage on Highway 86. All units should converge at that location.” Cooper tossed the receiver in the passenger seat, and the radio filled with confirmation as she followed Kate east.
The police had cleared most of the roads, stopping traffic and getting innocent lives out of the way before any more blood was shed. Once they veered onto Highway 86 a tire spike had been set up, but she watched Kate veer off the side of the road, nearly flying off the coastline and into the ocean to avoid them. Cooper picked up the radio. “I’m coming through. Move the spike!”
Officers scrambled to rip them off the road, and Cooper swerved and missed with only a few inches to spare. She exhaled, but her muscles tightened at the sight of the storage unit. She watched as Kate’s car skid to a stop and then she sprinted inside, gun in hand.
Tires slid across the loose gravel, and Cooper parked right next to Kate’s sedan. She slammed the car door shut just as the fleet of police vehicles pulled in behind her. She pulled her pistol and pointed to the far end of the property. “I need this place locked down now! I want officers on every exit!”
Hurried nods answered back, and no one questioned the authority in her voice. Then, amidst the chaos, Hart appeared. “Hey, you all right?”
Cooper heaved her chest up and down, attempting to catch her breath as the storm of officers covered the exits, establishing a perimeter. “We need her alive. No one shoots unless fired upon.”
The rookie nodded and sprinted into action faster than Cooper expected. Once they received word that the exits were sealed, Cooper led the squad, Hart right behind her, into the long halls of the facility. She stopped just before the entrance, looking back to Hart. “Unit forty-one. That’s where we’ll find her.”
Cooper reached for the light switch in the hallway and flicked it on, the power restored and the fluorescent lighting evaporating the darkness. Cooper inched forward, pistol raised, with at least a half dozen officers behind her. Despite her confidence of where Kate was hiding, they cleared each open door methodically, not willing to risk the chance that she was wrong.
When they reached the turn in the hallway where the unit was located, Cooper paused at the corner, peeking around the edge. Hart darted to the opposite side of the hall’s entrance, and once both confirmed the hall was clear they pressed forward.
The police unit glided through the halls seamlessly, and when they approached storage locker forty-one, Cooper held up her hand, and everyone stopped. “Kate? It’s Detective Cooper. I need you to slide the gun out into the hallway and put your hands in the air.” Silence. “Kate, listen to me. You don’t want to do this. I can help you. Let me help you.”
The laughter was soft at first but grew steadily louder. “I never wanted your help, Detective. Everything I did was an act of love. I did it for him.” Kate’s voice echoed from the empty storage unit, her tone an eerie calm.
Cooper poked her head around the corner and saw Kate on the mattress, pistol still in hand, staring at the blank wall across from her. Before she second-guessed herself, Cooper looked to Hart and mouthed, “Stay here.” Hart scrunched his face in confusion then fear as Cooper slid in the room. Kate glanced up at her when she entered but made no sudden movements.
“I thought he’d be here.” Kate said, her shoulders sagging, staring at the wall with a face drenched in longing. “I thought he’d wait for me.”
Cooper lowered her weapon and stepped forward slowly, carefully. “Who is he, Kate? Maybe we can find him. Together.”
Kate glanced back over to Cooper. The stoic indifference had disappeared and was replaced with the chaotic stare from the basement. “I still don’t know what he sees in you. I don’t know why he picked you. I gave him everything he wanted. He loved me.” Her knuckles flashed tighter over the grip on the pistol. “He said so.”
Cooper continued her slow shuffle forward. “If he loves you, then he’ll come. But until he does, why don’t you come with me, Kate?” She reached out a hand, though she was still several feet from Kate’s position. “Let me help you.”
Kate looked at Cooper, smiling. “You have no idea what’s coming.” She pressed the pistol to her temple and squeezed the trigger.
Chapter 8
Cooper sat in the dirt with her back against the outside walls of the storage unit. She leaned her head back, and the sun highlighted dry, speckled blood that crusted over her nose and cheek from the altercation with Kate.
Hart followed the gurney that wheeled Kate’s body into the ambulance, her features dulled by the white sheet that covered the remains. Once it was loaded he walked over and knelt down to eye level. “You all right?”
Cooper looked at his shoes and noticed that they were far less expensive than the pair he wore the day before, and the crisp new shirt and pants had been replaced with clothes that were still presentable, but the colors were lightly faded, and the cuffs and collar were frayed at the edges. “I see you wore something you didn’t mind getting blood on today.”
Hart extended his hand, and Cooper grabbed it as he helped her off the ground. “Yeah, I figured I’d save the good stuff for church on Sunday.”
Cooper examined some of the bloodstains on her own shirt and nodded. “Probably a good idea. No reason to piss off the man upstairs any more than he already is.” She caught the last glimpse of the ambulance before it disappeared down the highway, and she made her way to the squad car.
Before she got behind the wheel, Hart walked over. “You sure you’re okay to drive?”
“I’ll be fine.” Cooper shut the door and started the engine, rolling down her window as Hart walked back over to his car. “Hey!” Hart stopped and turned around. “Thanks for having my back, partner.”
“Clearing some of your stuff off of my desk would be thanks enough.”
Cooper smiled and pulled out of the storage unit’s parking garage and headed back to the station. The ride back was much slower than the ride there, and with the adrenaline subsided it took all of her strength to keep both hands on the wheel and her eyes open. She tried to keep a tight grip on the wheel, because every time she loosened it, she felt her hands shake.
Unanswered questions plagued her mind the entire drive back, and by the time she reached the station her head was screaming. She immediately went back to her office and stared at the tangled mess of suspects on the wall. She took Kate’s picture and plastered it in the center and studied it in silence until Hart entered.
“Hey, the captain wants to see us.”
“I’ll be there in a minute,” Cooper replied, her gaze still locked on Kate’s picture. She stepped closer, examining the smile on the woman’s face. “She really thought he loved her.”
When Cooper and Hart stepped into the captain’s office, he was leaned back in his chair, feet on the desk, his clothes messy and baggy around the tired frame that barely kept them in place. “Close the door.”
“What’s this about?” Cooper asked and raised her eyebrows. “I’
ve got a lot of paperwork to catch up on.”
“Yes. You do.” Farnes slapped down a file on his desk and jammed his index finger into it. “Everything you need for your case is already taken care of for you. All you need to do is sign off on it, and we can end this mess.”
Cooper cocked her head to the side. “Sign off?”
Hart stepped forward, doing his best to balance addressing his superior officer and not trying to sound like a pussy. “Sir, I can promise you that both Detective Cooper and I have handled this case with all of the correct procedures. If you’re worried about us having gone outside the book on this one—”
“Shut it, Detective, or I’ll have you back on the streets working traffic.” Farnes pounded his fist into the table, his face flushed red and the loose skin around his face wiggling from his exertion. “This case is over. The woman killed herself out of a misguided guilt for murdering Irene Marsh.”
“You can’t really think it was Kate Wurstshed behind all of this.” Cooper pushed off the wall and didn’t stop until her legs were pressed up against Farnes’s desk. “DNA samples were found on Kate’s body. She was raped. On top of that none of Kate’s DNA was found on Irene Marsh’s body. Kate Wurstshed was a puppet for someone else.”
“How many cases do you think this precinct receives in a year, Detective?” Farnes looked to both of them, but neither answered. “How many homicides do you think we deal with? And how many of those are actually solved?” He shook his head. “I’m not going to waste any more resources on this farce when there is other work to be done.”
Cooper pressed both palms flat against the desk and hunched over. “No DNA. No motive. It wasn’t Kate Wurstshed. Why do you want this swept under the rug? What are you trying to cover up this time, Farnes?”
“Enough!” Farnes’s voice snapped the chill out of the air, and Cooper and Hart backed off. “You will drop this, and that is that. There are no other victims. There are no other leads. That woman’s death put a pretty little bow on this, and you’re not going to find a better solution. Now get out of this office before I have your badge!” Farnes huffed and puffed, and after a prolonged silence Cooper finally left, leaving the paperwork Farnes had wanted her to take on his desk.
Hart chased after her and caught up down the hall, gripping the file in his hand. He noticed Cooper looking down at it, and shrugged. “I just took it so he’d shut up. I’m not going to actually fill it out.”
“No?” Cooper shook her head, her tone sarcastic. “I don’t know. It would suck to be busted back down to traffic duty. You have a baby on the way to think of, Hart.”
Hart grabbed her arm and pulled her close. “Hey. I know you don’t trust anyone. But you keep down that road, and you won’t have that badge for much longer either.” He let go of her arm and held up the file. “I’m not putting my name on this.” He stepped back, letting one of the officers pass between them. “All we have to do is find another lead. We do that, and Farnes won’t be able to shove this down our throats.”
For the first time in a long time Cooper felt the camaraderie she felt when she first joined the police force. She nodded, and the two returned to their office. “Have we heard back on the warrant for the bank account?”
“No, and I don’t think Farnes would approve that now anyway.”
“Right.” Cooper examined the board of suspects, with Kate’s picture in the middle. “She kept talking about a ‘him.’ That’s who we need to find.” She furrowed her brow, remembering something else that she’d said in the storage unit. “I don’t know why he chose you.”
“What?” Hart asked.
Cooper paced back and forth. “Kate said that the killer chose me for something.” The thought festered in her mind, and she was unsure of why it bothered her so much. “Let’s recheck Barnesby’s and his people’s alibis.”
“Got it.” Hart went to step outside and then stopped. “Hey, I’m heading to the mess hall. You want anything?”
“I’m fine.”
“No, you’re not. You look like you just crawled out from the grave.”
“I just need to stop drinking alone.” Despite the comment she agreed to a turkey sandwich, and the food restored the clarity in her mind. She pulled out her phone, looking to call Barnesby’s secretary, and saw that she had a missed call. It was Beth’s husband. She selected the voice mail and listened.
“Adila, it’s Tim. Is Beth with you? Her flight landed thirty minutes ago, but she wasn’t at the airport. I checked with the airlines, and she never even got on the plane. I’ve tried calling her, but I haven’t been able to reach her. If you know something I don’t, give me a call back.”
The beep signaled the end of the message, and Cooper felt her pulse quicken. She scrolled through her contacts and dialed her sister. The phone rang, but only went to voice mail. She tried it again and received the same outcome. She left her lunch on the table and made a beeline for the missing persons unit.
Both Hall and Diaz were at their desks, Diaz with his feet propped up, reading a paper. “I just heard about Wurstshed. That’s some crazy shit.”
Cooper ignored the small talk, her eyes glued to Diaz’s computer screen. “I need you to track a cell number.” She knocked Diaz’s feet off the table and spun his chair to face the computer.
“Who’s it for?”
“It doesn’t matter, just do it.”
Diaz complied as she fed him the numbers. A loading bar filled the screen, and the program slowly searched the area, honing in on the signal. Finally, the computer pinged a location, and Cooper furrowed her brow in confusion. Diaz looked up at her. “Cooper, whose phone is this?”
The room spun in slow motion, and Cooper felt her blood run cold. Without another word she sprinted from the office, racing through the precinct. She sped through the halls, ricocheting off walls and people, her tunnel vision blocking everything from her mind except the thought of getting to her sister. It took Hart catching up with her and pinning her against the wall to bring her to a stop.
“Whoa! Cooper, what the hell are you doing?”
She heard his questions, but she couldn’t force herself to speak. She just stood there, her brain and heart racing at breakneck speeds. She muttered under her breath, but it was barely above a whisper.
“What?” Hart asked, leaning closer.
Cooper swallowed and gritted her teeth, forcing the raging chaos of her mind into submission. “I think my sister’s in trouble.” She peeled Hart’s hands off her and took a few deep breaths, staggering in a zigzag pattern down the hallway. Confused, Hart followed.
Once in the car Cooper hit the lights and blared the siren, the tires smoking as she floored the accelerator through traffic. She gripped the wheel tightly, and her knuckles flashed a ghostly white. Sweat poured from her forehead and her palms grew sweaty against the steering wheel’s leather. She passed a truck in the left lane, nearly hitting a car in oncoming traffic, but refused to slow her pace.
With her apartment building in sight Cooper slammed on the brakes, the front of the squad car mounting the sidewalk outside of her apartment. She flung the door open and sprinted up the front steps of her apartment building, with Hart close behind. She fumbled her keys, eventually guiding them into the lock and pushing the door open. She leapt the steps two at a time, and when she arrived to the third floor her heart was in her throat.
“Cooper, what’s going on?” Hart asked, following her up the stairs.
But she didn’t answer. She reached for her gun. She squeezed the pistol tight at the sight of her apartment door broken down. “Beth?” Her voice ricocheted through the apartment, but no one answered. It was dark, and the light from the hallway only spilled inside far enough for her to see the first foot and a half of the living room floor. She raised her pistol, aiming into the darkness, Hart right beside her, his gun aimed into the same unknown. She reached for the living room light switch that rested on the wall, and the room was cast from darkness.
The living
room was empty, save for a phone that sat in the middle of the floor. Cooper hyperventilated as she dropped to her knees, recognizing the phone as her sister’s. Hart retrieved it, but Cooper was staring at the wall to her left. The gun slipped from her hands as she read the large, curving letters written in red crayon: Come and get her.
The Story Continues with Death Notes: Bloodied Words- Click Here
Thank you so much for taking the time to read my story!
Writing has always been a passion of mine and it’s incredibly gratifying and rewarding whenever you give me an opportunity to let you escape from your everyday surroundings and entertain the world that is your imagination.
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Again, thank you so much for letting me into your world. I hope you enjoyed reading this story as much as I did writing it!
Take care,
James Hunt
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Death Notes: The Beginning
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
