Tag: crime

  • Week 221 – Someone turned on the lights

    Sarah was just starting to relax, to allow the super cute guy with the big brown eyes and light brown hair, soothe her. He’d said his name was Coop, and that he was a cop, and she’d immediately felt safe with him despite her fear of being trapped in this haunted house.

    But then all of a sudden someone turned on the lights and there were a dozen people with guns running into the room.

    She screamed despite herself, even as Cooper moved so he was between her and the newcomers.

    “Down on the floor, get down on the floor,” the men screamed and it took her a long moment to realise that they were cops and that they thought she’d done something wrong.

    “Its okay, darlin,” Cooper soothed, “do as they say and we’ll get this all sorted out.”

    But Sarah couldn’t move, she was paralysed with fear, she’d never in her life done anything illegal, she’d never even gotten a parking ticket. Now she was surrounded with cops who were pointing their guns at her.

    “Get down on the floor, ma’am,” one cop ordered.

    “Its okay, I’m Detective Mark Cooper, I’m here with my partner Walt Berman, we got separated and when I came in here I found that woman with a knife in her chest.” He gestured to where the deceased woman lay in a pool of blood. “This is Sarah she arrived shortly after.”

    The cop’s gaze softened slightly as he looked at her. “Are you okay, ma’am? Did anyone hurt you?” He looked pointedly from her to Coop as though he suspected that she might have been the next intended victim.

    But Cooper hadn’t hurt her or the other woman. Right?

    He’d made her blush by calling her darling and then he’d called her princess and she’d smiled despite her fears, Cooper wasn’t a bad guy she was sure of it, and certainly not a killer.

    “I-I’m okay,” she stammered.

    The cop nodded and moved closer, now between her and Cooper. “Detective, you’re covered in blood, I’ll need to put these cuffs on you until we get this sorted out.”

    Cooper didn’t resist as one of the cops snapped handcuffs on him but Sarah winced. They shouldn’t be doing that to him, Coop hadn’t done anything wrong. But it wasn’t like she could do anything to stop it.

    “Ma’am, come with us please,” the cop said, he hadn’t cuffed her too and she still got the impression that they intended to grill her to see if Cooper had tried to kill her too. She didn’t want to go with these men, she didn’t know them and they didn’t make her feel safe. It made no sense because she’d known Cooper all of two minutes more than the other men and yet he made her feel safe.

    “Its okay, Sarah, go with the men,” Cooper said, as though sensing her hesitation. He shot her a charming smile and nodded his head and reluctantly she allowed one of the cops to guide her away from him.

    She might have only known him for five minutes but walking away felt wrong, and she couldn’t help but feel that the more distance between them there was the closer to danger she was actually going.

  • Week 220 – Sometimes things are exactly like they seem to be

    Cooper couldn’t believe this was happening.

    What was supposed to be a fun night at the Halloween fair with his partner Walt and Walt’s new girlfriend Becca had instead turned into a nightmare. Now he was lost in the the haunted house with a woman who had just been murdered and another who looked about half a second away from a full blown panic attack.

    This place was all about the scare, it was just make believe, but unfortunately sometimes things are exactly like they seem to be.

    This was one of those times.

    The woman screamed as he walked towards her, and he held his hands up, palms out, attempting to look as non threatening as he could. Not an easy feat when he was streaked in blood.

    “Its okay, I’m a cop, this isn’t part of the show, do you have your cell phone on you? I need you to call for help.”

    She stared at him, green eyes wide, clearly terrified, but then she nodded slowly and reached into her purse to pull out a phone. “There’s no reception,” she said, when she looked at the screen.

    Her voice was soft, sweet and melodious, and with her large green eyes, and blonde locks that curled to her shoulders in loose waves, she was stunning.

    Not what he should be noticing now though.

    Definitely not.

    There was a chance the killer could still be in here somewhere, possibly close by.

    Since the woman on the floor behind him was already dead there was nothing he could do for her right now other than get out of here, call in backup, and hope he and Walt would be assigned this case. So he focused his attention on the pretty blonde.

    “What’s your name, darlin?”

    Her pretty pink lips parted in a small o before her cheeks went an adorable shade of red. “Sarah,” she replied shyly.

    “Well, Sarah, I’m Cooper but my friends call me Coop, what do you say we get out of here and call in some backup?”

    “Oh, yes,” she agreed quickly. Her tone and her face said she would rather be anywhere but here.

    “Shall we, princess?” he asked, holding out his hand and giving her a bow.

    She gifted him a small smile and reached out to take his hand. Cooper had done nothing more than turn them in the direction of what he thought was the exit when the room suddenly erupted in chaos.

  • Week 219 – No I don’t like funhouses

    “No, I don’t like funhouses,” Sarah said, pulling back when her best friend Camryn tried to drag her towards the haunted house. She hadn’t wanted to come to the Halloween fair, she hated scary things. She was basically a wimp, and she would much preferred to have stayed home tonight, curled up on the couch in her PJs reading and eating too much candy.

    “Aww, come on,” Camryn implored. “It’ll be fun, and I’ll hold your hand the whole time.”

    “Promise?” Sarah knew she sounded pathetic, she was twenty-four, she shouldn’t need to hold anyone’s hand in a haunted house, but she was spooked enough just being out here.

    “Sarah, you’re being a baby.” Camryn rolled her eyes, but still took her hand and pulled her over to join the line for the haunted house.

    Her uneasiness grew as they waited to be let in, was it just her nerves or was it a sign that something bad was about to happen? She’d never really got the whole trust your gut thing, her gut never told her anything, it was silent to the point she wasn’t even sure it existed.

    Until now.

    Something told her that if she walked inside the haunted house something bad would happen.

    Feeling silly, Sarah didn’t resist as Camryn led her in when it was their turn. It was dark inside, and because they weren’t letting many people in at a time it was empty.

    Camryn was excited and babbling away as they made their way through a room filled with mannequins dressed as monsters, although she was sure at least one of them was a real person.

    She shouldn’t have let herself been pressured into coming here.

    Just as they were about to reach the door leading into another room filled with things that would terrify her, one of the monsters sprung to life and grabbed at her. Sarah shrieked and stumbled backwards into the wall, only the wall turned into a door and suddenly she found herself in a different room.

    This room was filled with candles, thousands of them, the walls were blood red and there were body parts strew everywhere.

    “Not real, its not real,” she repeated to herself as she searched for a door out.

    Sarah froze when she saw a man on his knees, a knife in his hands, a woman lying drenched in blood in front of him.

    “Please, help me,” the woman murmured before her eyes fluttered closed.

    The man just knelt there his eyes wide.

    “Its not real, not real, they’re just actors,” she repeated frantically.

    “Get help,” the man said, the knife clattering from his grip.

    “W-what?” she stammered. This was just an act, it was all make believe, just meant to scare her … right?

    The man stood, stepping towards her, there was blood staining his clothes, his hands, and he reached out for her.

    Sarah screamed.

  • Week 218 – She felt hands on her

    As he walked away from Becca’s hospital room Walt realised he was … smiling.

    He didn’t smile, well he was a human being so of course he did but it wasn’t something he did very often. He just rarely found reasons to smile.

    But that woman lying in a hospital bed gave lots to smile about.

    Walt hadn’t gone far when a tingle of warning prickled in his gut.

    Something was wrong.

    He didn’t hesitate, just turned around and ran back towards Becca’s room. Brody was still on the loose and there was a chance he’d tracked her here, so far Becca’s brother had proven to be smart and resourceful.

    His weapon was already in his hand when he burst into Becca’s room to find Brody leaning over the bed, his hands around.

    He didn’t hesitate.

    Brody had caused enough death and destruction, and more than that he’d hurt Becca, was responsible for her lying in that bed.

    Walt fired, hitting Brody in the shoulder, ironically the same shoulder Becca had shattered when she’d jumped out of her cousin’s car. Brody dropped, the gunshot brought people running, but Walt ignored them, running quickly to the screaming man and cuffing him, before reaching for Becca.

    She gave a strangled scream when she felt hands on her. “Its okay, Becca, its Walt.”

    Her eyes opened and tears leaked out as she looked up at him. “B-Brody?”

    “I got him,” he said with satisfaction. “He won’t hurt you again, he’ll be spending the rest of his life in prison.”

    “You s-saved me,” she stammered, a smile turning up the corners of her mouth even as tears continued to fall.

    “Always,” he vowed. “I will always be there for you.”

    She gave a half laugh, half sob, and with her good arm she pulled him close. As carefully as he could he gathered her into a hug. Somehow this woman had found a key to his heart that he hadn’t even known existed, and there was no way he was letting her go.

    No way.

    “Just so you know, you’re stuck with me now,” he said, kissing her temple.

    Becca snuggled closer. “Good, wasn’t going to let you go anyway.”

  • Week 217 – Together forever

    Fuzzy from surgery and the drugs, Becca yawned, blinked open her eyes and looked around her hospital room.

    Her gaze settled on the large man in the room’s only chair. His dark hair was mussed, his clothes rumbled, the wound on his head had been tended to some time after she’d been taken into surgery, and although he looked ridiculously uncomfortable he was fast asleep.

    Walt had saved her life.

    He’d gotten her out of the burning house, he’d gone after her when Benjy took her, he’d found a way out of the burning warehouse, if it wasn’t for him she’d be dead several times over.

    It was crazy, totally unlike her, but she had feelings for him.

    She shouldn’t. She’d only known him a couple of days and yet he meant … a lot to her.

    So much that she was thinking about the future, dreaming about them being together forever, but that was stupid.

    Right?

    “You’re awake.”

    Becca blinked to see that Walt had woken up, and was standing and stalking across the small room towards her bed. “Umm … yeah,” she said, suddenly tongue-tied.

    “How are you feeling?”

    “Like I just had major surgery on my shattered shoulder and am facing months of therapy, and like I have three cracked ribs. How are you?”

    His gray eyes widened as though he hadn’t expected her to care enough to ask about him. “I’m fine. Coop will be okay too.”

    Relief washed through her, she’d thought Walt’s partner was dead. “Thats good. So what happens now?”

    “I have to go to the station, paperwork, and then I want to stop in and see Cooper.”

    “And … uh … are you coming back?” Becca asked, feeling uncharacteristically vulnerable.

    Walt froze. “Do you want me to come back?”

    She almost laughed at the startled look on his face. As much as she felt out of her depth here because of the strength of her feelings for a man she’d just met, Walt looked a millions times more more unsure. “Yes, I want you to come back.”

    A smile lit his face, a real, genuine smile, and she her eyes widened, if she’d thought Walt was handsome when he was all gruff and growly it was nothing compared to this.

    “Then I’ll be back tonight. You get some rest.” He leaned down, hesitated for barely a second before kissing her and then heading out the door.

    As exhaustion and the drugs still pumping through her IV tugged her into slumberland, Becca fell asleep with a smile on her face.