Shoot Your Gun by 22-20s

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Upstate – Police Department
Detective Michael Nash

The coffee machine trickled the last drop of espresso in Nash’s paper cup. Pulling an all-nighter for his age requires a great deal of caffeine. It was probably his eleventh for the day, or the first in a brand new day. He hasn’t check his watch recently, too preoccupied thinking about the possible drug bust and officer Harmsworth’s look and see. He found it unfortunate that he couldn’t sniff around the local church since he is expected in the department but there are other ways to gather clues asides from preforming a B’n’E. Nash waited for his local contact, a detective named Greg Johnson, to join him the staff lounge. He contacted him before arriving to talk about the church and its members. Detective Johnson was currently working on a case, grinding a suspect for a confession in the interrogation room. According to the officers in the department, he has been at it for four hours and the guy was singing like a canary. He would be done just about now and speaking of the devil here he comes. Johnson is in his mid-thirties with short trimmed blonde hair and a nose that has been broken more times than God can count.

“The birds always sing.” Detective Johnson quipped with a smile on his face as he prepare himself a cup of coffee.

“They always do. About my message?” Nash lit a cigarette and took a sip from his coffee.

“The church right? I don’t know what you’re really looking for but there isn’t much to it. The church and its members are active in the community. Most of the people around here attends, some even never missing a single Sunday since their born. The reverend and pastors are little too devout even for my taste but no issues ever pop up. If they have any dirt on them, it’s buried deep where I can’t reach. The community work they do are received well, mostly. Some of their demonstrations ended violently but nothing outside the norm. You know how it is, conservatives vs. liberals. It never ends until somebody threw a punch or two.”

“Were there any deaths associated to the church?”

“We’re a small community Nash. Maybe we’re not as small as a backwater county but we’re small enough that people know everybody here. There’ll always be deaths associated to the church since most of us attends the masses. There are only three churches within the area, the main one close by, its branch located north-west from here and another one further away south. Since we’re talking about deaths, I found something interesting. We’ve been getting a trend of suicides recently. On average we get five to eight a year and all with the same MO, depressants in their system and slit wrists. Their bodies are always found in some field or the other. It’s been going on for about three years now. And as I said, they were associated with the church in one way or the other.”

“Is there any investigation on-going regarding the suicides? It’s pretty obvious there’s a pattern. There might be something more to it.”

“Nope, there’s no investigation regarding the matter. I brought to the top brass but he just waved it off since it’s been ruled a suicide. I can sniff around and see if there is anything to but you’ll owe me one.”

“Deal.” Nash snuff his cigarette in his cup of coffee. An officer entered the lounge. He was looking for the older detective and informed him the Andrea Carter would like to talk to him regarding the possible drug bust happening tonight. She’s just making sure I say within her leash. He thought as he followed the officer. Too late though, I already got a man inside.

---

Upstate – The Manor
Officer Richard Harmsworth

The two off-duty officers arrived at the Manor all dressed as civilians. As the name suggest, the place was huge and the party has been going for at least a few hours with no signs of it ending soon. Despite the grape vine rumor of the party’s quality, security was lax and they were able to enter with their badge and gun, concealed under their clothing. Richard assumed that they were not the only ones with firearms in the party. Since this is just a look and see, he wasn’t expecting that there’ll be a need to draw their weapons but upon the request of detective Nash, he brought it anyways. As they say, better to have one and not need it than to need it and not have one.

It was easy to blend in with their looks and age. A couple of the women and men already shown an interest on the two officers. Sam was already taking advantage of the situation to hook them up with dates and a couple beers. Richard frowned upon it. Despite them being off-duty, this is still an official matter. His partner simply told him to lighten up and not to be a buzz kill. The detective forwarded a short list of PoIs earlier and Richard was keeping an eye out for any person of interests even though he would prefer to use both. Nash stress a few names, most of which were known drug dealers and a few local church members, all with a possible connection to Red Rum case.

A beer and a shot later, few interesting new arrivals appeared. A black short hair girl who he remembered seeing the crime scene. He excused himself from the group to tail her. Richard would have nudge Sam to follow but his partner was having too much of a good time. Besides, it’s best to have someone on the look-out for new arrivals. Sam’s rather light take to the whole thing seems to be a disadvantage but Sam is no push over. He still got wits and a reliable back-up when the need arises. The girl lurked about until she found someone, a guy who has a t-shirt for a dress. The music was too loud for him to eaves drop but at one moment he heard the girl say Lilith Adams. Both of them left the area and Richard loss tracked of them in the crowd. He cursed a few times and tried to pick them out from the crowd with no avail. The officer’s phone vibrated in the middle of search. It was a text message from Sam: “New arrival, possible PoI, following. Meet me in the entrance hallway.”

---

Just as Lillith was trying to find peace, and alcohol, after the awkward church scenario, someone came to damage her calm. She poured herself a glass of rum and soda from a can that was chilling on ice nearby. A hand clamped down on her shoulder and someone began whispering in her ear. The simple act of it put her over the edge, and her peaceful demeanor faltered. She spun around and slapped his hand off of her with a little more force than necessary. His words bothered her more than his touch, and she seethed with anger.

“Who the fuck do you think you are?” she said in a hiss. She sized up her foe instantly: pale skin, kind of lanky, generally looking like he was somewhat out of his element. “No one touches me without my permission, you understand me? The next time you lay a hand on me, I’ll break each and every one of its fingers, you hear? A nerd like you would be pretty lost without his gaming and masturbating hand, huh?” She took a gulp of her drink, feeling the warmth of the rum snake down her throat pleasantly.

Her assaulter turned away, expecting her to just follow him upstairs like a sheep to the slaughter. Like hell she was going up with him alone… sure, she had a weapon, but as Coops so lovingly pointed out, other people’s weapons can be bigger and badder than brass knuckles and brute force. She felt as though she had built up enough of a rapport with him today, so she looked over to Cooper, who had found himself his own drink and was looking around with that slightly paranoid glaze in his eyes. “Care to back me up, maybe this kid will have more info…” she said to him, gesturing towards the stairs where Reed was.

Cooper held the philosophy that you can always tell the quality of a party by the quality of the booze available. Anyone can dump a case of Pabst Blue Ribbon into a cooler, but your better parties will also have a table of the hard stuff along with some mixers. The very best parties actually included a bartender, of course, but in this crazy mixed-up world of ours you've got to take what you can get. At any rate, this one fell somewhere in the middle. A table with booze and mixers. The alcohol was good, too, not quite top shelf but definitely not bulk rate swill. And someone had put pour spouts on them! Did he own pour spouts? He couldn't remember. Probably not. At any rate, he felt rattled enough by what he had seen at the church that he felt he had earned a drink. Granted, he usually felt he had earned a drink by waking up in the morning

Coops was busy mixing himself a rum and coke in a red Solo cup, which he planned to lift up before he proceeded to party. However, he felt someone bump heavily and totally not accidentally into him. Cursing as his drink splashed onto his polo, he turned around to see some lady telling himself to watch where he was going. despite the fact that he was completely stationary and she was clearly drunk as a lord. Drunk as a lady? Not specific enough. Drunk as a countess? Are countesses known for getting drunk? Come to think of it, are lords? "I think maybe you've had enough, princess," he said mechanically, even as his brow creased looking at her. She looked familiar. He had seen her somewhere before. Maybe several different somewheres.

He looked past her, trying to figure out where Lillith had gotten off to, saw her only a few feet away. Some dork had grabbed her shoulder and was whispering something in her ear. Cooper found his free hand slowly reaching for the AMT Backup stashed at the small of his back. Nobody picked on Lillith. Not while he was around.

The man stormed off towards the stairs, weaving his way through the gyrating crowd of partiers, as Lillith shouted to Cooper over the pounding music. "Care to back me up, this kid may have more info," she said to Cooper with a thumb jerked towards the stairs. Cooper nodded, gently pushed aside the annoying lady, and followed Lillith up the stairs.

It was quieter up here, though the floor literally shook beneath them from the sound of the music. Cooper saw the man waiting, arms folded, in the darkened hallway. "Hey, pal," he said to the man. "I understand you were wanting to talk about Maria. Let's do that. First things first, though, you were uncivil to my friend here," he said with a gesture to Lillith behind him. "So let's put that behind us. My little buddy here is going to be referee, just in case you get any stupid ideas." The pistol slid out of his belt and into his hand. While he didn't point it directly at the lanky nerd, Cooper didn't not point it at him either. With a smirk, Cooper took a sip of his rum and coke. "Let's talk, pal."

Reed stalked up the stairs, not giving himself a chance to hear Lilith’s threats that were barely thrown out to his ears over the din of the crowd. He shook his head, knowing that this may not end well and entered a room that was free of drug dealers. Well, when Reed implied free, it meant that he had punched the dealer in the room squarely across the face and tossed him out into the hallway. Reed took two of the chars situated at the desk in the room, putting one facing him and another just off to the side. He stood in the middle of the dimly lit room, the lights from the party providing the majority of the light. He sighed gently, it had been a long time since Reed had to rely on the skills he picked up years ago. Before the name change…before the months of wiping records and changing identities. He sighed gently and rubbed the scar on his neck, remembering the sharp pain of the knife that cut into skin.

Reed waited and smiled as Lilith entered with a form of entourage, a tall guy with bad teeth that reeked of alcohol had the honest look of a drug dealer. Or at least a user. Reed recognized him as Cooper Harley. Reed had spent a few months previously feeding the Officers working to crack down on drugs in the area of the campus about a few of the prime suspects, and was this guy a prime suspect. After a cocksure speech that spewed from the man’s mouth, including him referencing what he had done to Lilith.

Reed’s icy eyes looked over to Lilith “here I was thinking it could be without some idiot threatening violence.” His eyes shifted to Cooper “AMT Backup huh?” He smiled slightly, pale lips parting and showing perfectly white teeth “Not a very scary piece.” His hand went up to his shirt and he pulled it slowly to the side, showing three pocked circles of flesh on his shoulder “AMT bullets don’t hurt too bad.” He smiled and nodded at the gun “So please….put it away before I walk over there, break your hands so you can’t take a cowards way out and shoot and we can talk in a civilized manner.” He smiled once more and looked at Lilith “Now…I have a friend here that is very eager to meet you, an old friend of Maria’s, and she isn't very happy with what she has found out about Maria” He nodded gently “so…If you’d prefer…you can deal with me and not have to deal with a very angry woman.” He smiled “because if you left her angry, well let’s just say she prefers to not fuck with people physically…understand?” He looked to Cooper once more “I don’t expect the dunce here to…but I trust you are smarter than him, No…Miss Adams?” He grinned and began rattling off some of her personal information that he had collected before crossing his arms “as you can see…it’s be a good thing not to piss me off hun.”

Lillith was comforted by the fact that Cooper was willing to join her, but her eyes nearly bulged out of her head when she saw that he had pulled out his gun again. He was supposed to look menacing, not like an idiot. She wasn’t sure he even had it in him to pull the trigger, he seemed to flash it off in absence of self-confidence. With a groan, she followed Reed into the room.

The dealer he punched out at the door made her a little uncomfortable. There were an awful lot of criminals hanging out under one roof, this could only end badly… Once the door was shut behind them, Lillith took on an indifferent stance, standing up straight with her arms crossed over her chest. She still had her mixed drink in her right hand and brought it up to take a sip just as Reed started rambling again.

Just the tone of his voice was enough to put her on the offensive. Should she have had them, in that moment, her hackles would have risen in jagged spikes. Instead, she settled for whitened knuckles and a snarl. Just like the mythical woman she had named herself after, she would bow to no man, especially the likes of him. Lillith had been through enough in her lifetime and faced the anger of countless foster fathers, it was no real mystery as to why she often preferred women over men.

“I think you need to step off your god damn soapbox for a moment, because you are in no way above me. I brought my friend here in case you decided to get handsy, it’s always you pretty folks who are the real snakes in the grass. At least I look like trouble, just an honest party girl.” She gestured a thumb to Cooper when she mentioned him. Lillith turned down the option to sit, continuing to stand proud. Like hell she would let him tower above he like that, his ego was big enough already.

“As for this friend you speak of, I’d much rather talk to her in person… I don’t want to be some twisted pawn to help you get into her pants. She claims she’s a friend of Maria, huh? That’s interesting, since Mari admitted that most of her friends were fake, especially the ones from back home.” Lillith smiled slightly, she’d found what she was looking for - she’d realized the weak point in his argument. If the situation wasn’t so tense, she’d have applauded herself for her cleverness.

“You seem to think that you’re smarter than my friend and I here, so why don’t you take a few moments to think. Do you really know this girl you’re working with? Because, if I’m guessing right, you and her are probably just as much suspects of the murder as my friend and I. So tell me, Mr. I-don’t-care-what-your-name is, why would a true friend be ‘unhappy with what she has found out about Maria’? Unhappy enough to do something bad, perhaps? Unhappy enough with a person to hurt them for it? To kill them because of it?” Lillith let the accusation hang in the air like a guillotine poised to strike its victim.

Lily’s tone softened a little when she spoke again “A true friend would only be unhappy about the fact that Maria is out of their life forever.” She brought her arm into her chest tighter, as if she could somehow give herself a comforting hug. Her honesty had surprised even herself, and she felt betrayed when her eyes welled with tears. No, she would hold it together, tonight was not about sadness… tonight was supposed to be about getting drunk and laid. She refused to show a sign of weakness in front of either of these two idiots. Biting her tongue, she was able to let the pain distract her from the tears that were itching to be shed.

Cooper was scared. More accurately, he wasn't exactly scared of Reed. He was more scared of the fact that Reed wasn't scared of him. Clearly, the man was completely unhinged, all of his ridiculous self-righteousness having gone to his head. His bit about wanting this to go "without some idiot threatening violence" was somewhat undermined by the moaning of the man out in the hallway. You know, the one Reed had punched for absolutely no reason. Still, he had to fight the panic rising up in him and act like he was in control.

"Scars don't impress me, pal, if you were that fucking good you wouldn't have been shot in the first place," he found himself saying. Did he own any scars? He couldn't remember. Probably not. The logorrhea continued, like it usually did when he was agitated. "Christ, listen to yourself! All I'm trying to do is keep my friend safe, and you're acting like I've put the gun up your ass and pulled the trigger! Or if I put the gun up your ass and just left it there. Whichever one is worse, both sound equally unpleasant!"

He waved carelessly around the room as he worked himself up. "I mean, come the fuck on, dude! All this mysterious petty bullshit about Mari and 'a friend' and shit like she was some kind of perfect angel, too good for this sinful fucking earth, on a white pedestal. Do you even fucking know who she was, man, who she really was? Huh? She used drugs, for starters. Habitually and for recreation. And you ought to see the fucking church she went to! I mean, Jesus, dude, what planet are you on? Why are you on my case, anyways? I'm going out of my way to try and find out who killed her and shit. Detective work, fool! I'm the good guy here!"

With that, Cooper plopped down into one of the chairs, sulking. This guy just didn't get it at all.

"I think maybe you've had enough, princess," he (Cooper) said mechanically, even as his brow creased looking at her.

"Nope! There's not enough for me to have enough!" her delayed response was pointless as Cooper, Lilith, and Reed had already disappeared to the higher floor. Lisa did a quick 360, but only succeeded in confusing herself even more. "Reed? ♫ Where are you? ♫" Stumbling around like a blind woman with two left feet, Lisa tripped not-so-gracefully and was caught by a scantily clad tall blonde woman. Well, her height was average, but at that moment she looked like a giant to short little Lisa. In fact, Lisa wasn't very intimidating no matter how you look at it. The only reason she managed to scare that one guy was because he was drugged out of his mind.

"Hey, have you seen Reed. He's this guy you see, this real nerdy guy. Well, he's not so nerdy today. Hey I know this song. What's it called-- oh wow you're pretty" Lisa rambled, getting easily distracted by anything and everything. The blonde leaned in, and slightly down to accommodate for Lisa's height, then gave her a big smooch on the kisser, leaving bright red lipstick marks on Lisa's mouth. It took her a couple seconds to process what just happened. "...did you just-- aren't you a girl?"

"Hehe, you're cute" the blonde said seductively, with a predatory gaze. "Come with me let's have some fun." Taking Lisa by the hand, the woman led Lisa to another room that was slightly calmer than the previous. She took them to a couch with two other women on it, a brunette and a red head. "Meet my new friend." They moved aside to make room for them. The blonde put an arm around Lisa and leaned in for another kiss, this time leaving the red memory of her lips on Lisa's cheek.

"Huh? Hey! Whaa? This couch is soft. Wait... Do you know my secret?" Lisa rambled incoherently.

"No, tell me more" the blonde said, moving down to Lisa's neck.

"You know... You know Mari knew my secret. I knew Mari knew, and Mari knew I knew she knew my secret. I didn't tell her. Nope. I should've told her. I wish I told her. But she knew anyways. My secret... my secret is--" soft pillowy lips interrupted her for a moment.

"Go on..."

"That's how it all started you see. Mari, she didn't like my secret. Not at all. I told her I didn't have a choice, but she didn't listen. I tried to play along and do what she told me. But I couldn't. I just couldn't. Now I have to find Lilith. ♫Liiiiiliiiith♫ She knows something. I know she knows. She doesn't know I know. But I know. When I find her, she'll tell me. I hope she tells me. The truth that is. Yup." By now Lisa was feeling sleepiness weighing down her eyelids. She leaned against the blonde girl who didn't seem to mind one bit.

"I think its time for some body shots!" some one said, Lisa eyes were too shut to tell who.

Upstate – The Manor
Officer Richard Harmsworth

After receiving the text from his partner, Richard immediately headed towards the entrance hallway where his partner was waiting for him. Sam stood at the side of a doorway, a beer on hand, an eye on the staircase and another down a corridor. Rick approached him and relieved him of his beer, taking a mouthful before putting it aside. Fun time is over. They need to be sharp to do their jobs. The PoIs might get away if they don’t pay attention. Rick losing sight of the dark haired girl in the crowd is proof that a look and see is not as simple as it sounds, especially with so much people present.

“Give me the down low.” Rick asked his partner.

“Caught sight of guy looking like one of the mug shot the detective sent us. He came in with some chick and it didn’t took long before someone intercepted her. I wasn’t really paying attention since neither of them were in the lists but the damn mugger followed them up the stairs. I was waiting for you before going up there. From the way he rushed up to them, I think he has a gun and I ain’t have a mood for a shootout without backup. And who knows how many friends he got up there.”

“Good call. I notice you keep looking down the corridor, what’s up with that?”

Sam continued describing a drunk girl who believes was with the guy who intercepted the chick but he was unsure. After a few quick probes, Rick believed that the drunk girl and the girl he was following earlier were the same one. They’ll need to split up and have eyes on both. He told his partner about the plan he had in mind and he reluctantly agreed. As long as he doesn’t draw attention to himself, he’ll be okay. Sam took the trio upstairs since he knows how they look like. Rick continued searching for the short haired girl, who turned out be a lightweight. It didn’t took long for him to find the room she was led to – according to his partner – the girls were obviously having fun on the couch. The officer quickly surveyed the situation. Beer, hard liquor, cocaine rows, ecstasy pills, and other drugs laid on the side table. Private room, four girls only. The ginger was the first to notice him. She flashed a smile that only spelled trouble.

I’m not looking for touble, dammit.Richard thought as he closed the distance and grab the short haired girl away from them. The sirens weren’t happy to have their play thing to be taken away and shot a few curses towards the officer. Most were your standard swear words but a few were a little bit more interesting. What stood out the most were probably references of the ‘5th Ave brothers’ and how he’ll be dead before he knows it. Rick was away from the room just as quick as he entered it, happy to put some space between the banshees and him. The short haired girl was mumbling about secretes as he drag her along looking for a place for them to have a chat. He couldn’t catch anything coherent and he hoped that she was lucid enough for them to talk some sense. Else he has to stash her somewhere until she was. Rick thoughts drifted to his partner, wondering if has better luck with the PoI.

---

Just as Lisa started to get snuggly and comfy with the three beauties some guy, some man with a no-nonsense stiff attitude came and dragged her away. His hands felt like ropes tying themselves around her arm. Despite her resistance it only seemed to get tighter, to bind her faster with rope on chafing rope. She longed to return to them, as she has heard the honeyed voices pouring from their lips. So they sent their ravishing voices out across the air and the heart inside Lisa throbbed to listen longer. But once she'd left the Sirens fading in her wake, once she could hear their song no more, their urgent call-- she was quick to come to her senses, what little was still there.

The man brought her to a quiet spot in the relative sense. Lisa pulled out a little tin of beeswax lip balm, kneaded it between her fingers, and donned it on her lips still stained by the Sirens' passion. He introduced himself as Richard, a name she would quickly forget. Words were said and questions were asked. Richard wanted to know more about Mari, about what she was rambling senselessly about.

"My secret you say? You want to know? I didn't know you want to know. Why do you want to know? But I'll tell ya." Lisa smacked her lips, the beeswax lip balm leaving a bitter taste on her tongue. "One night... one night was when I saw it. Him. Reed. Under a full moon. Turned into a Werewolf! Hahaha hehehe" she giggled and laughed to herself, the lipstick marks almost made her look like a clown amused by her own antics. "Now why would I... Why. Would. I. Tell you my secret? Then it wouldn't be a secret! You know, Mr. Frankie said three can keep a secret if two of them are dead. Mari knows. I know. If I told you, I'm as good as dead."

Not surprisingly, Richard appeared unsatisfied with her answer. So she went on, rambling about something else. "The part I don't get... Lilith. Who is she? I mean really, who is she? Who does she think she is, getting all chummy with Mari. I know Mari, I know her. And she knows me. I remember her sweet 16. I remember when she got her driver's license. I know her favorite foods, her favorite movies. I know the way she wriggles her nose before she sneezes, the way she chews her pencils when she's nervous. I know Mari, and she knows me. So tell me: who is Lilith? Huh? Where did she come from? Lilith... sounds like the name of a succubus."

Suddenly Lisa was tired of talking to this guy, this Richard. She had forgotten what she came for, her drive simmered down. "I'm... done. Reed? Where art thou? Gimme a ride home and I'll buy you a pretzel from the mall!" Holding onto the table for balance, Lisa haphazardly stumbled off to find Reed.

Reed listened, his arms folded across his chest and the attempt to keep the old cocky smirk he used to wear perpetually failing miserably. He looked as Lilith raged, allowing her the time and space to pace and thrash about. He ran his fingers through his hair when her tone changed. Changing from a raging woman scorned to a voice that would've sounded more fitting coming from a wounded child. Reed faltered slightly. He felt that overwhelming need to be chivalrous attempting to crack out of act he was showing.

He quickly regained composure as Harley stepped up and began his little diatribe. Reed could barely hold in his disdain for the dewy eyed, misshapen poor excuse for a man that stood before him. The cowardice showed in his voice and actions. Reed let him finish till he collapsed into a whinging heap.

"You done there?" Reed asked, not expecting an answer "now listen...I could not give two shits about what you are doing here" he pointed at Cooper for emphasis "or your personal history with Maria" his thin finger then moved to Lilith "I don't even care about Maria...I literally did not care if she lived or died up until the point where it began disturbing my life...so once this is done and i can get back to how my life was previously...It'll all be fine" he ran his hand through his hair once more, a sign for those who knew him before he was Reed Norman knew that the violence wasn't far off now "so...Miss Adams" he walked beside Harley and kicked the leg of the chair, breaking it and sending the chair out from under him "I suggest you share with me what you know or I may have to break someone."

A small chuckle bubbled out from Lillith’s lips, and she was glad for the distraction from her rocky emotions. Did this kid really think Cooper mattered that much to her? The only person who mattered much to Lillith was herself and, at times, even that was questionable. But still, she felt some kind of responsibility for the poor sap… she was the reason he came here, both to the party, and to the room with this stranger. She planned to take any of the heat for this one.

Lillith took a brave step closer to him, her chunky black boots making a hard clunking sound against the floor. Suddenly, she wished she’d dressed more intimidating than a skin-tight silver dress and lime green fishnets. Oh well, sexy could be just as intimidating as anything else. “Listen close, kid. First, stop calling me ‘Miss’, do I look like a fucking teacher to you? And second, how the hell do you even know my name? Are you like a creepy-ass stalker or something? What exactly are you looking to score here?” she had gradually stepped closer to him, almost nose to nose, wearing an expression that was equally as cross as it was stubborn.

“Maybe this friend of yours isn’t someone I should worry about. Maybe it’s you who is to blame. You say you want to break something, huh? You got a real bad violent side? Maybe you get your kicks dolling up helpless young women, then breaking them too? You sick fuck.” Her words were hissed into his face with what she was sure was a fair amount of spit. Lillith had a crazed look in her eyes, maybe it was the drugs, but it could just as easily be her natural self.

Cooper Harley, as you may have guessed, was not a particularly intelligent or thoughtful man. However, there were certain things he felt to be fundamental truths of the universe, certain things he felt were unimpeachable under even the worst of circumstances, the glue that held all that we know together. You die if you stop breathing, you bleed if you cut yourself, and you don't get held hostage if you're the only one in the room in possession of a firearm. Cooper had a feeling that some basic cosmic law was being broken here. Along with his chair. Somehow he doubted Reed would pay the homeowner for that chair. Didn't he know the Girl Scouts rule? Leave everything the way you found it? Guess not.

"Man, what the fuck! I was sitting there!" Cooper complained. His eyes widened as he heard Lillith's words. The implication. The implication made sense. A violent man confronted them for no real reason, threatened both of them for whatever scraps of information they had gathered. Of course. Had to clean house, eliminate witnesses.

"So it was you, huh?" Cooper said slowly as he pulled himself off the floor. "Pretty obvious, really. I have a hard time believing you don't care about any of this. Seems more like you're trying to cover your tracks." He realized, without any planning, that he had positioned himself between Lillith and Reed. "Besides, who'd miss a couple of drug dealers, right? You take care of them, you scratch that little itch again, you get a pat on the head from Babylon. Then maybe in a month or two, or the next full moon, you go and kill another girl, blame someone else for it. And the whole fucking cycle starts over again." Cooper sneered through his bad teeth. "You know, I'm a coward, you said it yourself. I won't deny it. But at least I have the courage to do my dirt out in the open. I don't sneak the fuck around and pretend to be a hero, cause I'm not. I'm a criminal."

He forced himself to meet the man's eyes, despite his pounding heart and churning stomach. He very much doubted he could take Reed, even with the pistol. But if he really was a murderer, then he had to try. For Lillith's sake.

Wait, what?

That last part had somehow crept into his internal monologue, an unscripted ad-lib. Cooper had always looked at himself as pragmatically self-interested, always looking out for number one. Because that was what the bad guy did, right? Burned all his bridges.

Did he have any friends? He couldn't remember. Probably not.

But he could at least not fuck up this one thing.

"Lillith, get out of here," he said as calmly as he could. He was terrified of Reed. Cooper legitimately believed the man had killed Mari and meant to kill them. He wanted to run. He wanted to run very badly. But as long as he stood between Lillith and Reed, he would remain rooted in place like an oak and do whatever he could to keep Reed away from her. Cooper had never been smart, why start now?

Reed watched as Lilith fired up, spittle forming on her lips and hitting his face. His face was impassive, his emerald eyes clouding over as he felt the need to close his fingers around the woman’s pretty little throat and toss her like a ragdoll. He was glad that was his own thoughts…if anyone had heard that it would be much more evidence for her little theory. His fingers clenched into fists slowly as he took the abuse Lilith was throwing at him. She walked close to him, their noses mere millimetres from touching. That deadened face of his curled into a cruel smirk “Not a stalker…just informed…Lilith” He said, his grin curling even further “very well informed.” He stepped closer, their noses now touching so he could make her understand “but I have an authenticated alibi…something I passed on to the police as of last night” He grinned at her “as far as I know…you don’t” He grinned at her, the cruel grin of a sadistic predatory eyeing his prey “it’s too bad you are a dyke you know…” his sentence trailed off and his smirk returned to its passive position as a low little growl bubbled slowly in his throat as Cooper finally reacted to being tossed to the ground.

The dead emerald eyes twitched to the sprawled figure of pale skin and track marks that was the scumbag dealer Lilith had walked in with. Once again, he was accused of being the culprit. Once again he was thrown abuse. Reed ran his fingers through the short hair he had slicked back atop his head as something curious happened. Cooper was defending Lilith. Reed grinned and looked past Cooper and looked at Lilith “aww, I think someone cares about you…but yes…I suggest you run.” Reed returned his gaze back to the man in front of him, his hand going up to his neck to rub the scar that circled his neck “Harley Cooper…You are not a smart man” he gave a short nod to him “but I commend your bravery…” he said slightly before his hand, with practised and professional precision whipped up to Cooper’s throat “but bravery only gets you so far….” His fingers pressed into the man’s neck slowly….

Lillith was stunned momentarily by his slurred insult. She should have expected such a low blow, but it never ceased to shock her when someone chose to hate on her sexuality. Lillith was stunned so much, in fact, that Cooper had managed to wedge his stupid ass between her and this stranger who knew her name… and supposedly quite a few other things about her. In another circumstance, she might have found Cooper’s actions somewhat sweet, albeit dumb… but not this time. He was simply in the way of her target.

At first, she was only mildly suspicious of this guy. She had thought he was just some asshole looking to score some free merch, or maybe trying to play a rotten game of grab-ass with her. At first, her accusation of him did feel completely sound, now she felt that it had a better footing. She could read the lie in his face when he spoke of an alibi. Like hell he had one, not one that was the truth, that’s for sure.

Anger rose up from her toes all the way to the tips of her neon hair. It was almost as if her vision had taken on a reddish hue, her eyes narrowing at her target. Dyke? He’d pay for that, she wasn’t some push-over like he seemed to think. “Get out of the way, sweetie.” She said to Cooper in a voice that sounded completely feral. With Reed’s hand at his throat, Coop had found himself incapable of obeying her command, whether or not he would have anyway. Without waiting a second more, she plunged forward with every pound of weight she carried on her regretfully skinny frame.

Lillith didn’t bother trying to land a square punch anywhere in particular; she simply targeted as much force as she could into Reed’s stomach, tackling the three of them down to the floor together. They landed with a ferocious thud, but it wasn’t enough to knock her out of her path of terror. She made an attempt to rake her fingernails across his face, frenzied and animalistic. Her mouth was open, spilling out somewhat incoherent phrases laced with crude obscenities. Things like “Homophobic fuck” and “That’s why you did that to her, huh?” and “How did you find out?!” could be deciphered from the flurry of words. The thumping and yelling going on could have been heard from the street outside, let alone by anyone nearby in the house.

"Nope. No. Definitely not. Nooo." Lisa watched the entrance as people streamed in and out of the door way, waiting for Lilith Adams to show up. Eventually her patience wore thin, and bladder reached it limit. Lilith wasn't showing up, she thought. What a waste of time.

After an absurdly long line Lisa made it to the bathroom. The mirror revealed to her the lipstick and kiss marks painting her face. "Hahaha, what? My face is all red, I'm a tomato! hehehe!" She splashed water onto her face, trying to wash away the lipstick and stupor with cold water. She only succeeded in smearing it around and somehow losing her contacts. Without her glasses everything became a blur, she would have to squint thru the rest of the night.

"Reeeeeed~ You where are?" Lisa's next mission was to find her ride home. Reed was the only one she knew there. Well, she could ask those girls, but if she did she probably wouldn't make it home. So where did Reed go? She think she saw him go upstairs. Good thing hand rails are a thing, because she wouldn't make it up the stairs without them. "Who- who put this mountain here?" After shakily reaching the summit, she began her search for her ticket home. It didn't help that her sense of direction was drowned in appletini's. She searched room by room and eventually she heard a commotion from down the hall. She couldn't quite make out what was being said, but it sure sounded like a party.

"Hello hellooo~" Lisa tripped and stumbled into the room to find a broken chair and three people, including Reed, dog piled on the floor. She could just make out Reed by his voice, but wasn't sure who his friends were. "WHOA, kinky. Is this what they call a ménage à trois? Put, like, put a sock on the doorknob or something." Lisa struggled to stand up, grabbing a chair for support but only tipped it over. "Don't- don't mind me. Just need to tell Reed I'm ready to go home. Reed, I'm ready to go. Let's get tacos on the way back. Okaaaayyyy. I'll just wait outside." She managed to get on her feet only to trip and fall on her face almost instantly. "I'm fine! I broke the fall with my face."

This was not something Reed had expected. Gravity suddenly lost its grip on Reed’s tall and wiry body as the skinny frame of the lesbian he had been threatening rammed violently into his stomach, shoulder first in a successful attempt to knock him off his feet. Reed’s emerald eyes looked at the woman that had charged him and lost his grip on the drug dealer Coop. Cooper landed away from the main fight as Lilith positioned herself atop him, screaming a loud string of obscenities and accusations. Her nails would've hurt if she had any force behind them but instead it just felt uncomfortable. He might’ve enjoyed this if they had less clothes on, a faint smirk forming on his lips as he remembered the last night he had with his ‘manager’ before his name was Reed Norman. The sound of flesh slapping flesh, moans of pleasure and pain wrapped up in single sounds. It was a good night. A night that he hadn't had again since then. It was a long time to go without sex. A VERY long time.

The emerald eyes that went hazy with memories soon focused as he heard a familiar voice. Lisa had walked in the room to see Lilith straddling and abusing him with all the might and anger she had in that small frame. It was hard to make out what Lisa was saying but he knew she was tanked. Reed decided to stop humouring Lilith and tossed her off him with a small grunt of exertion. He stood up and dusted off the dirt that had caught on his jeans and looked at the sprawled form of Lilith “LOOK!” He growled and grabbed her by the arm, lifting her up with no concern for her and standing her back on her feet “I wanted to just ask questions but both of you” he pointed at the sprawled for of Cooper “decided to just become aggressive and not answer my questions!” He growled a little “So you know what, I’ll have to ask you another time when you calm down” he hefted Lilith over his shoulder and looked down at Cooper “I suggest you stay there….” He said gently before walking out and putting a hand to Lisa’s back “let’s go Lisa…you can talk to Lilith in the back of the car ok?”

Cooper Harley was not a particularly graceful man. Especially not when he was surprised, which due to his fondness for mood-altering drugs, was often. The smallest thing surprised him- the ring of his phone, the sound of his neglected house settling, the sunrise in the morning. And then he always flapped about and knocked something to the floor, the crashing sound of which inevitably surprised him, causing him to knock something else over, and so on ad infinitum until he had destroyed everything he owned. Similat to using paint to make a "Wet Paint" sign, then making a "Wet Paint" sign for the original sign, then a sign for the second sign, and so on. Not that any of these things had ever occurred, or were likely to at any point. But in the deep poetry written upon the fabric of the universe, Cooper sometimes felt there was a stanza somewhere describing him as the unluckiest man who ever lived.

Case in point, as Cooper scraped together what little courage he had in an effort to stare down Reed, Lillith abruptly crashed into his back, sending him sprawling. He was tallish, and had a good long ways to go when he fell. With his hair flopping into his face, he couldn't quite see where he was falling to. A sensible person might have stuck their hands out in front of them, but Cooper instead waved his off to the side, apparently hoping for some sort of magic to happen.

Some sort of magic happening was not an event that was likely to occur today, and it did not. Cooper, blinding and flailing, instead smashed his forehead into the broken chair. His forehead tore open and immediately starting bleeding, and consciousness began to slip away from the unlucky man. Weakly, he tried to get up, but felt overwhelmed by tiredness. As he quietly drifted off, he wondered about maybe going to a doctor. Did he have insurance? He couldn't remember. Probably not.

Upstate – The Manor
Officer Richard Harmsworth

Just like before, Richard lost the black haired in the crowed despite her eccentric walk-away. There was one thing he’s sure of, that girl knows how to blend in. He was left alone with her cryptic answer to his questions. Rick made a mental note of all the things she said, particularly ‘her secrete’ regarding Maria and the name ‘Lilith Adams’. Both doesn’t make sense to him but maybe detective Nash would make something of it. Seeing that it’ll be another fruitless search for the girl, he decided to locate his partner upstairs. Countless people flock the hallway, kids with booze on their hands but no partner, no Sam Peters to be found. He would have continued searching but his phone vibrated with an urgent message from the detective:


“Shit!” escaped Rick’s mouth. The officer thought on his toes and began making his way out of the Manor. There was no time to find his partner and pull him out. There was no way around it but to simply forward the message to Sam and hope he’ll read before it’s too late. They’ve prearrange to meet at their vehicle, parked a block away, if ever they got separated. Once he hit the sidewalks, he perk up his ears – no sirens. That’s either a good or bad omen depending on the operation plan. If it’s a standard party bust that would mean that they still have a good five minutes before things went to hell. If it’s the silent take down, they better scram for there is no way to find out how far out the team was.

Rick’s phone vibrated, a call, it was Sam: “Fuck, start the engine! Damn PoI is kidnapping -”, the phone dropped. Rick tried calling out to his partner but it was muffled by the ineligible shouting. He can hear his partner, another voice and party music then a scream. He was about to make a run back to the Manor but the phone was answered again. The officer felt relief to hear his Sam’s voice, “Fuck, fuck, fuck! Damn asshole broke my arm and nose. I’m going to after them.”

“Fuck it! Don’t be a goddamn hero! The bust team will come any minuet and we shouldn’t be in the party in the first place!” And as if in queue, sirens.Shit! Rick started the engine and turned the vehicle around. “Sam they’re here, we got no time! Head out back, we’re taking the long way around.”

Everything moved faster. A second felt like a fraction. At one moment he was a block away, the next his partner was inside the vehicle, all bloody. The sirens that were a distance away were now blaring in their ears from everywhere. The raging party turned into a frenzy of Cops’n’Robbers in an instant. The two officers watched all of the action from the rearview mirror as they drove further away.

---

Police Department – Interrogation Room
Detective Nash

Nash stood behind the one way mirror smoking his Nth cigarette and contemplating on the man on the other side – Cooper Harley – and everything else that night revealed. For the Nth time he stubbed his cigarette on paper coffee cup which was already overflowing with ashes and filters. When the bust team found him unconscious and concussed on the 2nd floor, Nash requested him to be brought in under his jurisdiction for illegally possessing a firearm. After the initial incoherent rambling when he came too, his lips remained shut. He requested a lawyer twice and was denied twice. They won’t be able to deny him a third time, that would put the department in question but luckily after letting him sweat for two days, he decided to talk.

Cooper ‘Canary’ Harley has two things that bothered Nash. First he was found bloody in the party. How he came to the party and how he came to be a red rage would be an interesting story. The second was the photos they retrieve from his phone – an arsenal enough to equip a small army. Of course Nash hasn’t forgotten the dealer’s connection with the victim. He could be the last one who saw the victim alive according to Lilith Adams’ statement.

But the druggie wasn’t the only thing in the detective’s mind. The statements from the two officers were equally bothersome. It gave the detective four names: Norman Reed, Lisa Daniels, Lilith Adams and finally Cooper Harley. Three of which he came in contact with few days ago and the fourth in custody. Officer Peters recounted a possible kidnapping and from his description it was Reed taking Adams with Daniels at tow but when the officers went to investigate, nothing was a mist. Reed, Adams and Daniels were in their respected dorms the following morning. Each giving the others an alibi which only irks Nash. Whatever was going on, he doesn’t like it. They were all suspects now.

“What game we’re playing?” Tomias asked when he entered the room. “Standard good cop – bad cop?”

“No. He already wants to talk. Let’s play ‘canary’ and let him sing but if he clamp’s up we go with ‘asshole – bad cop’.”

Tomias grinned which only means one thing, he was not planning on going easy. The giant took a swing from his flask and opened the door into the interrogation room. If Coop doesn’t come up with a statement that would put the Academy winner’s to shame, he’s seeing twenty-to-life. Nash thought as he followed his partner inside.

"Son of a dick! I have fucking rights and shit, you know! I asked for a lawyer, goddammit! That's, like, in the Bible or the Constitution or something!" At intermittent points throughout the last several hours, Cooper Harley had yelled that to the uncaring walls, perfectly aware that police were listening to his every word, apparently hoping he would mutter the location of DB Cooper or the identity of Jack the Ripper. Nothing had happened the last eight times he had had an angry outburst, so Cooper was somewhat surprised when this time the door actually opened, admitting a bear of a man who smelled faintly of whiskey. A bad news bear of a man, to be precise, Cooper wanted nothing to do with the hulking brute. He looked gratefully to the second, smaller man, an older fella, who looked more like one of the professors on campus than anything else.

"Jesus, dudes, you're fucking wasting time with me! Motherfucker's gonna kill again! Look what he did to me!" Cooper pulled down the neck of his polo, showing livid bruises on his throat, clearly in the shape of handprints. That got the detectives' attention, he could see, but also confused them. Coops took a deep breath, forced calm on himself, started from the beginning.

"Alright, dudes, you know that party upstate where you busted me, right? I took a chick up to that. That same town, it's the one Mari grew up in. Maria Todd," he added helpfully. "I decided to drop in on the church she attended, have a look around. Just curious, right? But that fucking place is full of psychos! Just sitting on the edge of their seats waiting for Jesus to come back. Seriously, that shit was creepy, man. They had more guns than Charlton fucking Heston! Seriously, there was machine guns and bazookas and shit. You guys need to get the fucking ATF or some shit on that church, for God's sake. Nobody is safe around those psychopaths." He shook his head at the memory of the discovery in the church. "I got proof, too. Photos on my phone."

"Anyways, this chick and I headed over to the party after that. Then lo and behold, this guy Reed shows up, drags my friend upstairs. So, y'know, I've been around, I think 'Hey, that shit ain't right', I follow them up. I go up there, find out Reed cold-cocked some poor guy, and is demanding to know what we know about Maria's murder. Dude was seriously intense, and violent as hell, he's pushing around my friend. I go to stop him, I start beating him down, but then his coward buddy sneaks up behind me and smashes a chair over my head. Two on one, nothing I could do. Last thing I see is Reed picking up my friend and carrying her off."

"Look, he said he didn't care about finding the real killer. It sounded more like tying up loose ends, y'know? Like he was trying to figure out what we knew about the murder so he could figure out what to do with us." Cooper smashed a fist on the table. Did he have a future after this? He couldn't remember. Probably not. Might as well go for broke. "Lillith Adams. He dragged her off by force. You've gotta find Reed, dude! Before it's too late! He's gonna kill someone else, I know it!"

It had been two days since the awful party mishap, and Lillith had felt no better about the situation. The only relief that she had was that she didn’t get busted, given that she had been packing small quantities of street drugs on her person at the time. Regardless of how she had managed to “get away” from the party bust and Reed, she had never felt so alone and unsafe before. Well, maybe that’s a bit of exaggeration, she had felt that way many times in the past. Lillith had no idea what sick plans Reed might have had for her that night, but she was really glad that her steel-toed goth boots packed quite a punch against his unsuspecting ballsack. He dropped her like a sack of potatoes and she had taken off running.

Unfortunately, her and Coops got separated that night… since he kind of passed out on the floor and all. She had heard rumors that he was in custody. Remembering the heat he was packing and the drugs he was on - and possibly carrying - she knew he would probably be out of the picture for a while. As dumb as he was, and threatening at times, he did care for her safety more than anyone else she knew. She was alone now, to tend to her own safety, with a killer on the loose. And by killer, she means Reed. Lillith had heard the dark-haired girl mention his name, and Lillith wouldn't forget it. Reed, Reed, rhymes with weed.

Lillith hadn’t been to class since before the party, being either to doped up, or too scared to leave her dorm room. She didn’t want to run into Reed again, definitely not while she was walking alone. But, as much of a slacker as Lillith was, she actually cared about what she was getting her degree in and didn’t want to flunk out because of something like this.

After sucking in a sharp breath and as much courage as she could muster, Lillith walked out of her dorm. She had her bag packed with her charcoal and canvases and was heading to the studio to put in some hours. The studio was a long walk from her dorm, and she spent it nervously looking over her shoulders and flinching at ever bird and bee passing her by…