The Park

When I came into work today, the lab wasn't sure if the DNA was human or animal for the attack on Sylvie Oster yesterday. Luckily, Hank came back with a match on the boot print we found.

Later in the day, I went to see Marie in the hospital, but she had fallen into a deep coma, so I was unable to ask her any of my questions. All I hoped was that she would come out of it. The doctor told me that Marie had many scars on her body, probably knife wounds. This woman was a librarian!

I got a phone call from Hank about a little girl who had gone missing just hours beforehand, and I was on my way. She was on her way to her grandfather's house from school and she never showed up. I asked if the grandfather was clear, but the guys on the scene didn't know for sure. That's when they handed us a photo of the girl.

The chief held a briefing immediately afterwards about the missing girl, splitting us up into teams to canvass the area between the house and the school. He stated that she was wearing a red sweatshirt, and I remembered that Sylvie, from yesterday, was also wearing a red jacket, or what was left of one. I mentioned it to the chief and he only hoped that it wasn't the same guy. For the littler girl's sake, I hope it wasn't either.

Hank and I began to comb the area and I mapped out the route the girl was supposed to take, with very specific instructions from her mother. When I described the route, Hank said he would have cut through the park, because her grandfather's house was immediately on the other side of the park. The mother explicitly told her daughter not to go through the park. "Right, kids always do what their moms tell them to do. I know I did," he replied with a grin.

We went into the park, and split up. Hank spotted her backpack in the bushes before I found anything, but from there I found boot prints leading away from that spot. I followed them through the trees to the other side of the park and the street, where I watched a man come out for his mail and saw his face change. It was a wolf-like face this time. I shouted to Hank and then I chased the man into his house and pinned him to the floor, screaming "Where is she?" repeatedly.

When backup arrived we searched the place, with no sign of her. We let him go and left the scene because I couldn't charge him for anything, as hard as that was for me to do.