Chapter Five
Parker arrived at the scene of the crime with Officer Colten on her heels where she found their local firefighters extinguishing the last of the flames. The building, one she frequented more times than naught, had been destroyed in just a few hours. Outside there were medics taking care of bystanders, while a set of officers she knew were taking statements from Nina, the shop owner. She had just come back from her trip to the Feywild, and seemed utterly despaired by her shop.
She approached them at the tail end of their investigation.
“Where were you a couple hours ago?” Officer Jill Zamora asked the little fairy who seemed extremely distraught.
“I was in the forest helping a friend. I went to the Feywild shortly after with my two fairy friends Yodel and Bridget.” Nina wrinkled a tissue she had been given by the officer. “Then I came back just now to see my shop in flames! What did we do!”
“Zamora,” Parker hoped she didn’t interrupt her line of questions with her appearance. “I came as soon as I heard. Nina, what on earth happened?”
Jill flipped her notebook closed with a sigh. “Not sure myself, Gilmore and I had finished our deal with the Feds, so we were taking lunch. We went our separate ways, and then all of a sudden the shop catches fire.”
Parker stared up at the blackened, char mess of the wood now dripping wet. “Was it an accident?”
Nina flared. “I don’t know, but if it is someone’s fault, they better run as far away from me. I’ll hex them into the next century!”
Parker went to calm her down. “It’ll be alright, we’ll need to investigate once the scene is secured. I’m sorry Nina, this must be a lot right now.”
Nina huffed. “I’m gonna head back to the Feywild and play over there. At least until I cool off my wings. Ohhh, I’m so mad!” She fluttered off in a flurry leaving the two officers behind.
“Today just got interesting, didn’t it? She doesn’t have a valid alibi though. This just makes it harder to investigate.” Jill sighed as she reached for her phone. She dialed the number for Heath Gilmore. Parker was about to vouch for them, but had been interrupted by the officer who informed her of the arson.
“Is there anything I can do to help you two?” Officer Colten popped up with a slight frown on his face. Parker sighed, her arms crossing over her chest.
“I’d like for my headache to go away, but now we need to rule out if this was an act against a magical creature, or an accident involving magical means. It’s possible one of the charms could have backfired. It’s rare, but they do happen.”
Officer Jill had finished her call with Heath, and hung up the phone. Officer Colten nodded his head. “This wasn’t an accident. Fairies are always hiding something, they aren’t all good.”
Parker quirked her head, “Keep your prejudices to yourself officer,” She paused in her sentence to look right at Officer Colten. “there is no concrete evidence that this is actually an arson.”
Officer Colten looked between the two officers. But before he could say anything a firefighter that went into the building had called out from the wreckage. “I found a shoe belonging to a child. No body was found.”
Parker narrowed her eyes more. Jill, on the other hand, paled. “A child was in there? Do you think the fairies were behind the missing child’s case from the Fed’s?”
Officer Colten tacked on, “Hey, fairies are known to trick humans into their realm, maybe Nina set the place ablaze to purposely hide evidence! Parker you have to apprehend those fairies! They committed a serious crime!”
He had shouted this aloud, and others who happened to overhear also started to rile themselves up. They began yelling slurs about how the fairies were the bad ones, and how dare they involve a child.
Parker had to hand it to this guy for instigating a whole crowd with his baseless drivel.
Jill rushed off to gain control of the situation, leaving the two of them to stand in front of the burnt down coffee shop. In the midst of the chaos Officer Gilmore had joined her to help soothe the angry mob of people and mystical creatures.
Parker looked straight at Officer Colten. “Tell me Colten, how’d you know a fairy set fire to the store?”
He didn’t seem to expect that question from out of the blue, and he paused. “I was passing by the road when the crime happened! I saw one of the fairies set fire.”
It was at this moment when Parker knew something was not adding up. “What did this fairy look like. And why didn’t you try to stop them?”
“Because the fire was already out of control, I couldn’t take care of it on my own.”
She narrowed her eyes, “Right. What did this fairy look like?”
“It was Nina! That fairy! I saw her do it a couple hours ago! You heard Officer Jill, she said that she was helping a friend! More like kidnapping children in their fairy circles!” Officer Colten glared at her with his fiercest look. “And to evade the police, they tried to destroy the evidence by burning down their own shop!”
Parker took a step toward him now, her expression hardened. “Tell me, do you know where I was a couple hours ago?”
He was taken aback by the question once again, as if he wasn’t anticipating these questions. “Working in the basement, like you usually are? I mean that’s where I found you.”
Parker reached behind her to produce her own pair of handcuffs. “Wrong. I was in the forest. I was checking out the fairy circles with Nina and her two workers. They weren’t at their shop when it caught fire. So, who again set the fire Colten?”
He didn’t answer right away. So she continued to press him. “You know I always wondered why you and your family look so young….
It happened quickly, where he bolted away and ran through the growing crowd of people. Parker clenched her fists as she started to give chase. “Hey! Get back here!”
She sprinted as fast as she could, but even her speed could not match his. He made it to the end of the street, and almost made a successful escape, had he not bumped into a giant werewolf clan jogging their last set of the day.
Colten scrambled off the ground to attempt his escape, but Parker had been quicker to shout: “Wesley grab him!”
And like that he was caught in the burly arms of her werewolf friend. He bristled with sweat, but he maintained his strength even after running several marathons a week. His buddies encircled around him to figure out what on earth was going on.
“Let me go!” Colten squirmed. Wesley looked to Parker who exasperatedly reached them seconds later.
“Colten, we’re taking you back to the police station. I’m sure the Sergeant will have some questions for you.” And like that Colten was taken over to the police station for further questioning.
>>>>>>>
Detective Parker found out later with the truth serum Sergeant Lewis Drachman had procured that Officer Colten’s family had dealings with an old hag that lived in the woods. His great-great-great-great grandfather had made a deal that would give him and his descendants a longer lifespan than most humans if they prepared a simple concoction. All it required of him was the use of a child’s blood. Parker had been assigned to look into the past century or so of missing children’s cases, and found many had been a few if not a couple decades apart from each other. The most recent one, twelve years ago, that family camping didn’t know the area very well, which made them a perfect target. Colten’s father made a deal with the fairies to give him a draught that would erase the memories pre-existing. Almost as if they had amnesia of sorts. With that deal in place, Colten’s father erased the family’s memories after completing the ritual using the child’s blood. Extracting years off the child, he added it to his own lifespan. He then led them out of the forest, and gave them brand new alias’s.
Everything checked out. When officer Jill and officer Heath went to check on this family, they found out some grim news. They were all healthy, except for their youngest child who had just turned seventeen. He fell terminally ill and was intubated at the local hospital.
Which lead into this current case involving Colten. He had noticed he was getting on in the years, the wrinkles already beginning to show in his youthful visage. He hated his family for practicing this dark art, but had no other choice. If he wanted to succeed in becoming a great police officer, a child’s life was to be used. After all, it was for the betterment of the community. His father taught him, showed him that one life was not as important as the whole. He should see the bigger picture, that if one could be sacrificed for the greater good, then it should be done.
Colten accepted this, and decided to use his access as an officer to commit the crime, and cover it up using the fairies. He knew of their connection to his father, but unfortunately for him, he saw that as a weakness. He feared someone would figure it out. Someone would eventually pin it on the family, and they wouldn’t be able to do the good work, the work of a police officer. It was his job to be an officer, to rid the world of corruption. Which ultimately led their family to getting caught in the end.
The missing child happened to be found a few short hours later after his detainment. His family had been holding onto him waiting for Colten to come back and complete the ritual. They had told him to forget about his plan to frame the fairies, and just get rid of the kid, but Colten was nervous.
“All is well that ends well.” Parker stretched her hands over her head as she stared at the report on her computer screen. She re-read the document before clicking submit.
The cases on the missing children had been solved, the child had been safely returned to his parents the next state over, and the Colten family had been arrested for five counts of kidnapping and illegal magical practices. Parker reached over to her cup of coffee, only for disappointment to grace her lips.
“Man, this is really stale, cold coffee.”
