Title : WHEN THE DEAD AWAKEN
Chapter Nine
Evening gave way to night, sun gave way to stars and darkness. It was a cold
night, the moon devoid of any warmth, but full of light. Silver embraced Las
Vegas, giving it a strange feeling of a haunted dream. But beautiful.
They had traced the crime scene while the light was still good. Now they were
walking the path from where the art class had been held to the crime scene, more
to conceptualized than out of hope of finding something. And because Sara felt
no desire to return to the lab and Warrick seemed to have sensed her discomfort
and had not protested her suggestion.
He was silent beside her, but she did not mind. It was good to have the company
still, even if she wished she could walk in silent, beautiful moonlight with
another in comfortable silence.
“There was an art class on that evening,” Warrick said after a moment.
“From murder to art,” she replied. “Did she meet someone on the way?”
“Perhaps her murderer.”
“Certainly her death.”
A star glinted in the sky, a star now probably dead. Dead light for the Earth.
But still beautiful and still alive for those who looked upon it and lived in
it.
They walked on, comfortable in each other's silence. A cloud passed across the
moon, a wind stirred the trees. In the distance, the yellow of crime tape
flickered in the wind.
A peaceful place to die, after all. She halted and turned, envisioning the scene
as Warrick walked on. Victoria, perhaps a fresh killer, taking the shortcut to
class, passing between bushes, away from the road and the houses. A silent park
for her death, but she had not known that. She had just walked.
And then... Then what? Death, yes, but why? Her accomplice who had walked with
her and decided to dispose of a risk? Or a chance meeting? Revenge?
“I bet you could tell me,” Sara whispered to the stars, but they did not answer.
They were dead.
“Sara...” Warrick's voice was strange, sounding slightly hoarse.
She turned around and saw the gun pointed at him, saw the young girl and felt
her heart pound as loudly as gunshots in a silent night.
“I want Tara's locket,” the girl whispered. “Give it to me or I shoot him. You
found it somewhere, I know you did. Victoria said she had it. I forgot it
afterwards. Please... I must have it. You were cleaning up the scene, I saw
you.”
“I'm sorry, I don't have it on me,” Sara replied, the last clearly directed at
her. She considered reaching for her gun, but the girl seemed so desperate it
would probably provoke a shooting.
No more dead.
"Let's just talk," Warrick suggested calmly, holding his hands up, but she could
hear a slight unevenness in his voice. “You came back for Tara's locket?”
“You don't understand,” the girl protested. “You don't... I loved Tara. I saw
her dead. She showed me her blood. And I told her... I comforted her, I
whispered to her.”
“Made her at peace,” Sara said quietly.
“But she was still here,” the girl whispered. Her gun shook slightly as her hand
trembled. “Even dead. I could feel her in my mind. Dead awakened. And I had
to... Victoria killed her and I had to kill her. Bring justice. Victoria
shouldn't have. Not for me.”
“For you?” Warrick asked.
“For me. You don't understand...”
“I do,” Sara said empathically. “I... I'm sorry, what's your name?”
“Lena. I'm Lena,” the girl answered, her voice so very young. She was dressed
almost as a child, her pants with sparkling flower prints and her top baby-pink.
But her eyes were not of a child, not anymore. You did not kill and remain a
child.
“Lena. I do understand. They're dead, but not asleep to you, are they? You hear
them still,” Sara said calmly, exchanging a quick glance with Warrick. He let
her take charge with his silence.
“Yes.”
“You didn't want to kill.”
Tears fell from Lena's eyes, blue as the ice. “Jack and I... Tara was taking him
from me and Victoria knew. But she didn't understand. She shouldn't have killed
for me. I would have gotten over Jack. I can't get over Tara. And I found
Victoria where I knew she walked and she beamed when she showed me the knife
with Tara's blood. She beamed! She was proud, she had protected me. When she
showed me the gun, I shot her with it. And now she's alive in my mind, with
Tara. Please... How do you make them stop being alive?”
“I wish I knew,” Sara whispered back. “You don't want to kill again, I know you
don't. You didn't want to kill at all. Put the gun down. Let us talk.”
Lena shook her head. “No. No. I just want it to end. I thought maybe the
locket... If Tara had it, maybe she would rest again. Maybe it would end.”
“It will,” Sara promised, but her words sounded hollow even to her.
“They whisper about more death,” Lena whispered fearfully. She met Sara's glance
and for a moment, Sara saw a strange mirror within and she did understand.
And then the gunshots smashed the mirror and left only the dead light of the
stars in the dark, dark night.