Thread: Monster [ Burke x Arianna  ]

Groot was dutch, from an orthodox family in a small farm town. His home was within the state they like to do that, station the farm boys in the city and vice versa. He didn't like this city or the people that lived in it. They felt hollow, for the most part, lax and lazy and unsure. It wasn't just that they felt uncomfortable in their own skin that's a universal human trait, country people are really no different. It was the sense of purpose they tended to lack, and the confidence in one's place within the world that comes with it. Nobody's at peace, nowhere in the entire world. But the complexity of this city left a lot of room for disquiet in a person's soul. The kind of room that allows murders like this. A man left with too many open choices can go mad with indecision. It's never been that way, not even before the last hundred years, not really . A child was born and their future was determined as it pertained to the family's needs, or the town's above that. It was practicality if there was any word that summarized Groot, or indeed Dutch people, it was practicality. Whether a given child liked their chosen profession or not, they knew. Now, Groot saw forty year old men starting new careers. It made him feel sick and guilty. A good Christian man knew tradition and responsibility. His father had been a lawman, his father before him there was never any question. It took away the weight of wondering, and he'd started work young. At eighteen he wore the uniform and hadn't faltered since. Today was one of those days he wished he'd been raised by a farmer. His expression, sour as it tended to be, hardened at her promise. He knew journalists through-and-through as the opportunistic weasels they tended to be. The nature of their business fostered a cutthroat attitude among them, and necessity tended to tilt the scales away from professional courtesy and into ass-covering and career-saving when deadlines reared their ugly heads and management pushed for results above all else. Groot had learned that police work tended to be no different, but that's another story. I'll show you. His deep voice was grim, and there was a stiffness in his bones as the two shuffled by milling workers, some stopping to appraise whether or not Lexi warranted access to a crime scene, others just stopping to appraise her. It was reflexive, upon finding a woman possessed of her quality. No fleeting brush with beauty, even hers, could dull the sick taste of horror now lingering in every man's nose, mouth and mind. In all such cases of wonderment Groot's presence quelled any question of legitimacy and the two moved unhindered into a beautifully tended backyard, gardens lining the southern fenceline and children's toys sat untended, clustering mainly around a sandbox. You sure? He asked her one last time at the gate, stopping her entrance with his body until she offered some acquiescence. The sand itself had a bronzing effect on the gore, everything from the ribcage down rent from the rest of the body, as well as the lower left arm at the elbow. Her face was frozen in terror, mouth open, eyes wide. It had been an ugly death. Her face was untouched, but her clothes were in ribbons at the front, everything from her collarbone down completely open and shredded. Slashes cut across her petite breasts and around under her arms, white bone glimpsed at the sternum, visible even under the stained blood. A man in a white suit stood at the nearest fence holding a long yellow strip of measuring tape, another pressing the opposing end into the box where her body lay. The far-reaching man came closer and measured it against the house, creating a list of measurements that would allow them to triangulate her exact position after the fact. Sand was built up around her shoulders indicating impact, and no footprints appeared in the rusty mounds around her. Broken glass lay scattered around the body as well as on top of her if she'd been simply dropped there it wouldn't explain the glass, nor the mounds of dirt directly opposing her landing with respect to the broken window. It looked like she'd hit the frame on her way out and spun. Can we move this poor woman? An unexpected note of humanity from one of the head-to-toe hazmat men, directed at the good officer. Groot was not the type promote very far beyond his initial position, but he was the type to command respect and run the show unofficially through favors and demands. If Groot wanted something held or released, he usually got his way, even barring direct orders to do the opposite from men in far superior positions. And they don't like guys like Groot. Not yet. Groot said, standing still in the large backyard. He looked long and hard at the woman, forced himself to look, tested himself, every moment accentuating and refining the nightmares he'd be suffering through for weeks after, not to mention lengthening the period for which he'd be having them. No, Groot did not like journalists, but he liked Lexi. Something in her spoke to him. There was a seriousness there, a strength, a sense of purpose her generation seemed all but devoid of. She was smart. She knew things, danced in circles he couldn't reach, and spoke with people who would never converse with him in a million years. She wasn't here for the scoop of the year, whether or not she'd have it. She was here to help him. If Lexi was reacting badly, he hadn't noticed. His eyes were for the victim only. What's your take on this, Lexi? He wondered aloud. No clues, no leading, no story. He wanted to know what she thought, with fresh eyes. Tell me everything you're thinking right now. His big hand waved away the impatient scientist, who shook his head solemnly and wandered off to photograph something. I held the body, I opened the scene for you. I want to know what you see here. Speaking of deadlines rearing their ugly heads, Groot knew he'd be expected to answer for the case's progress, and as it stood, they had nothing, and it couldn't look that way. Maybe an outsider was just what they needed, and if not, at least a report on these happenings that showed the police hopefully Groot specifically in a favorable light might save him a lot of grief down the road. You don't read about it much, but murders go unsolved all the time. This murder, however, was different. Somebody would need to hang for this. Sometimes just about anybody would do. He felt yet more guilty for his take on the situation, but he knew as soon as he saw the body it was ass-covering and career-saving time. Maybe, just maybe, the Lord had sent him a blessing in this woman. Hers was the only name that didn't ring out in his mind as having deep connections with people he hated or couldn't trust, and Groot had heard she tended toward unusual stories, unexplainable things. Thin, but he needed all the help he could get today.