For a few moments Lilly couldn't breathe; fear shot up from her stomach until it wrapped around her throat. "grrghsht" She made a choking sound; it was clear that she was having trouble breathing; a minute later she forced her self to calm down, and slowed her breathing, taking deep breaths in and out steadily. Finally she calmed down and started to address the situation. The dead man's corpse was strewn on her porch, and he had multiple wounds; obviously he had been attacked, but what stood out to her were his bare feet. He didn't have any shoes on. "It was possible he was a member of the prominent gangs in the area and had been killed in a turf war.
It was equally likely that he was just a passerby who was caught in the crossfire." These thoughts passed through her mind and she was scared, stiff " I have to call the police, however I don't know if he's alive or not so I should at least check his pulse" quickly. she hurried over and placed her finger on his neck; after a few seconds she withdrew her finger. Cold dead no pulse. Lilly groaned, as she pulled out her phone and dialed 164.
"It doesn't get much better than this, a wedding and a funeral." She muttered under her breath as she waited for the receiver on the other end to pick up. She had to wait around a minute longer before her call was put through.
"Hello this this the Middle Rock police department how may I help you" a soft voice asked from the other end.
"My name is Lilly Barrett, I'm calling to report a dead body"
.....
The scene of yellow tape around her home, hearing the incessant noise around her and the fact her neighbors were giving her strange looks. Lilly was almost convinced that she was the murderer, or at least that she had committed a crime of some sort. The detective in charge of the case must have had a hearing disorder; he kept asking the same questions over and over " Any relation with the deceased"
"No"
"So you have nothing in common, no mutual friends, school, nothing?"The detective asked for the umpteenth time. "No sir nothing, I've never seen this man before" The detective peered deeply into her eyes like he was about to uncover everything about her.
Which made her extremely uncomfortable, so she took a step back to create some space and allow herself to think clearly, but this detective was a hound. As soon as she took a step back, he took a step forward: "are you sure?"
"I told you already"
"why would a person you don't know, choose to die at your doorstep"
" I don't know I really don't know anything, I've already told you guys everything I know. I came home and found him lying there." The detective gave her one last glare and then smiled brightly," we understand miss.... Lilly And sorry for the disturbance, we know this is hard on you as well." As he was speaking, a tall muscular middle aged officer called out "Darren that's enough we're done here"
"Sir!" And with that he left Lilly to herself at last.
When Darren reached the middle aged man, he was immediately interrogated.
"What do you think, is it her" Darren shook his head and climbed into the squad car "No she is definitely not the one who this"
"gang war?"
"That's a stretch, our spies have been keeping tabs on them but we haven't received any kind of information this month on what's going on so I doubt it."
"so what the case has gone cold?" The middle aged officer groaned as he sat in the driver's seat and sparked the car " Hardly whoever did this has to know we're on the case by now. This person will move to cover his tracks one way or the other, whether he chooses to try and mislead us or not he will make a blunder and a crack will open" the middle aged man seemed to understand what his partner was saying and nodded slowly" What I don't understand is how you got the conclusion that this case has a mastermind behind it"
" Can't you tell? the place where the victim died is too random, and since that girl truly can't identify the dead man there has to be another reason. crimes of passion don't end up on someone else's yard" However What Darren didn't know was that his conjectures were at best half-truths; this was the way of the world. Sometimes the farfetched was reality and the facts would turn into fiction. Soon some would long of the time when fiction and reality were two different concepts that were extremely opposite, but for now fiction is one man's reality and reality is another man's fiction.
.....
An hour later, while she was resting, Lilly received a very strange call from the hospital.
" This is the Middle Rock Hospital are you Lilly Barret of 1402 West Hill" the calm voice of the operator, sounded from the other end. Lilly was quite shocked by the call and fell silent; hence it took her a moment to regain her composure "hello?"
"Yes I'm here is there something wrong" the operator's voice seemed very strained, like she didn't know how to express what she wanted to say" No, Miss Barret, there isn't a problem; Well, there is but I wouldn't call it a problem more like a minor issue." Lilly almost cursed the woman out. Why the hell was she beating about the bush in such a roundabout manner! " just speak freely I'm quite tired at the moment and would like to rest"
" Y.. y..yes you're right, umm you see the dead man you found on your porch this morning...." the operator trailed off, unable to come to terms with what she was about to say herself.
"What exactly are you trying to say I'm not understanding you."
The operator gasped heavily, as if trying to draw strength for what she was going to say next.
"He is not exactly dead anymore"
Lilly stared into space for a moment before she hung up "Shit!"