Chereads / The Alpha in Grey Shadows / Chapter 6 - Murdered

Chapter 6 - Murdered

Several police cars were parked on Arrow Street.

Across the road was a yellow strip that read 'POLICE LINE DO NOT CROSS' on it.

A red Hilux came and parked, and a young man stepped out. He walked over and passed the police line, entering the crime scene.

Nobody dared to yell at this young man, for he was the Chief of the Phoenix City Police Force, Gary Chevenix.

"Morning Sir!" They all stood and saluted. "Morning boys." He walked over to one of the officers and asked, "What have we got here?" He replied, "The deceased is a Raymond Hall, age 32. Place of residence, 43 Caxton Close. We received a call from a friend of his, Cliff Sands, who claims to have witnessed the murder."

Gary's eyebrow raised and the officer continued, "He claims the two of them were on a video call. He failed to identify any of the killer's features."

Gary said, "I guess we'll have to pay this Cliff Sands a visit. Where's the body?"

The officer led him to the body, which had been covered. He removed the cover and said, " Cause of death was four slashes to the throat. He was then hanged on that tree over there."

While Gary was walking over to the tree, another officer ran up to him. "Chief, I think you should see something. Here's the recording from one of the nearby cameras."

Gary watched the video. Raymond was walking and the lights simultaneously turned off.

"Maybe power was cut. You know these electricity companies," Gary shrugged it off.

The officer replied, "You're right about something, sir. Something was cut."

He led the Chief to the main utility pole and showed him the box. It had been destroyed. Ripped apart.

Gary was surprised. "The entire control box was destroyed!"

"Look closely, sir."

Gary squinted his eyes, trying to get a better look. Then he saw it. Although barely visible, he could trace the outline of four slashes across the box.

"You said there's a witness, right?" "Yes Chief." Gary frowned. "Alright Detective, I want you to go pay Mr Cliff Sands a visit now. I'll be with you shortly. Take an IT team with you. We will need that video call as evidence."

"Yes sir," and the detective left.

Gary stayed for quite a while before driving off himself.

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Chemistry Lesson

Aiden groaned in annoyance as their Chemistry teacher, Mr Harrison, walked into class.

"Man, do I hate this guy!" Jayden smiled at him, "But I thought you said you have never hated anyone your whole life? You said that thirty seconds ago."

Aiden replied, "I started hating him now, is there a problem with that?"

Jayden ignored him this time and immersed himself into paying attention to the lesson.

Most of the stuff the teacher talked about were things Jayden already knew, so his hand would be the first to rise as soon as a question was asked. Soon Jayden was correcting the teacher whenever he made a mistake, which was a lot.

Maya was surprised by the intelligence Jayden possessed, while Austin thought, 'It won't be long until Harrison will be sitting on a desk while Jayden teaches the class at this rate.'

And he was right, for Mr Harrison was annoyed by the fact that a student was correcting him. He smiled and said, "Mr Greystone, since you know so much, how about you finish the lesson for us?"

He expected Jayden to refuse but to his amazement, he actually got up and walked confidently to the board. However, before Harris could give him the marker, the bells rang.

He looked and saw a smirk on Jayden's face. 'He was doing it on purpose! He knew that time was up!' Feeling embarrassed, Harrison sat on his desk as the students left the classroom.

He heard Aiden's voice as he laughed, " You got him good, man! That look on his face was priceless!"

'Annoying brat!' He thought, but unfortunately he couldn't lay a finger on Aiden. Goodness knows what would happen to him if he so much as yelled at him. As he thought about it, he started to shudder.

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76 Mayfield Avenue

Cliff Sands was sitting on his sofa, clearly in distress. Images of last night's incident replayed over and over again in his head.

He remembered the way his friend screamed for help. He was so close, but so far away.

Tears streamed down his face.

He heard a knock on the door. He was too distressed to answer it. The door opened on its own, and he heard footsteps coming his way.

"Good morning, Mr Sands. I am Detective Ramsey Parker, and I'm here for a chat."

Cliff didn't respond. "I'm sorry about your friend," Detective Parker spoke. "I need your account of what happened last night. Please."

"Then what!?" Cliff snapped. "You get my account and shove it at the bottom of another pike of files!!" Cliff was enraged and the detective could see it. Ramsey watched as Cliff threw a huge fit, but didn't say a word.

Cliff finally calmed down. "I apologize," he said. "I've been very stressed lately. I hope you forgive my outburst. It was unsightly of me."

"Don't worry, its okay," Detective Parker assured him, but his eye was slightly twitching. Cliff had unloaded a barrage of curses on Parker, the IT team, and the entire police force. If not for the circumstances, he wouldn't have hesitated to beat him up there and then.

Cliff then gave his account of what happened. His lips were quivering as he spoke, while fidgeting around. Detective Parker proceeded to ask him for his phone, to which Cliff responded, "Unfortunately, I accidentally dropped my phone in the swimming pool."

Parker replied, "At this point I would like you to prepare yourself to come with us to the Phoenix City Police Station for further inquiries."

Cliff complied and they took him with them.

Chief Gary Chevenix was sitting in his office. "Come in," he called out. Detective Parker came in.

"What did you get out of him?" The Chief of Police asked. Parker relayed the entire conversation.

"He seems to hold a grudge against the police," Gary commented while chuckling.

"Anything else, Detective?" "Yes, sir," he answered. " Mr Sands seems to have a drug record. He was arrested for three months last year on counts of drug peddling. Neighbors and other friends claim he has been quite the broke guy currently, and still peddling narcotics. "

"Search the house." "Being done, sir. My men have found a small stash in a hidden compartment behind his closet."

Gary praised him,"Well done, Detective. "

In the cell, where Cliff was being held in custody, the door was opened. Cliff was facing down when he heard the sound and he looked up.

"Who are you? You are not a cop..." Suddenly he remembered something, and his heart skipped a beat. He opened his mouth to scream and a swish sound was heard.

The door opened and closed, leaving Cliff with his head on the table, soaked in his own blood.

And on his neck, where four slashes on his throat.