Blood Rage

3

3. Al the sides

“Okay, Jeremiah said as he moved forward and onto the door that stopped short of it. He swallowed a big ball of air before winding the door handle and pushing it inside. This was not going to be something that one could get used to. Jeremiah entered the room and held the door open for Linda Winstrum was behind it. Jeremiah left the door to close as the woman passed on and into the room. He was intent on working beside her in case she lost the stamina in her legs. This was another thing that Jeremiah was used to seeing.

She moved slowly and caused Jeremiah to move even more slowly than he was meant to go. He knew what was going through her mind; it was probably the same thing that was going through his mind. She would have given anything for the person lying down on the cold slab to be anybody else but her daughter.

It was not something new and Jeremiah understands it. The woman, Linda Winstrum, finally came to stand close to the table. The sheets covered Erica’s face, so Jeremiah nodded to Jackson who was on the other side to pull the sheets from the girl’s face.

It was a slow reveal but the reaction the reveal of the girl's face had started was nothing if not instantaneous. Linda Winstrum turned back to Jeremiah who was behind her and began. She let the tears, the one that had refused to leave the tear duct back at her house. Jeremiah did not move away instead of using his right hand to pat her on her shoulder.

He wanted to say something but he put himself in the woman’s shoes and realized again that there was nothing that could be said to bring comfort to the parent that had lost a child. So Jeremiah just stood there and waited for the woman to say something. That is when she was ready to say something. The woman let go of his Jody and shifted away from him after a while, it was as though the tears in her eyes were taking some time to refill, as her eyes were dry when she moved away but had become moist with tears when Jeremiah asked the question that had warned was coming.

The woman began crying when he asked her if this was Erica Winstrum and if this was her daughter. It took Linda another second or two for her to respond and when she did, did with a nod of ahead.

“I am sorry, I know this is hard, I know but I am going to need a verbal confirmation. I am sorry. Jeremiah said.

“Yes,” the woman said forcefully, almost spitting the word out of her lips. “Yes, she is my daughter, Erica.” The admission brought another wave of tears to the woman’s eyes. She was like this until Jackson came from the other side of the table and suggested that it would be better if she stopped looking at the corpse of her daughter. The woman had put on resistance first but decided against it and did just as Jackson said as they moved to the corridor just out of the door, the one they had passed as they came from the other side.

Jeremiah ushered her into one of the chairs that were outside. Jackson excused himself right after that and disappeared to meet the CSI team for any reason. Extra information they managed to extract from the corpse.

It was not long after Jackson had gone that the woman looked up to Jeremiah. What happened to her is what we are trying to find out. We need information about her and that is why you are here?

“I did not know much about her, at least not after she moved away from the house to stay on her own. I do not know how to explain it, but we did not get along after that… the woman looked for something suitable for the position she was in.”

Jeremiah was certain that he knew what she meant and would have offered up a synonym but did not want to soil her testimony and description. So he let her struggle for the word until she got one

“We did not get along after the urges began to kick in. She left the house and we grew estranged. We were not that close, but never make the mistake; I loved my little girl you see. “

“Is there anything you could tell us about her?” Jeremiah asked.

“She was smart, really smart. She did not deserve this, not one bit. The only consolation that I have is that whoever did this is dead too.” Jeremiah felt his body stiffen considering how to ask the question she was about to ask her Next.

“Do you know anyone who would have wanted your daughter dead?”

Linda Winstrum looked up at him; there was a look on her face that showed that she was confused about the question that he just asked. “I do not understand, isn’t the person that did this dead?”

“They have,” Jeremiah lied. There was no way he could have let it leak that the one thing that kept the world in its peaceful state was failing and had failed, he did not know that for certain.

“Yes we know who did it, we just wanted to find out if we needed to start thinking about arresting anybody else. “

“Do you think this was planned, you think that the dead murderer planned this with someone else?”

“I do not know but this is standard procedure. It might not pan out to anything.”

“Okay,” the woman said as she cleaned the tears from her eyes. As I said, she began, “I did not know her very well not after she left the house, I tried to keep in touch but she could not forgive me for what I had done.”

“Is there any friend that she had that you knew about that we could ask, to get information that most people do not know about your daughter?”

“There is, I do not know if they remained close but there is, or should I say there was.

“What is her name, Rita, her name is Rita Armstrong.”

“Okay, thank you very much,” Jeremiah said to her. “Do you need me to drive you home?

No, I would like to stay close with my daughter, I could not be close to her when she was alive, and I will not leave her now.”

“Are you sure?” Jackson asked as he made an entrance from the same door he had disappeared through.

“Yes, if I am allowed to remain here. I won’t be asked to leave, will I? “

“No, you will not be asked to leave. Not at all.”

“Okay. Then I will stay,” she said as she wiped her tears away.