GUARDIAN

[ C H A P T E R T W E L V E ]

"What's the emergency?" Shirley asked Ernie who was about to leave the precinct. She noticed he wasn't the only one, a lot of her colleagues were rushing out like their tails were on fire.

"Seven dead bodies found in the pub in Weston Drive. A case of Arson, Chief says he wants every available cop out there, asked for you too, says this is the sort of thing you do best" Officer Heather Monroe, Marc Draxler's blonde partner and Shirley's other best friend who happened to be next to Ernie answered for him.

"Hey Ernie coming on not!" Sean Giuseppe yells and honks the horn at his partner who had stopped to catch up with his friend.

"I'm Coming you asshole!" he yells back at Sean then turns and gives Shirley an apologetic look

"Sorry Shirls I gotta go, movie night still on tonight?"

"Yeah Darcy, just make sure you bring popcorn, I've ran out and I ain't makin' any tonight"

"Whatev's, just get ice-cream, Addy's getting pizza" he walks to the patrol car then waves at Shirley, blowing her a kiss. Shirley makes a disgusted look at him and he laughs. She turned to Heather.

"Hey Heather can I catch a ride with ya, my bike needs fixin' and I ain't bout to walk all the way to Weston" Shirley said

"Sure"Heather smiled "You can ride shotgun since Marc's down with the flu"

"Thanks sugar, I owe you big time" Shirley smiles back sliding into the passenger seat of Heather's patrol car.

"The hell for?" Heather who now sat behind the wheel asked in confusion.

"Givin' me a ride girl now move before I pass out from boredom, I got a murder investigation to git to" Shirley said relaxing on her seat. She loads her gun.

Heather starts the car easing the vehicle from the garage to the streets. She eyes Shirley who had her eyes fixed on her phone.

"So you know Leroy I've got a girlfriend now" Heather says.

Shirley casts her a confused look "Congratulations Heather, now why are you telling me that?"

"Well Allison's a fan and wants an autograph." Heather rolls her eyes at her partner's obsession of the super cop. She pauses for a bit then continue s "Soooo... I've got a hot, filthy rich cousin who works as a field agent in the FBI and I want you to go out with him, I promise you're gonna love him"

Shirley rolls her eyes "Not interested, thanks"

"Jeez girl, would you let me finish?" Heather retorted.

"Nope cos last time you set me up with your relative I nearly broke his wanderin' fingers"

"That was Devin Thompson and he's an ass, I'm talking about my other cousin Aidan Ferreira from my Italian side of the family"

"Still not interested Monroe"

"Well your loss Leroy" Heather said and Shirley almost smiles at how fast she had managed to silence her friend until Heather opens her mouth...

"I've still got another cousin, Hank. he's Devin's twin and single. you'll definitely love him, gurl" Heather started again.

It was obvious she wanted Shirley as a sister. Shirley rolled her eyes again. At the rate she was going she'd go blind.

"Say one more thing bout settin' me up with your relatives and I'll jump down this vehicle right now" She yells , her right hand on the door.

"Fine, I won't say anything about setting you up with my cousins, yet." she added and Shirley groaned. She muttered something about strangling Heather alive causing the other woman to laugh hard.

❄️–❄️

Shirley steps down from the vehicle the moment they got there. There were already feds and also cops from her local precinct there. Fire trucks, patrol cars and buses belonging to the local news channel packed haphazardly on the side ways.

Yellow ducts were used to encircle the crime scene restricting people from getting in. A couple of rookie cops could be seen restricting the press from getting in. Shirley spotted Pete Tomalski the CSI guy taking photographs of the dead bodies. She lifts the yellow ducts crossing over. A rookie cop starts to stop her.

Shirley shows him her badge. "I'm Detective Shirley Leroy, S.C.P.D. What happened here?" She inquired the young black cop who looked to be in his early twenties.

"There are fifteen casualties, twelve dead and the other three barely made it"He said his face grim.

"Any eye witnesses?" Shirley enquired.

"An old white woman, Elaine Ulysses. that's her name said she saw a white male in a black hoodie leave from the back of the bar and escaped through the alley over there" He answered.

Shirley nodded, then made her way toward Tomalski who stands up. Up close to the scene. She could tell the c*****e was way worse than reported obviously, she takes a pair of blue gloves from one of the CSI crew then puts them on. She moves closer to one of the victims, squats, examining the body.

"What is the victim's name?" She asked Pete.

"Jordan Wong, twenty three year old construction worker, spends most of his evenings divided between the bar and at his ma's eatery" He points at the victim heart" Jordan was frozen from the inside out, but burned outside to be honest Shirley, I haven't seen a case like this in all my ten years as a CSI, this is insane."

Shirley nodded, she hadn't seen something like that too in all her years as a cop. She takes out her pointer from her back pocket then opens the victims eyes pointing the light to his eyes then shakes her head.

She stands up with a frown on her face. "Did the others die in the same way?" She asked.

"Nope, Brendan O'Shea a football player for SullyUni was hung upside down from the ceiling with his belly tore open and his intestines hung in the ceiling fan. Dorian Macalister was buried in the ground from the neck down, he was beaten until he was almost unrecognizable." He pauses to take a break. "I think I'd rather show you the rest of them, think we have a serial killer in our hands?" Pete asked.

Shirley didn't know what to tell him so she kept rather mute. It seemed Aron was right. The Hella guy was making his move and Shirley for the first time in her life had no idea what to do. However she gasped aloud when she saw the fourth victim. A blonde haired grey eyed girl who was barely eighteen. She was covered in frost, her skin pale, her silver eyes glassy. Her left hand hard burns on them on them, her fingers had been cut off.

It was clear to everyone she had been the one who had suffered the most. Shirley growled in anger.

"Did the killer leave any message behind?" Shirley asked Pete.

"Hmm, yes" Pete wondered "There's a note the killer left behind. We sent them back to the lab but I have pictures of them on my Cam. " He shows Shirley the pictures he had taken. "Here take a look, does this make any sense"

Shirley took a look and frowned as Pete read out the words aloud.

"You can run but you can't hide. Soon enough the Frost will melt and thy Petals will Wilt for I am Hell.

P.S Elsa, Jack is dead....

Shirley did understand the message, in fact she did far too much and that was the problem. The son of a b***h was taunting her She knew it but problem was she had no idea what to do.

"Does not make any sense at all" Shirley lied "Hey Pete, I'ma need ya to keep me updated on any more info on the case"

"Sure Shirl's" Pete said and Shirley starts to leave. "Hey Shirley, the other victims were collateral damage, in case you were wondering"

"Thanks Pete, I need to get started before the Feds arrive and tamper with my investigation" Shirley said. "And Pete, This isn't a serial killer, this is the work of a psychopath"

**_**