Damnit, a lot f the evidence was gone already? Still, a few good pictures were all they needed to identify one of them; they could then find that person and bring them in for questioning. Get more info.

"You got some, though... Great job, Shelby... That'll likely help a lot."

He tried his best to be encouraging. They'd made it, but things were immediately obvious; things were not right here... A large white semi was parked out front. Saphirus skid to a stop out front and was out of the car in a flash, hurrying to try and scramble into the building. "What's the room number?!" He yelled, not wanting to be held up in the least...

If the cops had called minutes ago and she was okay, that meant they might be able to get there in time!

By the time they made it to the apartment, the scene was silent. The door was wide open, the latch broken... And in the middle of the living area, sitting on a chair presented toward the door...

Was Shelby's phone.

It rang.

'I'VE GOT A BIG BAG OF CRABS HERE! I'M GONNA PUT THEM IN MY MOOOUTH OH YAAAS'

Saphirus grabbed the phone, and turned on call recording. "Where is she? No! Okay okay, I'll give it to her."

He paused and turned around slowly. He then held out the phone.

"wish I could have done more." She muttered, wringing her hands together. As they pulled in, she knew that something wasn't right. It didn't help that her cop... hero... whatever he was, had all but flown out of the car as soon as they were parked.

"26! Apartment 26!" she hollered, following as close behind him as she could. That pit; the sick, heavy, turbulent thing that had started to diminish was suddenly back and had grown tenfold. The journey up seemed to take forever. Too long... and yet, when they got there, she wished she hadn't come at all.

The door to her shared apartment was wide open. The lights were on, but flickering. That was common, their lights had been crappy since the day she had moved in. There were a few things knocked to the floor.. the small entrance desk next to the door was angled out into the hallway, like something had snagged one of the legs on the way out.

There were blankets on the floor, and that stupid sleeping mask that Jen wore every night to block out light was sitting smack in the middle of the hallway floor. Shelby felt her stomach turn and braced herself against the wall with a hand. The other moved to cover her mouth, either to try and keep her from throwing up, or to stifle the sobs she felt coming on. She didn't know which.

Her temporary companion moved further into the room, and then she noticed the chair. Her phone. She couldn't contain a gasping sob,then. When the phone rang she near jumped out of her skin. She listened intently to what was being said, that sick feeling growing worse and worse and time went on.

Then he turned and held out the phone to her. Her eyes dropped to the number, Jen's number, and her vision blurred with tears. With a shaking hand, she reached out and gently took the phone.

"Hello...J-jen?"

"Shelby... Shell. I thought we had an understanding. But you lied to me... Don't ask how I know... I know. And that's okay... You see... I enjoyed our interaction. It made me feel... invigorated. I think... Just this one time... I forgive you." The calm voice spoke slowly and deliberately, though in the back ground the sound of a woman weeping was clearly evident. "Now, don't tattle on me, I do know you enjoy doing that, but I told this gentleman that the only way you would see Jen alive was if he let me talk to you. Wasn't that a nice little lie. Anyway, here's Jen."

There was a shuffling sound, protesting, some screaming, and a vocal. "Say it. Just say it, and everything will be...okay."

"SHELL! SHELL HELP ME."

"SAY IT." Roach's voice rasped out dangerously.

"SHELL... SHELL I'M SO SORRY." Her friend cried and took a breath. (Say it was whispered again) "Shell... This is... This is all your fault... Thi-HRK" The rest of the sounds that came from that phone were best left not described... and all the while, in the background. The cruelest, deepest laughter.

As the sounds abated a hoarse voice screeched through the laughter. "SHELL! I LOOK FORWARD TO SEEING YOUR ART"

click.

"Now, don't tattle on me, I do know you enjoy doing that, but I told this gentleman that the only way you would see Jen alive was if he let me talk to you. Wasn't that a nice little lie. Anyway, here's Jen."

That voice... it sent a shiver up her spine that was violent enough to cause her whole body to shake. She didn't speak to him at first, honestly she didn't want too... but after what he had just said she couldn't keep her mouth shut any longer. "No, you-!" Background noise cut her off. She started pacing back and forth in the room, nervously chewing on her thumb. She still had hope, she still had to believe...

"SHELL! SHELL HELP ME."

"Jen! Jen i'm right here! Jen, we're going to find you! I'll find you!!" She could hear her friend weeping, deep, pained weeping. "JENNIFER!"

"SHELL... SHELL I'M SO SORRY.....Shell... This is... This is all your fault... Thi-HRK"

"Jennifer!? Jenny! NO!! JENNIFER!" Her cries wouldn't drown out the sound. She couldn't' get through... And that... laughter. She was holding the phone out in front of her at this point, practically screaming at it. Her thumb slid over the speaker button on accident, just in time for Roach to get his last words in.

"SHELL! I LOOK FORWARD TO SEEING YOUR ART"

Communication went dead. The line cutoff. Silence filled the room, save for the sound of her own frantic breathing. She stared blankly at the phone in her hands, eyes tracing the phone number over and over again. Then, she hit the call button and brought it back up to her ear. 

The semi was parked out front, they had only been here a few minutes.. there was no way they could have gotten very far away from the apartment that fast. It didn't even ring. Straight to voice mail. She hung up and tried again; same result.

The glowing numbers on the phone blurred. Tears gathered and slid in gloopy rivers down her cheeks.  She didn't know what to say... to do... where to go from here. Jenny.. was dead. That monster had killed her, and there hadn't been anything she could do about it.

Saph could only watch in horror at what played out.

"Jesus..."

This was real... This was true evil. He'd seen terrible things in his life. People doing bad things because they wanted something. Never had he seen someone do something so terrible with so little to gain from it. He felt sick. He had to ignore it, though. This woman wasn't safe.

He pressed the emergency button on his dispatch, and got busy calling the police.

"Listen... Hey, listen. They aren't here. They're gone. We gotta to take your phone for evidence... I... I'm sorry. I'm sorry for your loss, but we have to get you out of here."

He gently reached out to try and grab the phone from her, and then grabbed her shoulders to steady her.

"I have a place you can go. It's safe. We can keep you there until we find out what we can do to help you out, okay?"

Slowly, he tried to lead her from that dark place. He couldn't imagine this would be anything better than the worst moment of her life.

Shelby was suddenly, acutely aware that she wasn't in fact alone. For a bit there, it had felt like she was. Like all of the light in the world had been sucked away and all that was left was crushing sadness, fear, and... anger.

The his voice drew her back, a movement of shadow in the corner of her eye. She lifted her head slowly, staring at him wide eyed as he spoke. The words...they didn't register at first. But gradually she became aware enough to understand. They were gone. He needed the phone. She let him take it without a fight. There was no reason to have it now... and potentially it might do some good in the future.

He gripped her shoulders and she drew herself up a little more, schooling her expression into a blank mask. No one needed to see how defeated she was. How crushing the whole ordeal had been. How... damaged she felt.

"I have a place you can go. It's safe. We can keep you there until we find out what we can do to help you out, okay?"

Unblinking, she watched him. She saw the sincerity in his expression. In his words. Really, he truly meant what he said. She didn't doubt that under different circumstances he would surely keep his word. But... she also felt that she was more of less a lost cause now. She had a target painted on her back; one she may have put there herself, and from what she could gather from within such a very short amount of time, it was a very big target painted by a very dangerous person. Her faith in the system had been rocked. Decimated, really. How could they protect her from someone so evil? Someone that vile and impossible to reach? He would simply take what he wanted, and damn the consequences.

There was no help for her. Nowhere was safe. She was better off turning herself in to him and getting it over with, or offing herself before he could get his hands on her.

She managed a small smile for him, still dead behind the eyes, "Thank you." And she allowed him to lead her from the room.

[End]