Man's Best Friend

Even being a veteran of the force for sixteen years didn’t prepare him for what he was about to encounter. Wow, he thought as he pulled up to the bungalow, the rookies got there shit together, the whole property was already taped off. The American dream, a big house, two SUV’s on the drive, flower beds, and a picket fence. Beads of sweat, from mid summer’s heat trickled down Detective Stone’s forehead by the time he reached the door where he met the responding officer.

“What do we got?”

“Fuck, three plus a dog.”

“For Christ’s sake”

“Yeah, The whole family”

“Well,might as well get on with it.”

He crossed the threshold of the open door gazing across an immaculate living room. A photo on the mantle showed Mickey, mother, father, and daughter at Disney Land. This was the time to hide and lose any and all human emotions and just observe the scene. It’s the only way one could survive this line of work. Taking in every detail Stone made his way to the next room. In her late thirties, forty the most, there she was clutching a phone as the puddle of blood around her was consumed by the carpet beneath. He felt his heart beat, but that couldn’t have been it, for at this moment he was as alive as the woman in front of him.

It was worse with the other two. Stone making his way through the rest of the first floor, felt his phone buzz. While stopping to read the text, actually a naked picture of the twenty something year old waitress he was banging, a droplet of blood landed on his blackberry screen. Glancing up he saw a dark circle on the ceiling above. The next victim was located. Climbing up the steps, he pulled out his phone taking another look at his message. Thoughts quickly changed as he saw bodies through an open door. It was the girl’s room. Pink paint and posters of pretty princesses adorned the walls. In the middle of it all laid dead daddy and daughter. Barbie dolls were scattered about. They must have been playing. Stone struggled, forcing back thoughts of his own daughter he hadn’t seen in over a year. Did she even play with dolls? It was too much. Racing down stairs and out the back door he somehow managed to keep down the vomit he expected to emerge.

In the back yard he found the puppy, a black lab. Collarless and free of blood, it must have been struck in the head or strangled. Strange, he thought, he hadn’t noticed any dog toys in the entire house. In actuality he completely forgot about numb nuts saying three plus a dog, but sure enough the scumbag killed the puppy too. Inside the house he placed on gloves and went through all the cabinets and closets searching for something related to dogs. Finding nothing, he focused on other matters.

By now a forensics team had arrived and neighbors gathered outside. Stone retreated to his car and sent a blue for lunch. Years of being on the job gave him the ability to still eat after seeing something like this. Smoking a cigarette he searched for his ex-wife’s number and placed a call.

“It’s Debra. Leave a message and I’ll call you back.”

“Hey Deb it’s me. I know it’s been a while, but I’ve been thinking about Amy, and was wondering if I could see her sometime. I mean after all, I am her father. Call me back…. Please.” After five more cigarettes his food arrived.

Wiping off a stain on his tie, Stone made his way over to the head crime scene investigator. The CSI had determined that the three victims were all killed by multiple puncture wounds, most likely a kitchen knife. The dog on the other hand suffered a blow to the head. Stone was thrilled.

“No shit Sherlock. Any idiot could deduce that. Have you found any DNA or finger prints to examine?”

“No I’m afraid we haven’t found anything yet.”

“Well, keep looking.”

Angered and pondering a motive for the deaths, Stone figured he should start talking with the neighbors. It was a small Cul-de-sac, and most of them were standing around watching anyway. He found the ones living on the left, an old retired couple. After a few minutes of questions he ruled them out as suspects, and learned that the victims were the perfect family and that no one would want to do them any harm. He moved on to Dawsons, the neighbors on the right. Mr. and Mrs. Dawson said the same thing, “The Bryne’s were ideal neighbors. We’d barbeque just about every weekend together, even went on a couple vacations with us. Our boy Bobby and their little one got along like two peas in a pod. I still can’t believe why anyone would do something like this. What’s wrong with this world?”

Stone having seen this type of violence all his life replied, “A whole lot. Thanks for your time.”

“Anything we can do detective just please let us know. They were such good people. Just last week a gust a wind took down a branch from their tree landed right on our dog. The very next day they gave our Bobby a little black lab.”

“A black lab?”

“He’s the cutest little thing, but Bobby’s still a little beat up about old Oscar.”

“Do you think I could have a word with Bobby?”

“Yes of course, but please don’t tell him about the Dawsons it’ll just ruin him, he’s a gentle little boy. He should be somewhere in the back by his playhouse.”

Stone and Mr. and Mrs. Bryne made their way to the backyard and found bobby caked in blood with a knife nearby. He and had dug up his old dog and sat there cradling him. Rocking back and forth with tears streaming down his face, Bobby shouted, “They killed Oscar!”