Chapter Five: 'Detective Jim's Blood'

It was another woeful day for Andrea as she sat in the class with airs of a complete regard to what the teacher was blathering about. Her pen was busy drawing circles on her notebook as she laid focus on the appearance of the teacher.

Though her eyes were on the teacher, her sentience was somewhere else.

She thought of the beach. Visiting the beach would be the perfect holiday. Andrea couldn't vividly remember the last time she went to the beach, it could've been probably around the time when her parents were still alive and well, before she lost them, before she was accused of murder, before she was taken in by her uncle and aunty, before she met Bree.

Andrea's once neutral mood became infected with an uneasy sensation.

She looked past the window and she could softly feel the wind graze her skin, she smiled softly as she welcomed the wind with her hair.

Spontaneously, the sound of a crash floated with the wind and arrived in her class, causing the students and teacher to jump in shock. Some of the students walked towards the window to see what had happened but Andrea stayed rooted in her seat.

It was none of her business.

"What's going on?" The teacher asked randomly at the students watching from the windows.

"I can barely see, but I think it was a car accident," one of the students replied.

Upon hearing that, the teacher walked out of the class towards the direction of the noise and most of the students followed suit.

Andrea lifted her head from her notebook and found out she was all alone and there were some bags left opened in the class, she looked around and deliberated on staying alone in the class, if something were to go missing, considering her record, she would probably be blamed for theft, with that in mind, she also left along with her mates.

As she walked out of the classroom, Andrea saw some students running towards the direction of the school's parking lot, she followed suit, but she didn't run, she walked leisurely, because she only came out to even numbers.

Until she realized she had been too apathetic.

When she arrived at the parking lot, she could hear the murmurings of the students all around her which caused her heart to beat faster.

"I think it's an accident".

"The man looks familiar"

"He usually comes here, I think it's that cop"

"That detective?"

"I don't know if he's a detective, or a random officer, but he does come here often"

Those statements, those questions and answers caused her heart to weigh more than it should. She squeezed her way through the crowd until she reached the front row.

What welcomed her was a student dressed in gym clothes, hair in a ponytail, the student knelt on the ground, hugging something, holding something.

The contours of the backbone of the student was one all too familiar to Andrea, because she had wasted so much time in studying every nook and cranny, every bone structure, every merit and demerit of the features of this person.

The kneeling student was none other than Bree.

And she was holding a man, lifelessly lying on the ground.

Bree's shoulders were shaking, which signified that she was crying. The blaring sound of sirens wafted into Andrea's ears, she looked over at the direction. It was an ambulance, accompanied by some police cars.

Andrea looked back at Bree and met Bree's pained gaze, Andrea's heart broke, there was no point in anyone explaining anything to her, it was obvious.

The person Bree was cradling was detective Jim.

Andrea's legs lost their power, she fell down to her knees, staring numbly at Bree, her breathing was unsteady, her heartbeat was uneven as pain creeped into her being.

The paramedics took the body of detective Jim out of Bree's grasp but not once did Bree divert her gaze from Andrea's, not until Lucy walked to Andrea and hugged her.

Bree rose to her feet and dusted some sand from her knees, she adjusted her gym clothes and tucked her hand into her pocket.

A man who alighted from the police car walked up to her. "I'm Captain Brooks of the police department"

If Captain Brooks had paid keen attention to the expression of Bree, he would've seen one of surprise

"A Captain, wow, Jim must've been a treasure to the department"

"This involves the death of a Police officer, I will personally see to it that the perpetrator is put behind bars" Captain Brooks said with all seriousness appearing quite veracious to the eye, but not to Bree's eyes.

She squinted her eyes, and folded her hands over her chest, her tears had dried up, she nodded "Good, very good, it's a hit and run case, the car had no plate number, probably removed, it was a black Mercedes 2009 model, it's glass were tinted so I couldn't get a look at the culprit"

She watched as the captain jotted down everything she had just said, patiently as she waited for another question, and just like she guessed he proceeded to ask

"Did he say anything to you before he died?"

"He did," she replied as she watched the captain's facial appearance change to one of curiosity.

"What did he say?" The captain asked intently, staring straight into her eyes.

Bree smiled and shook her head, "He said I should tell his wife that he was sorry, he should've been there for his son's game last week and as a failure he obviously was, he wouldn't make it to the one of tomorrow"

The captain nodded to that piece of information, as if remembering something, he asked again "Did he give you anything?"

Bree shook her head, but her once folded hands moved into her pocket stealthily, her fingers came in contact with a cold metal covered in a somewhat sticky substance, even without checking to see what that substance was, Bree already knew.

It was blood

Detective Jim's blood.

"Okay" the slender, unsightly captain nodded and walked away from her, Bree wasted no more time with him and turned to face Andrea, but she wasn't in that spot anymore, Bree looked around and found the twins and Andrea standing beside their car. Bree nodded and walked towards them.

They all got into the car and nobody said a word, Bree drove the car in tow of the ambulance, but she already knew what the doctors would say, detective Jim was already dead, going to the hospital was a total waste of time and gas.

But Andrea wanted to see for herself, to hear what the doctor was going to say, Bree was familiar with the emotions Andrea was getting, it was the same for her when her mother died.

So whether or not it was a waste of time and gas, Bree would drive to the hospital and back a million times as long as Andrea asked her to.