Goblins by David Bernstein Page B

as if an animal had been let loose. Blood had splattered everything—the bed, walls, ceiling and furniture. Body parts and unidentifiable chunks of flesh were scattered about the room. A foot, arm and ear lay on the bed, while another foot, a few fingers, some bones stripped clean, an eyeball and a breast were on the floor amongst other gobs of flesh. Most of a torso—a male’s by the looks of it—was propped against a dresser. The lower abdominal area had been sliced open. Intestines trailed onto the floor. There were strange and numerous tracks around the room. They appeared to be the combination of human and animal. Claw marks appeared in the wood in places. Spiked onto the bed’s headboard posts were Mr. and Mrs. Brown’s heads, the scene like something out of medieval times. Their jaws hung open as if in mid-scream. Their eyes were missing. For a moment, just a moment, Hale wondered whose eyeball it was he’d seen on the floor. Spinal columns extended from the heads and draped down the bedposts like tails.
    Hale had seen enough. He felt sick to his stomach and was about to turn away when he spotted a green substance on the floor. Now that he saw it, he noticed it was all over, mixed in with the body parts and blood. Some of it was near the entrance. He squatted to get a better look and thought it was the same stuff that had been found in the woods where Jacob had gone missing.
    â€œChief,” someone said from behind.
    Hale shot to his feet, hand on the butt of his service weapon. His heart felt as if it was in his throat. It was Willows. Hale had been so absorbed in the scene, he’d forgotten the man was standing behind him. He let out a breath and his shoulders fell.
    â€œSorry, Chief,” Willows said. “You all right?”
    â€œYeah, just on edge with this shit.”
    â€œâ€˜On edge’ is one way to put it,” Willows said, shaking his head as he looked into the room. “I mean, what the hell happened here?”
    Though Willows’ outward demeanor appeared stoic, his face like stone, Hale saw fear in the man’s eyes. Hale was shaken himself, but as the chief, he needed to be the one his officers looked up to.
    Hale put a hand on the man’s shoulder and drew Willows’ gaze from the scene. He motioned with his head to walk, and the two men headed away from the bloodbath and farther down the hallway. “We don’t need to see that anymore. We’ll guard the house and wait for CSU, okay?”
    â€œI’m a little…hell, Chief, I’m fucked up,” Willows admitted. “But I know my job. You don’t have to worry about me.”
    â€œI know. We’re veterans. But you’re right, this shit is something out of a nightmare.”
    Silence took up the air between the two men for a few moments. Hale didn’t want to speculate aloud. It was best to let CSU do their thing, but he couldn’t help to ponder the situation. It appeared Jacob’s kidnappers had returned and killed his parents.
    â€œI get people killing people,” Willows said. “I mean, it ain’t right, but it happens. But to do so like that is just evil. Like the psychos enjoyed it.”
    Hale nodded. “We’ve definitely got some crazies on our hands, if it is more than one killer.”
    â€œI just don’t get it,” Willows said. “That’s just wrong in every way.”
    Hale saw the first strings on the man’s psyche beginning to come apart. He caught his officer’s gaze and said, “We have to let CSU go over the scene and give us preliminaries before we try figuring out why someone would do such a thing. In the meantime, we have a job to do. I need you thinking clearly, not going off somewhere. This is awful, but the others and I need you. They’ll need your leadership. Why don’t you go downstairs and make sure they’re all right? Keep anyone else from coming up until CSU