The Ashes of an Oak by Bradbury Chris

Author:Bradbury, Chris [Bradbury, Chris]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Chris Bradbury
Published: 2015-12-14T18:30:00+00:00

Steve rolled up at the church. The area was cordoned off. Three uniforms hung around, one at the main gate, the other two outside the main door. They smoked and talked; easy money.

Steve walked up to the two at the main entrance. He knew them – Jameson and Rhodes, both war horses. They’d be glad of the few hours away from the streets.

The blood still lay stickily upon the church door and trailed to the concrete step. There it had pooled and was now almost dry, the heat of the day sucking every ounce of moisture from it. Soon, thought Steve, it would be dust, then it would be washed away by the winds and the rains and the passing footsteps and, but for the most invisible of molecules, it would be as if this was never the last resting place of an anonymous girl. Everything got washed away.

He told the two uniforms to separate and search the property. They bitched and moaned, said it was too hot, but they did it anyway. They took a third each. There wasn’t much grass to look in or many cracks to dip in to. It was a suburban church. There was only so much you could do before relying on faith to fill the house.

Steve found the purse within minutes. It was down a storm drain, beneath a drainage lid. He called the guys over so that they could see it, then got on his knees, lifted the lid and picked it out. It was small, rectangular, smooth and blood red, with a yellow metal clip and shoulder strap.

He opened it. There was a wallet inside. He opened that and found it full of ten, twenty and fifty dollar bills. With the two uniforms, he counted it out. She had been busy before she died.

He gave the purse to Jameson to hold while he went and got a bag from the car. Jameson dropped the purse in there and Steve sealed it up.

He thanked them for their help, then went back to the car.

It was almost too hot to sit in it. The windows had magnified the heat of the sun and made everything inside too hot to touch. As soon as his back made contact with the seat he felt his shirt cling to him.

He put the evidence bag on the seat next to him. He would drop it off at forensics on the way back to the precinct, then he would let the Captain know what he had found.

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