Psycher Chronicles

What Evidence?

(Darcy Renolds)

"I'm sorry, but there is not enough to go off of here, we can try to talk to him again, but unfortunately leaving the scene of a vigil where emotions were running high is not enough to warrant a detention," Sgt Carol Knight stated condolingly to Darcy.

This was to be expected, while everyone knew that the clip was from the time of the murders, Mr. Love claimed it was all CGI, and from what was captured on the screen, it looked like it was something one would see in a low budget horror movie.

By now everyone had seen the video clip, the so-called confessional. Yet, the clip was blurry, showing what appeared to be low level cinematographic effects, poor lighting, giant mechanical suits running on all fours with patches of bleeding fur. Everything screamed cheap B rate thriller, which was what Mr. Love's attorney ultimately claimed happened.

They had shot a movie, he was friends with the girl and had been already questioned multiple times, but he had an alibi. While flimsy, it was noted that he was working on parts for a film he was working on as part of his Film Studies degree. Why someone would choose a Film Study degree Darcy could not understand, but he was in the classes and part of his assignments had been to come up with realistic lighting and filming effects.

Even the death scream, at the end, the one where the students chased down and struck the beast with lightning, only added to the cheesy effects. One blast apparently got too close and fried the original phone that the film was recorded from. Apparently the someone had taken that film and digitized it to its current state, making it so there was no real image of the final death blow or of any possible transformation to a living person afterwards.

Just the attacking of a beast and then fade to black.

Honestly, the film had been uploaded to multiple streaming platforms and was being heralded as a cinematographic masterpiece. Generating millions of streams within its first few days and generating thousands of dollars in ad revenue which went to pay off Mr. Love's high-priced attorneys.

However, Darcy was on a mission, and she knew that she was right in this matter. Even if she wasn't right, she felt vindicated in the fact that both Misha and Jasmine had agreed to accompany her to the precinct while she provided her testimony of what she saw. The only problem was that the Sergeant who was assigned to this case seemed to be at her wits end.

"I will warn you, that many people have been trying to help, but have ended up hurting our case, as most of the stuff they find is either obtained illegally, or cannot be positively linked to the suspect. Meaning most of our leads are drying up as they are being linked to fruit of the poisonous tree. Also, Mr. Love's lawyers have made it abundantly clear that any further activity will be met with stalking and other charges that we will have to enforce. That is why, I must warn you all, as I can see how fervently you believe this person to be guilty, but you cannot act on your own." Sergeant Knight stated, her tone pleading as she clearly wanted nothing bad to happen to the trio of girls who all came in.

Seeing her concern, Misha could only nod in understanding.

"But you don't understand…" Darcy began, but was quickly stopped by a strong hand with long fingers that clasped her shoulder. Feeling the grip, Darcy paused and out of the corner of her eye she looked back to find Misha just shaking her head.

At first, she wanted to protest, as she knew deep within her bones that the murderer was being set free, but it was clear that her reaction was not helping. Seeing Misha's gentle admonishment, Darcy felt like screaming, but soon found all the fight leaving her after locking gazes with her serene emerald-green eyes, then paused. There was a quiet power hidden within that gaze, one that promised not only understanding, but also vengeance.

In that gaze, Darcy felt a pact coming to life, one that spoke of both a need for silence, and a promise to conduct future vengeance. With that gaze, Darcy felt the need to argue leave her. Instead, that burning passion was forged and compressed, tempered into a deep burning resolve that spoke of vigilante justice. A more primal method of solving problems, but one that sometimes needed to be followed, when the world failed to follow by its own rules.

"Okay, I'll drop it," Darcy finally finished her thought, though she spoke to Misha, it was the desk sergeant who responded.

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"Good, it is best that you all stay away from this as much as possible, but I do commend you all for going out in groups. There is a safety in numbers, and that is very important right now."

With that the trio just nodded, Jasmine only scowled the entire time, but she like Misha left only after Darcy left first. It was clear that they were there to both protect their friend, and to make sure she left before she crossed any lines.

A brooding silence cloaked them as they made their way down the few steps to the street, where they all paused.

"Well that was a waste of time," Jasmine who had been entirely quiet to this point was the first to speak up. Then as if a switch had been flicked Darcy finally began speaking again. Yet, her first words were not what Misha had anticipated.

"Did you find anything?"

Not, did you notice anything. Not could you believe what we have to deal with, but did you find anything. Hearing the question, Jasmine who had been about to continue protesting, suddenly stopped and also turned her full attention to Misha.

Misha just glanced around, her eyes darting at random spots for a second, then moving on. Following her gaze, Darcy was surprised to note that Misha was pointing out every camera and recording unit that was currently around them. Her eyes moved so quickly and seemed to cover so many spots that Darcy was certain she would never be able to find a few of the alleged devices that were apparently recording them right now.

"Right, maybe discussing things in front of the police station is not the best of ideas," Jasmine added, quickly regaining her composure as she gestured for them to leave and to head back to campus.

Misha nodded, again not saying anything. Her silence all but proved the comments and how foolish they had almost been for possibly giving away details of activities taken that might or might not be exactly legal. Honestly, Darcy still wondered how Misha could do half the things that she seemed capable of, but she realized that if Misha was being quiet, then there was a reason for secrecy and for that reason alone, she decided to follow Misha's lead.

Click-pop.

The trio got into Misha's Mustang GT, the engine purring to life in the way that had oddly enough become comforting to Darcy by now. For a moment she wondered why this was, only to then remember how it was this soft purring sound that had carried her to safety from the incident that was the failed Hasty concert.

Somehow details of that particular concert were still being hidden and hinted about by the news, but the trio never spoke about it, ever. One time Darcy had tried to ask Misha questions, but she just shook her head, and that was it, the last time they spoke about the concert. It was also around that time that Darcy had stopped listening to Hasty, when asked if she would tell her friends that she outgrew at that stage of her life. But really, it was so she could keep the nightmares at bay. Nightmares that always seemed to crop up, until she heard the soft roaring purr of the Mustang GT's engine and felt like she could breathe once more.

With the doors closed, the engine on, and the car pulling out, everyone waited until Misha gave the all clear. Whether she was aware of the fact or not, Misha had a tell. It took Jasmine and Darcy hours of being with the odd girl to notice, but if she was quiet, she would be quiet for a while. Somehow feeling comfortable with complete silence around her. Yet, she didn't have an issue with people talking around her, it was just clear that she would not participate in a conversation until she felt comfortable. The way she felt comfortable was because they would go two miles, how they knew it was two miles was due to Jasmine using a tracking app.

By using the tracking app, Jasmine would enter a start location, normally where Misha would give a let's be quiet sign. Then they would move away from that location, and only once she nodded her head, would she begin talking. That head nod always came when they reached an invisible two-mile distance away from the spot of the alleged occurrence. How she could mentally map out two miles, was beyond everyone. Logically she could use the speedometer to tell her when two miles had passed, but this would also occur while walking across campus. If they did not move two miles from where she felt threatened, she would not speak at all.

Finally, after passing under a second stop light and turning right, then taking the next left, they had finally traveled two miles as the crow flies away from the police station. Only here did she give her patented head nod. Being the first to notice the nod, Jasmine immediately began with her questions.

"So did you find anything?"

Misha nodded.

"Anything you can share?" Darcy asked.

Misha paused, her eyes twitching up and to the right as if thinking about something. Then finally she responded, "your instincts are very good. He is guilty, but it is clear that the police are unable to do anything at this moment."

Hearing that Darcy just nodded and waited.

Silence.

"So what should we do?" Jasmine asked.

Misha took a quick moment to glance right and lock gazes with Jasmine, before doing a quick scan of her rearview mirror to find Darcy, only after making eye contact with both people did she speak, "we are going to do as the sergeant asked and do nothing."

"But we…" Jasmine began but was stopped by a quick and sharp piercing gaze.

"We are going to do nothing," Misha again responded, slower this time and making sure to focus on the word we. It took Darcy a moment, but she let out an 'oh' with her lips as she thought she understood the implication. Meaning, they would all need to have an alibi, and that they would likely be Misha's alibi while she did whatever black hat hacking thing she did.

"But…" Jasmine protested but was quickly cut off by Darcy.

"Riight, because we do not want to interfere with an active police investigation and possibly lead to the actual suspect getting away," Darcy stated, laying it on thick, but she was feeling slightly flustered at the moment.

Still, what she said was apparently good enough for Misha, who could only nod her head in agreement. Jasmine who was normally quicker on the uptake, but clearly angered by the ongoing events paused, before finally realizing that Misha still didn't feel comfortable talking, even now. Then realizing she had to let this conversation go to a somewhat natural conclusion, she finally relented with.

"Okay, fine. We will let the police do their job."

With that Misha nodded in confirmation.

***

(Codename: Silent Officer)

MEANWHILE, a desk clerk carefully listened to the recording tracker that he had placed on the trio of females when they first entered the precinct. This was not the first misuse of his position that the clerk had conducted in performance of his job. Nor would it be the last. As long as monsters and freaks freely ran the streets, he and people like him would work together to ensure the public was safe. If this meant creating tampering charges, or misfiling evidence that was submitted, so be it. The system was flawed, and the only way to ensure the system would survive until the next generation was if he and people like him watched the night and got rid of the waste, before it contaminated the entire city.