Endangered/Issue 6 (Old)

This is Issue 6 of Endangered and is titled Ethan.

Ethan
Another day, another dollar. That’s what the saying was in this city about work. Yet that didn’t apply to me. Of course I was pretty different from other people so not a lot of things did apply to me. Anyway my saying is Another Day, Another Mystery Solved. Yeah it doesn’t rhyme but I like it. Plus it goes along with my Detective work I guess.

Now it’s funny that I’m a law officer. Growing up I always wanted to be a superhero, like Batman or Spiderman. The man everyone would love and the man who would save the city. Yeah that was my dream, to be the city’s vigilante. Of course since my dad was Police Chief my little crusade was stupid. So I did the next best thing; Became a cop. Sure it’s not my dream but it’s the closest thing to it.

Currently I sit in the passenger seat of a black, police issued car as it drives down the busy streets of New York City. I keep glancing into my coffee and onto the the road ahead of us, making sure my partner doesn’t crash. “Maggie can you slow down?” I ask as I take a nice long sip of Dunkin Donuts coffee.

“I’m not even near the speed limit.” My partner, Maggie Grace defends herself as she makes a rough left turn onto Broad Street.

“Just slow down.”

“Someone isn’t a backseat driver, huh?” Maggie sarcastically remarks as I just drink another sip of coffee. She was right of course, I was not a backseat driver. I liked to do everything myself and if that was a sin then someone tell me where it is in the Bible. So when Maggie asked to drive today I was sorta reluctant but Maggie knows how to persuade.

Now Maggie was an interesting person. I’ve known her for the past two years, ever since she became my partner. Now we often butt heads but she has a good heart. Nice looking too. In fact people been trying to set me up with her for awhile. But truth was I didn’t have time for relationships. This city needed people like me, committed to stopping the crime here.

Although whether I like it or not this city will always have crime. A world without crime itself is impossible but I would like to make the world better as much as I can. As Harvey Dent said in The Dark Knight You either die a hero or live long enough to see yourself become the villain. I want to be the hero in this story. I just hope I don’t destroy myself as I try.

I am suddenly drawn out of my deep thought when Maggie parks the car over to a dark street, where I could see a crowd of people surrounding something. The body of a teenager is at the scene. The same scene we were sent to investigate. I step out of the car, the coffee still in my hands, as I walk over to the scene with Maggie beside me. Walking past the people we entered the crime scene, where a few street cops were. “So what happened?” Maggie asks the first street cop she sees.

“Got a call from a few locals saying they heard some gunshots. Me and partner arrived and found the kid here.” The officer says pointing over to the body, which by the looks of it died of a gunshot. “Death of three gunshots.”

“Do you know the kid’s name?” I ask as I put my down on a bench.

“Kid has been identified as Clark Walker. According to intel he was a student at Midtown High.”

“Alright thank you.” I say, dismissing the cop who begins to walk away. Me and Maggie look down at the student. Each of us thinking of why someone would kill him. “The kid probably some party dude. Came out to get some drugs for a party and it turned wrong.”

“What makes you say that?” Maggie asks me as she looks around the area to see what places are around.

“Just that most kids are these days. This Clark kid looks the part.”

“Not everyone is a punk Ethan.” Maggie says to me.

“Well most people are. Rarity if someone isn’t.” I say as I take a look at the body, wondering what the kid’s future would have been.

_____________________________________________________________________________________________

“Benjamin Walker, Brother. James Walker, Deceased Father. Jessica Walker, Mother...” I mutter as I walk up to the fancy apartment door that sits in front of me. The apparent apartment of Jessica Walker.

“This the place?” Maggie asks as she walks up behind me.

“Should be.” I say before placing a hard knock onto the door, hoping the grieving mother would answer. It takes a few moments before the door slowly opens and I see the pale, face of a grieving mother who just lost her child. Her eyes teared up and her cheeks red.

“Who are you?” She simply asks in a tired, depressed voice like she doesn’t care about anything anymore.

“Hello ma’am we’re sorry to bother you...”

“Then why are you?”

“I’m Detective Ethan Brash and this is my partner Maggie Parks. We just wanted to talk about your son.” I say as she slowly looks at us. Tired. Annoyed. Depressed. Still after a moment she opens the door for us and allows us in.

__________________________________________________________________________________________

I find myself sitting on the bright, fluffy chair that is located in the living room as Jessica makes us a cup of coffee. “So did you find out anything about my son’s killer?” She asks angry and depressed as she puts the coffee down, which I nod my head in thanks.

“No. We actually came here to find out more about him.” Maggie says as she lowers her cup.

“Well what do you need to know?”

“Was he a party kid? Did he have any weird friend? Did he ever...” I begin to say before Jessica seems to get angry.

“He was autistic!” She almost screams before she lowers her voice “He didn’t have many friends, He never went to any apartment, He never had drugs and he barely left the apartment. So no he wasn’t some punk kid who roamed the streets for drugs.”

“Autistic?” I ask confused, thinking my thought from earlier wouldn’t work now.

“He was diagnosed with it when he was six.” Jessica says as she digs her face into her hands “It’s been hard for him. I know he was bullied in school but he never backed down from his problems.”

I still think there and think. Who the hell would shoot an autistic kid? “Was he involved-” Maggie tries to say before Jessica cuts her off.

“As I said. He was involved in nothing.” _____________________________________________________________________________________________

I once again sit in the passenger seat of the car, holding the coffee in my hand. My mind racing through ideas of who would have shot this kid. “Who the hell would shoot an autistic kid?” I mutter to myself trying to think. Thinking of that I too think of how bad crime is now.

“Probably some prank gone wrong.” Maggie says as she pulls the car over to the station.

“Let’s just look up some more people or something at the station.” I say as I get out of the car, walking up the steps into the station. However once I reach my desk I notice strange on my desk. A file. I slowly pick up the file and open it up. “Cannibal attacks....” I mutter from the first thing I see. I glance over to the Sergeant, who is in charge of the station, and begin to walk over to him. “Sir I think you put this on the wrong desk.”

He glances at the file before going back to what he was doing, filling up his water bottle. “No. I’m assigning you to that case.”

“Well I’m sorta busy with one so no thanks.” I say before dropping the file in front of him.

“Ethan you’re on this case. It is way more important than whatever murder you’re on.”

“Ever murder is the same sir. No murder is more important than an other!"

“Well this one is!” He says loudly before lowering his voice “If it was one cannibal attack I would shrug it off but there have been more than report of it. Now I don’t know if it some sort of religious crap, gang movement, drug stuff or god damn crazies but I want you to get to the bottom of it. Understand?”

I look at him for a moment and think about David’s murder. Sure he wanted to catch the scum that killed David but he was being forced into this thing. “Sure thing.”

“Good.” The sergeant says before handing me the file. “Now get started.”

Trivia

 * First appearnce of Ethan Brash and Maggie Parks

Who was your favorite main Daniel Brown Oscar Jones John Everett Lara Drake Charles Smith Ethan Brash