The morning breeze left the playing children unbothered. It was 9am at the park; everything was going its normal way, the faint panting of people jogging; the laughter of families bonding over picnic; and the heavy noise of traffic just outside the park.
This day was supposed to be a normal day at the park, but it wasn’t.
“AAAAHHHHH!!” the child screamed, running with a horrified face crying as his father, Jerry, approached him.
“What is it? What’s the matter?” Jerry asked,
“There is a scary man right there”
“Tell me where”
The child pointed behind the bushes and hugged his father tightly. As the father went in to check, he saw what looked like a man wearing worn-down denim jacket covered in dirt, soiled jeans, and mudded boots facing the nearby tree.
“Hey, man, what are you doing? You scared my kid.” Jerry felt off as the man did not respond, he brushed it off thinking the man was drunk.
“Hey, I’m talking to you!” He said loudly, pulling on the man shoulders. He almost puked when the man’s body fell, the body was pierced with nails its jaw was badly chopped up the jawbone was exposed.
Moments later, people covered plastic, mask, and gloves block the crime scene, it was the city police forensics. The place was now covered in police tape.
“Mr. Jerry Romero, I am Detective Diaz” a woman approached him.
“—do you mind telling me what you were doing when you saw the body?” She said, in a stern and clear voice. Detective Colline Diaz was one of the city’s prized police officers and her precinct’s best detective.
“I…I was looking around because something scared my son and when I tried to confront him and grabbed his shoulder he was dead.” Diaz could see the traumatized look on Jerry’s face, she knew he wasn’t lying. She went off to inspect the crime scene herself.
“Leftman, Details” she asked.
“There is an extreme laceration on the left jaw almost cleanly exposing the bone completely open” He said, showing pictures of the victim.
“—there is a deep puncture from three thin metal beams from his stomach to his chest that kept the victim upright” Diaz had a disgusted look at her face. This was more gruesome than any case she has ever handled.
The picture of the victim’s neck showed a thick layer of hair tightened the victim bled. A horrifying sight to see as the skin on the neck was almost non-existent. Diaz looked closer at the photo.
“And the cause of death?” She asked,
“Forensics saw a gunshot wound in the head suggesting that this placement was for display only”
“Another culture psycho…ehhh” She cringed, The worst of the worst , she thought to herself looking at the photo evidence.
“Name?” she added.
“Tom Romero”
“Who is it?” She asked, hearing the knocking across living the room.
“Mrs. Romero, This is detective Diaz and detective Rover Leftman.”
“Have you found my husband?!” She hastily asked, her eyes were reddish and shallow. Rowena Romero, The wife of Thomas Reid Romero, the housewife of the Romero Household.
“—please, come in.”
The two sat comfortably on the couch trying to read the victim’s spouse before becoming the bearer of bad news. The family lived in a big house that you could see they were well-off. Branded furniture and nicely carpeted floor.
“Well, Mrs. Romero, we have found your hus-“ cutting him off
“Where is he?! Why didn’t he come back” leaning unto Rover then wiping her tears.
“We hate to say this, Mrs. Romero, but your husband’s dead” Diaz finishing the sentence, they could only see the shock on her face. Her cry became more audible after hearing the news, only after several minutes of comforting she was finally able to calm down.
“Can you tell us more about your husband?” She was careful with asking her about anything. They were taught that close relatives were more sensitive about bad news than any other person related to the victim.
“I don’t know anyone who would do this”
“Anyone from work, the neighborhood, past enemies?”
“Enemies? My husband isn’t big on fighting”
“Anyone he had a disagreement with recently?”
“I could only think of two, last week before he went missing, he told me he had this fight with his boss.” Mrs. Romero paused.
“—wait, are you saying that Jason could’ve done this?!?”
He stood and greeted the two officers who entered his office.
“Jessica, could you bring in some coffee for three.” He calmly requested.
“Mr. Jason Lang, we would like to ask you some questions.” Leftman interjected,
“Please, ask away, what is it about?” Jason said, opening the ventilator and lighting his cigarette.
“It’s about Mr. Romero; we were told you had a fight with him.” Jason took a seat in front of the two.
“You found Tom? Where is he?” He said, letting out a sigh of relief.
“We have found Thomas Romero dead in Gracy Park” Diaz said, showing the pictures to him. The relief on his face completely faded, he was completely awe struck seeing the victim’s photos.
“Now, what we would like to know is what the two of you fought about.” Jason couldn’t help but hold his hands above his head wishing that everything was nothing more than a joke.
“You think I did this?” He said angrily,
“Calm down, Mr. Lang, we just want you to answer the question”
“I could never do this to him”
“Mr. Lang, Please answer the question.”
“We fought because he rejected me!” shouting at the two officers.
“Thomas was one of my starting chemists, he was literally the one to put this company’s product on the market”
“Then why do this to him?” Rover interjected
“I didn’t! He was a good-friend, a real good employee, too.” He paused, catching his breathe. “I asked him a million times to become a branch CEO but he refused me a billion times. When I tried to talk him to it again he got pissed and stormed off.” He finally couldn’t hold back his tears. Jason Lang’s calm and collected stature broke down in front of the two.
“Do you know anyone here who could’ve done this to him? Any rivals?” Diaz asked
“not a soul, no one would ever dare. Everybody respected Tom and so did I, him dying is equivalent to losing a third of our earnings.”
The two was out of leads to follow, the only suspect they had was Mr. Lang and even without his statement he had a fool-proof alibi. It was like solving a ghost-case. As the two walked down the park, they saw a man ogling around the crime scene.
“Hey, what are you doing there?!” Diaz and Rover pulled out their guns, stopping the teen at his place.
“What’s this about, officer? He asked
“Can’t you see the police tape? Who are you?”
“I am John Dennis Romero, please don’t shoot me.”
“Mr. Romero, would you kindly come with us?”
“please, I promised I didn’t do anything I was just looking for a lost artwork”
“I can assure you that you are not in trouble.”
The piercing silence of the interrogation room left John unbothered, he was calm and collected, not like any other, no, he was more than that. He was not just calm and collected, something felt off about this boy.
“John, If I may ask, what is your relationship with Mr. Thomas Reid Romero?” asked Rover
“Why what’s with dad?” He asked shocked and confused,
“Well, Mrs. Romero didn’t tell us that they had a son, which is you” Rover patted John’s left shoulder while interrogating him.
“It’s because she didn’t know.” Rover asked, finally sitting at the other side of the table.
“What do you mean?” he asked.
“I am Thomas Romero’s illegitimate son.”
“He only found out about me, a month ago and he said he wanted to make it up to me, so became more present.”
“What was he like as a dad?” Rover leaned towards table.
“He was amazing, he supported my art works, and he’s even involved in my Horror Project. Why do you ask?” Rover kept getting a heavier feeling about the kid. Something about him felt a little too….creepy.
“What was this stolen artwork again?”
“It was a statue I installed at the park for upcoming Halloween and now it’s missing.”
“Can you identify what this statue look liked?”
“It was statue with hair around its neck and it was supposed to be attached to this tree hidden behind a bush to give someone a little bit jump scare.” He said looking at him confused.
“What was Mr. Romero’s involvement with the statue?”
“He was the statue”