"The reports seem to have been ‘corrected’ and then a new report written to contradict it," the detective said.
Alison was silent.She was reluctant to take another case so soon, especially when she wanted to be added to the Katrina Sands case, but this was something she couldn’t ignore.She was being targeted again, and she knew she had to respond.
"Send me the address, and I’ll come down there now," Alison said.
She needed to find out what was going on.It couldn’t be another play to draw her out.Nathan Cross was dead.
CHAPTER TWO
Alison drove alone in her car.Derek had wanted to come with her to the crime scene after having to leave the Reno case early, but Alison beseeched him not to do that for the very same reason.She would find out what was going on and whether she was being targeted once again, but she needed him to get to work on the Sands case on the chance it was connected to her sister’s murder.
As she drew up to the community center, Alison didn't yawn with tiredness, but she felt the fatigue run through her.It had been a trying week, and she needed to rest her mind, but that couldn’t happen just yet.
Alison stopped at the entrance to the parking lot and rolled down the window to show the officer her ID.
"Go on in," he said, pulling back the police tape to let the car through."Detective Moore is expecting you."
"Thank you," Alison said.
She drove through before the tape was replaced.The community center stood alone, surrounded by a parking lot on two sides and green spaces on the other two.Multiple small groups of teens and preteens stood on the grassy areas near the community center, all glancing toward the building occasionally, as if they needed to know what was happening but didn't want to make it obvious they were looking.
As Alison got out of her car, she locked eyes briefly with one of the teens, who looked at her as if he was in a state of shock.The boy quickly looked away.Alison studied him for a second before carrying on to the front door.
She entered the building, passing an officer who nodded at her—he had seen her being allowed into the parking lot and didn't ask to see her ID.
A woman with long blond hair tied up into a high ponytail immediately tilted her head and headed her way.
"Detective Moore," the woman introduced."Thank you for getting here so quickly.Dr.Payne."
"Of course," Alison said."What are we looking at?"
"Thomas Warren," Moore said.
"I remember him," Alison said sadly.He was one of the good ones.She remembered working on his case, and even though he had a turbulent history, he had found redemption.At least, she believed he had when he was released from prison.
"He was working late last night," Moore told her as they walked down the long hallway toward the open double doors that looked like they led into a gymnasium."The last person to talk to him before he was killed was a teen called Mark Farrow.Mark told us that he was in here late last night practicing basketball, and that Thomas was hanging back to clean up before going home.That was around ten."
"Seeing as we are inside the community center, I assume the place wasn’t locked up?"Alison asked.
"No," the detective replied."Unless there was a lot to clean up before leaving, it gives us a close approximation for the death."She gestured into the large room that turned out to be a basketball court."There was supposed to be a basketball tournament today, but that's obviously been canceled."
The large gym felt eerily empty and silent when they entered.The body was presented to Alison in the middle of the basketball court, almost right on the halfway line.
She took a breath and made her way toward the center circle, where the photographer was still taking photos.
The cause of death was immediately obvious.There was a knife sticking out of the back of his neck.
Thomas lay face down on the court, a pool of blood around him.A forensic tech stood off to the side as the photographer captured the body from every angle.They had not yet flipped the body.
Alison tried to imagine what had happened.Had someone snuck up behind him while he was cleaning and stabbed him in the back of the neck?Did Thomas know his attacker was there?Did he know his attacker?
Alison looked around the room, hoping to find a security camera up high, trained on the scene.That would have given them everything they needed, but there was no such camera.At the far end of the room, there was a window on the second floor that looked like it led to an office.
"Anything else other than the knife in the back of his neck?"Alison asked the tech.
"We haven’t found anything yet," the tech replied."I’ve had a chance to look at the body, and there are no other obvious wounds.We’ll be able to tell more when we remove the knife and turn the body."
Alison was not squeamish, and she crouched down right beside the body, making sure not to disturb the crime scene in any way or get too close to the dried blood.She looked at Thomas’s hands, his fingernails.Nothing.It almost didn't feel real.With Thomas face down, she didn’t have to look him in his dead eyes.
