Blood Noir

An eerie silence had settled over the property when they entered the gate, no birds, no animals, not even the wind. He felt as if eyes were watching from the shadowed thickets of the encroaching woods that gave the path a claustrophobic feel that had his stomach tied in knots. The familiar weight of his camera bag at his hip bounced in a comforting rhythm as he walked and he wondered if there really were eyes watching. Perhaps the spirits of Steven Halloran's victims wandered these woods, seeking some modicum of justice, because to be honest, there had been no justice for them. Planted in the earth, discarded as if they were garbage, and then the police came. These men unearthed their bodies and again they were bagged and tagged, just names and numbers, nothing more.

"What are you thinking about?" Erica's voice sliced through the silence, a sharp blade of noise where none had existed before.

Alex released a faint sigh, his voice barely a whisper. "The victims."

"What about them?"

He reached into the side pocket of his bag and pulled out a small digital camera, finger pressing the power button, and the soft whir of the lens disturbed the silence. Lifting it, he began snapping shots in the twilight of the shadowy path.

"They were never recognized the way they should have been," he whispered, the flash lighting up the trees along the path.

"First they were treated like trash by Halloran, then they became just names and numbers to the police."

A sudden crackle of branches caused Leo to spin, his face deathly pale. "What the hell was that?"

Erica smirked. "Probably a rabbit or maybe a skunk."

He turned away from his search of the tree line to glare at her. "You'd better hope it ain't a skunk, lady."

Dismissing him with one raised eyebrow, Erica turned back to Alex, who'd wandered further up the path. "You were saying?"

"I can feel them here." Alex exhaled, the flash lighting up the trees again.

"The bodies were removed from here," she assured him. "They were sent back to their families for a proper burial."

Then he frowned as he stepped closer to the trees, his hand dropping and the camera dangling from his wrist limply. He could have sworn he'd seen someone "a shadow" but maybe it was his imagination. He'd never been one to believe in ghosts, but here in this place he was close to changing his mind. The faint rustle of leaves reached his ears and his frown grew deeper.

"Are you sure no one lives on this property?"

"Positive," Erica stepped closer. "Did you see something?"

"No," he shook his head, "maybe...I don't know."

Leo cleared his throat as he moved closer towards them. "Probably some punk teenagers screwing with us. They all have this stupid morbid curiosity."

"Yeah," Alex agreed as he turned from the trees and started back up the path, "just a bunch of stupid teenagers."