Unexpected

I used to think that I had grown accustomed to the blood and the lifeless bodies I often came across. After 20 years in crime investigation maybe you would say the same too. Then again, maybe you wouldn’t. Regardless, this thought did not prepare for this last particular case.
I had arrived sharply at 4 p.m. at Sheeps Lane where four navy blue windows stared at me in front of the white mass of house. It stood pleasantly in the middle of its intensely green surroundings. It was strange to be in the suburbs. The trees, the clean air, the perfectly mowed lawns and white houses with shutters gave me an eerie feeling. Maybe it was time to get out of the city. We had received a call of a missing child. Child cases were the most difficult. I asked the parents the usual questions. When was the last time you saw him? What was he wearing? What places did he like to go to? Has the child shown strange behavior in the last few days? The parents answered with tired, desperate expressions that yesterday the child had just come home from school, he was last seen playing in the backyard, he had been wearing a light blue collard shirt, khaki pants, and brown shoes. I remembered this from what I had seen. The light blue shirt covered in dried blood, slashed in the arms and stomach. The khaki pants seeped in blood were slashed at the bottom around the ankles. A Knife had been found in the middle of his chest. Nothing I had discovered fit. We had run profiles on criminals in the area. We had found nothing. We still had to wait for the lab tests to come back. I felt like I was running out of time. Suddenly I heard loud footsteps coming from the upstairs. It seemed like someone was hopping? I asked the parents if there was somebody else in the house. They nodded and said it was their 10 year old daughter. I immediately asked if I could ask her a few questions. Maybe she had a key to what I was looking for. Maybe she had seen something. The parents hesitated and looked at each other. I apologized and said it was necessary. They told me that it had been very hard for her since her brother had been gone. After a few moments they both went upstairs and told me they would speak to her about talking to me. It was strange that they both decided to go, but I thought maybe it was best for them to prepare adequately. This gave me time to look around the house. The kitchen was next to the living room. I walked through the archway that gave way to the kitchen walked around studying it. Everything seemed normal until something caught my eye. It was the knives. Yep, they were all there, but as I inspected them closely they all seemed new. What was peculiar about this was that the base where the knives stood was not new possibly several years old. Suddenly I heard a fleet of footsteps come down the stairs. I turned around and there before me stood a small young fair skinned, blue eyed, blonde girl. She enthusiastically said “hello”. I was surprised by her greeting. She seemed, enthusiastic? I sat with her. The girl seemed everything but nervous. She sat there answering all my questions as if nothing had happened. She told me her brother had been playing near a pavement and then had run off into the woods and that she begged him to take her with him and that he had refused. As she said this last comment she seemed upset. Before I had time to clearly think things through she said “I guess it serves him good for leaving me behind”. At this moment the mother chimed in and screamed at her not to say that and took her by the hand and started to take care upstairs. I was surprised by her non-chalant manner. Did she not understand her brother was dead?
As I was about to start with another stream of questions to the bewildered father, my phone rang. It was the lab. The results were ready. The voice on the other line said that the tests had shown the fingerprints they had found on the knife were of a small child, a child that was not the victim. At that moment everything clicked. I think I had a good idea of whose fingerprints I would find. After 20 years, no I knew I was not ready for this.