You stand once again on the sidewalk in front of Stark House listening to Officer Hayden give you instructions on how to not disturb anything until he has completed his final checks. Your mind floods with memories -- memories of a present time of long ago. The front lawn is missing many things. For one, in the previous timeline there had been a five-foot wide stone walk leading from the sidewalk to the front steps. Now there is only grass The two glorious cherry blossom trees that had previously graced the front of the house on either side of the original stone walk have been replaced with stunted little green trees that obviously haven't been cared for much. The large stone flourishes on the roof had actually been proper stone gargoyles in the previous timeline. What differences waited for you inside?
Officer Hayden, having completed his instructions, walks across the lawn to the bottom of the steps and cuts the police crime scene tape down. He continues up the steps and cuts more tape off the doors and entered. The lock on the door has been broken making it impossible to actually lock the door. Just before he enters, you notice him pause to take out his gun, take flip the safety off, insure the gun is loaded, and then place it back in the shoulder holster.
It doesn't actually take him long to complete his final investigation. He takes quite a few pictures, explaining that the original pictures taken either didn't include a certain angle or close-up or had been too blurry. He takes two more samples of something -- one form the floor by the stairs leading up to the second level from the foyer and one from a window sill in the kitchen, explaining that the original samples had been accidentally contaminated. He finishes by spraying an area of the wall with some solution then putting a sheet of some kind of coated paper over it and pressing. When he pulls it off the wall, it shows scratches and finger prints. He explains, "It was logged that this section had indicators, but they forgot to take a print." He shakes his head and laughs, "Nobody wants to stay in here and take their time. So mistakes are made. Mistakes which can totally foil an investigation."
He looks at you for a moment, then around the foyer. "Well, it's all yours as soon as the Hazmat Team cleans it up." He whips out his smartphone, hits an icon on the screen, and waits for the phone to ring through and a voice to answer on the other end. "Kathy. Send a Hazmat Team to Stark House. Consider this a priority request. Include a squad car. Stark House Crime Scene terminated." There's a "will do" from the other end and Hayden hangs up.
The entire time he was on the phone he was looking at you. Not a negative or judgmental look. More of a "what are you really all about" sort of look. Curious people make great detectives.
"Do you plan to take immediate possession?" he asks.
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Dark Wysteria