Page 8 of Hey, Daddy

Employees of the big box store were also in the parking lot.

“What do we have?” I asked as I walked up.

“Female,” the closest cop answered. “Cut up and stuffed into a box.”

I blinked. “As in really cut up?”

My mind was already racing, trying to make a picture despite the ugliness.

“As in, hacked up with some sort of hatchet or something. Stuffed into that box right there.” He pointed at said box.

The box hadn’t been disturbed despite the top flaps being ripped open.

“Was the box taped?” I asked.

The cop at the line shrugged and pointed to a cop beyond the police tape. “Ask him.”

The cop looked…sickened.

Understandable.

He looked young, like maybe this was his first murder. He still had that bright and shiny look, as if the terrors of this life hadn’t fucked him up yet.

It would, if he decided to stay with the job.

It was only a matter of time, really. Eventually the job would wear on you. You’d have plenty of sleepless nights. You’d find humor where there wasn’t any, and ultimately, you’d get to the point where you’re doing anything to feel something.

That was where I was.

“Will do,” I said and headed to the cop.

The closer I got, the greener the newbie cop looked.

“You the one that found her?” I asked.

He nodded, his face getting whiter as I stepped up to him.

Likely because I was going to ask him what he found, and he didn’t want to relive it.

“Yeah,” he croaked. “Me.”

Despite being young, he was very informative as he gave me a breakdown of the call.

He’d just started to explain when my partner arrived.

He didn’t interrupt, just listened.

“So there was a call that came in,” he said, then explained. “An hour ago, a call had come in about a white SUV in the Costco parking lot having the back hatch open. When they’d gone to close it, they’d seen a liquid leaking from a box that was in the back and had decided to call it in instead.”

I nodded and he kept going.

“Got here and saw the white SUV. So I go up to the car and look at the box, and that’s when I see a massive amount of what looks to be blood leaking out of this box.”

“Was the box upside down like that when you got here?” I asked.

“Yes,” he said. “That’s exactly how it was positioned when I cut it open with my pocketknife,” he explained. “When I opened the box, the first thing I saw was a white plastic film. Thick plastic. Like you would use to hang up on the walls to keep things from getting too messy. You know?”

“Yes,” I said.

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