by Jeff Uribe
[NRPG : Here's the new case folks, complete with teaser.]
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Castle Rock, Montana
10:13 pm
Young Jessie Colquitt was currently climbing down a tree outside of the castle fortress in order to get the hidden weapon that he knew should be there. As he searched the castle grounds, he heard the bellow of the tyrant king inside. The voice should be fearful to a young knight such as he, but there was something oddly familiar about that voice. As he searched the bushes, he found what he was meant to, a high-powered triple-cannon automatic laser blaster. As he took off the safety, Jess decided that the time for covertness was over. The young knight was about to face his greatest adversary, the Dark King.... and that confrontation won't be done in secret.
The silver knight pounded on the front door of the castle and readied his weapon. With a roar, the door flew open as both the Dark King and Dark Queen looked out to see who could be interrupting their blood feast. The silver knight looked at them with the disdain that evil deserves and was quite pleased when the Dark King backed away with horror in his eyes. As the Dark Queen pleaded with the silver knight for her life, the silver knight took no pity as he squeezed the trigger on his laser blaster. The sounds of rifle blasts roared through the sleepy town of Castle Rock as young Jessie Colquitt blasted his parents to oblivion.
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Washington D.C, Next morning
The file was waiting for Jordan Stern on his desk when he got in the next morning. Inside, there was a profile of three murders that took place in some out-of-the-way place called Castle Rock, Montana. The victims were your average run-of-the-mill people, nothing special there. It was the murderers that caught his eye, they were all children below the age of 16. One stabbed his father with an ice-pick, another slit the throats of her parents while they slept, while a third one shot his parents with a shotgun. All of the children were honor students in their respective classes, with no past signs of hostility or aggression towards anyone. They recalled nothing of the murders saying that they must've been asleep when it happened. There was no apparent motive for the killings, no apparent connection between the victims other than living in the same town. And now there were three scared young children with no idea why they were in jail. Jordan had already asked Jenny to call the rest of the team in to get briefed. So, as they trickled in, Jordan turned on the big-screened tv to see if the murders had made CNN.
Jim was the first to arrive, followed by Vanessa, then Martin. Zenya and Leo drifted in a few minutes later and they had all sat down at their desks to catch up on their morning emails. Before Jordan had a chance to grab the team's attention, something on CNN captured it first.
"And in International News, Crosstech's CEO Thaddeus Cross was visibly grief- stricken as he attended the funeral of his grandnephew, Clifford Cross. Clifford was an unfortunate passerby who was shot during a drug war shootout that occured last week in Buenos Aires."
At this, Jim, Vanessa, and Leo exchanged puzzled glances at each other since they knew what had actually happened.
"This was the 2nd tragedy that has occured in the past week for Mr. Thaddeus Cross, the first being the miscarriage of his grandneice, Rebecca Cross, just this past Monday. Mr. Cross had this to say to the murderers of his grand- nephew.....
Thaddeus Cross' face filled the screen in it's stone-chisled way, the trails of tears shed still marking his face. 'Losing a family member is never easy in anyone's life. But we will pick ourselves up and carry forth, as all people must in these situations. As for the group who did this, let me just tell you that we will NOT REST until his death is avenged. Mark my words. Thank you.'"
As soon as the story cleared, Jordan turned off the TV and glanced at the faces in front of him. They all looked back at him in with a strange calm that unnerved him a little, seeing as how they'd just been threatened over CNN by the patriarch of the Cross family himself.
"We have a new case. The folders are on your desk. It involves several murders done by juveniles in a small town called Castle Rock, Montana. It's small and very out of the way. Details so far are sketchy, but whatever's in the folder is what we have to go on so far. We leave for Billings in 2 hours, and it's going to be another 2 hour drive to Castle Rock. Look over the file and meet you at the airport in an hour."