Chapter 54 THE BLOOD TRAIL

Chapter 54 THE BLOOD TRAIL
“No, no, no,” I muttered under my breath, my mind spinning as I watched. “This wasn’t supposed to happen. I was so close.” 

“Do you know the deceased?” The cop asked, his hand heavy on my shoulders. 

I ignored his question. I was finally getting somewhere. Now Miller was dead.

It was as if I were stuck in a fucking rigged game. 

“Come on,” the cop said, his voice softer, like he thought I was bereaved. “Let’s get you out of here.” 

Clarity returned to my mind as he guided me back to the lobby and outside. 

I had been seen with the body of a murdered detective in a federal building which was now surrounded by an entire precinct’s worth of flashing blue lights. 

If they took me down to the station for questioning, my manufactured identity would dissolve under a simple fingerprint scan. 

I couldn't let them take me.

"Ma'am, I need you to come with me,” the officer said as he helped me raise the yellow tape that was already blocking the entrance, his voice loud over the deafening wail of sirens.

I let my knees wobble, then feigned a heavy shudder as I stumbled sideways. 

"Whoa,” The officer exclaimed, catching me immediately, his grip tight around my forearm to keep me from slumping to the ground. “Steady there. Are you alright?"

"I... I feel dizzy," I whispered, my voice weak and breathless as I fluttered my eyes. "The blood... everything is spinning."

"Let’s get you to an ambulance," the officer said as he gently led me down the stairs and to one of the waiting ambulances. "Sit down here, Miss. . They’ll take care of you."

I sank onto the rear bumper, letting my head drop into my hands as if I were too weak to keep my head up.

Through the narrow gap between my fingers, I watched as Detective Miller's body was wheeled out of the bank on a gurney in a black body bag through the frantic activity of the front yard. 

Then I scanned the chaotic perimeter, my eyes darting past the shouting reporters, the flashing sirens, and the thick crowd of onlookers, trying to find the flash of dark hair or set of broad shoulders of the man who had bumped into me earlier. But there was nobody. Even the car that had been parked at the corner was now gone. The killer had vanished into the city like a phantom.

The officer turned back to me, his radio crackling with static. "Listen to me, Miss. . I need to go check up on something with the unit, but you make sure you stay right here.” He ordered, his voice grim. “We are going to need to question you before you leave the scene."

"Am... am I in trouble?" I asked, looking up at him with wide eyes, my voice trembling with fake fear.

"No, no, no," the officer said, though his eyes narrowed slightly as his gaze dropped to the blood stains on my boots. "We just need to clear our grounds since you were right beside the body."

"I was just curious," I stammered, pulling the shawl the paramedic had given me tighter around my shoulders. "I heard the noise and... I've never seen a dead body before. I didn't know what to do."

The officer stared at me for a long beat, his expression hovering somewhere between skepticism and caution. 

He wasn't entirely convinced by the act, but the chaos of an assassination in a federal bank didn't give him time to cross-examine a traumatized girl. "Well, we will figure it out. Just stay put. I will be back for you."

Then he turned and jogged back toward the glass doors of the bank.

The second he had disappeared from view, I lifted my chin and looked across the street to where the Dodge was waiting. 

Through the windscreen, I could see Jax’s silhouette, his large frame rigid with an anxiety that practically radiated across the asphalt.
His eyes were locked on me, practically shouting for me to move.

"Alright, miss, let's get your blood pressure checked," the paramedic said, stepping into my line of sight and unwrapping a black nylon cuff.

"Can I... can I have some water first?" I asked softly, rubbing my throat. "Please. I feel so… my throat is completely dry."

The paramedic hesitated, his hand hovering over the blood pressure monitor. He looked back into the interior of the ambulance, then sighed softly. "Yeah, alright. Sit tight. I have a cooler in the front cabinet."

I waited until he climbed back into the ambulance, his back turned to rummage through the supplies, before I lunged off the bumper, the black nylon cuff still dangling from my arm, and bolted into the street. 

I tore across the lot, to the car, and yanked the passenger door of the car open then threw myself inside.

Jax slammed his foot onto the gas before I could even pull my legs completely in and sped away from the bank.

"Fuck! Fuck! Fuck!" I shouted, ripping the blood pressure cuff off my arm and throwing it onto the floor. “We’ll need to get rid of this car.”

He nodded without looking at me, his eyes focused on the road as he took an alternate route out of the commercial district. 

Thirty minutes later, we had ditched the car at our usual salvage yard and got a new ride. 

"What the fuck happened in there, Sienna?" Jax finally roared when we were sure everything had been taken care of, his voice cracking with a mix of raw terror and fury as he drove us back home.

"He's dead," I said, my chest heaving as I stared straight ahead at the blurred traffic.

His head snapped to me. "What?"

"He's dead, Jax."

"How?" he yelled, slamming his hand against the steering wheel. "How? It’s a bank, for crying out loud! There are security guards, cameras, and alarms! What the fuck is happening?"

"I don't know!" I snapped back, my hands shaking as I pressed them against my temples. "I don't know, Jax! Just calm down and drive."

"How did he die?" he asked after a while, his tone dropping into a tired whisper.

"When I got in, they said there was a gunshot," I replied, my mind replaying the horrific wound in Miller's chest. "But that wasn't what I saw. Somebody literally butchered him. They stabbed him deep and dragged it down, making sure he wasn’t going to survive.” 

I swallowed, forcing down my gag reflex as the sight of Miller’s body flashed through my mind. It has been almost a year in this new life, but I had not gotten used to seeing death so raw yet.

“It was mean, Jax,” I continued. “If they wanted a clean hit, they could have just slit his neck. But whoever did this wanted pain. I’m just confused how they were able to do it so fast in a place like that."

Jax let out a harsh, ragged breath, his jaw clenching so hard the muscle leapt beneath his skin. "And this is exactly why I didn't want you pursuing this,” he growled, his voice firm. “You’re done, Si. You are leaving this alone. Did you hear me?"