Octarine: Crime Doesn't Pay

[novel_machinist]

Author: novel_machinist
Story: Crime Doesn't Pay
Character(s): Detective Karen Boch, Kalen Boch, Randos
Word Count: 668
Theme:Literary / Octarine 22, 28, 19
Summary: Character study for yet another Roostverse cast. This time it's Karen and her brother Kalen. Their relationship is strong, considering...well, Kalen's problem.
Rating: PG13
Warnings: Talk of a serial killer, loss of a sibling due to incarceration
Notes: Mods, please add story: crime doesn't pay. I'm debating submitting this idea for an “Anti-Villain” collection! So please let me know how it goes.

22. Asking someone to repeat a phrase you'd not only heard very clearly but were also exceedingly angry about was around Defcon II in the lexicon of squabble.

"What do you think of this, did they get her good side?" Karen slid the photograph of the crime scene across the table. The guy in front of her looked like someone's uncle; sweet natured on the outside and soft spoken. She could already hear the press talk about how no one saw it coming. And how he was an upstanding citizen. How he worked volunteering at the kid's ballpark would be foremost on their minds.

It made her angry that people searched for every excuse to not accept a serial killer. One woman could have 'asked for it' they said. As ludicrous as that line of thought was, it happened all the time. Probably why most serial killers went after women. She flipped the manila folder open and pulled out another. "Or how about this one?"

"I'm a nice guy." He protested; thin fingers worried at each other.

"I didn't ask about that."

He clenched his jaw and Karen studied it. He was the one, she knew it. "I understand that you're a person, Mr. Clemmons. I fully understand that you're a loving family man. I understand that you'd never hurt someone you cared about."

"But-but why am I here then?"

Karen jammed her index finger on one of the pictures. "Because you didn't care about them, did you, Mr Clemmons?"

His face fell and she knew that she had him. "I'm no monster."

"Of course you're not." She pulled the photographs back and closed the folder in an almost delicate manner. "But you did kill those women."

He nodded. A long pause held in the air between the two of them. "Detective, how did you know?"

"Trace evidence."

"No… that I didn't care?"

To that she shrugged. "There's no such thing as monsters, Mr Clemmons. But bad people happen from time to time."

28. Why did you have to upset everybody?

"Hey, Boch, I think I heard that name, Kalen Boch! Right, that crazy guy?"

She blinked placidly and sighed. "Yeah. Just like the crazy guy."

The man tilted his head in a true New York City Cop Manner^tm. "That a coincidence, Chief?"

"No, Detective, it's not." Karen knew how to handle men. They always had to posture, and it was part of the game. No man ever really backed down, he just got tired of puffing his chest out and so the other one was the manliest. Karen herself didn't posture. She didn't when she was a rookie and she sure as shit wasn't going to now. And that meant that she wasn't going to brush things under rocks either. "My brother's a serial killer. That's the story you want to hear? Isn't it?"

The detective's eyes went a little round, but he shook his head to cover it. "No Sir, not at all, Sir."

"Then why bring it up?"

"I... admit I was a little curious."

"Then take it to the hall of records or stop in and ask him yourself. He's downtown and likely to be there a while."

19. He'd never realized that, deep down inside, what he really wanted to do was make things go splat.

"And then... well, the book says they all lived happily ever after, but people probably don't do that much in real life, do they Kare?"

The young girl scrunched her nose. "Are we happily ever after?"

The teenager snapped the book shut. "Nope."

She was quiet a long while. "Oh."

"You just keep by me, Kare-bear." He kissed her on the forehead. "I promise, none of those bad guys will get you while I'm around."

Comments

[shipwreck_light]

"Trace evidence."

"No… that I didn't care?"

PFFFFFT OMG AWESOME STINGER

I'm really enjoying these!

[novel_machinist]

SHE IS A HARDENED COP (TM)

Thank you for reading!

[rootsofthestories]

*wiggles excitedly* Oh yes, yes good. I kind of love the relationship between the siblings already and I am so, so okay with this.

[novel_machinist]

They love each other.

Kalen's just... not right

[kay_brooke]

Oh, Karen. She definitely has a unique perspective on these things.

[novel_machinist]

Thank you!

[bookblather]

Your tag has been added! Also, it is against the rules to use three prompts from the same color. You can use up to three prompts on any one story, but they must all be from different colors. So's you know. If these are three seperate stories, then we ask that you seperate them out into their own posts. Thank you!

That said, this is really cool. I am really interested in Karen and her brother!

[novel_machinist]

oops! MY BAD I will not do it again.

And thank you!!