Chapter 3

Jace's phone buzzed, he read the text from his partner, and he texted him back. Once the message was sent, he went back to watching tv; it was about half an hour when his partner walked in with a duffle bag:

"I brought you some clothes. ''Jonathan sits on the edge of the bed; he looks down, "I'm sorry; if I were there doing my job as your partner, you wouldn't have gotten hurt," Jonathan hangs his head.

"It's not your fault; you had to care for your boys. How are Cecil and Malachi doing?"

"They're doing good; they are still adjusting to each other."

"I imagine not every day you learn you have a long-lost little brother."

"Yeah, I'm glad that they're getting along." he hands Jace the duffle bag and gets up, " Alright, I'll let you get dressed," Johnathan exits the room.

Jace sits up, sitting on the edge of the bed; he opens the duffle bag getting out his clothes. He gets dressed and then exits the room, "I'm ready; I just need to do some paperwork."

"Alright."

Jace finishes his paperwork; once done, he and Johnathan head out, "Hey, before you take me home, you want to go check out the crime scene?"

"Yes, I haven't been over there yet; I heard the killer is still on the loose."

"They are. '' they walk back to Johnathan's car.

"Did you see him?"

"Yeah, I think he may have visited me at the hospital. I wasn't aware he could be the killer until a little later."

"What does he look like?"

"Lanky, pale, porcelain-like skin, iceberg blue eyes with a tint of red. Long blonde hair so bleached by the sun it looks white. He had it in a messy bun the first time I saw him, then the second time, it was short."

"Shouldn't we report this?"

" I'll just put him down as a suspect. We don't have any evidence proving he is the killer, and I'm pretty sure he's already been deemed suspicious for pretending to be a nurse." he says, "Also, his name is Aizen."

"How do you know?"

"He personally told me," Jace buckles up before Johnathan drives towards the church.

'Why would he do that?"

"Perhaps it's a lie, or maybe he's a bit cocky. Or maybe he is just fucking with us, but who knows" Jace shrugs before he looks out the window.

They arrive at the church to see a memorial to the murdered pastor outside the church. Jace walks up to the officers keeping an eye on the church, " Congress, supporting the death of their pastor, huh? You've managed to keep everyone out?"

"Yes sir." the officer salutes.

"Thank you for keeping up the good work," Jace heads into the church.

Jace looks at the broken window, seeing shattered glass everywhere, " He really jumped out of the window." He walks over to the pastor's office; he stands right outside, looking up, and sees bloody handprints on the wall above the door, "Johnathan, come here,"

Jonathan goes over and looks up, "How? Is that where he came from when he attacked you?"

"Perhaps"

"So what exactly happened?"

Jace walks inside the office, "I discovered a hidden passage marked by that bloody arrow painted on the wall, and this leads to a basement." Jace heads down, ensuring he doesn't step on blood prints or trails.

"This is where I found the pastor's corpse hanging; he was recently killed when I came down." he turned around, "They snuck out and slammed the door behind me. I was able to follow him up the stairs with those footprints."

Johnathan looks around the room, "These blood spatters are very sloppy; it seems like he was having fun."

"Oh yeah, he gave that Pastor a bloody eagle and had him hanging from the ceiling." Jace turned to Johnathan, "Did I mention he giggled at me before jumping out of the window."

"Did you say he giggled at you?"

"Yup, Welp, I'm hungry; we'll do a more in-depth search tomorrow."

Johnathan nods, and they make their way upstairs, "Would you like to join my boys and me for dinner? I haven't introduced you to Cecil yet." Johnathon unlocks the car door

"I would love to! If that's ok." Jace gets into the car.

Johnathan smiles and starts driving, "I wonder what the forensic team found."

"Me too, but we have to wait until tomorrow." Jace looks through his phone.

They pull into the driveway of a decently sized two-story house. The side walls were made from western red cedar, done in a façade style. Johnathan opens his door with a smile, "Cecil! Malachi! I'm home," he calls out as Jace follows from behind; Cecil walks up to his dad until he sees Jace. Cecil begins to shy away, "Cecil, I brought my partner over for dinner; this is Detective Engelram or Jace." Jace looks at the boy with a kind smile, "It's nice to meet you. " Cecil stares at him before running off.

Johnathan awkwardly laughs, "Sorry, he's a bit shy."

"That's alright."

Malachi comes around, "Welcome back dad, Hi Jace."

"Hi Malachi, how are you doing?" Jace asks as he takes his shoes off.

"Alright, I heard you were in the hospital. I'm glad you're ok." Malachi looks at his dad, "We already finished our homework, and Cecil helped me cook dinner."

Johnathan smiles, hugging his son, "Thank you."

Malachi faintly blushes, "It's nothing special, " Malachi slips from his father's embrace. Malachi looks at Jace, then walks off fetching Cecil from the living room:

"Well, let's eat!" Johnathan says as he enters the kitchen. He grabs a stack of plates from the cabinet. After he sets the plates down, he slowly lifts the lid off the pan, "Ooo, Stroganoff," Jonathan lets out a soft mmm as he serves a plate, which he hands to Jace. Then serves himself next; Jace seats himself at the kitchen table.

Malachi enters the kitchen with Cecil shyly following him; Jace gives Cecil another smile. Cecil looks at him and then shyly waves his hand; Jace couldn't help but smile as he waits for the others to join him at the table. Johnathan sits at the head of the table with Jace to his left and Cecil to his right; Malachi sits next to Cecil:

"Oh, one more thing," Johnathan stands grabbing himself and Jace a can of beer; he looks at his sons, "You boys want anything?"

Malachi shakes his head, "Nah, I got water."

Cecil looks at his father, "A sprite, please, if that's ok?"

Johnathan smiles, "A sprite, gotcha" he comes back, handing Cecil his sprite.

"Thank you," the boy says softly

Johnathan gives Jace his beer before opening his own, "Thanks, "

They all eat in silence; Jace sees that Cecil keeps glancing at him, Jace smiles and looks at the boy, "So Cecil, if you don't mind me asking you. How do you like things so far?"

Cecil glances at his plate and nervously nibbles on his bottom lip, "Well, I..I like it here. Dad and Malachi are very nice to me." he takes a calming breath, "Dad has the nicest home I've ever seen." he says softly before taking a bite of food.

Jace smiles, "That's really good to hear" he turns to Malachi, "how are you doing with being a big brother?"

Malachi looks at him and shrugs his shoulder, "It's ok, I guess."

The room goes back to silence; Malachi is the first to finish; after putting his dishes in the sink, he puts away the rest of the food. Johnathan turns to Malachi, "I'll clean the rest up since you cooked."

Malachi looks at his dad, "You sure?"

"Yeah, go relax, have fun."

Malachi nods and goes upstairs to his room; Cecil is second to finish; he puts his plate in the sink after rinsing it off and goes up to his room. Johnathan and Jace finish shortly after, "Indeed, Cecil is a shy boy; how did you come upon this situation?" He asks as they carry their plates to the sink:

"One day, my doorbell rang; I ignored it. Thinking it was probably one of those door-to-door salesmen or recruiters." Johnathan says as Jace rinses the dishes in the sink before cleaning out the sink and begins filling it with hot water and dish soap. "But the knock got louder and louder. So I got up, and there was a detective at my door, with Cecil by his side. Only to learn that when my wife ran off on Malachi and me, she was pregnant with my second child and died in a horrible car crash; that's how Cecil ended up here."

Jace fills the sink with dirty dishes; Johnathan pats Jace's shoulder, "I got this; you can go relax." Johnathan puts on some gloves.

"Nah, I'll help." with a drying towel in hand, Johnathan shoots Jace a look, "You're my guest, and you just got out of the hospital."

"Like I give a shit, I'm fine. At least let me load the dishwasher," Johnathan looks at him; they have a standoff before Johnathan sighs, "Fine."

"I'm sorry you had to find out this way," Jace rinses off the soapy dishes before he places them in the dishwasher.

"It's ok; I could have spent the rest of my life not knowing Cecil existed,"

"True that," Jace says, "He is timid but well-behaved; both your boys are quite behaved and well-mannered. Do you have any issues with Cecil?"

"No, not really. But he is not ready to speak about his life before us."

"He'll come around; his mom died. He just learned about his father and older brother, I'm not sure what kind of relationship he had with his mother, but this is a new way of life."

"I know; I really hope he is happy here."

"It seems like he is, have more faith in yourself."

Johnathan nods; once the dishes are done, Johnathan grabs a few more beers before they head outside, "You sure you should be drinking this much? I do need to get home."

"You're not going home, not after you had your head bashed against the ground, and not while this killer is running around all Willy-Nilly, " Johnathan gives Jace another beer.

"It's dangerous for me to sleep here if he is after me. And not to mention you have two boys."

"It's fine, we're both detectives with guns, and I have a decent security system. Besides, I can sleep better knowing you are within my reach, and we can go to work together." Jace looks at Johnathan, and Johnathan stares back at him as they have another standoff. This time Johnathan wins. "Ok, jeez." Jace pulls out a pack of cigarettes.

"Jace, you said you were gonna quit." Johnathan scolds

"I did, they're fake," tossing the pack to Johnathan; Johnathan catches them reading the pack, "Well, I'll be damned," he tossed the pack back to Jace.

"You know I am a man of my word," Jace puffs and sighs, "It's a shame; why do they always have to be crazy?"

"Who?"

"Aizen, he was quite an attractive bloke," he puffs again, " In fact, there was something unnatural about his looks, but he was... he was quite beautiful?" unsure if this was a fitting description.

"Only you be attracted to crazy."

"Oh yeah, you think you have the right to say that with your ex-wife?"

Johnathan gives a look of defeat; he goes to say something but gives up just opening his beer and taking a drink. Jace smirks to himself as he drinks. Johnathan fiddles with his can and Jace takes note:

"What's wrong?"

"I've been thinking about that church; I've checked it out before the murder, and nothing seemed off. Dead sheep were hanging from the ceiling, that amount of vandalism, and a murdered pastor in a secret basement. And for a church to attract such a fiend, there has to be more to it."

"I agree; religion attracts nut jobs, but for someone to show such hatred and disdain. It was very personal, oh that's right!" he pulls out his phone.

"What?"

"There were some words carved into the pastor's pulpit; I believe they were Latin," opening a search engine, " Mendax means; deceitful, lying, deceptive, untruthful, false. Mendacious means feigned, not real." he inhales the cigarette once again, "Stuprator is a rapist" he types in the last word, "Avarice, extreme greed."

"Clearly, they're not much of a fan of this church."

"It seems not," Jace puts his phone back into his pocket, " Maybe there is more to this so-called church."

"Agreed, maybe we need to keep an eye on this church."

"Indeed, well, let's just relax for now; we can go back to that tomorrow," Johnathan toasts his can against Jace's, "To you living another day!"

Jace gives him a smile chugging beer; he relaxes in his chair, looking up at the night sky. He takes in the fresh midnight air through his nostrils. Johnathan has three beers before calling it a night; he gives Jace a pillow and blanket before bed. Jace lies on the couch, through for his emails, before he goes to sleep.

Jace feels someone intensely staring at him; his eyes shoot open he looks to his left to see Cecil looking at him shyly as he debates how to wake Jace. Startled by Jace's sudden awakening, he runs off through the kitchen and up the stairs. Jace sits up, confused, "Ok?" he stands. He enters the kitchen. Malachi is sitting at the table reading the comic section of the newspaper. Jace looks over seeing Johnathan making breakfast:

"What's cook'in good lookin?" Jace looks over Johnathan's shoulder.

Johnathan chuckles, "Eggs, bacon, pancakes, and sausage "he scrambles the eggs, "I made some coffee."

"Thanks," Jace pours himself a cup; he goes to sit at the kitchen table, Malachi giving him a confused but disturbed.

"What?" Jace asks as he sits, sipping his coffee, then snatches the rest of the newspaper from Malachi.

"What's cook'in good look'in?"

"What's wrong with complimenting my best friend? You gotta keep your buddy's self-confidence intact." Jace takes another sip of coffee and opens the newspaper.

Cecil comes back in a change of clothes; he sets his backpack at the door next to his brothers, goes to the cabinet, grabs himself a glass, then goes to the fridge to pour some apple juice. He sits at the table and shyly looks over at Jace:

"I'm sorry; dad asked me to wake you up. I didn't know what to do, and you woke up before I could figure it out."

Jace smiles at him, "It's alright, and you did what your dad asked; you woke me up." he says, "Nothing like a little jumpscare to get you started in the morning."

Cecil smiles; Malachi hands Cecil the cartoon portion of the newspaper when he is done. Malachi pulls out his phone to text his friend; Johnathan comes to the table, balancing five plates. He places a plate in front of everyone before sitting with his own. Jace tosses the newspaper to the side and begins digging when the plate is set before him. Cecil looks at his dad, "Thank you for breakfast:

"It was no problem,"

"Yes, thank you, dad," Malachi wraps up a text before setting his phone down; he picks up his fork and begins eating.

Jace let out a soft moan, "Man, you know how to make some good cakes." he says, looking at Johnathan, "I don't understand."

"Understand what?" Johnathan asks, a bit confused.

"How could anyone leave you? How are you still single after all these years?" he wipes his mouth, "You cook, clean, great with kids, and not to mention you're still quite fit. You're a stud muffin."

"Jace, what the hell!" Malachi gives him a slightly disturbed look.

Johnathan laughs, patting his son's head, "He is messing around Malachi; he always has a flirty way of talking. You know that." Johnathan says. Malachi glares at Jace, who childishly makes a face at him.

Malachi tsks before he continues to eat, and Cecil eats his food none the wiser. Cecil and Malachi finish up their breakfast. Both slip on their shoes before running out the door and begin making their way to school. Jace watches them leave, "seriously, sweet kids," he finishes his plate, stretching, "Thanks for breakfast, " he takes his plate to the sink, "We need to stop at my place before we head to the station."

"Of course"

They clean up together before Johnathan stops by Jace's apartment, letting him shower, and change into clean clothes.

Malachi walks down the sidewalk with Cecil next to him; up ahead, he sees two members of The Children of Reparation passing out pamphlets for their church; Malachi lets out another tsk, as he takes hold of Cecil's arm crossing the street with him. Malachi doesn't bother looking at the two church members. Cecil looks at his brother, "Why do we always cross the street?"

"There's just something fishy about that church," Malachi responds only loud enough for Cecil to hear him. When they arrive at the school, Malachi guides Cecil to his classroom, "I'll see you after school, have a good day, ok?"

Cecil smiles, "As do you, Malachi," he waves goodbye to his brother and turns in his homework before sitting at his desk.

Jace and Johnathan arrive at the station both head to the forensics lab; Jace wonders in:

"Do you have anything for us? Any DNA ?" he rests his elbow on the desk, his chin on his hand. The head of the team, David, looks at him, "Well Jace, though the killer was running around barefooted and left two strands of hair. We could not recover any DNA and tested everything we could. And even then, there were prints; there was also nothing."

The last bell of the school day rings. Cecil stands outside his classroom, waiting for his brother to pick him up. After waiting about five minutes, he goes to his brother's classroom. In the hall, he notices a large group of students in a circle shouting and cheering. He cautiously approaches; he squeezes through the crowd to find his brother in a fistfight with another student:

"Malachi," he says worriedly.

Malachi punches another boy square in the face; before he lets go of him, he stands and goes over to Cecil, "I'm sorry I didn't pick you up; something came up." leading his brother out of the crowd, "Let's go home," Malachi wipes the blood from his nose.

"Who was that? Why were you beating him up?"

Malachi stretches, "It's no one important, just a bitter and unhappy person who chose violence." Malachi looks his brother in the eyes, putting his hands on his shoulder, "Some advice from me, being your older brother, never start a fight, but you can end them, Ok?"

Cecil nods, "Yes, Malachi," Malachi smiles, "I would appreciate it if you kept this between us." Cecil nods, "what if someone else reports you?"

"They won't, and Jeremy won't; he's the one who started it anyways. He is already in deep shit as it is," he grabs Cecil's hand guiding him to the bathroom. Malachi cleans himself up and adjusts his clothes; he checks his face for bruises or injuries. Then he nods in approval before leaving the school. He and Cecil walk down the sidewalk; Malachi looks at Cecil:

"How was school?"

"It was fine. In fact, I might get to leave special Ed and join a regular class," Cecil says chipperly.

Malachi smiles, "That's great to hear; I'm proud of you."

"I don't want your comfort! Piss off! You freaks," someone angrily shouts in the distance.

Malachi looks ahead seeing Jeremy, yelling at two church members from The Children of Reparation. " Fuck off!" he screams before stomping off. Malachi holds onto Cecil, pulling him along, and when they arrive home, Malachi sets him back down on one of the chairs for the kitchen table and goes into the freezer to get snacks for himself and Cecil.

Jeremy heads home, seeing a red 1966 Chevrolet Chevelle ss convertible sitting in the driveway; he groans and continues past his house to the nearby park. He does his homework on one of the picnic tables; halfway through his homework, he sets his pencil down on the table. Jeremy leaves his back on the table, goes to the swing, and puts in his earbuds, listening to music as he swings. When the sun had fully set, he grabbed his backpack and began to make his way home. As he walks, he sees lights up ahead; members of the neighborhood watch consisting of members from, The Children of Reparation:

"Fuck!" he looks around, taking a different path; he walks in hurried steps groaning and mumbling to himself. He stops hearing footsteps nearby; he looks around and turns, seeing a flashlight in the far distance behind him. They weren't moving, just shining the flashlight in his direction, "shit," he mumbles to himself before sprinting off. He hears footsteps running behind him; he picks up the pace. He hears them getting closer and removes his backpack tossing it to the side. He picks up his speed, full-on running now. But whoever was chasing him was right behind him, "The fuck! leave me alone!" he cries, pulling up on his block; he doesn't dare look back as he keeps running; Jeremy runs past all the other houses, and before Jeremy could call out for help, he feels something hard hit the back of his head. He falls to the ground, his vision blurry as he hears the footsteps approaching him; he turns around on his back, attempting to sit up. Only to get a flashlight smashed into his face; he falls again, alive but unconscious.