Dot had never seen this many cop cars outside somewhere all at once. Except for when they had the one hundredth anniversary of the department a few years ago. So, more specifically, Dot had never seen this many cops at a crime scene all at once. And she’d been around some big crime scenes. Some serious raids too. There had to be most if not all of the squad cars from her precinct, as well as a bunch from the North Precinct too. Plus there were two big SWAT vans parked outside, blocking the entrance to what looked like some sort of abandoned building. Their radios had gone ballistic with reports. Like usual, bystanders were being dumbasses and couldn’t figure out how to use their eyes to give an accurate report. But the one thing common in all the reports was there was a shit ton of gunfire. Normally that sort of thing made Dot excited, getting somewhere before everyone was dead. But enough reports made it seem like there was a war happening, and the closer she got to the scene the more she hoped it’d be over when she arrived. Plus, it was almost three in the fucking morning.

  She’d actually been one of the first people there; alongside three other cars. But the gunfire had seemingly already stopped and before they could investigate the SWAT teams had shown up. So, she stood at the front entrance in the middle of the damn night waiting around for twelve guys in heavy armor carrying heavier guns to sweep and clear the place. The only question Dot really had, was why the hell was this all going down in such a shit hole? Maybe it was a drug deal gone wrong, or some kind of cult massacre or something weird. Dot couldn’t imagine what the hell these people were fighting over. Normally she’d ask Arthur, but he wasn’t here. Again.

  She sighed, leaning back against her car as she could see the SWAT guys flashlights methodically sweeping every corner and inch of each level of the building. Still no gunshots. Normally she’d chalk it up to a bad witness report, but there were so many that it couldn’t have been that. Which meant whoever had started the gunfight was already gone. She’d always wanted apply to move up to the SWAT team, but this time Dot didn’t envy them having to climb eight floors on a rickety building like that.

  Dot checked her watch. It was still three in the morning. She made a sound that was half a grunt, half a growl. She looked around. The rest of the cops pulled out for this looked more or less in the same mood as she was. Tired, grumpy, and completely on edge half expecting someone to bust out the front waving a gun around. A few of the cops still had guns drawn, keeping alert and scanning the perimeter of the building. She rolled her eyes. Even if there was some maniac stupid enough to jumpscare the army of cops out front it was unlikely they’d get through the SWAT team without becoming Swiss cheese. At least she hoped so. Not that she didn’t trust the other cops, but having twenty to thirty tired, and jumpy police popping off their pistols in the middle of the night seemed like a great way to get accidentally shot.

  So instead she waited, fingers impatiently searching for cigarettes that weren’t in her pocket.

  “Damnit,” she muttered. A little too loudly, it seemed.

  “What’s up?”

  It was a guy from a different station on the north side of town, which was technically another city with a different name, though considered part of Longley. But for whatever reason they were considered part of the same department. Dot stared for a moment trying to place his face, then it came to her. He was a new guy. Star of the academy, graduated with honors and all that bullshit that basically meant he’d have a nice smooth career. He was working the beat still, but well on track to become a detective. He seemed like a nice enough guy, if a little too nice. She just couldn’t remember his name.

  “Nothin,” she said, “Just don’t like being here alone.”

  He leaned against her car. She shot him a look, but he ignored it. “Where’s your partner? Didn’t want to get out of bed?” he joked.

  “I don’t know what he wants lately. Seems all over the place.”

  The kid was quiet for a bit. Apparently interpersonal conversation wasn’t his forte. “Well, uh, good thing you’re here.”

  Dot gave him another look, “What?”

  “I mean. Nevermind,” he said, pushing himself off the car and moving away.

  Dot couldn’t figure out if he was trying to hit on her or or she had made some reputation of being a super-cop. As she was staring at him with an annoyed look on her face, more sirens blared as fire department engines and two ambulances showed up at the perimeter of the scene, their crews piling out getting ready to do whatever needed to be done. Dot was surprised. When the dispatchers want to work fast they did, which meant that the SWAT team…she looked back up at the building. A few moments later, on cue, the SWAT team was returning, apparently done clearing the building. Everyone outside still brandishing began to holster their guns as the big kids came down to speak to them.

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  “Nothing here people!” One of them barked, yanking his helmet and mask off. “Everyone in there is dead. Hell of a fight though.” His voice became background noise barking more orders as most of the cops groaned and moaned that they’d missed the action, including that new kid. Dot rolled her eyes, bunch of blowhards. Despite their bemoaning missing the action, only Dot and a few other detectives were actually brave enough to push past the SWAT team and investigate the scene.

  Fight felt like an understatement. The witnesses weren’t wrong, it really was like a war had happened here. As Dot moved around the premises there had to have been ten corpses, maybe a few more, and that was just on the first floor. Most seemed to have been shot or bludgeoned to death, others just seemed dead without any obvious cause. The building looked like a squatters home, full of makeshift fires, equipment, bedding and now, lots of corpses.

  Dot pinched her nose as on the second floor there was a pile of bodies in the corner of one room. Clearly desiccated and old, much older than the fight here. They had been torn to bits, body parts everywhere. Dot gagged, what the fuck? She guessed the SWAT guys didn’t want to freak out all the cops who were now getting back in their cars and heading home. But apparently whatever had gone down here wasn’t just sudden, because these bodies had been here a while. This place was like some kind of fucked up slaughter house. The other bodies were a mix of smelly, poorly dressed, ragged looking people, and much more professional ones in dark clothing with gloves and some expensive looking guns with suppressors. Whatever did happen here the detectives on duty would have a hell of a time figuring out why a bunch of hit-men decided to wipe out a group of homeless serial-killers.

  On close inspection, it seemed like many of the people involved here might be gang related somehow. They had various tattoos all over their arms and chests, visible underneath torn shirts. One had a shaved head and lots of tattoos in Spanish, mostly religious and some seemingly cartel related. That was interesting. As far as she knew, no cartel was working in or around Longley. Maybe something had changed. On the highest floor that had been built, there was almost nothing. Lots of makeshift tables and chairs, and crappy, old, now bloody carpets. Lots of generators and wires running all over the place, but not actually connected to anything. Just empty spaces where machines might have been. It seemed too convenient. Dot wondered if someone had gotten out with evidence.

  Dot heard something move. She whipped around, gun drawn, sweeping the floor with the muzzle. She stood stark still, the noise only having sounded for a moment, but something was definitely still here. She clicked the mounted flashlight on her pistol illuminating the area, and began to slowly step around the wires, furniture, rugs and equipment. As well as the bodies. She slowly scanned each corpse as she passed, making sure they were all still dead. There was another noise, Dot whipping her gun towards the stairwell getting ready to fire. A large rat scurried between debris and disappeared downs the stairs. Dot breathed out a heavy sigh of relief, her heart pumping. She just shook her head. She didn’t know what the hell happened here, what this place was, and just prayed she wouldn’t get assigned to this horror show. Whatever asshole got assigned this job would be in a shit mire for the next few months.

  As Dot came back down and continued scanning for any details, she noticed that the tarp walls of the floors had been torn in multiple places, some even torn off completely. She took a look out over the side of the building. Dot spotted a body with limbs bent and broken at odd angles and it’s skull completely shattered, blood and brains splattered across the gravel in front of it. She’d seen jumpers before but it was always grisly. She shuddered. Get yourself together, she said, approaching the body. She knelt down next to it, trying to get a look at it’s face.

  Someone touched her shoulder and she nearly jumped a foot off the ground, “Shit!”

  “Woah! My bad! My bad, sorry Dot,” Ruben said.

  “Jesus man, nearly gave me a heart attack,” Dot said, standing.

  “Sorry. You’re not usually a jumpy one. What’s all in there?”

  She shook her head, “Some fucked up shit, what the hell do you think? They don’t send SWAT teams for nothing.”

  “Yeah. Look, just got word from the Chief. Gonna be a joint investigation on this, with the North guys. He wants you to lead it. You’re already here, and whatnot.”

  She sighed, “Fuck.” I am that asshole, she thought. “Fine. Where the fuck is Arthur? I’m not doing this shit alone.”

  Ruben shrugged, “Not picking up his phone. It is the middle of the night after all.”

  “Yeah, and yet my ass is still out here, like he’s supposed to be. Where the fuck is he?”

  Ruben just shrugged. Dot narrowed her eyes as if Ruben was hiding something somehow, then looked away. “Fine. Anything else?”

  “They’re setting up a scene out front. Brought a coffee maker and everything. Gonna be a long night I think. Probably going to be working into the morning.”

  Dot sighed again. “You don’t say.” Ruben turned and walked away, and Dot pinched the bridge of her nose. She took a deep breath, looking up at the sky before closing her eyes and just standing there, trying to mentally prepare herself for having to deal with this giant fucking disaster. A few moments later she breathed out. Dot looked back behind her at the corpse that had fallen out of the building. She hunched down next to the mangled fall victim on the ground, whose corpse was completely battered. She slowly turned him over, taking care to not touch his skin. She grimaced. It looked like one of the homeless looking guys.

  Dot looked pass the corpse. There was a second big scattering of bloody sand and gravel a few feet away near one of the big wall tarps that had been torn off, but no body. “It’s already fuckin morning,” she said to no-one in particular.