Kaya did not speak as Officer Gentry led her into the Avalon Springs Police Department. Jordan came with her. Officer Gentry said it was not a good idea, but Kaya insisted Jordan be allowed to come inside. So Jordan did. Best friends are always there.

There was shouting and cussing inside the police department. Some officers were angry, others were scared. A few cried at their desks. But even amidst the chaos the department became quiet when Kaya entered. Some officers averted their eyes from her. Other officers stared but were unable to speak.

Kaya took a shuddering breath.

"Jordan you should wait here," Officer Gentry said a few feet outside the police chief’s office.

Kaya nodded. Jordan gave Kaya a quick hug. Kaya followed Officer Gentry into her father's office. The door to the office had not been covered with yellow police tape. But it was definitely a crime scene.

Her father’s body was in the chair, slumped over the desk. A blanket was draped over the body. Blood splattered against one wall, perhaps from a single blow from whatever killed her father. Blood pooled around the bottom of the desk.

Kaya shuttered.

"Did your dad talk about any enemies?" Officer Gentry asked. "As police officers we know that our work is unpopular, but this was a surprise."

"I wasn't aware of any problems," Kaya said.

Officer Gentry nodded solemnly.

"Do you have any idea who did this?" Kaya asked.

"No. But there was a woman who came to visit your dad this morning. She said she was from the FBI."

"Why did the FBI want to talk to my dad?" Kaya asked.

"Well we called the FBI," Officer Gentry said. "After we found your dad. We were hoping to get a lead on what your dad and the FBI were investigating. But the FBI says that they never sent an agent. And then I remembered your dad saying that he called the FBI. The FBI checked around. The FBI, they said they never received a call from your dad last night."

"So who visited my dad today?"

"We don't know. We don’t even know who he spoke to last night."

Kaya was surprised. After how shaken she had been earlier in the day, was much calmer in the police department. Perhaps she was in denial. But there was a general acceptance within her that nothing about today was ‘right’. Officer Gentry was clearly shaken. He, at the moment, was showing more emotion than Kaya.

Kaya noticed something about Officer Gentry. She could tell there was more he wanted to say. But he couldn’t say it. He was staring at the police chief’s body at the desk. Kaya followed Gentry’s gaze.

There was something unusual about the body. Not that a murder is ever normal. Not that blood splashed on a wall like abstract art is an everyday occurrence. But something was wrong about the body at the desk.

The shape of the blanket covering the body was wrong. The top of the body was oddly small.

Kaya stepped toward the desk. She reached toward the blanket covering her dad’s body.

“Kaya,” Officer Gentry said. “Don’t. It’s a crime scene.”

But Officer Gentry didn’t stop her.

Kaya lifted the blanket.

The panicked feeling she had that morning in the girls’ restroom at Avalon Springs High School was gone. The nervousness about the Famous Unicorn Creations Kitchen felt like an old memory. The numbness she felt talking to Officer Gentry about her dad’s body vanished. Kaya had another emotion filling her. Anger. Her face reddened.

Kaya slowly put the blanket back down. She turned toward Officer Gentry, her lips trembled.

“Mike,” Kaya hissed.

“Kaya. I-”

“Where the hell is dad’s HEAD!?”