Evan hadn't prepared himself for the grisly scene upstairs. Officer Oxendine let them in through the yellow crime scene tape, and they all surveyed the bloodstains in the living room and kitchen floor.
“Oh, God,” Ryung whispered.
“What do you feel?” Calloway asked.
“A heaviness. It starts at the top of the stairs, and it's in here like…like I'm swimming in it.”
“This is going to cost a pretty penny to clean up,” Lena announced, her thin lips curled upward.
“I've seen worse,” Oxendine replied sadly.
“A married couple,” Ryung said quietly, “and their two… daughters.”
“Right, it happened about twelve years ago,” Oxendine added.
“I bought this place two months later for a song and a dance,” Lena boasted. “Nobody would touch it.”
Evan helped the others follow Calloway's gentle orders a
