Someone knocked on the door.

It was really strange, considering they had a bell that the officials used, and it couldn't be heard much past the kitchen. Who wanted to visit the pen?

Ian beat him to the door and opened it with just as confused a look as Nathan had. The man on the other side of the door took a step back on sight of Ian, but Nathan recognized him over Ian's broad shoulders. The swept-over chestnut hair, pinned back over his ears was easily noticeable as it wasn't a common hair style for someone who was in a uniform like Allen was.

"If it isn't the chief of police," Ian said, leaning on the doorframe to take nearly all of it up with an imposing stance. "Are you here to see if any of us are dead yet?" There was spite in Ian's voice, but Allen stood his ground, unclipping the holster for his gun at his side.

"Allen," Nathan greeted him, shoving Ian off the door frame. Having not expected his touch, Ian stumbled back, cursed, and then grumbled as he headed back to the kitchen. The entire time Allen tracked Ian's every movement, his hand never leaving his weapon.

"Nathan." Allen smiled lightly. The officer was older than he remembered, with a gentle crinkle near his eyes. The last time he'd seen him, Nathan had been scared out of his mind, so it was like he was seeing Allen for the first time.

"You have an... interesting relationship with him." Allen examined the wall that housed the kitchen with clear calculating assessment. The way he still had his hands ready near his waistband drew Nathan's eyes to the holster warily. Nathan didn't like guns, and Allen easily noticed.

"I'm a police officer. Your friend called me the chief of police because I pretty much am, though not by title. The current chief is a good friend of mine, and he doesn't manage the town as well as I do," Allen said, piquing Nathan's interest.

Most law enforcement and officials in this town were not fond of the LC Project, which is why the inmates leaned more heavily on the mob for protection. Allen picked up on Nathan's quick downward frown at the idea that the man might be trouble.

"I know, it's a shitty job. I gather you have heard of the Moceri family by now."

"Yes." Nathan sighed.

"Well then, you know my job is essentially shit, but someone has to do it." Allen looked into his eyes, searching for something in them. "Has it been okay here?"

Nathan immediately tensed up, and Allen sighed, running a hand over his hair.

"I'm not trying to shut this place down," Allen assured him quickly, but Nathan didn't trust him. It wasn't in Nathan to trust anyone outside of the pen anymore. "You don't believe me." Allen was quick, but Nathan also wasn't exactly difficult to read. "Where is Maggie?" Allen strode in like he owned the place, and Nathan followed him to the living room.

"I think she is up with Julian," Nathan said, surprised the man was actually in the pen after all he'd sputtered about never wanting to go near it.

"Maggie!" Allen yelled up the stairs, and Nathan jumped. For such a quiet guy, he had a commanding voice. Doors opened and shut, and then footsteps creaked on the stairs, though Tanner hit the landing first.

There was a visible grimace from Tanner as he met Allen's eyes, though it wasn't quite the same disgust as Ian had shown. "Allen." Tanner greeted him with a stiffening of his muscles, and a sickened look in his eyes. "Are you here to close the house?" The words were a whisper of fear.

Allen could close the house? Didn't that make his oversight higher than Maggie's?

"Why? Did you do something you'd like to confess too?" Allen asked pointedly.

It drew tension through the room, and Tanner moved for one of his knives just as fast as Allen drew his gun and pointed it directly at his head.

"Don't even. I won't waste time with trying to wound someone like you. You'd just take the bullet and kill me."

Nathan's skin was just starting to get clammy when Maggie hit the landing and pushed Tanner to the side. Startled, Tanner stumbled much as Ian had earlier and then leaned against the wall that was now behind his back.

"Put your gun away. Tanner has never been a threat to you," Maggie said in annoyance. Though Allen lowered his gun, he did so slowly before he slid it back into place at his side.

"Even a cornered rat will bite its master," Allen said icily. "You give that man too much leverage, allowing him to be armed."

"If this was about Tanner, you wouldn't have shown up yourself. So I imagine this isn't a social call."

"No, Maggie." There was silence for a moment as they stared at each other.

"Tanner, Nathan, sit." Maggie ushered toward the couches a few feet from them. Nathan sat immediately, but Tanner lingered. "Sit!" Maggie's tone was harsh, and Tanner grimaced in aggravation, but eventually sat on the couch opposite of him.

"They'll be here in less than half an hour. Are all your... men present?" Allen asked.

"Yes. They are all here, right now. They are usually all indoors at this time in the afternoon, though curfew is a bit later."

"You'll want them downstairs and sitting... as unthreateningly as possible," Allen said sternly.

"What's going on?" Nathan asked, and Allen gave him a quick glance.

"Someone has been murdered."

~

Those three words heralded what felt like the edict to the end, and too many people came into the pen. Far before the others had come in, Nathan had sensed something was terribly wrong. Donovan took his normal seat next to him and Ian positioned himself on the other side, practically squishing him on the couch between them.

A commanding blond woman with brutally cold eyes came in, and Nathan tucked himself further back into the couch between his walls of safety. The woman had a hardened look, much like the prison guards he'd interacted with, and even though she might be pretty if she wasn't suited up like a military official, her long hair was tied so tightly back onto her scalp that she almost looked bald.

Maggie and Allen had rearranged the couches so that only one chair was at the head of the room and the rest of them were in a u-shape that was faced towards the stairs. It made Nathan feel cornered but, with Donovan and Ian flanking him, and even Julian eyeing the woman threateningly across the coffee table, it at least lessened the terror.

Tanner certainly wasn't helping. Before the woman had come into the room, his face had been buried in his hands in stress. When Nathan asked, Tanner said he had a hangover, but Nathan had never known the man to drink in excess, or at all, at least that was noticeable in the house.

Something was just terribly uneasy about the way everyone was sitting silently and angrily in the living room. All except for Rick, who seemed to think this was all hilarious. In a recliner by himself, he was leaning back and grinning ear to ear as the woman walked in, which caused the blond woman's already unpleasant look to darken in disgust.

Taking her seat, she looked around the room and found Allen standing against the wall. Stiff and at attention, his hand was sitting next to his gun as if everyone was going to get up and attack him at once.

"Allen Miller, I don't recall you having a scheduled visit today," the woman said, running her hand over her tightly tied back blond curls. There was a menacing smile on her face when she said the words that Allen narrowed his eyes to.

"Rosanne," Allen said her name as if they were familiar, but it wasn't exactly friendly. "As the head of police matters regarding the LC Project, I do not need an appointment. I hear you intended an investigation without involving me. How long did you think that would last?"

Rosanne chuckled. "Not long, I imagine, but here you are now. So let's get to business." One of the five men with Rosanne who lined the wall behind her handed her a tablet and a folder. The woman opened the folder and threw a stack of something on the table.

It took Nathan a moment for the images to register. Empty eye sockets stared up at him with a jaw half hanging off, covered in putrid purple and greyed skin. Ian grabbed him and yanked him off the couch and further into the room, where he promptly lost his lunch into the waste bin. That was appreciated, because he had almost just wretched onto his lap and the floor.

"You're a repugnant bitch," Ian said as he ran his hand over Nathan's shoulders in what was supposed to be a comforting gesture. It wasn't helping.

So many pictures had flown in front of his eyes that he couldn't get the images out, and his mind was struggling to sort them. There had been a close up on a hand missing fingertips, and severed body parts that were slashed across as if someone had ripped the skin open. Even worse were the patches of hair that had been missing from the skull of what had to have been a woman with her long, now grey hair, covered in muck. For a moment, one of her chest had passed in front of his eyes, slashed as well, and half of it had been eaten away as if it had been chewed on.

Nathan heaved above the can again, but luckily there wasn't much for him to lose after the first time. It was followed by a scornful breath of air and his knees shook, dragging him to the ground.

"Nathan." Ian sighed heavily, and then looked to Rosanne. "Seriously, what the fuck is your problem? Mags, can you get him something?"

Footsteps crossed the room, but Nathan gaze was on the trash can and his head was spinning. After a minute or so, those same footsteps came to his side and he looked up to a damp towel that was handed down to him.

"Thank you," Nathan said to Allen. The man was all too eager to hand over a glass of water and skitter back to his post outside of their circle.

Nathan wiped his mouth, and Ian helped him back up to the couch. When he got there, Ian grabbed the side of his head and shoved it into the crook of his arm. The gesture caused some of the men behind Rosanne to sputter cruses at him, but Ian ignored them.

"You don't have to look at them, Nat. Whatever this contemptuous bitch wants, it has nothing to do with you." Ian's voice was calming, as it was any time he soothed him. In the room with everyone, he'd thought he was safe, but he'd been wrong again. Ian's cologne was extremely potent with how close he was to him, but it was better to be drowned in that than the smell of vomit.

The couch lifted where Donovan had been sitting, and Nathan glanced up to Donovan as he grabbed the trash can and headed for the door. The men took a step back from him, and Rosanne gave him an angry glare. Donovan stopped in front of her, firmly on his feet, and flipped her off.

Nathan's jaw dropped, and Julian laughed. His cackle echoed across the silent room as Donovan went into the kitchen and took the trash can with him.

"This isn't funny," Tanner said, snapping his anger and stress at him.

"Oh come on. You don't think Donovan giving someone the finger is funny? I do." Julian relaxed onto his hand on the couch, next to Maggie with Tanner on the other side. They had been seated on the larger couch in the room, so they weren't squished at all like Nathan was.

"Why is Donavon Saechao still here?" Rosanne cut the silence but only made it harder as confusion passed over everyone in the room's face except for Maggie. "They don't even know?" Rosanne's cruel expression tilted into an amused smile that promised nothing good.

"Don't know what?" Tanner turned to Maggie, though his tone had calmed to annoyance rather than the aggravation with Julian.

Maggie was silent for a moment, and she glanced up to Nathan but he was mostly stuffed into Ian. "Donovan was released from his obligatory tenancy here through the innocence clause in his contract," Maggie said.

Obligatory... tenancy... Nathan ran the words through his head.

"You mean he doesn't have to live here?" Nathan asked to clarify, and Maggie nodded.

"His case was thrown out... due to... complications. And to answer your question, Rosanne, because he is within the LC Project's contract, he can stay here willingly if he wants."

"Prefers to be with his own kind." Rosanne sneered, and Nathan wanted to punch her.

It startled him how quickly he'd wanted to actually hurt someone. He gripped Ian's arm so hard that Ian flinched, but he remained still nonetheless. Why did this woman make him so angry? Was it because Donovan was a good person and she was smearing his name, or because she had flung pictures of a dismembered women at him and looked on all of this with dead eyes.

Word count: 2270 -- Edited July 14th, 2020