The Brocade Baby (Rewrite) Chapter 10

Chapter 10: A grave discovery

4 I sought the Lord, and he heard me, and delivered me from all my fears.

Psalm 34:4

 

Timotheos had never run so fast in his life before and neither had Audrey. They both cared about Ambroise and their respective families so the idea of anyone harm coming to either of them was terrifying. They both ran as fast as they could back to the picnic area where they saw some of the children running around in a frenzy due to also having heard the gunshot. The other families went to gather their children and make sure that everyone was safe but there were still sounds of screaming and panic in the air. Fearing for the worst, the 2 teenagers finally arrived at the area where their respective families were sitting only to see Barnim and Julien standing up while Miranda and Brielle were still sitting down, with Ambroise being seated in her lap. Sighing in relief, Timotheos and Audrey ran towards their mothers to see if they were okay.

"Mom!" Timotheos shouted, alerting his mother and causing her to stand up with Ambroise in hand.

"Mama!" Audrey cried out to her mother, causing her to stand up as well.

"Timmy!" Miranda cried back as she held her son in a tight embrace while making sure not to drop the baby.

"Audrey!" Brielle also cried out as she pulled her daughter into a deep embrace to which Audrey happily returned.

"What happened?" Timotheos asked. "We heard a gunshot near the area where you were sitting and feared for the worst!"

"Yeah!" Audrey said. "It was so loud and sudden that we didn't know what happened to you guys!"

"Don't worry," Miranda replied. "We're all fine. Though we were more worried about you 2."

"What's grandpa doing, mom?" Timotheos asked as he pointed to Barnim and Julien as they began venturing into the Forest of Shadows. A couple of other men and even some women followed after them to see what was going. He took a closer look at his grandfather and noticed that he took out his Solingnen knife again and tightly gripped the handle.

"Oh, they're going to investigate the source of the gunshot." Miranda replied, causing Timotheos to become shocked. He knew that his grandfather was a fearless man but even he wondered if this was a good idea.

"Um, shouldn't we call the police first?" Timotheos asked with concern.

"Yes, some of the visitors went to the police station to inform them of the situation and should be back in a couple of minutes," Miranda explained. Given that the park was adjacent to the town square, the police station wasn't too far off and people could easily walk in and inform the officers that were working there of any incidents or criminal activity that was seen around town. Though Amable was a relatively safe place, there were moments of trouble that brewed within the community such as robberies, assault and various other crimes.

"Okay then," Timotheos stated nervously. "So what do we do now?"

"Looks like we'll have to wait for now," Miranda said as she and Brielle sat back down on the blankets. Brielle began packing the food back in, with Audrey assisting her. Timotheos didn't know what to do so he sat back down and shifted towards his mother and Ambroise. Ambroise himself didn't seem to notice or wonder what was going on as he continued to suck on his pacifier and look around with the same innocent curiosity that made everyone fawn over him. Seeing him like this brought a sense of calmness and relief within Timotheos and prompted him to extend a finger towards Ambroise, to which the baby responded by grabbing onto his finger. Audrey also calmed down a bit just by watching Ambroise play with Timotheos but was still concerned over the mysterious gunshot that came from the forest.

"Mama?" she asked Brielle. "What's gonna happen to us?"

"I... I don't know dear," Brielle responded. "I just don't know..."

While the 2 mothers and their children stayed at the picnic area, Barnim and Julien along with some other residents began exploring the forest to see any sign of human activity. Never had Barnim felt this tense in his life, not since the time when the Nazis took over Amable during WWII, and he wasn't going to let anyone hurt his family and friends no matter what. Julien followed him and stayed close to him as he felt safer around Barnim, though he had questions regarding the fact that Barnim had a knife with him this whole time. The other townspeople who followed the 2 men also tensed up as they searched the area where the sound came from. After a few minutes of searching, Barnim eventually found something that he never thought he would see again.

"Look!" he cried out, causing the others to run towards him and all gasp at what he just found.

There, lying on the ground before them was a dead body. The body was male and suffered a gunshot at the back of his head, which was noticeable from the small hole that was seen through his mask, along with a small pool of blood that was now leaking onto the ground. The person who died wore a black ski mask, black body armor along with brown pants and black boots. Sticking out of his pocket was a Bowie knife that partially slipped out the moment he fell over. Right next to the man was a carbine rifle that was laid across the ground, which Barnim picked up to inspect. He put his Solingnen knife back in his pouch before checking the carbine. He made sure to point it away from the group and opened up the barrel only to find that there were in fact bullets inside. He took the bullets out and kept it in his pocket for the police to check while the others began to discuss over who this man was.

"Why did he have such a big gun with him?" one of the woman asked.

"I don't know but the fact that he brought that thing with him is pretty suspicious," replied one of the men.

"Do you guys think that shot came from him?" asked another man.

"If so, what was he aiming at? This forest isn't for hunting," said another woman.

"Barnim?" Julien asked. "Is everything alright?"

"Something doesn't feel right," Barnim finally said, catching everyone's attention.

"What do you mean by that?" the first man asked, prompting others to fear for the worst.

"This carbine should have at least 15 bullets yet one of them is missing. Judging from the barrel, it appears that this gun was used around the same time this man got shot."

"Which means what exactly?" Julien asked cautiously,

"It means, this man was no innocent victim and was most likely targeting someone in this town," Barnim replied grimly, causing the others to gasp in shock. "He's wearing a mask along with body armor, not to mention he was carrying around a Bowie knife along with this carbine. Tell me that's not suspicious in the slightest!"

The others were at a loss of what to say, especially since Barnim was being dead serious about his hypothesis. Julien was the first to trust his judgement as Barnim would never take something like this lightly, especially since the old man owned and used guns for hunting (and in rare cases, self-defense).

"He's got a point you know," Julien began. "I mean come on, who goes wandering around a forest wearing body armor, a mask and carries weapons with him unless he's looking to attack someone?" This caused the others to mutter to themselves in worry over Barnim and Julien's words. A few seconds later, the police arrived to inspect the situation while some paramedics arrived to carry the body out of the forest. Barnim handed over the bullets and explained his theory to the officer in person.

"That is a bold yet interesting statement," the police replied. "But we don't know if that's true or not. We'll keep that in mind though."

"Thank you officer," Barnim replied to which the officer responded by nodding before getting the others to take the body away.

The other people eventually went back to the park to check on their loved ones while Barnim and Julien were the only ones left in the forest. Julien couldn't help but notice that Barnim was staring off into space and wore a scowl that was more serious than usual. This made Julien feel concerned and wonder if something else was troubling him.

"Um, Barnim?" Julien asked. "You okay?"

"Huh? Oh sorry, Julien," Barnim replied as he noticed Julien was still there. "It's just that... for some reason I can't help but feel as if someone is watching us."

"Barnim, I think you're maybe overthinking this," Julien said as he placed a hand on Barnim's shoulder. "Let's just get back to our families before it gets dark."

"R-Right," Barnim agreed as he and Julien made their way back to the park. The moment they turned around to leave, they didn't notice that there was someone else watching them from afar. This mysterious person was standing a couple feet away from them and was hiding within the shadows behind one of the thicker tree trunks. It was the fedora-wearing man from before, the one who bumped into Miranda to be exact, and he did not look happy to see the 2 men leaving the forest.

"Yes, go back to your normal lives," he said sardonically. "Now that the others know the baby is here, you won't be able to keep yourselves safe for long..."