Too Late To Change

“Morning Fox…” Agent Logan Mason said as Anna walked into Ash-Gate Park where she’d been called to.

“Feeling better?” His twin brother Ethan asked, two years ago Anna considered the twins her older brothers but now, after everything, they were just her friends, even  though she spoke to them less.

"I'm fine thanks." She told them trying to give them a reassuring smile. Liar She thought You're not fine why won't you ever accept it? "So whats the story?" She asked trying to draw the attention away from herself.

"Man with his dog was walking through the park an hour ago when he saw a woman laid out on the ground clutching hold of a book, he called an ambulance after checking her pulse, she was in a heavily sedated state." Logan started.

"Uniform police found a rag doused in cyanide The woman must have inhaled some but not enough to kill her." Ethan finished.

"Do we have an ID?" She questioned.

"Well she was found with a drivers license but..."

"But...." She pressed.

"It says the woman's name is Rachel Thunder." Ethan told her.

"Not following you." Anna shook her head at the two with no idea on what this meant.

"The book she was found with is Thunder and Lightning..." Logan added but Anna's confusion never left.

"Well someones behind on their reading." Chirped Dr Jessica Mason the youngest of the Mason siblings being twenty six. "Rachel Thunder is the main character in the book and she dies form Cyanide poisoning."

"So whoever did this used the scene from Thunder and Lightning to what exactly, to make a point, to shift the blame..." Anna thought aloud.

"Who knows but the book isn't doing as well in sales as the first three did meaning the Author needed to get it better promoted, what better way to get people interested than it being all over the news that someone has used the scene from your book in a real crime." Ethan offered meaning his theory as something crazy and random that the other members of the team would roll their eyes at and immediately dismiss, but for once, his suggestion wasn't so crazy after all.

"So the author stages this to get attention, getting the woman to breath in the poison knocking her out but not killing her or causing permanent damage, the media finds out, the sales prices rocket, the author gives the woman some of the money to keep her quiet, everybody wins..." Anna theorized. "Only the woman breathed in more than the guy thinks, she was almost dead when the man and his dog found her ...Death by imagination doesn't sound too inviting."

 "Maybe you should go and see the author Andy Marlon." Logan said and Anna agreed then walked back out of the park and to her car.

"Agent Fox!" Someone called form behind and she span round on her heels.

"Yeah..." she said in reply and a man around her age ran over to her.

"I'm Detective Nathan Battleford of the metropolitan police I've been assigned to this case with you, Agent Mason has clued me in on what you've got so far..." He explained.

"Which one?" She asked.

"Huh?"

"Which Mason? Logan or Ethan?"

"This one was tall with dark hair..."

"They're twins that doesn't help..."

"Was wearing a leather jacket."

"Logan..." She told him.  "Well I'm going to speak to the Author Andy Marlon if you're coming."

He nodded and they got in her car.

"I've heard a lot of things about you Fox..." He started as he put on his belt. "People say you're difficult to work with, others say  you're empty, like there's nothing left..."

She blinked for a second as she put the key in the ignition. "Don't believe what they say about me Detective, the truth is far, far worse."