His petrified eyes staring blankly to the ceiling. The cold porcelain pale skin frozen solid from the bite of the winter cold. A drunken haze causes the world to spiral out of control.
Did I do this?
A muffled voice comes into focus.
“Hanes!”
I snap back into focus.
“Ya…” I answer half-heartedly.
“Are you ok?” She asks, inching her head forward.
“I’m good. It’s just… it’s some kid I kinda know.”
She looks down at the lifeless eyes and drops to her knees to better examine the body.
“Looks like his throat was crushed.”
“Ya. It’s pretty bruised up. What else you got?”
She continues to scan the body.
“Looks like he has a skull fracture judging by the bruising in the back of the ears. And… looks like he’s missing a finger.”
What? A finger?
“Looks like I came in just in time. Or else you might have been next.”
“Ya maybe. Hey Kid. My head is killing me. Can we just call this one in and get back to it later.”
“Ya sure.” She answers, coming back to her feet.
The kid is getting pretty good at spotting things right off the bat. Still gotta learn to look for what’s not there though. She didn’t see that if any of that was done like me then he'd have bruising on the wrist. I’ll let it slide this time.
We make our way to the car being careful not to move anything. After Ashe makes the call and back up arrives, we make our way out.
“Where to?” She asks, speaking over the hood of the car.
“Home. I need some sleep.”
“Absolutely not.” She answers abruptly.
She’s really grown some balls on her.
“Kid. I’m hungover. I’ve got a bump the size of a golf ball on the back of my head and I spent the whole morning talking to some psychopath. I need a nap.”
“You were also just abducted by a psychopath in the exact place you want me to drop you off. Not happening.”
Fuck, Kids got a point.
“You’re coming to my place.” She says, jumping into the car.
Not sure I like how much she’s starting to be like me.
“Do I have a choice?”
“My place or a safe house. And don’t think I won’t ask Bill to be your security detail.”
“You wouldn’t.”
“I would. We got close on your little vacation.”
“You asshole. Fine, let's go.”
“Great! Now get in. You aren’t the only one who’s hungover.”
The twists and turns of the ride were brutal. Every motion caused my vision to blur. We come to a stop in front of this small duplex just on the outskirts of the city. Some cute little home that could benefit from some trimming and pruning in the front yard.
“My doors in the back.” She says pointing with her nose.
Down a flight of stairs and into a small bachelor where you could spit to the other side of the room.
“And you gave me shit.”
“At least my place has working lights and doesn’t smell like mold.”
“Got me there.”
The place may be small but everything has its place down to the worn out teddy bear.
“It’s pretty cute. Not exactly welcoming food guests though.”
“You have to have spare time for guests. Besides, I don’t really have anyone to invite.”
“No high school friend you want to rehash the good old days with?”
She lets out a small chuckle.
“No. I wasn’t really what you would call a social person.”
“Could’ve fooled me.”
“I may be awesome now. But I was always a shy kid. My usual Saturday night was spent reading.”
“My god. My partner is a nerd.”
“Well mine is kind of a jerk. Do you always criticize people's homes when you visit?”
“Don’t know. Haven’t been to someone’s place in years.”
“I’m shocked. Get some sleep. We have a lot of nerd stuff to do when you wake up.”
“Aren’t you gonna sleep too?”
“No, I'm ok.” She says with some doubt in her voice.
You could tell something was bothering her everytime she would cross her arms and ever so lightly shrug her shoulders.
“You going to spit it out or do I have to interrogate you?”
“What?”
“Don’t give me that shit Kid, I know when somethings on your mind.”
“I… I was just scared ok.”
“Shit happens Kid. If he was still there I’m sure you would have handled it.”
“No you idiot. I was scared I was going to lose you.”
“What do you mean? I was fine.”
“But I didn’t know that. I wake up in this stale whisky shithole all alone and you were nowhere to be found. You could’ve been dead.”
“Kid… I’m fine.”
“But I didn’t know that!” She says interrupting. “I could have come down those stairs and that guy dead on the floor was you.”
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I’m at a loss for words. I just look at her glossy eyes and watch her heart breaking in front of me.
“What do you want me to say? It’s not like I planned for this.”
“I know. I just can’t stop thinking that it could’ve been you. Why is this guy after you?”
“I don’t know. But for some reason he’s decided to target me. And that means he might target you too.”
She pauses to regain her composure and holds back the last of the tears.
“That’s ok. I’m not scared of him.” She says straightening herself out.
Kid’s got guts. I'll give her that. Heart’s a little too big though.
“There’s nothing wrong with being scared. I’ve been scared a shit ton of times. But it’s about how you deal with it.”
She starts to drop her guard a little.
“Alright. I’ll take the first shift. You get some shut eye and I’ll take the next one.”
“At your age you need all the sleep you can get.”
“Shut up and go to sleep.”
“Ok.” She says making her way onto the bed. “Thanks Scott.”
The kid is out cold the moment her head touches the pillow. Looks like all that adrenal finally wore off. I know she tried to stay cool under pressure but her hands have been shaking since the moment we got in the car. She takes a couple hours then I take my shift. Somewhere a little after noon I’m woken by a salty smell in the air. A delicacy I haven’t treated myself to in years. I turn over to my side to look into the half sized kitchen to see Ashe making some bacon and eggs.
“You didn’t have to go buy groceries.”
“I’m not going to even ask why you know that.” She says over her shoulder.
“Kind of a guess. The chain was on when I went to sleep so I just assumed.”
She brings two plates to a circular table in the middle of the kitchen floor.
“Doesn’t it get tiring? You know, Always looking for all the small details.”
I ignore the stomping in my head and make my way to my feet.
“Kept me alive this long. Seems like the price is worth the reward.”
“You know most people can go through an entire day without talking about being alive.”
“Most people haven’t nearly died on most days.”
She looks at me with this shit eating grin with her bacon wrapped from inches from her mouth.
“Fair point.”
“You’d think that after all these brushes with death that you’d be less bitter.”
“Sometimes dying doesn’t sound all that bad.”
“My god Scott, are you always this chipper in the morning? I’m starting to be happy you weren’t at home when I woke up.”
“I just didn’t realize you wake up even more hyper than when you get to work.”
“Hyper and ready to get to work!” She says shoveling eggs down her throat. “So… tell me everything.”
She’s relentless. I think I’m starting to miss Shaw and his talking about his marital problems.
“You aren’t going to let this go until later are you?”
“Guess.”
“Fine. Where do you want me to start?”
“How about how we ended up sleeping in what I can only assume was a crack house?”
“Real funny Kid. Well… We had split a bottle pretty damn fast and you could barely stand on two legs. Seemed rather ungentlemanly of me to leave you on your own.”
“Ok. So why do you live in such a shithole? I mean I know my place is small but I’m pretty sure they pay people to live where you are just to control the rat population.”
“Alright smartass. You are fucking roaring to go today!” I say snapping a little. “After Amanda, I just couldn’t stay at the house anymore. That place… no matter how much of a shithole it is, kinda felt like it was deserved. Plus two places get pricey.”
“Hold the phone! Are you telling me… that you still have the other house?”
“Well ya. I never got around to selling the place and all the payments were automatic so I just never really got around to it.”
“Aside from that being the stupidest thing I have ever heard. You had me over to a crack house apartment when you had an entire empty home available. Is it on the other side of town or something?”
I’m in trouble.
“It’s like… like the same distance going the other way.”
“You are officially the biggest asshole I’ve ever met.”
“I didn’t think about it. I haven’t been in years.”
“We are going to move on because I am trying really hard not to shoot you right now.”
“I would prefer being shot after I eat.”
“Ok next. How did you end up tied in a basement?”
“A little after you passed out I got a buzz on the door. I remember something about a trail of blood but after that I don’t know. Just kinda woke up on the chair.”
“Do you have any idea who took you?”
“Who do you think?”
“Phone guy?”
“Bingo.”
“What did he want? You must have talked to him at least a little before I got there.”
“I’m not completely sure. Hey Kid, I know you’re all revved up but I think you’re going to have to sit this one out.”
“Don’t you dare! Stop all that high and mighty bullshit with me right now!” She says flailing the greasy fork in my face.
“Kid. This guy… He’s no joke. He’s cold, calculated. He made sure I had no way of finding out who he was.”
“Ya but I’ve got you. We can take him down together.”
“Kid. If he wanted to kill me last night he would have. I may not know exactly why he’s doing what he’s doing but what I do know is that I’m his target. And if he’s after me that means he might be after you.”
“I know you think I’m still some rookie but I can help you with this. I know I can help you catch this guy. I…”
“Haley!” I shout smashing the table with a closed fist. “This has nothing to do with how good of a detective you are. This guy has had me at every turn and you know what I’ve got on him? Nothing. Fucking nothing whatsoever. That means I might lose this. And I’m not taking you down with me. I’m not losing you.”
Silence fills the room aside from a light panting from getting riled up.
“You are the only person who might lose something, Scott.” She says in an eerily calm tone. “When are you going to get it through your thick head that I have something to lose too. You may think you are already dead but some people are still here. You know the people who still worry about you every damn day as you sulk and live life stuck in the past. Life may have beaten you down and taken things you cared about away from you but you're not the only one. Life fucking sucks. But it sucks less when we can make it a little better for others. You may be too lost to notice it anymore but you make a difference Scott. You find people closure. Sometimes even hope. Just let me help you.”
“That’s one hell of a speech. Practice that one in the mirror.”
“Fuck you.”
“Careful kid. That bitterness is starting to rub off on you.”
“Now that we have that settled. Talk. What do you know?”
“Hard to say. It kind of felt like he was just there to grind me down a little.”
“What do you mean?”
“Well for once thing he’s done his homework. He knew more about my past than some of the shit I can remember.”
“Well you do have a pretty bad memory. After all, you forget that you agreed that I was going to help you every second day.”
“We done with the guilt trip?”
“I may have one or two more stabs at in later but for now I’ll give it a rest.”
There’s that shit eating grin again.
“Ok. Where was I? Ya so he was giving me a rundown of all the shittiest things that happened in my life. For some reason…”
How do I say this without coming off fucking crazy?
“He was trying to get me to off myself.”
“That doesn’t make any sense. It’s not like he’s trying to make it look like a suicide or something.”
“Exactly. That’s why I think he’s grinding me down. He’s trying to just break me. For some reason he needs that.”
“There has to be some reason.”
“I’m sure he’s going to let me know sooner or later.”
We hold this lingering stare. It’s not happy or sad. We just freeze in time knowing that this is the calm before the storm.
“We should get to the office. I bet Captain has been sizzling like a teapot to rip me a new asshole.”
She lets out a small smile and brings our plates to the sink.
“Ya we should.”
“Hey kid.”
“Ya?”
“We can’t tell anyone about this. Not yet.”
“I know.”
She stiffens up her back and we make our way to the car. The cold of the impending winter burns the lungs on the first step out. No snow quite yet. Just a little frost on the grass from the morning which had mostly melted. On the windshield lies a jaggedly torn piece of paper squeezed under the wipers. Ashe grabs it and takes a glance at the worn paper.
“Hanes?” she says, concerned.
“What is it?”
“It's a list.”
“Of what?”
“Some people's names.”
“Are any of them important?”
“I’m on it.”
“What?”
I reach over the hood of the car and tear the paper out of her hands. As I look at the few words scribbled I feel my heart sink to the floor.
“Fuck.”
“Ya.”
* Alan Shaw
* Shannon Shaw
* Eli Shaw
* Haley Ashe
* Dr. Linda Reid