The squad car was humming down the road as it progressed towards its destination. Snow was listlessly descending from the sky at this point. Tony and Anne looked through their respective windows, heads cocked upwards to watch the lazy bits of ice causing microscopic crashes into the ground. “First time seeing snowfall?” The voice came from Carl.

Anne smiled and shook her head, “No, but certainly not a regular occurrence. I do like it, though. Snow feels peaceful.”

Mel quietly snorted, sarcasm imbued within it, “A lot of peace it’s given us huh?”

Tony interjected, “I agree with her. It’s soft. Even ‘snow storm’ has its charms. It’s like ‘Oh no here comes to barrage of pillows to smother us.’”

Carl replied, “Well, actually, they get pretty-”

“Ok what about a blizzard?” Mel’s voice cut through Carl’s like a hot knife through butter.

Tony inquired, “Yeah? What about a blizzard?”

Mel stated, matter-of-factly, “Blizzard equates to snow storm. Blizzard doesn’t sound warm and cuddly. So why would that give you any semblance of peace?”

“I guess how I see it is: blizzard is a harsher word, but it's used somewhat interchangeably with snow storm. So, if it's interchangeable and means the same, why should it be any scarier?”

“Oh? And what if I told you that you had a somnambulism?”

Tony shrugged, “Well, then I know I’m ok because that’s just sleepwalking. A word with more syllables doesn’t make things any more intimidating unless you’re stupid and insecure, y’know? Besides, I can find a DQ somewhere and make love to a blizzard, so I’m not sure if it's really that bad.”

“So you’re arguing that ice cream being called the same as a storm makes the storm less intimidating?”

Tony shook his head, “No, I’m just saying that being called something else doesn’t make it any more intimidating than it originally was. You’re arguing semantics, Mr. Mel.”

“Oh, and you’re not?”

“No, I’m arguing with a sarcastic douchebag that felt the need to be snarky to my girlfriend.”

The car continued on to their destination in awkward silence.

—-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Janet was on the outdoor deck behind the home, looking out on the view as the snowfall was beginning its gradual quickening of pace. She had lived in the area for most of her life, but these views were foreign to her. Maybe she had experienced this place too often. Maybe she had grown accustomed to the mountains and the way the terrain made her feel inconsequential in comparison. Maybe she wasn’t rich, because the view from that deck gave her a sensation she rarely felt. Awe.

The sight was so comforting to her. To know that despite her lack of financial wealth, this terrain existed like this for anyone to see. This land didn’t care if she could afford a house like this, it would still exist in its glory until the end of days. Unending beauty, the kind no human could achieve. Unending beauty, unlike….

Janet shuddered violently at her thoughts. Beautiful women. Contorted. Bent in whatever direction would cause the most pain, the most suffering. Teeth lodged deeply within gums. Blood freely flowing from any opening it could find. “Pull yourself together. The job was never meant to be as easy as it has been.”

“Hey, officer?”

Janet turned to see Jessica standing behind her. Jessica looked exhausted. The kind of exhaustion felt by those under fire, waiting to be hit next.

Janet put her back to the view, arms bent and rested on the railing behind her. “What’s up? Your name is Jessica, right?”

Jessica nodded with a soft smile. “Yes it is. I have a question about last night.”

The officer pursed her lips with curiosity. “Oh really? I get the feeling it’s going to be a rough one, then.”

Jessica squinted her eyes like one might do when confronted with an awkward situation that they want to visually obscure as much as possible. “Yeah, I mean I guess… maybe. Probably not, you’ve been a cop for how long?”

This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.

“If that’s it, only rough part would be talking about my age haha. I’ve been a cop for about six years now. I joined when I was 26.”

“Oh sorry, that wasn’t the question. It was actually about what happened at Mel’s. You guys didn’t get into detail with us, which is completely fine of course. That being said, I’d like to know why.”

Janet’s eye twitched involuntarily. Immediately the image of the young lady they found a handful of hours prior flooded back into her memory. She never wanted to think about that face again; or the unnatural twists in her body and neck; or the unfairness of what this young woman must have felt. A thought came to her mind, a stupid saying that would reappear on social media in the form of memes from time to time. It sounded a little like, “If a little girl asks you to talk on her pretend phone, you talk on the pretend phone.”

If a scared young lady needs you to be a tough cop, you act like the tough cop. If she needs you to be something that grounds her, helps her feel more confident about the situation befallen to her and her friends; you need to be that stable ground. Still, Janet could feel her breath wavering in her trachea. She could feel her emotions rising as the image of that body imprinted itself in her mind. She’ll have to see that body for the rest of life.

Janet managed to breathe in steadily, “It’s pretty brutal. We found the body of someone who didn’t look too dissimilar from me. Young lady. Pretty. Sorry, that’s more detail than you need. I know the idea of ‘shielding’ you from the specifics seems like I’m infantilizing you. I don’t want you to feel disrespected. I just know how fucking nosey everybody is nowadays that if someone doesn’t get told everything about fucking everything, we tend to take it as a slight against us. Not saying you, I think everyone tends to be like that occasionally, and that’s ok. This time, though, I just want to make sure I make it clear. The details of what I saw are not details you need to hear. As a matter of fact, you shouldn’t hear them.”

Jessica nodded understandingly, “I can respect that. If you wanted to say it, I could handle it, but I understand why you might not want to.”

Janet chuckled, “No offense, Jessica, but this isn’t really about protecting you from some nasty thoughts. First, I don’t think this woman deserves to be remembered by her remains. The less people know of how she was found, the better. I’m sure she deserved at least that much. She sure as hell didn’t deserve what happened to her. Probably…. well, likely. Anyway, the second reason is for me. I don’t want to talk about her too much for myself.”

Jessica jerked her head back slightly, “Are you ok?”

Janet smiled again, to her surprise, “That’s sweet, kid, but that’s not it. I’m not ok, but the issue isn’t that I’m not ok. It’s that I’m disappointed.”

Jessica interjected, “Well it can’t be easy to see the things you see.”

The smile was gone from the officer’s face now. “I haven’t seen much. It’s been six years and yeah we get the occasional domestic battery. We get a few overdoses and suicides. Hell I could probably count on, eh, three hands? Three hands. That’s about as much as I’ve seen, in terms of somewhat rough situations. Myself? Haven’t seen a dead body, not in person. Things like this don’t really happen around here very often.”

Jessica stepped closer, “You can’t control where you police, y’know? Can’t blame yourself for not being prepared for this situation.”

Janet shook her head, “No, I’m not mad that I’m unprepared. I’m mad that I’m disappointed. I’m disappointed that this job, where the hours and pay are shit but the work is easy; I’m disappointed that it’s not that easy anymore. That, for the first time, I have to earn this paycheck. I know, this probably makes you feel less safe than ever. Having a lazy asshole cop being your supposed protection. Just know I won’t let anything happen to you guys. This whole shitshow has helped me realize who I am as a person. Maybe I can change that before it’s too late.”

—----------------------------------------------------------------------

Tyrone and Evan were downstairs where most of the bedrooms in the house were located. The duo had been checking each room in the house to ensure no undue surprises as the day went on. After searching the last room they both plopped onto a bed. Tyrone looked at Evan, “You think Tony and Anne are gonna be ok?”

“I think so. Tony is smart enough to avoid a bad situation when needed. He also doesn’t play when it comes to Anne, so I’m sure his guard is going to be up the whole time. I know we’re still keeping up with each other on the groupchat, but I don’t like that we split up. Maybe I was letting my pride get in the way of rationality.”

Tyrone cocked his head from side to side as he mulled over the thoughts in his head until he landed on, “No. You’re one of the most humble dudes I’ve met. You get in your own little world for sure, but you give a shit about all of us. I think if you really thought that Tony and Anne were making a huge mistake, you would’ve emphasized that. You probably would’ve argued till they had no choice but to stay.”

Evan sighed, “But doesn’t that mean that I think they made a good choice? Does that mean that I designated us as the targets? You and Jessica… you guys could’ve been safe and I just fucked us if what you’re saying is true.”

Tyrone shook his head, “No I don’t think that’s the case, either. You don’t hold this house in some little special place in your heart. You said yourself that you don’t really come here often. I don’t think you would’ve taken a stand here for the sake of holding this place down. I also don’t think you would’ve let me and Jessica stick around if you really thought this was the most dangerous place to be.”

“Look Ty, I appreciate you hyping me up, but I think you lost me. You’re saying I don’t think that any of us are in danger? I don’t know about that, I’m pretty anxious about all of this.”

“I’m saying that you weighed the options, man. Be honest, what do you think the odds are, between here and the hotel?”

Evan shrugged, “I don’t know, I guess about fifty-fifty.”

Tyrone nodded, “And there you go. You made a gut call. So did Tony, as he has the right to. Tony’s pretty hard-headed too, especially about having the autonomy to dictate his own life decisions. Regardless, though, it’s not that you don’t think there’s any danger. It’s just that there might be so much it’s impossible to predict. Could be here, could be the hotel. ”

Evan gave a small chuckle, “Well that’s awful then haha. There’s no winning, huh?”

“Sure there is. When our asses are back in Arizona.”