Authors: Andrew Hess
Silence filled the car as we drove back home. The lights we left on illuminated the driveway where a black Escalade rested. Another light hovered over the front porch where a man dressed in a suit and tie sat with bags of food sitting beside him. The impatient foot tapping on the wood told me he had been waiting for a little while. Even though Matthew slept at my house every night, I was hesitant to let him move in or to give him a key. He stood when he saw the driver’s side door close. Matthew was in the six foot range, somewhere close to Rodney’s height. Many viewed him as the perfect male specimen. Between his tall muscular physique and his half black half Puerto Rican heritage, who could blame them?
Amanda’s car door slammed shut as she ran back to the house. Tears spilled from her eyes. She barely waved to Matthew before unlocking the front door and going inside.
“Is she all right,” Matthew asked.
“No,” I replied. The frustration showed in my voice. “I thought I got through to her tonight. She agreed to talk to someone and get help for her drinking. But I was an idiot and pushed my luck by bringing her with me to the video store.”
Matthew put an arm around my shoulders. “You’re not an idiot Ali. You just wanted your sister back.” Warmth spread throughout my body from his mere touch. “I got us some Chinese food.” He picked up the bags from the porch and showed them to me.
I glanced up at the open front door. My stomach sank and felt a twinge of pain in my chest. “Thanks, but I don’t think either of us are in the mood to eat right now.”
I expected a look of disappointment in his eyes. Instead he met my gaze and curled his finger under my chin. “I’m sure there are other ways we can pass the time.”
I thought about what Amanda was going through and took into account what she said earlier. She wanted us to spend some alone time together. But after what happened in the video store, I didn’t think that was a great idea.
“I know that look.”
“What look?”
“The one that tells me I’m SOL tonight.” Matthew could see the look of distraught on my face. “So what happened?”
“We went to the store together. She was fine at first. We walked the new release wall, but there wasn’t anything she liked. I stopped at the comedy section and chose a random movie. She freaked out when she saw I was holding the Notebook.”
“That wasn’t the best choice.”
My eyes glared at him and told him not to mess with me; not now and not tonight. “She told me to just get a movie for you and me. I went to grab one, but she found a DVD that reminded her of Shawn. She’s been like that ever since.”
Matthew looked back at the house. He hated seeing Amanda like that just as much as I did. “I wish there was something I could do for her.”
“I think I’m gonna set up an appointment with my therapist.” I knew she just agreed to get some sort of help, and maybe I was overstepping just a bit, but Amanda needed to talk to someone. She needed to find herself again.
“You still want dinner?”
I gave a half smile and wrapped my arm around his waist. “Sure, let’s go.” We walked back up to the front door. My hand reached for the knob, but was stopped by the blaring sound of my cell ringing. I reached into my pocket and retrieved it. Rodney’s name was emblazoned in green letters. “Sorry,” I mumbled to Matthew. “Ryan here.”
“Hey partner, we found the victim’s car. It was parked at a bar called Whiskey J’s. Do you know it?”
“Yeah, I know it.” I wanted to hand the reins over to Rodney and let him take over the case. But something was stopping me. Something just didn’t feel right about it. “I’ll be there in a half hour. Don’t let anyone near the car.”
“Yes ma’am,” Rodney snapped sarcastically.
“In the meantime, find out who the manager is, talk to the bouncers and flash Ambrose’s picture to see if they recognize him.”
I hung up with Rodney. I could feel the heat from Matthew’s eyes burning a hole in me. It was Deja-vu all over again. I broke another dinner date to go investigate a crime scene, even though our dinner date consisted of eating Chinese food at my house.
I turned towards Matthew. “I’m really sorry but…”
“Yeah, I know. You have to go.” The harshness in his voice sent a chill down my spine. I guess I was going to be the one in the dog house tonight.
“Can you-can you stay here tonight?” The anger in his eyes grew. “I mean, I just don’t want Amanda to be alone tonight.”
“I’ll stay, but only to make sure your sister is okay.”
I squeezed his hand lovingly before leaning in. My lips barely touched his before I pulled away. “I’ll try not to be long. I promise.” I scurried back to my car swearing I heard Matthew muttering something under his breath.
**************************************************************
Whiskey J’s was a bar in Wappinger’s Falls which was about fifteen minutes from the Poughkeepsie Galleria. It was the start of their night, and the parking lot was already half packed. It was the perfect time for us to get the answers we needed.
When I arrived, every entrance had been blocked off with a squad car. Rodney took position by the front door. The man next to him appeared dwarfed in comparison. He was older and had long dirty blond hair that had been tied back with a rubber band. His tacky dark gray suit looked like it was bought on clearance from a cheap department store. Knowing this was the man in charge, I gritted my teeth and strutted up to the group of cops blocking the entrance. I didn’t recognize any of their faces which seemed a little odd. I thought I knew most of the Ulster County P.D. That’s when eyes slanted to the right and saw the Dutchess County logo on the side of their squad cars.
Damn it!
I had hoped this could’ve been kept out of their hands. Having multiple Counties working a case together becomes more like a pissing contest. Who has the power? Who calls the shots? Who answers to whom? It was bad enough reporting to Lieutenant Esposito. Getting permission from other counties for things is impossible.
I flashed my badge and pushed my way through the two officers. Rodney saw my flaring nostrils and my quick pace as I stomped towards him.
“Hey, if it isn’t my partner.” Rodney was abnormally cheerful. He wasn’t acting like himself. He whispered to the man in the doorway and laughed.
What the hell was so funny?
“Hey Ali, I got everything covered here. Why don’t you go home and spend some time with your family?”
I raised a single eyebrow at my dismissal. “No, I think I’d rather take a look around here.”
The cheery look on Rodney’s face slowly faded. “Then how about you go inside, make yourself useful and get us some coffee?”
What the fuck? Did I just slip into some weird time warp or time space vortex thing? “Excuse me,” I snapped. “Who the…”
Rodney placed his large hand over my mouth. “Look sweetie, the men are talking. Go inside and keep out of trouble and I’ll deal with you later.”
My blood was boiling. I don’t know what came over Rodney, but it was going to change real quickly or it would be beaten out of him. Instead of fighting him, I decided to keep quiet. I bit my tongue and did as Rodney suggested.
Inside was brightly lit, contrary to the dark setting with colorful spotlights that I was used to seeing. The waitresses and bartenders were huddled together with two officers standing guard. Another man dressed in khaki pants and green button down had another woman cornered across the room from the others. He gestured his hand for the woman to return to work. He motioned towards the officers to send the next employee.
Who the hell was this guy?
I held up my hand and stormed towards the nicely dressed man. He flashed an award winning smile that could make most women melt, but not me.
“Now you don’t look like a bar employee,” the man joked as his eyes scanned my body from my black heels, up my gray dress pants to my red button down blouse, finally landing on my green eyes.
I showed him my badge; well it was more like I shoved it in his face. I wanted him to know I wasn’t some woman he could hypnotize with his charm.
“I’m Detective Ali Ryan; Ulster County Police.”
The man laughed as he slowly slipped his badge from his pants pocket. “Detective James Thornton,” he replied with another warm smile. He stuck out his hand in which I respectfully accepted. “I’m with the D.C.P.D.”
Great, not only was the Dutchess County Police on the scene, but they also had one of their detectives working the case. Instead of having an attitude, I decided to do as Lieutenant Esposito frequently said, play nice.
“Have you turned anything up about the Ambrose case?”
Thornton looked past me and saw the staff that still needed to be questioned. He placed a firm han on my shoulder and spun me around. “I tell you what. You take half the group and I’ll take the other half. We can discuss our findings over dinner and drinks.”
You’ve gotta be kidding me. I’ve known James Thornton for all of three minutes and he was trying to use the case as a way to ask me out. “How about you tell me what you found out about my case so we can find Ambrose’s killer.”
And just like that, Thornton’s smile was gone. It was as if my words slapped him in the face. “What makes you think he was murdered?”
“For starters, his car is still sitting in this parking lot. His body was found at the foot of the Mid-Hudson Bridge. There’s no way someone like him would walk that far, especially if he planned on jumping.”
Thornton tapped a finger against the tip of his chin. He kept his focus on the group. “Good to know; I’ll have my boss contact yours with what we find.”
My hand curled into a fist. I was ready to deck the guy. I would’ve too if it wasn’t for Rodney coming to Thornton’s rescue.
Rodney placed his gargantuan hands on our shoulders keeping the distance between us. “Everything all right here?” My hand was still ready to strike at any moment. I just happened to have two targets in my crosshairs at that moment. “What’d ya get from the staff,” he asked Detective Thornton.
I could see he wanted to shrug off Rodney’s comment, but realized he was outnumbered on this case. “One of the bartenders saw Ambrose last night. Said he was being a real prick too.” Thornton scanned the room and pointed to the large hunk of a man with bulging muscles. “Ambrose ordered a few beers and a couple of shots, but the bartender didn’t get a good look at who Ambrose was with.”
“What about the bouncers, the waitresses or other bartenders?” Both Rodney and Detective Thornton had me hot under the collar. I was getting my first taste at what they uncovered in my brief absence, and I wanted to know everything they knew.
“A couple of the waitresses and bartenders saw him talking to some pretty blond, but said he was getting trashed pretty fast.”
“Did they get a description of the woman?”
“It’s a dimly lit bar. The only thing the guys care about is how hot a girl is and the only thing women care about is getting paid or getting free drinks.”
“So that would be a no then?”
“Look, the girls here noticed Ambrose getting pretty drunk. The girl left while Ambrose was still sitting at the bar. No one saw him leave. They turned around and he was just gone.”
“What about the security tapes? Maybe we can use them to find out who he was with and when he left.”
Rodney cleared his throat loudly. “The owner is working on getting us the recordings. But we need a warrant for the logs.”
“I can get you that,” Thornton said happily. “I can call in uh favor.” I didn’t want to know how someone could owe a guy like him a favor and what he would normally cash a favor for. But it would be nice to get a warrant without jumping through hoops or playing the waiting game.
“Fine, call in your favor and get the warrants,” I snapped. Thornton wasn’t happy to be taking an order from me. His gave me a sideways glance before walking off. That left me with the other man I was furious at. “And you...Who the hell do you think you are; telling me to go inside so the men can talk or telling me to get you coffee?”
Rodney’s milk chocolate skin turned pale white. He should’ve expected this. Maybe he did. “Ali, let me explain.” He reached to place another hand on my shoulder.
“Don’t you fucking touch me.”
“Let’s talk in the car.” Another command. I hated taking orders from anyone. To hear my partner barking them out to me turned my insides into a raging inferno.