Authors: Andrew Hess
Months of sitting behind a desk had me chomping at the bit to get back in the field. It only took one week for me to be on the verge of snapping. The case alone was difficult to crack. The victim was a man with an unlimited list of enemies that wanted him dead. The body was dumped in the water, so any shred of physical evidence was instantly compromised. We knew that he was drugged with an unknown substance that the victim accidentally dosed himself with. He only had one person he trusted to guard his secrets. Ambrose’s secretary believed fulfilling her job assignment was more important than helping us find her boss’s killer.
If the case wasn’t bad enough, the dastardly duo of Rodney and Detective Thornton assisted in pissing me off at every turn. One failed to have my back on multiple occasions throughout this investigation. The other did nothing but belittle me with full intention of finding a way into my pants. The two of them did nothing but stress me to the point where violence seemed like a suitable way of dealing with them.
The stress never dissipated, not even after I got home. Matthew didn’t call or show up at the house, although who could blame him? I falsely accused him of taking advantage of Amanda when she was drunk. One would think dating someone for nearly a year would make a couple more trusting of each other; apparently not. It was another mistake added to the list of stupid moves that blew up in my face. I wanted to apologize to him, but how do you say you’re sorry for accusing someone you love of something so heinous?
It took a little while for me to accept that I was going home to empty house, but it was something I had to face. When I pulled up to the house, I noticed there were no lights on, which didn’t sit well with me. I let the car door slowly close, trying hard not to make a noise. I slipped my heels off and walked barefoot up the warm concrete path to the front door. My fingers grasped the handle of my glock and kept it ready as I unlocked the front door. I moved cautiously moved through the front door and into the living room. I extended my arm until the fingers on my left hand until it touched the metal of a lamp. I twisted the tiny black knob until the blinding light illuminated the room. I knew paranoia was seeping into every inch of my brain. I couldn’t help it. My last investigation placed me and my family in a direct line of fire. A word of warning had been sent crashing through the window of my previous house. Days later, the same person took advantage of me when I was exhausted and completely vulnerable. I needed to grow eyes in the back of my head.
I swept the front of the house, moving cautiously from side to side as inching forward slowly. Through the darkness, I could see the two bedrooms in the distance. The door to my room was cracked open
. Did I close the door before I left this morning?
I racked my brain to remember but couldn’t. The nozzle of my gun slipped into the sliver of space separating the door and the frame. It opened silently allowing me to slip inside unnoticed. My eyes scanned the room, but no one was there. Immediately I turned on all the lights and checked the closets. Nothing seemed out of place. In fact, there was no sign anyone was there at all.
“What the hell’s going on,” a woman’s voice said sleepily behind me. I spun around and point the glock at the woman’s face. Amanda was standing on the other end. Her hands flew into the air. Her eyes widened in terror. “Don’t shoot! Don’t shoot,” she shrieked. Luck happened to be on her side. Had my finger been on the trigger, the C.S.U. team would be scraping her brains off the floor and walls.
“What the hell is wrong with you? You should know better than to sneak up on someone, especially a cop.”
Amanda’s hand clung to her chest feeling her heart beat faster than it ever had before. “I didn’t expect you to pull a gun on me.” Her panting subsided, but her eyes were glued to my glock. “Do you mind putting that thing away?”
The comment took me by surprise until I looked down at my hands. My gun was still pointed at my sister. “Shit, sorry.” I quickly holstered my weapon. The tension in my face relaxed when the realization set in that Amanda was all right. I threw an arm around her and pulled my sister in tightly for a hug. “Why the hell were all the lights off?”
“I guess I passed out for a little while.”
I thought the phrase “passed out” summed it up perfectly. Amanda’s breath reeked of alcohol. Maybe it was still there from last night, but my money was on her having a few throughout the day.
“Did you go see Dr. Barron?” I knew the answer before she even replied. The distant glassy eyed stare gave it away.
I crossed my arms as the tip of her chin dropped to her chest. “No,” she mumbled. “Are you mad?”
“I’m not mad, just disappointed.” It was the same phrase our mother used on us to guilt us into doing exactly what she wanted us to do. “I’m just concerned for your health. I thought you wanted to get help.” I was laying it on thick, and it was working like a charm.
“I’m really sorry Ali. It’s just…Being here alone all day leaves me with just my thoughts. All I think about is what happened to me, what happened to you and what happened to Shawn. It’s just too much to handle.”
“I tell you what, how about I make you another appointment in a day or two and I’ll go with you. We can spend the whole day together.”
Amanda’s lips curled into a smile. For a brief moment, I saw the sister I knew and loved for twenty-two years finally come back to me.
************************************************************
The next morning was no better than the previous. I woke in my queen sized bed and felt the other side. The cool touch of the sheets reminded me it was another night spent alone. I tried to call Matthew last night before I went to bed. It rang twice before going straight to voicemail I guess he wasn’t ready to hear from me. I wanted to pour my heart out to him, to admit I was wrong and beg for forgiveness. I nearly jumped out of my skin when I heard his voice, but it was only the voicemail. I couldn’t leave a message like that.
“Hey Matthew, it’s me; Ali. Look, I’m really sorry; I shouldn’t have jumped to conclusions. I was an idiot to think you’d do anything to hurt me. Call me back. I love you.” I hoped my plea didn’t fall on deaf ears.
The message was the first thing on my mind this morning. I reached for the phone on the nightstand. There were no voicemails, no missed calls, and no text messages. My hopes of salvaging our relationship deflated like a flat tire.
Maybe he didn’t get the voicemail yet. Maybe his phone died last night and didn’t get a chance to see my missed call. Or maybe he just didn’t care or worse. Maybe he was with another woman.
The last thought sent me over the edge. Any motivation to get out of bed and start my day quickly evaporated. Going out for my morning run was out of the question. It was heartbreaking to think that I caused irreparable damage to my relationship, but I still needed to get up and do my job. I forced myself out of bed and got ready.
When I arrived at the station, a small crowd gathered around the pit. That only happened when the Lieutenant was going over a case. The only one that would require the whole department to be clued into was the Ambrose case. The time on the clock told me I still had three minutes before I was due in.
Did they start the meeting without me?
I pushed my way through the circle of officers. Rodney stood next to the Lieutenant. Neither uttered a single word, but a man was addressing the crowd. The voice was familiar and sent a chill down my spine. After breaking the circle, I saw who it was. Detective Thornton, the sly arrogant prick was running our case briefing.
“We have a hit on the woman that Mr. Ambrose spent most of the night with. Her name is Wendy Fuller. She’s a waitress for the Ice House. A few of my men are picking her up as we speak.” So not only was Thornton working my case and taking over the briefing, but it was starting to look like he was calling the shots too. “The other woman in the video was unidentifiable. We couldn’t get a clear shot of her face from any of the camera positions.”
“Are we thinking this is premeditation,” Officer Reyes asked.
Thornton’s gaze fell on me for a brief moment. He smiled and turned towards Officer Reyes. “We’re not ruling it out. Our mystery woman made sure to stay clear of the cameras all night. Either she knew about the cameras and where they were, or she had a damn good eye for them.”
I wanted to speak out against him. Something in me wanted to scream that he was wrong, but the facts dictated he was probably right. I stood by and let him continue showing off for the crowd of officers. Let him get what he wanted, this time. There was no point in having a pissing contest in front of everyone. He wanted to get a rise out of me. He wanted me to be the overly emotional woman that couldn’t play well with others.
I waited until he was done talking and for the meeting to adjourn before pulling the Lieutenant into his office. Rodney looked like he wanted to say something too, but I closed the door before he could utter a single word.
“What’s this about Ali?”
My eyes narrowed at him. My arms crossed in front of my chest. The Lieutenant’s face contorted in the “oh damn; she’s really pissed off now” kind of way.
“You let that slime ball into our station and run our briefing?” It wasn’t really a question. It was more like an incomprehensible statement of fact.
“First off, you’re in my office and you’re one of my officers. Show some damn respect to me and to anyone that’s a guest in our station.”
Guest? He invited Thornton to our briefing?
“Secondly, we are working closely with the Dutchess County Police Department to bring Ambrose’s killer to justice.”
“I don’t understand why we have to work with them.”
“You know damn well. We can’t be sure where the murder occurred. Ambrose lived in Dutchess County, the bar he was last seen at was in Dutchess County and it is believed he was murdered in Dutchess County. We’re lucky they didn’t fight harder to take this case away from us.”
“They haven’t proven the murder happened on their turf, and Ambrose’s body washed up in our side of the county line.”
“That was one of the reasons we’ve been able to hold onto this case. That and they heard how you did everything to track down the Campus Killer. In fact that was part of the deal.”
“Deal? What deal?”
“This is going to become a high profile case. It’ll look good for both counties if we bring Ambrose’s killer to justice. They wanted our best working on it.”
“And you think I’m your best officer?”
The Lieutenant’s chubby hand covered his mouth as he let out a hearty laugh. I took that as a no. “Everyone knows you and the work you did taking down that DeFalco kid. They expect more of the same for Ambrose.”
I should feel flattered that they wanted me on the case. Even though Lieutenant laughed at me, I knew he considered me his best officer. But I wasn’t stupid. I knew that wasn’t what they were using me for. I was a puppet, their puppet, put in place to be the figure head of the investigation. The public would see me working the case and would feel like it would be solved. If we failed, it would fall squarely on my shoulders.
“Fine, but why the hell was Thornton running the briefing?”
“His team processed the video and came up with the lead. It was only right to let Detective Thornton present the facts to the squad.”
I couldn’t explain why, but I hated the thought of anyone from the Dutchess County Department being in our house, running our investigation. Or maybe it was just the thought of Mr. Hotshot continuously getting in my way.
I glanced out the window of the Lieutenant’s door. Thornton was out there laughing, smiling and mingling with my co-workers. I caught his attention momentarily. “I’m resigning from this case. I don’t want it and it seems like Detective Thornton and Rodney have a handle on it.”
The Lieutenant came around the desk. “I don’t know what’s gotten into you or what issues you have with working with the D.C.P.D., but you need to get over it. You’re on this case whether you like it or not.” I definitely chose not. “I want you to go back to the station with Thornton. You two need to squeeze whatever information Ms. Fuller knows about our victim and about that night.”
Great, just how I wanted to spend my day, with a man I couldn’t stand. The Lieutenant held the door open and dismissed me. I hated being told what to do and that was evident by the evil look I gave the Lieutenant before leaving his office. “This isn’t over,” I replied before I stormed out of his office.
“Yes it is detective. Now bring back something we can use to nail this bastard’s killer.” The Lieutenant closed the door with a laugh.
Rodney saw me making a beeline for the doors and he followed me out to the parking lot. “Hey partner, where you off to?”
My head snapped back. My lips were pursed together giving him the angriest scowl I could. “I’ve been ordered to go to the D.C.P.D. and work with-with…”