Dark Notes
by Author's Tune
Title: Dark Notes
Disclaimer: Could only wish the characters belonged to me, but alas, they do not.
Storyline: AU – Callie and Arizona, as strangers, slowly weave a life together; but the journey could be darker than either of them imagined.
Rating: M – this fic will contain mature themes, concepts and scenes. This may include consensual sex scenes, swear words, violence, drug/alcohol use and misuse.
Author's Note: Each chapter title is the title of a song (of which the title, though not the song, will relate to the chapter). You're welcome to guess the song writer/band/performer (google only cheats yourself!) if you like, but I'll be posting a list at the end of this fic of each one and which version or cover I was referring to.
Oh, and this fic will be pretty long. I can't promise my updates will be super fast, but I'll try really hard to keep them regular.
Thanks to everyone for your ongoing reviews to my previous fics – it's so awesome to still be getting reviews and PMs well after a fic is finished. Hopefully you'll find this interesting too, but I know it won't be everyone's thing. I've struggled to get motivated again and have been working on this storyline for a while, but we'll see how it goes! It's hard to find new ideas sometimes. :-)
Anyway, here's the prologue and first chapter to get things started. Fairly short, but chapters will be longer after this. Thanks.
Prologue: Death and Night and Blood
February 15th, 2015
The wounded seagull
Compensates its broken wing
And ill formed leg
Yet it remains emaciated
Inferior
And survives on discarded remnants
For that, which no one else needs
"Coffee Ma'am? Tea?"
"No, thank you." Her voice shakes in time with her hands and she curls her fingers into fists and tucks them under her arms. The plastic chair creaks loudly and scrapes on the floor when she crosses her feet underneath her.
"Water?"
She nods and he offers a small smile, kind despite the authority of his blue-buttoned shirt with the gold emblems. The Seattle Police had been nothing but gentle with her since they had collected her from the hospital.
There was still dried blood under her fingernails; faded crimson stains on her skin.
"Here you go," he murmurs, sliding the glass slowly across the table, leaving a water trail. He looks up when another officer walks in, nodding to her as they both sit opposite, folders on the table. "Are you alright to make your statement now?"
She looks up from her glass, two trembling hands finding their way to wrap around the cheap glaze. Her eyes drift up to the corner, a camera fixed on them; wires disappearing into the ceiling. "I guess."
"This is standard protocol, Ma'am; our forensic team has identified the suspect and there is a warrant out for his arrest. Currently you're the only witness that is able to give a statement, until your friend regains consciousness."
She closes her eyes and swallows. Licking her lips, she whispers, "My partner. She's my partner."
"Oh of course, my apologies. As soon as we're finished I will give you a lift back to the hospital."
"Thank you."
"Have they given you any more information about her prognosis?"
She shrugs, and opens her eyes. "They're not sure; she's not…well."
"Anytime you need to stop, just let us know."
"Sure."
The female officer clears her throat and sits forward, forearms over her folders. "You had closed up the café yesterday afternoon, yes? Can you describe what happened from there?"
She exhales heavily and nods, taking a sip of water before placing it back on the table. "We close early, every two weeks," she explains slowly, "we provide a meal to the homeless. We used to do it at the café, but over the last year it's really grown. There're almost a hundred people now, so we get the meals organised and then take them to the town hall."
"So there was nothing unusual about yesterday?"
"No, nothing at all. I was out front, wiping tables and two men tried to open the doors, but they were locked. We let them in, you know, they were hurt. Kind of limping and blood noses, they looked like they had been beat up. And I don't know what happened, it happened so quickly. There was a group of people outside and across the road, they were running towards us, yelling."
"Can you describe how many people? Gender? Nationality?"
She shrugs, burrowing her forehead into lines of deep crevasses. "I don't know, I'm not sure" she whispers, "sorry. There was a group, maybe five; I think they were all men. Maybe." She cups her mouth, hand wildly shaking.
"Take your time."
"The two that we let in, they grabbed us. One each and held us in front of them, protection I suppose."
"Can you describe those men?"
Nodding, she closed her eyes. "They were both tall, dark hair. They were quite a bit taller than me, over six foot. Easily. Tatts, they had a heap of tattoos, all down their arms. Full sleeves and they were in tee shirts and jeans. Clean though, well dressed."
"Were you aware they were drug dealers when you let them in?"
Snapping her eyes open, her mouth falls open; catching flies. "What?"
"They've been on our radar for some time. Dangerous men."
"I…I had no idea. We would never have…"
"Were they familiar to you? Had you seen them before?"
She shrugs, eye contact drifting up to the wall and scanning the skirting board. "Maybe, in the café before; I don't know, we get so many people through. But yeah, I guess, but not well you know. They weren't customers that I knew by name, the regulars I do. We do."
"And what happened next?"
"Ummm, I'm not sure. I was trying to untangle, get out of his grasp, his arm was around my neck and he was waving his other hand out. I thought it was a gun but maybe it was a knife, I really don't know. I was just focussed on getting away, getting out from between them and I could see…there was blood and I couldn't get to her…I was panicking. Yelling out and then there was a shot, it was so loud. I don't know where it came from, which person but the guy…the grip on me loosened and then he was on the floor, I had to step over him. I had to step over him."
"Can you tell me how many shots you heard?"
She squeezes her eyes shut, scene playing out in her mind. One; Two; Three. "Three I think, I think it was three."
They nod and share a glance with each other. "Forensics found three shells."
"Oh, okay. So three, yeah, three then."
"Have some water Ma'am, we'll give you a few minutes." A box of Kleenex slides across the table, white tissues standing upright. She takes one in between her index finger and thumb, an extra one tumbles loose and wafts to the table.
"I'm sorry." She doesn't realise that thick heavy tears are tracking down her cheeks; she can barely feel her body let alone notice the sensation of wetness on her face.
The female officer shakes her head and relaxes back in her chair, unfolding her arms. She smiles gently. "Not at all. I know it's difficult, we just need things to be as fresh as possible, if we wait too long, it all starts to fade."
"I know, I understand. It's just that it all happened so fast and I know I'm not being much help." She sniffs, swiftly drawing another tissue out of the box and pressing it to her eyes. She shakes her head. "I stepped over him and the other guy pushed me, out of the way I guess, he was trying to run and pull us, maybe towards the back of the shop. But I don't know what happened, I was being pulled and pushed. They were all around us, and I could smell cigarettes. I remember thinking that I couldn't breathe because of the smell of smoke. It was only a few seconds and then there was screaming and yelling. So much; fuck."
"Can you remember anything they said?"
Shaking her head strongly, she shrugs, holding her shoulders up towards her ears. "I don't know, I don't know. I can't remember or I didn't notice, I don't know. I'm sorry, I'm sorry."
The police officers, Detectives, lapse into a polite silence as they quietly watch the trembling form in front of them.
"Run, I think. I remember someone yelling out run right next to my ear, and then there were no hands on me. They were really strong."
"It's really important and I need you to really think; was there anything else that they said? At any time? Names or phrases, something, anything that might help us with our investigations?"
She stills, wiping furiously at her eyes though the tears just form a thin glaze across her cheeks and down to her chin. Slowly, she shakes her head. Just slightly at first before she squeezes her eyes shut and more strongly emphasises. No. "There's nothing. I just want to get back."
A heavy sigh lingers in the air and she feels guilt stab at her stomach, nauseating her. She has nothing else to tell them; nothing useful anyway. She has nothing that needs to be said.
"Please."
"I'm going to give you my card and I want you to call at any time. Any time at all, if you remember something. Don't think about whether it's important or not, leave that to me to figure out."
She husks in reply, "Sure."
"Ma'am, if you're worried, we can arrange protection for you and your partner. You don't need to be afraid of these men; we can make sure you're safe."
She swallows the scoff and politely declines the offer, lump thick and heavy in her throat. "I'll call," she placates, "if I think of anything."
"We'll take you back."
She wraps her arms tightly around her abdomen as she stands and waits, following behind with her eyes fixated on the floor. The cardboard business card crumples in her hand as she tightens her grip, she won't need the contact details.
Neither of them will; if they happen to see the light of day again.