Bloodlines
by
Chris Corso
Twilight was falling on the city of Fort Lauderdale, Florida. It was beautiful, even inspiring, but it did not hide the tragedy being played out below. The stillness of the evening was shattered by the sounds of gunfire.
Detective Sergeant Alicia Rose Lorenzo kneeled by the body of a young woman much like herself. "It could have been me—" She tried to hold those thoughts back-'just work the crime scene Alicia.' Her partner, Sergeant John Reynolds appeared beside her.
"They shot her in the back when they found out she was a cop. The bastards! We don't have much of a description. They wore masks. They—" Reynolds stopped short as a hush fell over the room.
A man stood silently in the doorway taking in the scene. The officer stationed at the door was about to confront him, but halted as he recognized the newcomer. He gasped and hastily moved back, awed by the living legend before him.
Captain Christopher Lorenzo took no notice of the young man, nor the effect he had in the room. His eyes were focused on the body on the floor, but his mind focused on the questions put to him so many years ago. "How many times have we seen this Chris? How many more will there be? It won't stop! It'll never stop!"
He had no answers then, nor did he now. 'Rita was right. It won't stop.' That thought made him remember that Rita was not there to re-ask the questions she had voiced almost 30 years ago. 'I wish you were here Sam.'
Rita Lee Lorenzo, Chris's wife of twenty-seven years and partner for over thirty was visiting friends up north. She'd have to come back early because of this.
Chris came back to life and moved toward the body. "What happened?" He demanded of his daughter. Alicia looked up at her father and rose as she replied.
"We're not totally sure. Somehow the perps found out she was a cop. She didn't even have a chance to pull her gun! Did you know her dad?"
A long time passed before Chris was able to reply. "She worked for us, she just made detective. Her name was Amy McBride." Chris covered his mouth with his hand and found it hard to go on; he was forced to move off. Alicia went to him.
"Dad are you OK?" Alicia had never seen her father so affected by a death.
"I've just seen one to many of these. Forty years too many. I guess I'm just getting old." Chris tried to smile and Alicia did as well.
"That's rubbish dad. You and mom will never be old." Chris smiled slightly, he knew he would never be able to get his daughter, or son for that matter, to except the fact that Chris and Rita were no longer young.
Alicia now had the figure and face her mother once possessed, and her brother was the lady's man her father had been. The important word being had. Chris only wanted to be "one lady's man", and for the past thirty years he had been, to a very special lady.
"There's a visit I have to make. Let us know what you find." Chris walked out through a swarm of officers and tech people.
The next morning's sunrise seemed to deny the tragedy of the night before. But two people were unable to be calmed by it.
Rita Lee Lorenzo looked up at her husband from her seat at the breakfast table. The stern and dazed expression she wore was not able to change the fact that she, at fifty-nine, was still a very beautiful woman.
"I can't believe it. I had so many hopes for her. She didn't deserve this Chris, she didn't."
"No one ever does Rita, no one ever does." Chris shook his head and sighed. "I'm just so tired Sam. Alicia and Daniel are dealing with the same crap that we dealt with forty years ago in Palm Beach."
Chris frowned, as he asked, "I'll never regret being a cop, but do you regret Alicia and Daniel becoming cops?" He paused and his eyes took on a far away look. "When I visited Amy's parents, and told them she was dead, all I could think about was what if that had been Alicia, or Daniel?"
"You don't know how many times I've thought the same thing. When Alicia was shot it was like going through what happened to you all over again. I don't know what I'd have done if she'd died, or Daniel was killed, or if you hadn't made it." Her voice trailed off. She than stated with conviction. "But, I do know this, we could not have stopped them! We would have lost them anyway." Chris nodded and kissed his wife gently on the cheek.