Cats and Dogs
"Your what!" said Ruth a bit shocked
"My family, you know dad, brother, aunt, etc." said Colin Heerkens, her partner.
"Colin have you lost your mind" he looked at her with his brow raised " no I'm serious, the chief told us to investigate a murder in London, Ontario, not have a little summer vacation at your family's house at...where does your family live again?" she asked
"London, Ontario" he answered
"Exactly ah..." Ruth looked at Colin in the eyes " wait your family lives at London, Ontario"
He nodded with a smirk on his face.
Ruth lowered her face thinking about it, then shook her head " no" she said obstinately " no,no,no we can't go to your family's house.
"Why" he asked
"Because you know, the fact that you are a werewolf and I'm a..."
"So you are trying to tell me that you are scared because you know that my family are werewolves and because I know that you are a..."
"A cat" she said annoyed that her fears were just a joke to him " yes I am scared because you well know that dogs chase cats, and also that wolves are from the dog family, and..."
"And" he interrupted her "the fact that even thou we know what each of us are I still have not chased you all around Toronto now have I"
No he has not, she thought. She stood there thinking for sometime, she stood there thinking that if the decision would not be so bad or if it would lead her to her grave, Dearly beloved, the priest, here lies Ruth Natalia Rosemberg, born in 1974, and died in 2011 by some serious bites. Oh yeah, she would surely regret this.
"Well" said Colin
"OK, alright" she finally said " we will stay at your family's house until the case is solved, but if any of your relatives start to chase me around the goddamn country I will get the hell out of there as soon as possible"
"Well" he said sounding a little amused "here I thought kitties could scratch"
"Yes well dogs can bite now can they" she replied with defiance
Colin sighed "Just get in the car will you" he said opening the door to a beautiful red convertible.
"How long is the trip" she said as she sat in the black leather seat.
Colin closed the door, went around the car and opened the other door "It's ah about 2 hours and 20 minutes from Toronto to London"
"Good she said that will be enough time to think about the situation and about the suspects, including your family"
"Ruth, the guy was found with a knife stabbed in his stomach, now I don't know about you, but my family only hunts animals, and they do not, I repeat, they DO NOT use knives".
"Still we got to follow procedure, this is a murder Sherlock if by any chance you hadn't notice, now drive will you, we must do a stop at my house, I am not going anywhere near wolves unarmed, and besides that I need some clothes now that we are staying a couple of days over there".
Colin felt tired and happy at the same time, Ruth had asked him about the people that lived in that area almost half of the trip, and the other half she spend it on what she would do to him if his family do her any harm, like he would allow her to even touch a single strand of his hair. It had not been long since they both found out what each of them was, it sure had been a shock, him having a family having a mystical non-existent family, and her been able to change into any animal of the cat family, which obviously made her a cat. He smiled at the memory when they both stood shocked staring at each other, what were the odds that they would end up as partners, even if he did not believe it, or at least want to believe, this was destiny, or just pure coincidence.
"Colin are you listening"
"Huh what?" he turned to look at her.
"Don't look at me moron look at the road" she said turning his face back at the road "and I asked you if we were close to your home"
"Yeah we're almost there, you see that hill over there" he pointed at a little bump in the ground not so far from them.
"Um yes" she said
" Once we pass that hill it will take only seconds before we reach my home" she nodded
"Well those are really good news, I don't know about you but I can't seem to feel my butt right now" he snorted at her comment but said nothing.
Colin had been right, once they passed that little hill it took only seconds before you could see a medium size hut. Ruth felt butterflies in her stomach, no change that, she could feel thousand of crazy frogs jumping in her stomach. This she did not like, this was going to be tough, specially for her.
"Come on" said Colin getting out of the car.
"Wait, uh , I think I'd rather stay here for a couple of minutes after, uh, you explain to them a little about this job we have to do".
She watched as Colin went around the car and opened her door "Come on" he said pretty much pulling her out of the car.
" Wait, wait, WAIT" that last 'wait' made him stop and turn back to her.
"I don't think I can do this anymore" Ruth said with some worry in her eyes.
Colin sighed "don't worry Ruth they don't bite"
She snorted " that's easy for you to say you are one of them"
"Have I ever let anything happen to you" he asked seriously.
"No, but..."
"No buts" he said " we already agreed that we would stay at my family's house now you may as well follow me or I will have to lift you up in my shoulders and take you inside myself" he faced her with daring eyes.
" I think I prefer the first option thank you" Ruth said taking her hand off from his.
" Alright then, follow me"
Oh boy was this gonna be tough. Ruth followed Colin to the door.
"Whoa, wait"Ruth said before Colin opened the door.
"What now" said Colin turning to look at her, also a bit exasperated about how Ruth could change her mind.
"Colin..." she said from what it sound to him the most gentle voice she had ever used on him.
"Yeah" he said now interested of what she had to say.
"Colin..." he leaned closer to her " ah how do I look?"
The question almost threw him off balance, he looked at her with a what-the-hell-are-you-talking-about face, then began to laugh.
"Whoa,whoa,whoa what the hell are you laughing about you bastard, this is serious, actually is more like a matter of life or death" Ruth placed her hand on her hip waiting for his response.
"It's..it's just really hilarious th-that your about to meet a werewolf's fam-family and you are thinking about how you look" he said between his hysterical, and apparently unstoppable, laughter.
"Shut up, now tell me how do I look before you see your family with a bloody nose" Colin finally stopped.
"You look fine" he said standing straight.
"Fine...that's all you can say to a girl"she grunted "see this is the reason why you don't have a girlfriend, fine, yeah right, wou-would you just open the door and get this over with"
Colin turned his back to her and finally opened the door.
Ruth saw as Colin opened the door, by now she could feel hurricane Katrina inside her stomach, and, why had Colin laughed when she had asked him how she looked, men, she though, you can't live with them and...no that's about it, but is was normal for a woman to ask about how she looked before she was bitten to death, that is very reasonable isn't it.
"Colin" screamed a 5-year-old naked kid "mom mom mom mom, Colin is back Colin is back"
A woman in her mid-30s, or so Ruth thought, came immediately to the door and hugged Colin, to Ruth's relieve the woman had clothes on.
"Colin sweety, it's been a long time" from what Ruth saw, the woman was practically squeezing Colin as if he were a teddy bear, probably worse.
"Hey aunt Nadine how you've been?" he asked pulling her away from him so he could see her face to face.
Aunt Nadine looked at Colin as if she had no tomorrow "Good Colin, I've been good" she turned to look at Ruth and raised and eyebrow.
"So"she said "this is the partner you have been telling us about" it wasn't a question.
Ruth gave her best smile and said a nervous "hi" before been pushed inside.
It had certainly been a long time since he had seen his family, a really long time, and he had missed aunt Nadine so much. When he saw her face at the door, beautiful memories filled his mind, he felt as if there was nothing in the world that could ever make him happy than seeing this woman who had been like a mother to him, correct that, she had been a mother to him. Colin turned his head to see Ruth and he had to hold back his laugh, the poor girl was seriously panicked. He turned to where he remembered was the living room, and saw familiar faces that made him feel happy.
Oh god, oh god, I'm in a house filled with werewolves, I'M IN A HOUSE FILLED WITH WERESOLVES, I should escape, yeah, I should get out of here while they're not looking, oh what am I thinking, I can't get out of here, they'd chase me and rip me apart, I know, I should faint, that way they will...no, no that wouldn't work, oh dear god please protect this poor kitty, I'm to young to die like this. She watched as Colin embraced every person in the room. "Hey dad, uncle Stuart, Peter, Rose how are you, Jenny, Marie, hey Daniel little bud" and so on. Meanwhile Ruth stood near aunt...what was her name again Nada, Naden, oh she couldn't get the name, she was far too worried about watching her back than to remember a name. Unfortunately for her aunt what-ever-her-name-was called everyone and introduced Ruth, everyone stared at her, Ruth, again, tried her best smile and raised her hand to say hi.
"This is the kitty you'd been telling us about" said uncle...ugh she couldn't remember names now, the nerves had her shaking a lot.
"Yes" responded Colin with a smile "this is my partner"
Colin couldn't hold back a smile, the expression on Ruth's face was priceless, he had never seen her this tense, not even on the most dangerous assignments where the killer had a gun pointed at her, she had always been so calm, so relaxed, but now she looked so scared. He could tell she was probably swearing at him, couldn't blame her either, he understood that this was pretty tough for her, but for some reason he just couldn't wait the next days she was going to spend with his family.
"Uncle Stuart, Ruth" he said never taking his eyes off of Ruth, oh was he going to have so much fun.
Ruth watched as the man stared at her then began to laugh, everyone looked from him to Ruth, smiles on their faces "Come on girl don't be so tense, we won't bite you I promise" that did not help at all, Ruth was still as tense as she had been before, maybe worse.
"Um, it's been a really long trip and it's already dark" she suddenly had noticed that it was really dark outside, had time passed by so quick, or did she not notice it was already night because of her nerves.
"Oh yes, you poor dear must be exhausted, we have an extra room upstairs, it has a bathroom of its own so you don't have to go out in the hallway, you know" said aunt 'whatever'
"Oh well, I could just sleep outside in the car I don't mind" she preferred sleeping outside with a murderer than with these wolves inside the house. Well apparently the whole family saw this as something funny for they all began laughing at the same time, including Colin, who she though would support her, which he wasn't.
"Don't be silly girl" said aunt Nad..., something around there " now come upstairs with me I will show you to your room, Colin sweetheart would you mind and bring whatever luggage Ruth brought and take it upstairs to the host's room, I'm sure you remember the way, now come on honey, keep on moving"
Ruth followed the woman into a very spacy room, it seemed like the house was bigger than she had thought, the room was very simple a bed in the middle, white covers, window to the right wall and to the left was a door that she thought would lead to the bathroom.
"Well here you are sweety, if you need anything else just come to me I will look to your very comforts" the woman was very nice, Ruth would've actually like the thought if it weren't that she was a werewolf.
"Thank you very much" was all she could say. As the older woman left Ruth decided to take a bath, of course it was something that cats pretty much did not do, but, she wasn't entirely a cat, she had some human in her. Before she could get to the door she saw Colin standing at her door.
"Hey, how you holding up?" he asked
"Well seeing the fact that I am in a house filled with werewolves and that there is an psychotic murderer outside, I'm fine"Ruth smiled at her partner, it probably wasn't easy for him either since the killer was in this area where his family lived. Colin smiled back.
"I've got your bag, here" he said entering the room and placing the small sized bag at the foot of the bed
"Thanks" Colin came towards Ruth
"It's gonna be fine, and like my uncle Stuart said 'we don't bite'"
She snorted "yeah sure I'll keep that in mind"
Colin began to walk away to the door.
"Oh Colin wait..." Ruth took a step towards him, but at the step her foot twisted .
Colin turned to see Ruth coming down with great force, instantly he moved towards her to help her, but their feet tangled together making them both fall down on the bed.
Ruth felt her cheeks burning, Colin was on top of her and they were nose to nose. Both of them kept still, unsure of what would happen next. It felt like hours, until Colin began to straighten up and give her his hand so he could pull her to her feet.
"Good night" he said, and like that he was out of there. Ruth placed a hand on her chest and noticed that her heart was beating really fast. What just happened? She asked herself.
Colin came into his old room and dropped himself into his bed, his heart had not yet calmed down, what the hell was I thinking, I mean dropping like that on top of her and just stay there he put a hand over his face, I will apologize to her tomorrow, I don't think I could face her right now I would...I would, he rather not think about what he would've done. What was going on with him, why did he felt like this, he had never felt so...unstable? He didn't know, but what he did knew was that first thing in the morning he would go to her and apologize. Colin sighed, somehow he felt tomorrow was going to be a very long day.
Put yourself together Ruth, its not like something happened, as a matter of fact nothing indeed happened, now go out there, you can do this. Ruth breathed in and out, calmed herself a little bit and got our from her room, which proved to be at a wrong time since she bumped into the person she so wanted to avoid.
"Colin, uh, good morning" she said in a nervous tone.
"Hey" Colin replied rubbing his hand through his hair. An awkward silence fell between them both.
"I wanted..." both of them said at the same time, "I just..." again, both of them smiled at each other.
"You first" Ruth said.
" I am really sorry about yesterday, I just wanted to help you and I just..."
"Oh no I understand, it all happened so fast and we didn't knew" they both looked down.
"So we're ok?"asked Ruth. Colin nodded and smiled at her
"Ready to go downstairs, my family wants to know you better" she knew he said it to annoy her, and he succeeded.
"Want me to snap your head off 'cause I will" she looked at him with daring eyes.
He chuckled at her comment "yeah sure like I'd let you" she smiled.
"Come on lets get this get- to-know-better thing with your family over and get to work, I want to find this killer as soon as possible and get out of here as soon as possible"
Colin followed her downstairs.
"Good morning" said aunt... dammit she still didn't knew her name.
"Hi" said Ruth with a faint smile.
"Morning aunt Nadine" Colin went to her and kissed her cheek, there you go ,Nadine, well she'll try and remember that. Ruth felt a hand on her shoulder, she tensed.
"Well good morning Ruth, it's me, uncle Stuart" she turned to see the man from yesterday.
"H-Hi" she managed to say.
"Don't scare the girl Stuart, now come and help me get this rabbits ready for the children" aunt Nadine called out for her husband "meanwhile why don't you and Colin sit down at the table, breakfast will be ready in just a minute" she told Ruth.
Ruth sat at one corner of the table, and Colin sat beside her, she had meant to talk to him about her getting her own breakfast, but before she could say anything the rest of the family came running down the stairs and placed themselves on the table, great, she thought, is this some kind of punishment?
Aunt Nadine began to place a plate in front of everyone with what appeared to be a dead rabbit. Ruth's stomach churned, she would've throw up right there right now, luckily for her she had not eaten anything. Everyone threw themselves into their food, Colin did too, Ruth kept staring at her plate.
"What is it honey" she heard aunt Nadine say, and turned her head in her direction, everyone placed their attention to Ruth.
"Uh, nothing" she forced a smile.
"But you had barely touched you rabbit" uncle Stuart pointed out.
She didn't want to be rude, this people hadn't treat her so bad, in fact they hadn't even looked at her as something to eat, or chase, which she was very grateful for, but...she sighed.
"It look delicious" she said biting a piece of the leg of the rabbit, how disgusting, she thought.
This made everyone else smile, and Ruth felt as if she had passed a test, now whats gonna come next.
"So you can change into any member of the cat family?" uncle Stuart asked Ruth when everyone had finished their meal, she nodded.
"How do you do that" asked the girl that had placed herself in front of Ruth "oh and I'm Rose by the way, Rose Heerkens" Rose, she will try and remember that too.
Everyone began to introduce themselves, "I'm Peter, Rose's twin", "Hi we're Jennifer and Marie, we're twins" said two enthusiastic teenagers, " Hi I am Daniel" said the little boy that had answered the door, "Hello, I'm Donald Heerkens, Colin's father" the man looked at her and smiled, he looks nice, she thought, but then she saw his big teeth and the thought of escaping came back to her mind.
"SO" said Rose "how do you do it? how do you change?"
"Oh well I just think of what I want to change into and I do it" it was basically that.
"Cool" said Peter.
Ruth wished for this interview to be over.
Colin had watched as Ruth answered questions the whole morning, "how old are you", "can you change into a tiger" little Daniel had asked, "wanna be our best friend!" Jennifer and Marie had basically jumped on Ruth. He looked at her as they walked to the crime scene, she seemed less tense and much more calm than what she had been at the house.
"What are you thinking?" he asked, not realizing that he had said it aloud.
She turned to him and shrugged "Your family"
"What about them" for some reason that not even himself understood, he wanted to know what she thought of him and his relatives, he wanted to know what she thought about them.
He saw her smile "Well first time I met them I was really scared, but now...I don't know, I'm still scared I know I am, but...not like I was before"
He felt a sudden relief through his whole body, the memory of yesterday night came to him, what had really happened to them right there? He asked himself. They did not talk the rest of the way.
Ruth looked closely to where the police had found the body, there was no evidence of who might have done it, the body had been clean, no fingerprints, nothing, whoever did this knew very well what he or she was doing, someone who had done this before. Ruth processed what could have happened, the victim was lead into the forest, then was killed by someone who had already done this before, the killer left leaving no clue, nothing, but...something is not right, something smells fishy around here.
"What was the name of the victim?" she asked Colin.
"Lucas McCoy" he said stepping besides her.
"Any wife, kids, friends?" she said without turning to look at him.
"They guy was a bastard, no friends, hit his wife to death, his son put him in jail for that"
"What is his son's name" she said inspecting the surroundings.
"Mark McCoy"
"We will talk to him first" Colin agreed.
"Excuse me, Mark? Mark McCoy?" Ruth saw the young man nod.
"We are here to ask some question about your father" said Colin who was standing behind her.
Mark let them in, he lived in a small house, everything was clean, nothing suspicious that could have told Ruth if Mark was the killer. He lead them into the living room and signaled the both to sit in a big couch while he sat in a rocking chair in front.
"What do you want to know" he said, and by his tone it looked as if he wanted this to be over.
"We want to ask you if Lucas McCoy had any enemies, someone with a big reason to do this that might have done this" asked Ruth, for she wanted this to be over too.
"That man had lots of people who hated him, no one liked him, he killed my mother, treated others like dirt, did whatever he had in his power to make others suffer, everyone had a big reasons to do this" Ruth saw the anger in his eyes.
"Is there anyone that much more reason" asked Colin
Mark nodded " There might be someone, his competition, Sarah Barely"
"Why do you think this?" Ruth asked a little suspicious.
"My dad always humiliated her, in some way my dad killed her father, the old man had a bad heart, so my dad told him about something that resulted in the man having a heart attack, he died instantly"
"What do you think he might have told him?" Ruth had been taking notes on everything that Mark had been saying.
"I don't know my dad never really talked to me, and if he ever did he just insulted me and shoved me away" he looked at Ruth "are we done with the questions?"
As Ruth and Colin walked away from Mark's house they talked about the situation.
"He was hiding something I'm sure of it" Ruth told Colin. He didn't say anything.
"What's wrong?"
"Nothing," he said immediately "let's go somewhere where we can process this shall we"
"Yeah, but where?"
"There is a bar not far from here" he said grabbing here arm and actually dragging her to his car.
"Uh, ok" she managed to say before he closed the door.
"So all we have is that anyone in the area that knew Lucas could have killed him" Colin nodded and drowned himself with his beer, he needed that, so far they had nothing that could lead to the old bastard's death, and so far their major suspects were Mark McCoy and Sarah Barely, they both had very good reasons to kill that son of a bitch, he sighed, how would they find the killer with a lot of suspects on the list.
"Colin?" he looked up to see a drunk Ruth "I don't feel so good" she said closing her eyes and dropping her head on the table.
He sighed again, he had been so involved in the problem that he didn't notice that Ruth had drank already ten cups of beer, "Come on" he said "let's go" he grabbed her by the arm, but she appeared to drunk to walk, so he placed one arm on her back and the other behind her legs and brought her to his chest, he smiled, she was a lot lighter than what she looked like. Colin placed her nicely on the car seat, he chuckled, he had a drunk cat in his car seat, now this is something you don't see everyday.
Colin drove slowly all the way home, again he had to carry her to her room, and placed her lightly on the bed, she looks like an angel,he thought, an angle that had told him that she would rip his head off, he smiled. As he was turning away he heard her calling his name.
"Colin" she said
"Yeah" he sat on the side of the bed "I'm here"
"Come closer" she moaned, he did.
"Closer" she said again, he did, they were almost nose to nose.
She placed her hand on the back of his neck and brought his lips to her.
Colin stayed where he was for a second, then gave up and kissed her back, her taste was so delicious, he couldn't get himself to think straight. He felt her other hand come up to his hair and push him into her. Colin placed his hands on her hips, then brought his mouth to her neck, I-I...I have to stop, he knew he couldn't do this, she was drunk, she didn't knew what she was doing, I have to stop, he continued, but he just couldn't bring himself to stop as she placed his mouth back to hers.
"I can't do this Ruth" he said pulling away from her "I'm sorry I can't do this to you"
"It's OK" she said placing a hand on his cheek "It's alright"
Colin placed her hand on top of her stomach and made his way to the door.
Ruth woke up with a big headache and no memory of what happened yesterday, except that she had been drinking in a bar and everything after that became a blur. She had to know, she had to find out what had happened, she had to...she had to ask Colin.
Oh god, help me out here, Colin rubbed a hand through his hair, what will I tell her. Colin paced from one corner of his room to the other. He had not slept at all thinking on what would he do when he sees her the next day. He heard a knock on the door and he completely froze, what if that's her, he really hoped it wasn't, he was not ready for it yet.
"Colin? Are you awake? It's me Ruth"
Oh for Christ sake, I asked for some help. Colin did what every desperate man would've done in his situation, he went to his bed and pretended he was asleep.
"Colin?" Ruth asked again entering the room, she saw him laying in the bed sleeping, and sighed, I'll ask him later, when he wakes up. She was about to leave the room when she heard a 'achoo' coming from behind.
"You miserable bastard! You heard me calling for you, I mean you heard me call your name and don't you deny it mister, because you will regret it the rest of your life"
"Are you done" said Colin getting up from bed.
"NO!, you are the worst person ever, I come to talk to you nicely, and what do you do! You fake that you are asleep, wha-what the hell is that, you know that is very rude,very rude, why would you do this! You pig, you miserable low-life, who do you think I am, you know I wasn't born yesterday..."
Colin had had enough of Ruth talking, in fact he was furious of her insatiably talking, and by now he had lost all his patience, without thinking he grabbed her wrist and threw her on his bed, went back to the door and locked it.
"What are you doing?" Ruth asked a bit scare of how Colin had threw her on his bed and locked the door.
"Shut up!" he yelled at her.
She saw him as he paced through the room.
"Colin you are scaring me, are you..."
She watched as he came to her and place himself on top of her, the next thing she felt was his lips against hers. She began to fight, but fell deep in the kiss.
"Colin" he heard her say his name, not angry, but sweetly. He gently placed his hand on her shoulders as the both laid back on the bed.
"Your family is not gonna like this you know" Ruth told Colin as she got dressed.
"I know, we just missed breakfast, aunt Nadine will be very disappointed in me" he said looking at her with a smirk.
She threw him his shirt, "I'm serious, I don't think they'll approve this, specially your uncle Stuart" she said while putting her shirt on.
"Why, because of the fact that you're a cat and I'm a wolf" he replied.
"Uh yeah"
He snorted "Come on, you are stressing yourself, calm down will ya"
"Ha, that's easy for you to say, you won't be the one being ripped apart in pieces, not to mention a very horrible way to die"
"Come here" said Colin pulling her to him and putting his arms around her "nothing will happen to you, alright" he placed a small kiss on her lips "now lets get to work OK, maybe you will stop thinking about my family" he grabbed her hand and lead her downstairs, out of the house, and into his car. Oh yeah this is gonna be interesting, Ruth thought.
"So now we got to see this Sarah Barely girl, right"
"Right" Ruth agreed
"What do we have about her" Colin turned to look at Ruth, which she immediately turned back to the road.
"Well her dad was Lucas McCoy competition, and we have this small information that Lucas might have caused his death, now the girl wants revenge, she pretty much sounds like the killer"
"She had every reason to kill that piece of shit, but we still have his son, which from what we know he is definitely hiding something, and that something is very important" Colin parked the car in front of a big house.
"Well we also know that Sarah is very rich" Ruth pointed out.
"Yes come on in" the maid lead the two of them into a room, which of Ruth though as Sarah's office " Miss. Barely will be with you in a moment" then she left the room.
Ruth looked around to find anything that might help in the case. "Have you found anything" she asked Colin.
"No, nothing that might help at all" they both turned around at the sound of the door opening.
"Hello, I am Sarah Barely" said a tall blonde with deep blues eyes "Lucy told me you were here to talk about the murder"
"Yes" said Ruth "we want to ask you some questions if that is OK with you"
"Please sit down" Sarah told them both, as she sat herself too, "what do you wish to know"
"We wanted to ask about your relation with Lucas McCoy and his son" Ruth began.
"Well, we we're always in competition, it was our cattle against theirs, unfortunately we always ended on second place, but there was this one time where my dad was near on beating the old scumbag, sadly he died before reaching that goal, and McCoy won again"
"Do you know what caused your father's death?" Ruth asked while taking notes.
"Yeah, a heart attack" she answered.
The interview continued for an hour and a half, Sarah gave them everything they both wanted to know.
"She doesn't look like a killer" Ruth pointed out on their way to talk to other people around the area.
"Yeah she doesn't, but looks won't take her off the list, she was also hiding something, Mark told us that his father might have killed hers, but when you asked her about it, she just said 'heart attack' and practically avoided that subject.
"Yeah you're right" she sighed, "this is very confusing"
"How many more people do we still need to talk to" asked Colin.
"Two more, a Mr. and Mrs. Dabney and a Mr. Granger" said Ruth looking at their records.
Ruth and Colin spend two hours at the Dabney's, and one hour with Mr. Granger and his preaching about God.
"I can take no more" Colin opened the door to the house and let Ruth and himself in, "if I hear the word 'God' again I'll explode"
Ruth snorted "You think it was easy for me, meanwhile they only told us what we already knew, how the hell are we gonna find a killer, if we've got no information other than everyone wanting to see this man dead"
Colin walked toward her and put his arms around her "It's been a very long day, why don't we go to bed"
"Yes you're right, well good night" she leaned and kissed him on the cheek, then turned and started up the stairs
"Well I was hoping to sleep together" said Colin under his breath, but Ruth heard him.
Colin watched as Ruth started back down and pulled him all the way to her room and locked the door.
"Ruth? Are you awake?" aunt Nadine's voice made both Ruth and Colin jump out of bed.
"Damn it, your aunt is out there, will you put on you pants" Ruth whispered.
"What do you think I'm doing" Colin snapped at her while almost tripping.
"Ruth?"
"Uh, one second!" she turned to look at Colin "are you done? Great, now get in the bathroom" she said pointing at it.
"Alright, I'm going" Colin walked quietly and locked himself in the bathroom, while Ruth opened the door to aunt Nadine.
"Good morning dear" aunt Nadine said while raising a tray with a roasted chicken, now that looks delicious, Ruth thought.
"Oh thank you, uh, Mrs. Heerkens" Ruth said taking the tray out of her hands and placing it on the bed.
"Oh call me aunt Nadine" Nadine said.
"Well thank you, aunt Nadine" Ruth smiled at the older lady "but I don't think I'm gonna finish all of this"
"Oh no dear, I brought this for you and Colin" she turned to look at the bathroom door "you may come out now" the door opened and a half dressed Colin stepped out.
"H-how did you find out?" asked Ruth surprised.
"Oh please I knew since the beginning"
"Does uncle Stuart knows too" Colin asked his aunt.
"Everyone knows" she answered as if it was an everyday thing.
"And..." Colin pressed on.
a"And what?" asked Nadine.
"What did Stuart say" Ruth said.
"Oh he did not take it very well, but the others are very happy for both of you" Nadine nodded.
Colin and Ruth came down where everyone was waiting for them, except for Stuart.
"We're so happy for both of you" Rose began.
"You two-" said Marie
"-are the perfect couple" finished Jennifer.
"Are you gonna marry Colin?"asked Daniel looking at Ruth.
"OK that's enough let them have their privacy" Nadine said taking everyone to the kitchen.
"Come on" Colin turned to look at Ruth "lets get out of here"
Ruth nodded.
"Where are we going?" Ruth asked when Colin took her to the woods.
"I want to show you something" he said pulling her by the hand.
Ruth tripped over rocks and stick. "Don't you think it would be much easier if you turned in to a dog and I turned into a cat, at least it would help me from tripping, my balance is way much better in my other form you know"
"No, not right here, there are some bird watchers around and they might see us" Ruth cursed as she tripped over the root of a tree.
"At least tell me if we are there yet" she said to Colin.
"Almost, don't worry"
They made their way through trees and bushes, Colin pulling Ruth and her tripping over everything.
" We are here" Colin finally said.
"Oh at last where are we..." Ruth was left speechless, just in front of her was what she would call Paradise. There were bushes surrounding them in a circle, in the middle was a beautiful lake with a crystalline water, and at one end of it was a tree full of delicious red apples.
"Where are we?" she whispered, never looking away from this heaven.
"This is my favorite place, it was my hide out when I was a kid"
"It's beautiful" she said.
"I'm glad you liked it"
"Why did you bring me here" she turned around to look at Colin.
"I don't know" he told her.
"How did you find that place" Ruth asked Colin as they got out of the forest.
"The night my mom died I ran away from home, I entered the forest and ended up there, I stayed there for hours"
Ruth looked at Colin as a sad expression showed in his face. She put here hands on his cheeks and brought his lips to hers, the kiss was soft and tender .
"Don't think about that" she told him once she let go. He nodded.
"Come on" she said grabbing his hand "we have a case to solve, and I really want to find the one responsible for this murder. They went back to the house and got in the car.
"Where do we go now" Colin said starting the engine.
"I want to pay another visit to Mark, we didn't left in good terms with him"
"Can you at least tell me why we are here" Colin whispered to Ruth.
"OK this is the plan, we wait for Mark to leave and you follow him, meanwhile I'll investigate the house, got it."
"Whoa whoa whoa, hold it agent 99, we are not in a movie alright, this is serious"
Ruth rolled her eyes "Look you want to solve this case then do as I tell you to and follow Mark wherever he is going" she turned to look at the house.
"Fine, but..." Colin started
"Shhhh, look he is coming out, now go follow him, and don't let him see you, I'll meet you at the house"
Colin left and followed Mark, meanwhile Ruth opened the door and let herself in.
Why am I even doing this?, Colin asked himself as he followed Mark. He watched closely careful not to be seen of heard. Mark made a right then a left, kept going straight until he stopped, Colin looked around to see where he was, apparently in the middle of an prairie. Colin heard footsteps approaching, he hid behind a tree.
"Mark" said a woman's voice.
"Sarah, how are you?" Colin watched confused as Mark and Sarah came close to each other and kissed.
What the fuck.
"OK let's see" Ruth walked passed the living room to a narrow hallway and into the bedroom. "Alright, now where to start" she searched the drawer, under the bed, inside the closet, Nothing, I can't believe it.
Ruth paced from one corner of the room to the other.
"This is stupid, there should have been something here, anything" she walked towards the unmade bed and took a seat.
"Maybe I am missing something, I searched the whole house I should have found at least something, I know Mark has something to do with this but..." she stood up, the kitchen, she thought walking out of the room.
Ruth turned to enter the kitchen, there better be something in there or I swear all hell will break lose. She opened the cabinets, searched them careful of leaving everything on its place, then walked towards the freezer and opened it, cheese, roasted chicken, more cheese, Ruth slammed the door and rubbed a hand through her hair, then she noticed something.
"What is this" she said as she grabbed a note hanging from the freezer door.
Mill's Constructions 9pm Tomorrow
"That's strange" she took a picture with her phone and place it back where it was.
"I've got to get out of here" she said hurrying to the door.
Colin saw Mark and Sarah hold hand and kiss each other for quite a while.
"What are we going to do?" asked Mark as he broke the kiss.
"We'll figure it out" she said putting a hand on his cheek, "together"
Then back to more kissing.
"Damn, where the hell is Colin" Ruth waited at the front door of the house. I really hope he has more than what I got.
"Ruth" she turned around to see Colin.
"Where the hell have you been, I've been waiting here for hours, you got something?"
"It's nice to see you too" he said "Come on lets go in the house" he took her hand.
"Where you really waiting for me outside?" he asked with a grin on his face.
"Oh forget that"
"So, what did you find out?" Ruth asked immediately.
Colin sighed, "I followed Mark like you told me to and..."
"And..." she leaned forward.
"Mark and Sarah are together" he burst out.
"W-what do you mean together, as in together as business partners"
"No together as a couple"
"What the fuck..." she began.
"I know I said the same thing, anyways I heard them saying something about 'what will they to do', or something" he sat on the couch.
Ruth processed for a second, then sat right beside him, "You know I found a note in Mark's house, it said 'Mill's Constructions 9pm Tomorrow'"
"Really" he turned to look at her.
"Where is Mill's Constructions anyways?" Ruth asked.
"It's, uh, outside of town, it was going to be a good deal for everyone here but, the owner of the building passed away, everyone thought that his son was going to take over, but he canceled everything and went away"
"So tomorrow we go to Mill's Constructions before 9 and find out why Mark had to go there"
Colin nodded.
"So...Mark and Sarah together huh" he nodded again.
"Ruth wake up" Colin said wrapping an arm around her and kissing her on the cheek.
"What" she replied.
"It's morning, we have to get up" he whispered in her ear.
"Do we have to" she turned around to look at him.
Colin smiled "Yes remember we have a job to do"
"To hell with this job, I wanna sleep"
"Come on" he gave her a light kiss.
"Oh alright, but after all this is over I want a full-day sleep without being disturbed and that goes for you mister" Ruth said getting up of the bed and walking to the bathroom.
"You know two can finish faster than one at a time" Colin said getting out of bed and following Ruth.
"Whatever"
"So where do we go first" Colin said getting inside the car.
"I don't know, what are my choices" she said looking at him.
"Well we have that bar we went the other night"
"Next"
He smiled "How about Picasso"
"Picasso?" Ruth asked
"Yeah it's a fancy restaurant, very good food"
"Oh no thanks, next"
"Well how about if we order at Jack in the box and..."
"Are you serious, you have a Jack in the box in this godforsaken town?"
He raised and eyebrow "And..." he continued " eat it somewhere else, any place you like"
"That sounds nice" she nodded.
"Alright" he started the engine.
"You know this is really nice" Ruth said before she took a bite from her ultimate cheese burger and taking a sip from her coca-cola.
Colin nodded, he turned to look at Ruth, she looks beautiful today, he thought, he frowned at the sound of his heart beat, what is this feeling? He asked himself, every time he looked at her, he felt breathless, and a sudden and strange feeling flowed through his whole body, could this be...no it couldn't be, but....Ruth turned to look at him and smiled, yes, I love her, he smiled back, but does she love me back? The question made him frown and he turned away from her.
"So, this is Mill's Constructions, it looks better than what I had in my mind" The building was not finished, you could see because half of it was not there, but the rest had hold on very well, not a single brick out of its place. Ruth turned to look at her watch, 8:30. It is almost time.
"You think Mark and Sarah worked together to kill Lucas McCoy"
"Well we will soon find out" They waited and at exactly 9:00 pm Sarah and Mark appeared.
"Mark" Sarah said kissing him.
He pulled back softly "Come on, let's do what we came to do"
Sarah took out a video camera from her purse.
"Here it is" she turned to look at the building "I don't think anyone will mind if we burned this old building"
What could there be in that video camera, Ruth thought, she turned to Colin"Let's go" he nodded.
"Stop right there" Ruth said taking out her gun and pointing it at Sarah's direction while Colin took Mark.
"Give us that camera and no one will get hurt" she told Sarah.
Sarah turned to look at Mark, then at Ruth, she placed the video camera slowly on the floor, then stepped backwards.
Ruth moved froward without taking her eyes from Sarah, she picked up the evidence and moved towards Sarah and cuffed her, Colin did they same but before he could make it half way to Mark, he took a gun and shot Colin.
"COLIN!" Ruth pointed her gun towards Mark "drop your gun"
Mark did as he was told.
Ruth walked to him and cuffed him, then put them both inside Colin's car, and run to where Colin laid hurt.
"Are you ok, where did he shot you" Ruth could feel her tears threatening to come out, she took her cellphone and called 911.
"Everything will be alright" she placed Colin's head on her lap and put one hand on his cheek, there was a pool of blood under them, she didn't care, she bend and kissed him on the forehead,
"Everything will be alright" she repeated, trying hard to convince herself that it would be alright and Colin wouldn't die.
"Ruth" she heard Colin say weakly.
"Don't speak, it's alright, everything is fine" she said wiping the tears from her face and giving him a faint smile.
"Ruth" he said again "I-I..."
"Please don't force yourself to speak, I have already called 911, you will be fine, you...
"I love you" he finally said.
Ruth felt her heart stop beating, more tears threatened to come out, and at last she could not hold them back. She cried like she had never before.
"I love you too" she said between sobs.
"I'm glad" Colin said placing a hand on her cheek "I'm glad" he repeated and he closed his eyes and his hand fell from Ruth's face, a faint smile on his lips.
"Colin" Ruth said desperately "Colin, don't leave me, please I beg you, Colin"
He did not answered.
Ruth stood on one corner as she saw the paramedics taking Colin to the operation room, when they had reached his breathing had been very faint, he had lost to much blood, she had told the doctor that she wanted to be with him, but he told her no, so now she had to wait until the doctor finished his job. The police had taken Mark and Sarah, she gave them the video camera, and they told her to give her report tomorrow.
She sat down on a chair on the waiting room, and waited, waited, and waited. Hours later Colin's family entered the hospital, aunt Nadine walked to where she was.
"Everything will be fine, sweety" She hugged Ruth really hard.
"I'm scared aunt Nadine, I'm very scared that he won't make it, I love him" Ruth said trying hard not to cry.
"I know baby, I know, we'll just wait for the doctor to come" Ruth could hear the sadness in Nadine's voice. They both hold on to each other, giving support and strength to one another.
Finally the doctor came.
"He made it through the operation" he said with a nod, Ruth felt a heavy relief.
"Can we see him?" she immediately asked.
"Yes, but only one of you for today, he must rest afterward"
"You go honey" aunt Nadine told Ruth.
"But don't you.." she started.
"Of course I want to see him, but I will see him tomorrow, you go today" she said and smiled at Ruth.
Ruth hugged Nadine and gave her a light kiss on the cheek, then followed the doctor.
"Colin, someone want to see you" the doctor said to Colin, who laid on a bed.
Maybe he is asleep, Ruth thought, but just then Colin turned to look towards them and gave her a smile.
"Ruth" he said softly.
"I will leave you two alone" the doctor closed the door.
Ruth walk closer to Colin, "How are you feeling"
"I feel like hell, my chest hurts, but it is better now that you are here"
He really knew how to push the right buttons, she thought with a smile.
"Ruth" he said softly.
"Yes" she leaned closer.
"Will you marry me?" the question took her by surprise, she felt breathless, did, did he just propose? She asked herself
"Ruth, please say yes" he looked into her eyes.
"I-I don't know what to say I-I..."
"Just say yes, and you will make me the happiest man in the world" he interrupted her.
Why does he have to put it like that, this man drives me crazy, but I love him with all my strength, she smiled at him and said "Yes"
Colin left out a sight "I love you Ruth"
"And I love you too" she said as she gave him a soft but tender kiss.
This is gonna be very interesting, she thought with a grin.
"SO, when is the wedding" asked Marie.
"Next month"Ruth told her, and turned to look at Colin, who was smiling at her. It had been 2 months since Colin had been at the hospital, he looked better, and they were both happy.
Ruth felt a wave of nausea "I'm gonna go to the bathroom" she said getting up from the couch.
Lately she had been feeling nauseous, she picked up the tiniest smells that even a dog could have missed, she had this crazy cravings all day, and for some reason her boobs had gotten bigger.
"Darling are you alright" she heard aunt Nadine knock at the door.
"Yeah, I'm almost done" she said while she washed her hands.
"Hi" she said closing the door behind her.
"Honey are you alright" aunt Nadine asked with a worried face.
"Yeah I'm just being feeling nauseous, that's all, what's there to eat"
"I just prepared some sandwiches, they are in the kitchen" aunt Nadine told her.
"Oh great" Ruth moved towards the kitchen "I am starving"
"But you just ate a couple of minutes ago" aunt Nadine said following her.
"Well I am really hungry" Ruth said picking up a sandwich and stuffing it in her mouth.
"Oh my gosh darling" aunt Nadine said with a smile.
"Oh my gosh what" Ruth asked Nadine.
"I think you are pregnant" she said at the same time Colin entered the kitchen, he looked to Ruth, and she stared back.
"Are you sure aunt Nadine" he asked never taking his eyes out of Ruth.
"Yes, I am positive, Ruth is pregnant"
Ruth watched as Colin walk to where she was, and pulled her up giving her a big spin.
"This is wonderful" he said with a big enthusiasm "We're gonna have babies" he said setting her down and kissing her.
"How are you feeling?" aunt Nadine asked.
Ruth laughed nervously at first, but then she laughed with happiness "I'm gonna be a mother" she said looking at Colin "I'm gonna be a mother"
He looked down at her with tender.
"I am gonna go tell the others the great news" aunt Nadine said leaving the kitchen.
"I love you" Ruth said to Colin.
"I love you" he said bringing her lips to his.
The End