Hey guys! Thanks for all of your reviews. Here is another update. I will try to post something new every Thursday. Have a great weekend!
. . .
Chapter 6.
In the woods off the beach, beside Lydia's body …
"It was just a snake, Judy," Booker said softly, looking behind her to where the thick, dark reptile hit the ground in a thud and slithered off into the night. Beside him, Hoffs began to shake and tears streamed down her face.
"I've got you, Judy," Booker spoke again, immediately protective. He wrapped one arm all the way around her slim waist and kept a hand on her back, and Judy, usually so confident and tough, folded into him like a rag doll. Her body felt so delicate, and her skin warm and soft. He held a hand up lovingly to the back of Judy's head, lost in her thick hair. He kissed her gently on the top of her curls.
"You know I mean that… I won't allow anything to hurt you out here."
"Yeah," Ioki interrupted the moment, narrowing his eyes at Booker suspiciously. "Me neither."
Just then, footsteps and rustling sounds became audible, louder and louder, moving toward their clearing through the brush. Booker gave Ioki an uneasy look, both men unsure what to expect. He held tighter onto Judy, glaring in intimidation into the dark. Ioki nodded at him and then silently hid behind a tree, ready to spring out and fight.
"Hoffs!" The voices became clearer, causing Booker to frown as Judy raised her head off of his chest. They both turned toward the sound. Damn it, Booker thought. It's—
"Hanson!" Judy broke away from Dennis' protective hold, much to his own disappointment, and ran to meet Hanson just as he and Penhall broke through into the clearing. Booker gritted his teeth, struggling to remain cool as Judy and Hamburger held on to each other for what seemed like dear life. He noticed how the panic in Tommy's eyes, worried about her safety, matched his own.
Quickly, Hanson looked up at him.
"What's wrong with her, Booker?" Hanson asked accusatorily. "What did you do?"
Dennis balled his fists, glaring daggers.
. . .
"Nothing!" Ioki stepped out quickly from behind his tree, keen to prevent a fight. "Booker didn't do anything! It's—"
"Lydia," whispered Judy, drawing all of their attention again, her voice still soft and brown eyes dim in sadness. "She's dead."
Penhall, finally noticing the body, walked over to where the small, pretty girl haloed by hair lay motionless on the damp ground. Ioki joined him, kneeling down over the body. He placed two fingers at her neck to take the pulse.
"One-hundred percent dead," Ioki confirmed. He then pressed his fingertips lightly against her eyelids to pull them closed. No one spoke right away, everyone sad and regretful over the bubbly girl's fate.
"Somebody will have to tell her parents." Judy broke the silence, tears gone and calm restored to her voice.
"Her old man is sick in the hospital," Booker added. "Lydia told me before. He had a pretty bad accident on the job." He paused. "This will kill the mother..."
"Damn it!" Hanson exclaimed, violently kicking the earth and sand below his feet. Tom turned his back on the group, breathed in deep, and then wandered out of the clearing, his dark green jacket disappearing from sight immediately.
"Hanson! It's not your fault!" Ioki called after him, remembering the strong sense of grief and responsibility their partner had earlier expressed.
"Hanson! Man! You've got my wallet!" Penhall yelled next. Everyone stared at him. "It's just a little thing we do," Penhall explained. "Otherwise I might lose it..."
"Whatever," Booked ended the conversation grouchily, turning again toward Lydia's still body on the ground. "Let him go."
"I can't," Judy replied, already disappearing into the brush to follow Tom. Before Booker or anyone else could stop her from leaving alone, the missing kid from the campfire who'd helped them chase after Lydia earlier jogged in from the opposite direction.
"Man, where you been!" Penhall asked him, relieved. "Are the police coming or what?"
Ten men emerged from the woods behind the kid. The full crew behind him all wore dark, tattered clothes and stone grimaces.
"Something tells me you guys ain't the police," Penhall addressed the group. Booker, jaw tight and eyes cold, glared at his side.
"Nope." The guy from the bonfire spoke in a light Spanish accent, lifting the baseball cap from his head. He had a much less boyish face than the gang previously picked up on and a faded scar ran diagonal across his forehead. "But you are." Booker, Ioki, and Penhall exchanged looks. The leader raised a gun and pointed at Penhall.
"Ever heard of the term 'fair fight?'" Penhall's voice lost its usual charm. As if on cue, all of the other men pulled out their own guns.
"Clearly they haven't…" Ioki replied softly.
The leader began to speak.
"We were alerted last week that cops from the north would try to come down here and capture me. To try and spoil my little party. But that won't ever happen, my friends." He walked closer, gun still aimed at Doug, clearly a man who enjoys his own power. "You gave yourselves away so easily back at the bonfire, with that little game of 'Who's your supplier?' I thought it might be you all before, but after that I knew for sure."
"What the hell did you do to Lydia?" Booker nearly spat out the question, jaw still clenched and face sharpened with rage.
"Ha!" The leader exaggerated a cold laugh. "What did I do?"
"What I meant to do to all of you," he continued. "That pretty girl had the simple misfortune of being in the wrong place at the wrong time. Falling in with the wrong crowd." He waved the gun across Booker and Ioki too. "Fast acting toxins do work fast."
"You," he stopped and pointed at Booker, "Nice trick with the beer bottle. A few seconds slower and you'd be lying dead beside the girl."
The leader began again, condescending to them and pacing, pointing his gun at each of the Jump Street cops.
"One. Two. Three. Where are your other two?"
"Don't know what you mean," Ioki interrupted, eyes cool with one arm resting against a tree. "There are only three of us on assignment down here."
"Don't play with me," the leader warned. "Where's that pretty little morena cop and her little cop boyfriend?"
Booker bit down too hard on his lip, and tasted blood.
"You know," the leader continued, a mean smile on his face, "I really want to find her."
"Hey!" Booker called for the leader's attention, regarding him with steely eyes. "That could be arranged. How about a deal?"
Penhall, Ioki, and the local man all turned, almost as if in slow motion, to look at Dennis, not at all sure what he might want to offer.
"I'm not a cop," Dennis began. "I'm a private investigator. Know that I'm not bound by my job to owe anybody anything or to protect against any 'obstruction of justice.' If you let me get back on a plane out of here… I'll deliver those two other cops to you."
Penhall narrowed his eyes and cocked his head at his partner, not sure what kind of game Dennis wanted to play.
"These men aren't my friends," Booker kept talking, and motioned at Harry and Doug. "That other cop, Hanson, he stole my girl. And her… well it looks like she sure chose wrong, now doesn't it? Judy deserves whatever is coming to her."
"Woah..." Penhall whispered, nearly in disbelief. "Booker…"
"Why should I believe you?" The leader scanned Dennis' face, unable to tell if the stranger truly meant what he said. "Why should I keep you alive?"
"I used to be a cop," Booker began to explain. "But I got sacked for protecting Hanson's ass. We'll now I don't want to protect anybody anymore. Just myself." He paused.
"Listen to this word of warning, if you kill us three right now and Hanson and Hoffs get suspicious before you find them too—they'll call back to Metro. Before you know it, it'll get hotter down here than any day in hell. Metro cops all over the place. Hanson and Hoffs, they've both seen your face. It'll only take so long for all the puzzle pieces to come together."
"So what do you suggest as a deal?" The leader asked him. "Mr… Mr?"
"Booker," Dennis replied. "Dennis Booker. And you?"
"Call me Ramón."
"Tie these two clowns up, Ramón." Booker motioned toward Penhall and Ioki.
"This is low, Booker." Ioki stared at the man he thought he knew and trusted. "All over losing a woman? She was never yours to begin with!"
"I can get Hanson and Judy to come to us," Dennis ignored him. "But they won't trust it unless they believe that their partners are still alive. They'll try to save them. Once Hanson and Hoffs come, the whole gang is yours. Do whatever you want."
"I'll go back to Metro singing any bogus story you tell me to," Booker finished.
"Four dead, snoops. No army of cops to invade Puerto Rico looking for me…" The leader considered Booker's offer. "You telling them that the evil drug cartel sailed 'bye bye' off into the sea…"
"That's if I go home alive," Booker interjected. "Hanson and Judy deserve whatever you wanna dish out." He turned to his left, looking at Penhall and Ioki, giving a callous shoulder shrug "Sorry guys."
. . .
"Phew! We must have walked for maybe four or five miles before spotting that cab," Judy spoke out loud to herself, back in front of the motel with Hanson. He'd barely said a word to her, other than I don't really feel like talking, over an hour ago since they'd walked away from the dismal scene Lydia's dead body.
Hanson still didn't respond, his handsome face drawn expressionless and tight. Silently, the two walked past the late-night debauchery of several hearty spring breakers, moving slowly through the courtyard and past the pool where they'd first met Lydia earlier that day. A giant beach ball floated in the water, making a bright contrast to the officers' somber mood.
"I can't believe she's dead," Judy said softly, not expecting a response.
"She shouldn't be," Hanson replied, unexpectedly breaking his silence, still staring down into the pool.
"One girl, Hoffs. Just one tiny girl… and I couldn't keep her alive." Hanson bent down, looking intensely into the water like he expected Lydia to jump though, still alive, from underneath the surface. "It's like she asked me to take care of her. And I blew it."
"Hanson, it's really not your fault." Judy tried, unsuccessfully, to connect with his troubled eyes.
"Maybe if I'd paid more attention," Hanson continued, "she wouldn't have done it. She wouldn't have tried so hard to impress us."
"Hanson, look around you." Judy motioned with her hand to the kids passed out on lounge chairs around them. "Nobody thinks about 'danger' at this kind of party." She touched one of his hands gently with her own, her eyes finally able to meet his. Hanson lightly licked his bottom lip and ran a hand back through his hair, breaking the somber mood with a chuckle.
"I didn't expect a night like this," he said.
"Me neither," Judy relaxed, rolling her eyes and giving him a silly smile. "Let's head into the room. This girl could use a good night's sleep." Together, they took a few steps. "Umm… Hanson?" Judy stopped and released her loose hold on his hand.
"Yeah," he replied.
"When I looked across to our room a couple of minutes ago, it was dark inside the window. The lights are on now."
"Booker," Hanson said curtly, looking down for a moment and resting his chin in his hand. He wiped downward and let his fingers run move against the texture of stubble. "You and I were out walking so long… Booker, Penhall, and Ioki must have got a ride back here from the local cops."
"You two aren't going to have a problem, are you?" Judy remembered the near fight not too long ago. Hanson considered her question, wanting to quell the worry in her eyes. He remembered Penhall's head's up that Booker was up to something concerning Hoffs.
"You know what," Hanson began, "the night doesn't have to be lost. Hoffs, wanna sit outside with me for a little bit longer? Maybe give Booker some space to fall asleep… You're right. He—and me—both need a little time to cool off."
"Sure." Judy smiled."Out there?" She nodded past the courtyard, out onto a small strip of private beach owned by the motel.
"You know it's freezing out there at this hour. And there are no lights. That's why everybody else is over here." As if for effect, Hanson zipped the front of his jacket. "Well, everybody but the sand crabs. They're probably over there."
"Come on, Hanson." Judy grabbed him by the wrist, shaking her head, still wearing only a two-piece and cover-up. "It's really not that cool out and I'm not even wearing a jacket." Judy started off toward a gap in the courtyard's fence. "Besides, I've had enough of 'over here' and this vacation for one day!" Hanson chuckled and followed her, grabbing a couple of oversized towels from a stack beside the pool.
Tom stepped off the concrete and onto the sand, immediately feeling a well of stress release from his body. He caught up to Judy, plopping down a couple of yards back from the tide.
Judy looked out into the ocean and pushed sand over her toes.
"I don't want to think right now about Lydia, or Booker, or the case." She sighed. "Anything else. Okay, Hanson?"
"Ten-four," he replied. They sat quietly until he spoke again. "So, detective. Back to our conversation earlier."
"Which one?" Judy raised her eyebrows at him. Tom chuckled.
"Today, with the guys… And also, that night back in your car…"
"You mean the night you first kissed me and then ran away?"
"Yes, that would be the one…" Hanson joked lightly. "Seriously, Jude. If you weren't a cop, a detective, what else would you want to do?"
"I don't know… Be a sergeant?" Judy replied seriously. Tom smiled and reached up to scratch the back of his head.
"Uh… No, I mean, I like how you think, Jude. But, if you weren't a cop at all. If you left the force."
"You mean, what else would I want to be?"
"Yeah."
Judy paused and looked down at the sand covering up her feet, and wiggled her toes back through.
"Just myself, I guess," she told him, looking back up into Hanson's eyes. "Wherever that might take me." Judy smiled and looked back out at the sea. "Maybe I'd go back to school to learn more about psychology. Get a higher degree and then go work as a psychologist somewhere. Maybe in… forensics." Hanson laughed again. He clearly felt more relaxed and at ease in her presence than anywhere else.
"You've got that cop blood running through you, Hoffs. I wonder where it came from…"
"Caring about people… caring about what's right." She paused and frowned. "You really are serious about leaving, aren't you Hanson?"
"Maybe," he replied. A long silence passed between them. Tom noticed Judy shiver a bit in the cold, damp air.
"I told you so!" He sighed in a dramatic exasperation, unzipping his jacket and placing it over her shoulders. Tom scooted beside her, so that their sides touched, and looked down, tracing lines into the sand.
"I could leave." Judy's statement surprised Tom. She continued. "I mean, Jump Street. Not necessarily police work and the law forever. What I mean is, I could explore something different for a while."
Tom nodded up and down slowly, trying his best to rein in the cheesy wide smile that threatened to overcome his face. He faked a cough and cleared his throat.
"Good to know," he said plainly.
"I saw that, Tom Hanson!" Judy giggled. Tom, almost bashful, opened his mouth to protest, but instead changed his mind.
"You did? Good."
Next, to Hanson's surprise and without standing all the way up, Hoffs reached across him and grabbed one of the large beach towels. She opened it up carefully behind her, laying the white towel out over the sand. Then she removed his jacket from her shoulders and placed it on top of the towel.
"You know we're technically off duty now, right?" Judy stared him straight in the eyes. "And I'm pretty sure no one can see us out here in the dark…"
"Hoffs…" Hanson began, not sure what to think of her… Is this what I think it is? "What's going on?"
Judy didn't answer, and instead unzipped one of his jacket pockets and pulled out a thin wallet. She held it up to her nose.
"Yup, this reeks of cologne. It must belong to Penhall."
Hanson laughed, still unsure what to think.
"Perfect!" Judy tossed Hanson a playfully seductive look. Immediately, he could feel that being so close to her like this pulled at his heart, along with other parts.
"Tom Hanson," she said. "If there's a condom in this wallet, then today just might be your lucky day after all."
Judy placed the wallet down at the edge of the towel, just between them.
Tom paused for moment, and then smiled as he picked it up to look.
…