John

It was just past midnight when John arrived home. He'd never intended to come back so late, but after dropping off Angela and Lilith at the in-laws' house, he'd felt compelled to return to the station to write his report on the Skip Broke case while it was all still fresh in his mind. When he finished the report, however, he began filling out the forms to requesition the evidence from the Bella Goth case, and doing some online research of his own. As the hour drew later, he felt the mounting dread of facing the wife at home growing angrier by the minute. Compulsion became equal parts procrastination, until he finally had no choice but to return home.

John crept in through the front door, stepping softly over the hardwood floor to keep from waking anyone. The Burb house was an unimpressive two bedroom, one bath Craftsman style home that Jennifer had never really liked. It had suited their purposes as a young couple, but the addition of a child quickly made the space feel cramped. Jennifer tried not to complain about it too much, but John knew it grated on her, as many things seemed to these days, and he longed to buy them a bigger home. However, his single income had proven inadequate to cover more than the day to day expenses, let alone save for the future. It was yet another shortcoming he brought to the mix.

John felt his spirits lifted, however, when he looked in on little Lucy, sound asleep in her bed. She had somehow managed to kick half of her blankets to the floor, and one leg draped over the side of the bed. John smiled. If he'd done nothing else right over the course of his marriage, at least he'd created this beautiful little girl. He gently rolled her over so that all of her limbs rested comfortably in the bed, and then pulled the blankets back over her body until they touched her chin. Her eyes fluttered a little, as if she might wake, but then she let out a long sigh as slumber regained its hold.

"Love you, Goosey," John whispered and kissed her forehead.

In his own bedroom, John found a less tender scene. Jennifer sat up in bed, pillows tucked behind her to prop her up, as she studied what he presumed to be research. She'd gone to school to be a reporter, but turned her back on promising career leads when she married John and later became pregnant with Lucy. Now, nine years later, she'd decided to try to pick up where she left off, and had started a blog to get back in the game. John was proud of her for pursuing her dream, but at the same time felt she resented him for having to give it up in the first place. It was yet another wedge in their marriage driving them apart. She wore her reading glasses, which glinted in the light of the lamp next to the bed, and her wavy black hair was down, cascading around her pretty face and terminating just short of her shoulders.

"I'm sorry I'm late," said John. It was an inadequate apology, he knew, but it seemed a good place to test the waters of how much trouble he was actually in.

Jennifer looked up at him without a word or any change in her expression, then went back to reading, or at least pretended to.

Big trouble, thought John.

Rather than plead his case, John decided to let her stew a bit while he got ready for bed. He went to the bathroom and peeled off his clothes, then surrendered himself to an overly hot shower. As the water washed over him, he tried not to think about his angry wife, but rather about the case, allowing his mind to drift back eleven years to the night he and his old partner went to the Goth mansion to investigate Bella Goth's disappearance, trying to remember any details he might have dismissed at the time, but which might now be relevant.

It had been a balmy summer night, he recalled, when he and Kauker responded to reports of strange flashing lights, possibly a lightning storm, near the Goth mansion. By the time they arrived, they saw no lights, or anything amiss. Kauker had thought it a crank call, but John-who was just graduated from rookie status and still anxious to prove himself-said they ought to at least knock on the door. Both officers were a little surprised when Mortimer himself answered, rather than a member of the household staff. When John asked if everyone in the house was okay, Mortimer told them that the kids were staying at a relative's house because his wife had just left him and he needed time to be alone with that fact. John asked about the lights, but Mortimer claimed he had no idea to what the neighbors might be referring. Kauker apologized for bothering him so late, and Mortimer closed the door just short of slamming it in their faces.

"He seemed bothered," said John as they walked back to the squad car.

"His wife just left him," said Kauker. "Of course he's bothered."

"No, there was something else. He definitely wasn't telling us the whole story."

Kauker shrugged. "You think we should track down Bella Goth?"

John said he did as they pulled away from the curb. He looked back at the mansion, unable to shake the feeling that something was very off. "Pull over a second, will you?" he said.

"What are you going to do?"

"Just wait here. No sense both of us getting busted. I just want to take a peek."

Before Kauker could object, John hopped out of the car and ran around the back of the mansion. The yard was obscured by a brick wall and a barrier of hedges, so he had to scale the wall, the branches and thorns of the hedges scratching at his skin as he climbed. He finally made it to the top and peeked over, his breath catching at what he saw.

The back yard of the mansion was filled with depressed willow trees, the largest overlooking a small fenced-in graveyard. Close to the house was a large pool. In the grassy space between the pool and the graveyard was a circle of stones that glowed eerily in the night, casting a green pallor over the scene. Steam or smoke rose from the center of the circle, and the grass there was blackened. John nearly fell off the wall as he scrambled back down.

"There's definitely something weird going on there," he reported to Kauker when he got back to the car. We should get a warrant."

"Why? What did you see?" John described the scene, to which Kauker said, "So did you see a body?"

"No."

"Blood?"

"No."

"Evidence of a crime? Any of the graves look fresh? Any drag marks from a body being moved?"

John had to admit that the answer to all of those questions was no.

"Well we can't get a warrant on the guy because he has a funny rock garden," said Kauker.

"Fine," said John, "but I think we ought to at least look into Bella, make sure she's okay, because something sure as hell isn't right with this."

In the weeks that followed, John did just that. Bella didn't respond to any phone calls or emails. He interviewed the Goths' neighbors, but none of them had seen her, though they did report hearing some screaming and arguing a week or so before she was last seen, and some strange vans coming and going from the estate. He re-interviewed Mortimer, who maintained that Bella had left him, but eventually was forced to file a missing persons report, which at least gave John an excuse to get back inside the mansion. However, a cursory search revealed no circle of stones, or even a blackened patch of grass. Whatever he had seen that night had been thoroughly removed as if it had never existed. Eventually, the chief ordered John to stop looking, that there were other cases that needed solving, ones that weren't cold, and the disappearance of Bella Goth remained an unsolved mystery. Eventually Kauker retired, and Nina became John's new partner. The distraction of new cases eventually made Bella's case fade from his focus, and he'd almost forgotten about it.

Until tonight when he saw that stone, so similar to the ones he'd seen at the Goth mansion so many years ago.

John got out of the shower and toweled himself off. Under different circumstances he might have considered returning to bed as he was, hoping for a little romantic distraction with his wife. But he knew that wouldn't be in the offering tonight, so he donned boxer shorts and an old T-shirt and went back into the bedroom. Jennifer seemed not to have moved. John crawled into bed, facing away from her.

"I'm sorry for being late," he said again.

There was a long silence, but then Jennifer finally said, "I made a nice dinner. I'll pack some leftovers for your lunch tomorrow. Oh, and by the way, Lucy made it all the way through her routine tonight for her dance recital. She was so happy, you should have seen it. I guess you'll see it at the actual recital. If you can make it, that is."

John endured the barbs, still not looking over at his wife. Finally, after a bit of silence, he said, "Skip Broke died tonight. I think he was murdered."

There came a slight gasp from Jennifer's side of the bed, then silence. After a few moments, he heard her put away her book and the light clicked off. He felt her arm reach around his waist as she snuggled against him and nestled her head against the back of his neck.

"I'm sorry," she said.

He wasn't sure if she was apologizing for the chilly treatment, or expressing condolences for his friend's death, but at that moment he didn't really care. He laced his fingers through hers and took comfort in the warmth of her body as he drifted off to a fitful sleep.