Without a price
Chapter 9
Emily wasn't sure if she really wanted to know, but she asked anyway, "what kind of trouble?"
"The kind that is better told face to face." The voice on the other side of the phone said stubbornly, with little detail. They shouldn't be though; it was not exactly a good time to be doing so.
"You know acting all suspicious and vague here is not exactly a good way for you to convince me to come to you, much less help, especially after that little blow up we had. You are even lucky I'm talking to you as we speak" Anger was quickly overcoming Emily, who had no patience for their antics. They were becoming tiresome after all these years.
"That was….I'm sorry okay? I overreacted, did not consider just what is happening in your life, I mean with your-" Emily quickly interrupted his sentence.
"I wouldn't bring up that name if I were you. You are stepping on dangerous ground as it is" Emily really shouldn't have had to warn them though, then again they were never the smartest crayon in the box.
"Okay, okay I get the hint. Just meet me please? We really need to talk."
It was against Emily's better judgment when she considered it he was right, but she did not have to be happy about it. "Fine, I'll be there this afternoon, right now I have to work and follow a certain lead." He could wait, this couldn't.
"This afternoon it is," the person agreed, though through the signing she heard afterwards said they would prefer sooner than later. Well, too bad.
When Lucky walked into work, he got assigned with finding where to find the suspects. If they could question them, see if they had an alibi, it would limit the load, but they certainly got farther than he imagined. By now they have cut the possibilities in half and were counting down, assuming that they were on the right lead. He certainly hoped they were or else they would be back to the beginning.
He flicked through the witness list again, which consisted of many names, pages of them. The shooting had taken place at a club on a Friday night, the times college students went to drink and dance among others. The story was the same for most of them; they were inside the club when they heard a gunshot. They raced outside, only to not see anything because the huge crowd that was already there.
From the ones on the front line, they said that the shot came from out of nowhere. No one could be sure where it was shot, but it had to be a reasonable distance because that type of gun does not work more than a couple feet. The gun was absent, but they could get the type from the bullet extracted. They had nearly no leads, especially if you add the affect alcohol can have on a person.
What made it worse was that the gun was the basic one bought in order to protect oneself and their family so basically anyone could done it. Baldwin probably had a gun with it due to all the enemies he has made throughout the years. It was too common and this whole case was one big nightmare. There was nothing that stuck out, nothing that distinguished it all. He couldn't leave it be though, felt like he needed to work on it and solve it, that he had to be one of the people on the assignment.
Well, he got his wish and it was exhausting him. He raised his head as his boss came by. "Spencer, you're good with technology, right?"
"Yeah, pretty good with it," Lucky agreed but wondered why that came up now. It did not become important for the last few months he had been working there.
"Good, then you have a new assignment." His boss bent down and placed a box of videocassettes on his desk. "These are security tapes of a certain motel. One of our main suspects stayed there for a couple days. The night before he checked out he had a guest, one that he has issues with apparently, possibly an accomplice. They argued-loudly. I need you to watch the tapes throughout the night and find who this person is. They might know where to find our suspect, possibly know anything about the shooting itself".
"Okay," Lucky agreed but was curious what he just got him into. The box held many of them, which meant that he had the entire night to watch, second by second. It was going to be a long day.
He was right and it was late afternoon before he actually saw this "mystery guest". He had been staring at the screen watching the scene before him for a good eight hours at the very least, so he was quite bored until something actually happened. He had to blink and fast forward the tape so that he was sure he was not just seeing things. He thought he had before but it was always one of the left or right rooms. It was the right room this time though.
The figure had a coat and pants on, and if the hair was not hid under the jacket, had short hair, a little below the shoulder. They knocked and the suspect opened the door and they swiftly entered, the door quickly slamming shut. Lucky paused the video and wrote down the time, in order to see how long they visited. The yelling that was heard would not show up in the black and white camera because it did not have speakers but you could note when it started, as some windows and doors opened from the other two rooms, obviously curious with the racket. He wrote this time down too, the relative time anyway.
For all he knows it could have started a minute or two before and the neighbors could have just heard it, got sick of it, or again, was just curious. It could be a bunch of things. The person stayed for 20 minutes and left in a hurry, so no good image would result. The face would probably be shaded and lead nowhere or if anywhere the wrong direction. He could see the hair sway slightly, so that just meant that they had short hair like he guessed. Plenty of evidence for a fight though, the guest left the room quite angry, practically slamming the door.
He grabbed the witness file and looked to see if they had got anything more from them. Maybe it had an estimate about height, the color of clothes or hair, or even the race and gender. Anything would be helpful really. The guest was Caucasian and given an average height to above average, with heels though so that left error. They couldn't say a gender, the coat and hair both made sure of that. The hair length worked for either and the coat made it impossible to see their form. It was dark by the time they watched them walking away so any guesses on colors would probably be wrong. This did not help anymore than all the other research they had done. How frustrating.
But frustrating or not, he had to tell his boss what he found. He had left though so Lucky left the file and his notes there, he'd tell him more details tomorrow. Swallowing a big yawn, Lucky decided to go home himself. He had seriously been skimping on sleep and it was coming to haunt him so he decided to go do that for a change, maybe ignore reality for a while. At least that was the plan before his phone rang.
Previously…
Emily got out of her SUV and glanced at the house. She still did not care for it or the person she was meeting but she would just have to suck it up. She was strong enough to do that, right?
Firmly she knocked on the door when she approached it; half hoping the guy was asleep and did not hear it. No such luck, the door opened and she carelessly looked behind him, greeting him stiffly "Vincent." He rose his brows at the formal name but let it slip, she was obviously still angry.
"You came a little earlier than I expected," he replied as she walked in as he stepped out of the doorway.
"My lead has gone astray until tomorrow", Emily responded, walking in with her head held straight up, not to show that she was better than him (even though she did think she was), but rather because she wanted to showcase the grudge she was still keeping.
"How fortunate for me," Vincent commented and ignored the obvious show of indifference.
They walked to the study to talk, looking for privacy not that anyone really was around the creepy old house Vincent was staying at. It was full of ghosts, some dangerous ones if you got the wrong one or felt they were what they most feared. It was the reason why the house would never sell. It was just too haunted for others to be liable.
Emily sat down at the chair nearest the desk, where Vincent sat. "Well?" Emily asked impatiently, going straight to the point. "What is this news that 'is better told face to face'"?
"The news is in two parts actually." He admitted, not surprised to see Emily's eyes narrow under more suspicion.
"Give me them in good news and bad news text then." Emily recommended, "I hope the good news will override the bad, at least for your sake."
"Okay, you know that night at the bar? The one you tracked me to?" Vincent asked and Emily broke the face and grimaced, shaking her head trying to put that memory away to no avail.
"Yeah, I know what you are talking about." Emily wish she didn't but she did. It was the night the officer got killed. She was there tracking Vincent who seemed, well, unusual and felt the responsibility that she could not let go of to try and step in.
They had argued-not that was unexpected, they always argued but it was interrupted by a commotion out in front. He was faster and stood in her way to see what was going on, not that she could have with the crowd in front of her. Then the gunshot went off and people went into a frenzy, scared and believing that this was going to be "the end".
"Well, the police think I might have done it." Vincent replied calmly, then all heck broke loose and he started pulling at his hair and stood around to pace, obviously disheveled with this accusation. "I didn't even have a gun-can't access one! How could I have shot that officer without one, even if I was not with you the whole time?" He asked, not really expecting her to answer.
"I still feel guilty about misreading the situation so I agreed to plead guilty and killing the policeman and by doing the jail time I thought I could at least be responsible for one thing in my life. I thought that if I stayed good with my parole that I would be fine but it's never enough is it? I apologized to his family; I did my time, stayed true to the right path since I've got out-what more could they want?"
"I have done a lot of bad I realize-I was never there for you, I took away a good father and husband, I was always too preoccupied with my own survival to help others. But I have at least changed the last two things and am working on that first one and that has made me a better person. I have changed, why can't anyone see that?"
This rant was all based on a frustration that had been building for a while, and Emily knew he really had changed. She was still angry but this was a different issue, one that needed to be dealt with.
"Don't be wrong when I say this-I'm still angry with you, but I know you have been sincere and upfront about changing your ways, working on your issues and trying to deal with your responsibilities for life. And that is the only reason I am helping clear this up. You deserve at least to be considered a changed man" Emily felt she had to make that clear. "I will talk with my police officer friend and fix this up by saying as a witness there is no possible way that you could have done it. Once I've done that you can tell me the rest."
Vincent looked relieved and agreed to her plan and saw her to the door and off.