Chapter 3
I was surprised how much I missed August and it was only a few days. It wasn't like work wasn't busy. I was sent on a drug bust with Danny and Hades and we had to dress in bulletproof wear in case. We kept back until the swat team had busted into the building and secured the area before going in and locating all the drugs that were hidden in all sorts of locations in the apartment. Some bullets had flown around, but luckily nobody was seriously hurt.
In another case, Hades sniffed out a body buried in the basement of a house where the husband was a person of interest. He was arrested on first-degree murder charges. The man sat upstairs eating his dinner like he had no care in the world and even asked if we could wait until he finished his meal before taking him away.
There was also a shocking development in the serial killer case. The DNA found wasn't on the database, meaning that none of the people who had been fingerprinted due to prior offenses matched the DNA. Just a day after this setback, a body of a man was found when a young man that claimed to have been an escaped victim arrived at the police station and took them to the body.
He was older than his victims and human. He had three stab wounds to the chest and head. When tests were run it was found that his DNA matched the DNA of the skin cells found under victim number 8's nails. The escaped victim had the same rope burns as the others did but was unable to give a lot of information other than that he was able to get hold of the killer's knife inside the car and defend himself and killed the man in the process before he could be taken anywhere. The department was elated as the perpetrator had finally been found and it was deemed an open and shut case.
It didn't sit right with me and I raised the concerns with Watson. The question was, did this man work alone? If this person wasn't the killer responsible for the other victims, more victims would follow. None of the other victims had anything tying them to the perpetrator. Watson replied that we'd had to wait and see.
The rest of the week was quite uneventful, with routine paperwork and the occasional call out to have Hades sniff around suspected areas. It was funny how often the week started with chaos and then tapered off towards the latter part of the week. Almost like criminals waited for the weekend to wreak havoc so the police department was busy on Monday mornings.
Danny and I went to have drinks at a bar Friday night. He was going through a rough patch with his girlfriend. She wanted to get married, and he didn't feel ready for it. I did my best to be an understanding, listening ear but it made me think of my marriage proposal from August. Would I accept it? Here is a couple that have been dating for two years and Danny struggled to commit.
I messaged August now and then but didn't get any response and figured that he was very busy. Late that night a message came through.
August: "Apologies for the late reply, the place I had been at had terrible reception and your messages only came though when I left the area. I'm glad to hear that you caught the perpetrator. I agree that there are some unanswered questions. Perhaps we can discuss it more when I see you? I'll pick you up at 6:30 pm Tuesday night if that day suits you."
Me: "Tuesday is fine. See you then. Keep safe."
Saturday, I mowed grass and went to the shop to get some groceries because pops suddenly was incapable of doing it due to his injured leg. Not that the leg stopped him from going anywhere else – against the doctor's recommendation.
Walmart was quite busy so it took longer to get the items I needed as well as those pops added to the list. Just then a little girl ran into me and I steadied her. She looked up at me with surprised eyes like she couldn't understand how a grown-ass man just suddenly appeared in front of her or something. She had a packet of some sweets in her hand, already open and some chocolate smeared around the mouth.
"Lucy!" a woman called and came rushing up to us and I recognised Jenny.
"Thank you Kai, this little bratkin of mine is making me old before my time," she said as she grabbed hold of the little girl's hand. Jenny worked in reception and everybody loved her. She brought baked goodies to the office every Friday. Her husband worked as an Engineer on ships which meant he was away from home for days at a time sometimes. The department took it upon themselves to check up on her and her two kids daily during those days and she became somewhat of a mother figure to everyone even though she was probably only ten years older than me. Lucy was her youngest, just turned five.
The little girl wasn't happy about being caught and started bawling. Jenny rolled her eyes and pulled her along. You know what, I don't think I'd want kids...
I paid for our groceries and headed home and was surprised or should I say unsurprised that pops wasn't there. I unpacked everything and then took Hades to the park near our house so he could run a bit. It was a sunny day which helped a little to make the icy wind a bit less biting. There weren't as many people around as in summer, mostly only the most frustrated parents who were desperate for their kids to burn off some energy on the playgrounds in the corner of the park or people like me wanting to take their dog for a run.
I sat on a bench and just let the sun warm my face for a bit. When I opened my eyes a while later, I noticed in my peripheral vision that there was a man looking at me. He had the whole "secret-agent" thing going with dark clothes and glasses. I felt a tingling down my spine.
The serial killer case was too fresh in my mind and the gnawing feeling that there was more to it was still strong. Could this man somehow be involved? Half-Avians weren't always obviously so, it would mean that the perpetrator would have to get this information from somewhere. What if the killer that was found was a setup? What if I was on the hit list? I was panicking a little even though I did have a gun on me, hidden underneath my coat and I reached for it in what I thought was an inconspicuous manner. I didn't want to get into a shootout here, even though there were less people, there was still the risk of civilians getting hurt. Once I had my hand on it I turned my head to look at the man, but he was no longer there.
I called Hades to me and walked to where I had last seen the man, but no matter how much I searched, it was like the man just vanished.
Pops was home this time I arrived.
"What's wrong?" he asked immediately when he saw me. I had never been good at hiding my feelings and told him about the park incident.
"That is worrying, he said," stroking his stubbled chin. "You don't think it could have been a Fed or someone just keeping an eye on the park?
"I don't know. He was certainly dressed the part, but the way he just up and vanished creeped me out. And I did feel him specifically observing me. Or perhaps I'm seeing things because I can't stop feeling like the case with the serial killer isn't over yet."
Pops pulled me into a tight hug, but with him being shorter than me he ended up with his face sort-of pressed against my chest while he patted my back gently.
"The thing with being in law enforcement is that there is always an element of uncertainty. Yes, we have forensic evidence and modern technology. But there is always a human element involved. Sometimes things aren't what they seem to be, even with the proof of forensics. There is also corruption. But you can't let this make you live in fear. We sign up to fight for the innocent knowing all of this. That doesn't mean that you should ignore your gut feelings. If you feel there is something more to this whole thing, there probably is. But I don't want you to go and do something stupid and get yourself hurt, okay?"
"Of course," I snorted. "It's not like I'm going to go and hang around parks every day from now on to try and catch the creepy stalker dude."
"You better not. That reminds me, have you decided about August yet?"
Interesting way to change the topic, but I decided I'd bite.
"Decided what?" I asked playing dumb. My dad let go of me and looked at me with a raised eyebrow.
"That may have worked on me when you were five kiddo."
I chuckled.
"My, aren't you the pushy mother hen? So excited about getting August for a son-in-law, are you?"
I followed dad into the kitchen where he started preparing some meat for dinner.
"Yes! And hopefully he could cook sometimes, although I think he might be the kind that just would have a chef do it or deliver. Still, it would be nice to have some evenings off."
"You know I'd cook anytime," I grumbled.
"I know...but we both know how that ends up. So...when are you saying yes?"
"Shove off!" I said, pushing his shoulder playfully.
"You do realise that if I married August, he'd probably have me move into his house? What about you? I'm not about to leave you here alone and defenceless."
"I'm not as defenceless as you think, son."
"Then how do you explain your broken leg and concussion you are still recovering from?"
"Just a moment's lapse of judgment."
"That's my point. Next time that moment may mean you don't make it. I don't like it."
"Well, perhaps August would invite me to come and live with you both. Problem solved."
"I don't know how to respond to that."
Dad chuckled.
"Kai, I may be old but I'm not stupid. I have the same detective instincts you do, if I feel unsafe, I promise I will move into an Old Age home or whatever. Better?"
"You, in an Old Age home at 54? Do they even allow people your age in those places? Besides, we both know that the day you willingly go to an Old Age home is the day I declare I'm straight."
"Oh wow, so I can look forward to some more grandkids."
"Funny."
We reached some sort of silent stalemate. It is clear where I got my stubbornness from. I watched pops as he pan-seared the steaks in garlic butter. Not the healthiest but I'm not going to complain. Cholesterol be damned.
"August invited me over to his place for dinner on Tuesday," I eventually said.
"Oh ho, moving in for a home run so quickly? I can already hear the wedding bells," he said, fake wiping away a tear from the corner of his eye.
"Shut it, old man. We're not having sex and I haven't said I'd marry him."
"Not yet," dad said grinning, "but you have to admit he IS quite the catch."
"I don't know why you are so insistent about me being together with him, but I swear if I find out that this whole thing was some elaborate scheme to get me out of the house, I will book you into an Old Age home myself."
"Oh dear, you completely uncovered my plot!" pops said dramatically as he plopped a steak onto a plate and then scooped in some potatoes and mashed green beans and put it on the table in front of me. "There goes my dream to live the single life, eat junk food all the time, walk around naked at home all the time and party it up."
I snorted but knew my dad had won this round.
"Thank you, the food smells and looks amazing."
Monday morning Danny and I were sent to check out a mobile home park. A call came in saying that there had been a shootout which also resulted in the electricity of the park being fried when a stray bullet hit a power box. When we arrived on the scene there were quite a few of the park residents huddled around one of those container styled homes. Danny asked them to move away and spread the yellow tape line around the place as I stepped inside.
The smell of blood and gunpowder was strong here. In the bedroom there was the body of a man with a headshot wound. His hands were bound and the way he lay showed he was killed execution style. Blood was all over the bedsheets and there were several bullet holes in the wall, but it looks like only one hit the man or at least was intended for the man. I checked and confirmed that he was dead.
Not wanting to contaminate the crime scene before Grey and Stella arrived, who specialised in collecting forensic evidence, I carefully walked through the rest of the home. Blood was visible on the floor and made a thin trail out the front door. Someone else had clearly been wounded and left. This would explain the shoot-out outside and the bullet holes in some of the neighbouring homes and the power box. The rest of the home was ransacked. Could this have been a robbery gone wrong?
After Grey and Stella took photos of the scene, collected fingerprints and any obvious bits of evidence for analysis the ambulance removed the body from the scene. I helped search the rest of the home and we found 8 kilos of cocaine as well as about $7 000 in cash. The money was tightly bound in a bundle and looked like it fell behind a cabinet. This could have happened in the rush for the robbers to get away. It was clear that the owner of this home was a drug dealer.
I later fetched Hades from the car, and we walked around the trailer park. Hades followed the blood trail in the direction of the power box and then past it until we arrived at the road. This must be where the getaway car was, or at least one of them. Some tracks could be seen on the tarmac – there were some obvious skid marks.
Hades went over to some bushes nearby and barked. I carefully pushed through and ended up finding a gun that was thrown in there. I put it in an evidence bag and when Hades didn't find anything else we headed back to the rest of the team.
Danny had been speaking to the neighbours and from putting the pieces together the shootout happened at about 3 am in the morning. There were two men living in the victim's container home and from what the neighbours said they were generally quiet people who would greet someone when greeted but weren't too social. There weren't many people coming around to their place. Nobody really knew them. One neighbour said that when he asked one of the guys, who called himself "Dave", what he did for work he said he worked in a casino. The other man was called "Tim" and supposedly was a student at a local University.
Now we had to wait for the coroner's report, fingerprint and other forensic evidence analysis reports to come back. Me and Danny were assigned to this case.
Pops wasn't home and left a note saying that he was going out with a friend and would probably only be back very late and that there was a plate of food in the microwave that I could just heat up. I had a feeling that my dad's "friend" probably was someone connected to a job he was working on. I felt like I should snitch on him to his doctor that he wasn't healing quietly at home like he's supposed to. But at the same time, I knew pops was not the kind of person who could sit still for long. It was in his blood, the restlessness. I guess I understood that. I also would feel very frustrated if I got hurt and had to stay at home and not be able to go out there and make a difference in the world.
I first went for a shower and then ate dinner with Hades for company. I later exercised in our home gym. It took me a while to fall asleep and I didn't really sleep well until much later when I heard the sound of pops getting home. Knowing he was back I could finally sleep deeply.