No Balm For Grief 7
By: Hotaru
Notes: It's always odd when there's a bunch of good reviews, and one bad one. Sticks out like a sore thumb, and makes you wonder if the person gets off trying to make other people feel bad. Didn't work, jackass!
ScoobySnax: Suspect everyone! I think I know who it is...that's a lie, I don't. ;p
Tek: Yeah. That Japanese restaurant that Becca and Jill went to...it's real. I went there, and had teriyaki chicken. It was very, very hot. Made me want to make a Rurouni Kenshin costume and go there for Halloween.
Peanutbuttersunshine: I've already addressed you. Glad to see you don't have the balls to respond to my e-mail!
Dayon: More suspense!? My suspense tank is dry...
Panny: ØWN3D!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Ota: I like your analogy. Icing...is good. Some icing is bad though.We bought a tube of icing around Christmas, and haven't used it.
Rachel: Thank you! Death's are always sad...
Chris treated me to lunch, and dinner to give our mind's a break. I asked him how long it takes to solve cases like these. He said that it depends. Sometimes, they never get solved.
That thought bothered me. What if all of us were killed? And then the killings stopped? I wouldn't be able to rest in my grave, not knowing what the goddamn pattern was. Every second thought in my head was about the stupid pattern. I planned tomorrow carefully. I was going to get everyone's vital information. Blood type, birthday, hair color, and everything that could somehow be linked, and I was going to go over it and find the pattern, and catch the killer. For Carlos...and for Barry.
--*--
The detectives called Rebecca back in, once her condition went from hysterical to slightly calm. They let me stay in the room with her while they interrogated her again. "When can I get his ring back?" She asked, before they had a chance to say anything.
"We should be able to return that to you shortly. Now, do you remember anyone suspicious hanging around your boyfriend's apartment lately? Any suspicious phone calls?" A detective asked.
"No."
"What was it that Mr. Oliviera said before he passed away?"
"He said...he was glad that I had my ring...that he figured out the pattern, he was glad I had my ring and that it was all we need."
"What's so special about the ring?"
"It's...his birthstone...but it's purple so he didn't want to wear it so he let me have it."
Birthstone...purple...what was the month for purple?
The detective rubbed his chin, obviously wondering what the hell all this meant. "Did you touch anything after you found your boyfriend?" He continued.
"No...just him." Rebecca answered, pulling a tissue from the box that was on the table.
"Did he have any enemies?"
"...not that I know of. Everyone liked him...you couldn't find anything? No hairs or fibers or anything?"
"No, unfortunately not."
"Did you wipe everything for prints? The windows, the sink, the door handles?" I interrupted.
"I'm sure that Crime Scene checked all surfaces for prints, and they found nothing. I'm sorry, Miss Chambers but we're still at a standstill on this case. If you can think of anything else, please give us a call."
She nodded, and sighed shakily. "We'll find him, Bec. Don't worry. Why don't you go on home and get some rest?" I suggested.
"Can I get his ring back?" She asked. Nodding, I stood up and went to find the Detective.
"Excuse me, Detective Simone, can she get the ring back? She asked for it again." He was filling his cup with coffee again.
"Yeah. I'll go get it from the lab." He said, handing me his coffee for safekeeping.
"Did they find anything on it?"
"Don't think so. Tough case...you can tell her to wait out here." He passed by a bench and gestured to it before jogging down the stairs. I put the cup onto his desk, or what I thought was his desk, and went to bring her out. Chris bumped into us as we were making our way back to the office. I could tell he didn't really know what to say. Rebecca on the other hand, did. She looked up at Chris briefly, and asked him to catch the killer.
"I'll try. We're all trying our damndest to, Bec. We'll get him. I promise." He said, giving her a quick hug. Something told me that Chris wasn't sure if we'd ever find this guy. I had hope though, I knew that we'd figure it out.
"You know what Chris..." I said, as Rebecca sat down in the bench and hugged her knees to her chest. "I'm going to go call Leon. He's a cop, maybe he can help us out with this." I didn't give him a chance to say no, before walking briskly to his phone. Chris stayed by Rebecca's side, comforting her as best he could while I dialed in Leon's number.
"Hello?" He answered, sounding kind of like he was expecting someone.
"Hey, Leon. It's Jill again." I replied.
"Oh, hey. What's going on?"
"Truthfully, we're stuck in this damn case, and I was calling to see if you could maybe help us out."
"Alright, I'll do what I can I guess."
"Great." I glanced over at Chris and Rebecca. She seemed to be calming down, so I gave Chris an encouraging smile. "Well...like I mentioned before, we might all be in danger. 'We' being the survivors of the Umbrella incidents."
"Ah huh.."
"Well, so far, Barry and Carlos are dead. They weren't similar in anyway, really. Their health was different, their ages...the only thing linking them is their involvement with this. Barry died soon after Linda, his wife, signed a D.N.R. which is sort of strange to me, and Carlos was renovating his apartment when he was killed. Now, he had been spending a lot of time with Rebecca lately, and this was the first time that they were really separated since Rebecca went to visit Barry with me, in the hospital. It seems like a strange coincidence...and before Carlos died, he mentioned the ring he had given Becca, and said that it was all she needed, and that he found the pattern." I took a breath or two and let him absorb everything.
"What's the significance of the ring?" Leon questioned.
"It was Carlos's birthstone, and purple. He never wore it but he gave it to her and she wore it." I answered, looking through the files to see if there was anything I forgot to tell him. "Oh right...he came after me the other day. And he has my gun now."
"Jesus...did he use it to kill Carlos?"
"No, he was stabbed. Why would he take my gun, but not use it?"
"Are you sure he took it?"
"Well, it wasn't in the apartment at all. The cops did a canvas of the neighborhood, and looked in trash cans and stuff but didn't find it."
"Hm..no clues at the crime scenes?"
"No. Everything was spick and span."
"Damn. Well...I wrote down most of what you told me. I'll go over it for awhile to see if I can figure anything out. Where can I reach you?" He questioned. I rummaged around Chris's desk, and found his business card and gave Leon the number.
"Were you able to get in contact with Chris's sister?" I asked.
"Shit, no, I was actually waiting for her to call. I left a couple messages on her machine, but she hasn't called back yet. You think we should be worried?"
"I don't know...should I tell Chris? He'll probably head over to her place to find her."
"Nah, I'm gonna head over there now. I'll call you when I know something."
"Alright. Thanks for your help."
"No problem. Bye."
I hung up the phone with a sigh. Detective Simone returned finally, and handed Rebecca Carlos's ring in a plastic evidence bag. I got up, and went over to the trio. "We cleaned all the blood off of it." Simone said.
"Thank you." Rebecca said, putting the bag in her pocket.
"Be sure to keep in touch if anything comes up, alright?"
"Yeah. Thanks." She stood up, and rushed past him and Chris.
"Um, Chris, can I have a word with you?" I asked, rubbing my arms. He looked at me worriedly, and nodded while Detective Simone went to his desk.
I went to the back of the office, to Chris's desk. "What's wrong?" He asked.
"I just got off the phone with Leon...I asked him to call Claire before, to let her know the killer might be after us. He hasn't been able to get in contact with her." A look of panic washed over his face.
"What? Why didn't you tell me sooner?!" He exclaimed.
"I...didn't want to get you worried over nothing. He said he's heading over to her place now, and he'll call once he knows what's going on." I explained.
"No...I gotta go find her." He pulled his jacket from the back of his chair.
I held his arm, hoping he'd listen to me. "Chris, there's no point in you going all the way out there. Leon's closer, and he promised to call. We both know that Claire's your only family, and that she means everything to you, but you shouldn't jump the gun, okay?"
"Yeah...I guess you're right. I'm just worried...I'm always worrying now. This shit sucks." He slumped in his chair, and pressed his fists against his forehead. "So anyway, your gun still hasn't turned up yet. Luckily, it wasn't used in the murder. Hopefully the guy will try to hock it for some money to get out of town."
"Why are you hoping for that?" I asked, crossing my legs.
"We called every pawn shop in the city that's under our jurisdiction with the make and model number. We told them to act cool, and say they need to take it in the back or whatever and to call immediately."
"What about selling it?"
"They'll probably make something up about calling their manager. Hopefully he won't get impatient. We'll have to hope and pray that these owners aren't idiots."
Chris's phone rang, so I left to get us some coffee. I didn't particularly care for coffee, but I needed a jump start. Since there weren't any breaks in the case, I started feeling sluggish. Placing a cardboard-like cup on Chris's desk, I smiled. "Who was that?" I asked.
"Linda." He replied.
"Oh...how's she doing?"
"Alright. She just got Barry's possessions from the hospital. She wanted to stop by and talk about funeral arrangements. Man...I don't want to have to do this now.."
"Yeah, I understand. But, the sooner you get it over with...the sooner everyone can move on. How are the kids taking it?"
"No clue. She hasn't really mentioned them much. I can imagine that they don't really understand yet."
Nodding, I took a sip of my coffee. "So. There doesn't seem to be much crime in Wesk Creek. Think the other potential perp's are scared by the new police presence?" I asked.
"Maybe. I mean, the town's usually quiet as far as I've been told. You'd think that since everyone's workin' on this case that it would be solved already!" He sighed exasperatedly, rubbing his temples.
"We'll figure it out. How'd you like me to bring you back some lunch?"
"Sure, sounds good. Let me get you some money."
I was about to tell him it was no big deal, but my savings were dwindling down, and unless I got a job soon, I'd have a zero balance in my bank account. "It's no big deal..." I said lightly.
"Nah, I'd feel bad making you buy for me." He said with a smile.
"What do you want?"
"Anything, anything but donuts."
"Alright. I'll be back soon."
--*--
As I made my way back into the police station from the deli, I saw Linda ascending the stairs that led to the detective office. Her pace was slow, and unmotivated. Barry really was everything to her. I followed her up the stairs, but didn't greet her. There wasn't anything to say, really. "Sorry your husband's dead" or something wouldn't help the situation any. Chris was waiting for her near the doorway. "Hey Linda...Jill? You're back." Chris greeted. Linda slowly turned to me and smiled weakly.
"Oh, Linda, I didn't notice you there." I lied.
"Would you like some coffee?" Chris offered.
"Sure." Linda replied, following him to the coffee room. "So I got Barry's things back..."
"Yeah, huh?" That was the thing cops said when they weren't sure how exactly to respond.
"His college ring..his wallet...not much. Still, I feel almost nostalgic looking at them." She pulled the ring from the bag and looked at the light blue stone. "I wish I could wear it, but my fingers are too small."
"You could always put it on a chain and wear it around your neck." I suggested.
"It's too heavy. As if the weight of the world isn't pulling me down already." The phone at Chris's desk rang.
"I'll get it for you." I offered, getting up and walking out of the small room and picking up the receiver. "Hello, Detective Redfield's desk?"
"Jill? It's Leon--put Chris on." Placing the phone on the desk, I half-ran back into the room.
"Chris, Leon for you." I reported.
"You're busy....I just wanted to see what you were thinking about in regards to the funeral. You can call me if you get any idea's. Sorry to bother you." Linda stood up, and clutched the bag with Barry's things tightly.
I could tell he wanted to rush to the phone, but he didn't want to be rude. "You don't have to go...maybe you should get some rest. Have you been sleeping well?" He asked.
"No. I'm so used to having him next to me. The girls have been sleeping in bed with me....but it's just not the same. Bye, Chris." She walked out of the room, pulling a tissue from her pocket. Once she was out of sight, Chris ran to the phone.
"Yeah, Leon? It's me."
I listened to his half of the conversation lightly, figuring everything was fine. But, wouldn't you know it, things weren't fine. As I thumbed through the folder about the attack on Carlos, I heard Chris say "Is she okay?" I looked up worriedly. "Yeah....yeah...she was, though? Conscious?...which hospital? Alright, I'll be there." He hung up the phone and put his hands on the desk, bowing his head.
"Chris...what is it..?" I asked lowly.
"Accident." He mumbled, before half-running, half-staggering to the bathroom. I ran after him, hoping that no one was using the urinals in there. Chris practically collapsed into the stall, and threw up. I had to repress my sympathetic gag reflex, as throwing up on him wouldn't do any good.
"Are you alright? What happened?" I asked, as he slumped against the stall wall and slid to the floor. I handed him a bunch of toilet paper to wipe his mouth.
"Claire...she was in a accident on her bike..."
