Chapter Five – Is Anything Ever Easy?
Steve sat on the side of the bed and rubbed his bleary eyes. It had been after 3AM when he got in from the scene of the third murder. Once again the victim had been a man in his early 40's, around six feet tall, a bachelor, and was in good physical shape. His name was Jacob Sherrard. He had been stabbed in the chest, and Steve was sure Amanda would find evidence of a needle mark in the back of his neck. It was 7AM and he was due at the precinct by 8AM. He hadn't even had a chance to finish interviews from the first two murders and he already had another. He still needed to go by Ray's Gym. Right now it was the only thing linking Clifford Jewell and Brent Coleman. He sighed wearily and rested his face in his hands. A noise from upstairs caught his attention and he listened intently for a moment until he identified the sound of his father whistling and preparing breakfast. He shook his head slightly and smiled. Mark had been out late with him, and yet he was up, and in all likelihood dressed for work and preparing breakfast. He pushed himself upright and shuffled into the shower.
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When Steve got to the station he received a pleasant surprise. Captain Newman had assigned another detective to help Steve out. He had been working alone for the last two weeks. Cheryl had injured her knee during a foot pursuit and had undergone surgery to repair the damage. Her recovery would take at least four more weeks. After his introduction to Detective Aaron Dunbar, Steve had quickly taken advantage of the extra body and sent him to Ray's Gym. Steve was going to contact the family of Jacob Sherrard. His father was deceased and his mother was in a nursing home. He had a brother who was retired military and lived in San Diego, a sister who was a teacher in St. Louis and another brother who was currently a guest of the state of California.
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Alexandria Thompson sat staring at her phone as if that would make it ring. Steve had said he would call. She had been at the scene of the third murder but he had already been inside the victim's house and she had left early to try and meet the late edition deadline for her story. She drummed her pencil against her desk and silently fumed. He said he would call.
"Ms Thompson?"
"What?" she barked at the man who stood in front of her desk.
David Larkin jumped and stepped back slightly.
Alex immediately felt bad. David was one of the sweetest men she had ever met. He seemed to know what she needed sometimes even before she did. He didn't deserve her anger. She reached a hand out towards him and was gratified when he moved back towards her desk. "David, I'm so sorry, you just caught me off guard."
"It's ok Ms Thompson, It's my fault, I shouldn't have startled you like that."
Alex smiled at him brightly. "What did you need, David?"
"Nothing really I just wanted to see if you needed any help with your story."
Alex's face darkened. "No, David, I'm waiting for a call from Steve Sloan, he said he would call me with more information."
"Steve Sloan, isn't he that police officer that you dated?"
"Yes, one and the same," Alex responded.
"I'm surprised you would want to talk with him after the way he treated you."
"He didn't treat me badly, David, circumstances just made it difficult for us to be together, I was willing to give it another try," she shrugged. "But Steve felt that things would always be difficult."
"I think you're too good for him," David stated succinctly.
"Thank you, David, but I don't want to give you the wrong impression he is one of the most frustrating and difficult men I have ever met, but he is also, one of the kindest and compassionate as well."
"Whatever you say Ms Thompson, did you need me to do anything?"
"No, David, but thanks for the offer."
As David turned to walk back towards his desk he couldn't help but think that a woman as wonderful and beautiful as Alexandria Thompson really did deserve someone better than a homicide cop.
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Steve sat at Bob's reading over the report that Detective Dunbar had prepared from his interviews at Ray's Gym. It appeared to be a dead end. Jewell and Coleman belonging there seemed to be a coincidence. Jewell had been a member for some time but Coleman had only joined about a week ago and had been there the one time to sign up.
"You know it's bad for business when a customer, especially when he is a part owner, completely ignores their food," Jesse informed him.
Steve looked up and had to grin. "Sorry, Jess, just got caught up in my reading."
"Can I help with anything?" Jesse offered.
Steve leaned back in his chair tiredly. "I'm not sure, Jess, this case has got me stumped."
"No good suspects?" Jesse inquired.
"Oh, I have a couple of good suspects, one each for the first two murders, trouble is the evidence points to one person for all three
"What about the third victim?"
"I spoke with his sister, she last talked with him about a week ago, he seemed fine and didn't mention anything out of the ordinary, she gave me a couple of names of friends, but they were in Vegas together. His boss is out of town today, so I'm going to go by there tomorrow."
"So, what's on the agenda for the rest of the day?" Jesse asked.
Just as Steve started to speak, his phone rang. He offered Jesse a smile as he flipped it open and answered it. "Sloan, oh, Alex, what's up?" Steve cringed slightly and Jesse's eyes widened as he heard the voice coming through Steve's phone. The continuous stream of words coming from Alex prevented Steve from saying anything until the conversation ended. "Ok, I'll see you then, bye." Steve sighed heavily as he closed the phone and looked up to find Jesse staring at him with a mischievous smile playing about his lips.
"Problems?" Jesse asked with a smirk.
"No, why would you think there was a problem?"
"Oh, nothing, people always carry on normal conversations that loud, as a doctor I have to tell you it could be bad for your hearing," Jesse informed him with a sly smile. "That wouldn't happen to have been 'the Alex' would it?"
"I don't know what you mean by 'the Alex'," Steve responded. "It was Alexandria Thompson, a reporter for the LA Times."
"Please! Do you think I don't remember her?" Jesse asked in amazement. "If her looks weren't enough, she gave me one of my favorite 'Kodak' moments of you."
Steve looked at Jesse with a puzzled expression. "What are you talking about, Jess?"
"I'm talking about that day at the beach house when you were showing off your macho surfing prowess while she stood in the water admiring you, and the surf caught her top and ripped it off. I would rate your fall that day as a ten."
Steve chuckled at the memory. "I think I was cleaning sand out of my teeth for a week."
"That's what you get for gaping at her like a fish, are you all seeing each other again?" Jesse asked.
"No, she is working the murders, I told her I would call with information, I don't have a lot of details I can release, so I had been avoiding calling her."
"Why, if I didn't know better I would think you were afraid of her," Jesse replied.
"I'm not afraid, Jesse, I'm just concerned she might be interested in trying 'us' again."
"Would that be such a bad thing? I seem to recall that not only was she beautiful, but she was really sweet and had a great sense of humor."
"Jesse, you're right about her, but our jobs would always have us on a collision course for disaster."
"I'll trust your judgement, Steve, but the good ones are hard to find, and you have enough difficulty even finding the not so good ones."
"Well, thank you for that cryptic little evaluation of my life."
"Not a problem, I'm always willing to help, and on that note, I'll go back to my original question, is there anything I can help you with on the case?"
Steve looked at him intently and a scowl covered his features. "Are you almost done here?"
"Yes, Lois is closing tonight, so I'm done now."
"I have to go meet Alex, you could take these files out to Dad, I'm sure he would love your help."
"Sure, that would be great," Jesse responded brightly.
"Thanks, Jesse, tell him I'll be home later."
"I'll tell him not to wait up," Jesse responded with a smirk and then ducked as a waded up napkin was tossed at his head.
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Steve entered into the darkened interior of Mulligan's Bar. He allowed his eyes to adjust to the lightning and spotted Alex in the far corner close to the hallway by the bathrooms. He also noticed that she had drawn the attention of a rather large man who was practically lying on her table. He made his way through the bar and as he reached her, he spoke. "Alex, have you made a new friend?"
Her face creased in a grateful, welcoming grin. "Steve, I'm so glad to see you."
As Steve had drawn closer, he had decided that the large man more resembled a mountain. That observation had proven true as the man had risen from his position on the table and reached his full height. Steve couldn't help the slight flinch that passed through his body.
"I don't remember inviting you to this party, bub," the mountain informed him.
"I somehow don't think the lady invited you either, bub," Steve replied with an unfriendly smile. The smile quickly disappeared as he found himself ducking the meaty fist that was aimed at his face. He didn't recover quickly enough and found his knees buckling from the fist that landed in stomach. He moved his right arm up to block the next blow while his left one curved protectively towards his stomach. The impact with his arm sent a shiver of pain clear up to his shoulder. He heard what sounded like a squeak from Alex and then saw as if in slow motion, a fist headed towards his face. His last conscious thought was his serious lack of judgment of the situation, his head then clipped the table and he slipped into unconsciousness. If he had been more aware he might have noticed the figure that had observed the entire altercation and then faded down the hall at its conclusion.