Chapter 14

I bin lookin for someone
Between the fire and the flame
Were all lookin for somethin
To ease the pain
Now who can you turn to
When its all black and white
And the winners are losers
You see it every night

I need somebody
Somebody like you
Everybody needs somebody

I need somebody
Hey what about you
Everybody needs somebody
When you're out on the front line
And you're watchin them fall
It doesn't take long to realize
It ain't worth fightin for

I thought I saw the Madonna
When you walked in the room
Well your eyes were like diamonds
And they cut right through - oh they cut right through

I need somebody
Somebody like you
Everybody needs somebody
I need somebody
Hey what about you
We all need somebody

Another night another lesson learned
It's the distance keeps us sane
But when the silence leads to sorrow
We do it all again - all again…..

Bryan Adams-"Somebody"

Brian arrived at Lorelei's building, turning down the car stereo as to not draw attention to himself. It was enough he'd been driving like a bat out of hell with the risk of being pulled over.

Rushing into the foyer, he pulled off his shoes to make his way to Lorelei's unit in order to reduce the noise and risking waking the neighbors at that time of the morning. It was already two thirty; someone was bound to either bitch or call the cops again, thinking it was a burglary.

Brian looked around before knocking gently. "Lorelei," he said softly.

No response. He knocked a little louder. "Lorelei, come on; I know you're in there, open up."

Inside and now fully awake, Lorelei kept quiet, biting her lip. No, she thought, I will not put myself through this. Go away!

"Lorelei," Brian said again before muttering "shit" under his breath. "Lor, come out; we can talk about this. Please?"

Forget it. Go find your big time law student. She's better than I am. Stop wasting both our time…..

The door to the manager's unit opened. Fuck. Brian thought, just what I need on top of everything else, for that old biddy to call the cops on me. The irony is, I am one of the cops.

"You want to keep it down up there? It's two thirty in the morning, young man!"

"Yes ma'am," Brian said softly. "I was just leaving." No use trying to proceed further with Lorelei obviously being stubborn and the manager now awake. Maybe he could talk some sense into her at the precinct tomorrow.

The next afternoon:

Brian had reported for duty as usual; even on a few hours sleep, he could function quite well. But today seemed different; almost every woman he had passed in the precinct from top officials all the way down to secretaries and clerks had given him dirty looks. Even Joey had given him shit before he left home, barely speaking to him before going into her room.

Except for Melissa, of course, who smiled and waved hello. He gave her a half wave, heading to his desk, only to find a cold stare from Marie.

That was the final straw. "All right, spit it, Marie. Who the hell pissed in all you women's canteens today? Ever since I walked in the damn door, all of you have given me looks like I committed child molestation. Even my own daughter has been looking at me with disgust."

"Gee, why don't you go down to Booking and ask Melissa? I'm sure she'll fill you in among doing other favors," Marie snapped, busying herself at her desk.

"What? Fucking hell, is this about what happened at the party last night?"

"You figure it out, Brian," she sniffed.

"Oh, God. I talk to one woman trying to be nice and now I'm being branded as some Lothario?"

"Considering you barely paid attention all night to the woman you arrived with, yes. I wouldn't be surprised she wants nothing more to do with you."

"Shit," he muttered, "no wonder she wouldn't answer the door when I went there."

"What, Melissa wouldn't put out so you went for the second string instead?"

"For the love of Christ, Marie, it wasn't like that at all. Do you honestly think I care two shits about some bimbo that's barely passing law school? Lorelei has more brains and class in her pinkie finger than Melissa does in her whole head."

Hearing this, Marie softened a little. "Did you really go to her apartment after the party?"

"Yeah," he sighed, "and that crazy ass manager told me to tone it down before she called the cops."

She couldn't help but smile. "I should have known better to think you were such an idiot. Brian, that's so sweet that you'd go that that time of the morning when you had to be at work today."

Marie then looked at some things on her desk. "You know, I'm going to need a couple of things from downstairs. Since you like to hang out down there, think you could make a trip for me?"

Brian nodded, knowing what she was indicating. "As you wish, partner."

"Go claim what was yours to begin with," Marie encouraged, handing him some papers. "I'm sure your daughter will be thrilled you at least made the effort."

Several minutes later:

He had arrived at the office, items in hand from Marie. There too, he had been met with glares from both Eva and Yvette, and Callie gave him a half assed greeting.

Luckily, Lorelei was working the front area, engrossed in her work and either not noticing him or pretending not to do so, before he approached.

"Afternoon, Lor," Brian said, feigning cheerfulness.

"Good afternoon, Detective," she said formally. "What can I do for you?"

"Well, outside of processing these forms for Marie, you can cut the bullshit and let us have a talk later."

"Nothing to discuss," Lorelei replied in a clipped tone.

Making sure the other women were out of earshot, Brian threw up his hands. "Look, I'm SORRY, okay? I fucked up, and yeah, even though you were invited to jump in at any time, you're right, I should have been paying more attention. You want my honest opinion, though? Lovely for most of these guys to look at, but she eventually bored the shit out of me."

Lorelei gave him a look. "Really? You didn't look very bored when I left."

"Should have stuck around, kiddo. I do bored very well."

She sighed. "Whatever."

"You really think I'm full of shit, don't you?"

"I've had a lot of life experience, so I can usually spot BS when I see it," she replied.

"Well, once in awhile, a person can be off," he replied. "Come on, at least let's discuss this over lunch. I'm buying."

Lorelei thought a moment. "All right."

He grinned as if he had been the dorky kid that had gotten a date with the prom queen. "I'll be back down at twelve. Call Marie if you have any questions about those forms."