Flesh and Bone
A/N: Sorry about the late update. The last year has been a bit hectic, but I'm updating regularly I think, finally. It'll probably be once a week, once every two weeks at the latest, now that I have a steady schedule again. Thanks to everyone so far for the reviews, they're very much appreciated!
Foreboding - Gang Violence
Riley Freeman was not what anyone, by any stretch of the imagination, would call an "intellectual." In fact, he probably didn't even know what the term meant, and would be offended if it were used to describe him. He was, however, a spectacular schemer. Ever since they'd moved into the neighborhood, Riley and the girl down the street, Cindy McPhearson, had plotted various ways to "take over their hood" and several fabulous get-rich-quick schemes. Few had worked out, save for their ventures into candy sales and some shady dealings with some down-and-out rappers.
But they did alright, so it wasn't really anything to complain about. Together, they were the baddest pair in all of Woodcrest. It really wasn't hard to do though, seeing as how 98% of the population was rich white kids without the faintest inkling of what it meant to be gangsta. So when Riley and Cindy declared that Woodcrest was their turf, no one really complained (mostly because no one understood what they were going on about).
So you might imagine that it came as somewhat of a shock when another boy and a group of his friends decided to cash in on the "gangsta image" and challenged Riley and Cindy for their turf. The first few weeks of their bitter rivalry had Riley ten shades of pissed at all waking hours of the day, and his bad mood in turn rubbed off on Huey, who was forced to put up with his younger brother's foul attitude. It became so bad, in fact, that Huey, who was typically dour and unsociable at best, was in an awful state by the time he met up with Jazmine the next morning in their Classical Literature class.
"Hey, do you have-"
"Why do you ask a billion questions?" he snapped. She blinked, taken aback at his sudden harshness, and turned to face the front of the room.
"Sorry..." she muttered. As he looked at her, he saw that she'd been crying. And he didn't blame her. He pressed three fingers to his temple.
"I... didn't mean to snap," he mumbled. "Riley's been gettin' on my nerves."
"What do you mean?"
"Some stupid turf war, he bitches about it every damn day."
Jazmine nodded with understanding and fell silent as the bell rang. They'd have more time to talk later. The hour passed in a blur, and Huey only made a few minor remarks to the teacher, who had to wonder if the boy was feeling ill. As they walked to their lockers to change books for American History, Jazmine was silent and kept her gaze fixed on the floor. It had been three days since her father's disappearance. As far as Huey could tell, she was holding up alright, considering the circumstances. But she wasn't doing that great. He cleared his throat and her head shot up, startled.
"Jazmine, if you need to talk about it..." he started slowly. She fixed her large green eyes on him, but something else had caught his attention. Just down the hall, where Riley's locker was, he spotted his younger brother and Cindy, both in the company of cops. Or rather, instead of the uniformed cops they usually dealt with, they appeared to be detectives. What could they be investigating that involved Riley? Obviously there was a number of things, but Riley didn't get involved in homicide... he didn't think anyway. And those detectives were definitely not investigating something stupid like graffiti.
"What is it, Huey?" Jazmine asked quietly as she pulled her locker door open.
He nodded his head towards Riley and the detectives. "C'mon, I wanna talk to Riley before class." With that he shut his locker door and wove his way through crowds of students, Jazmine in tow. He waited until the pair of investigators vanished, and caught the tail end of his younger brother muttering to himself a stream of profanity before he approached, arms folded.
"What?" Riley shot at him disdainfully. "I ain't do nothin'."
"So what was that about?"
"They accusin' me of some shit I didn' do!"
"That being...?"
Riley huffed an irritated sigh. Cindy spoke up then instead. "So you know them li'l bitches that be treadin' on our turf?"
Huey suppressed the urge to roll his eyes. "The rich white kid?"
"Yeah, so those cops was like, askin' if Riley had summat to do wid' da kid's disappearance."
Huey stared at Riley long and hard for several moments. "He disappeared?"
"Yeah, an' those bitch cops think it was me!"
"Well... was it?"
Riley's stare was an incredulous one. "No, nigga, damn! I thought at least mah own brother wouldn' accuse me o' shit!"
Huey rubbed his forehead. "I wasn't accusing you Riley, I was asking."
"Yeah well I didn' do nothin'," Riley grumbled. He pushed past Huey and Jazmine and started off down the hall with Cindy trotting along behind him. Huey glared after him, but didn't pursue after his brother. He'd have to look into it later. The warning bell went off, so Huey and Jazmine made their way to History class without another word. Jazmine glanced sideways at her friend as the pair took their seats. He looked exhausted. As far as she knew, from what Huey had told her, he'd been doing his own investigating, likely during the nights since midterms were upon them and they needed the daytime to study. So aside from being out searching for her father, he was being kept awake by Riley's constant bitching.
Needless to say, it put Huey in a right foul state.
History passed quickly, and they made their way next to Calculus, which passed just as quickly. A blur it was, really, which continued on through Intro to Physics. When lunch finally rolled around, Jazmine could have sworn it had only been fifteen minutes. Maybe she was just tired. It was true that Huey was out investigating every night, but Jazmine didn't sleep much now. The fear kept her from doing so. To avoid sleeping at night, she'd started sleeping during the daylight hours, either right after school or when she had spare time during the afternoon hours. It wasn't a healthy schedule to maintain but she couldn't make herself sleep at night. If she did, what if she were to disappear too? Or her mother? She couldn't bear it.
The pair made their way out to the field as they always did and parked themselves beneath the willow tree. Huey had picked up a coffee from the cafeteria first, despite his distaste in giving the school his money, he needed it. The bags under his eyes said as much, and the pair sat in silence, Huey sipping the murky liquid and Jazmine taking small bites out of her home-made sandwich. They didn't speak much, preferring instead to sit in silence for the moment.
"So I hear Caesar is coming home soon," Jazmine said after several long minutes of unbearable quiet. Huey nodded, but remained silent. "So you think he might be able to help?"
"I talked to him on the phone," he replied slowly. "He said he was gonna check into some stuff, but he had a thought about it."
"How many people have gone missing?"
He silently counted in his head. "Counting the kid from today, that makes ten." She chewed her lip apprehensively, so he added, "The police have to start investigating soon, too. The more people looking, the more likely we are to find him." He was trying to be comforting, but he didn't figure it was helping much. She still looked as nerve-wracked as ever. He exhaled heavily and bit off a piece of his celery. Riley didn't appear to be joining them that day. He could be seen across the field, sitting on a picnic table beside Cindy. They were having what looked to be a heated conversation between themselves and a group of kids Huey didn't recognize. Judging by their appearance though, dressed in sagging pants, over-sized sweatshirts and covered in faux-gold "bling," they were probably part of the missing kid's crew.
So they were probably confronting Riley.
"Great," Huey mumbled. He'd get involved if he had to, but it seemed that Riley had it handled. He'd stood up, arms waving, probably telling them to fuck off, in more interesting terms, and that he hadn't had anything to do with the kid's disappearance. Whether or not this convinced the gang of wannabes he couldn't tell, but they stalked off none the less.
"You think that kid is linked with the others then?"
"I wouldn't rule it out."
The bell rang, warning students that class was set to begin again soon, so they stood and started their short trek back to the school building.
Huey was stuck inside that night. A dark storm had rolled in around 5 pm, and searching that night in the torrential downpour that now dumped over Woodcrest would have been stupid. Any clues that he'd find out there would be almost invisible in the pitch black of the stormy night. Instead he was forced to hang out inside, sitting at his desk and staring vacantly out the window. His mind was somewhere far away, despite Riley's continued complaining. Huey tuned him out hours ago.
Since beginning the search a few days ago, Huey had found very little to show where Tom had vanished to. Judging just from the blood on the bed and apparent struggle that had silently ensued, he hadn't just gone off willingly. Wherever he was, it was somewhere he couldn't escape on his own if he was still alive. But the culprit wouldn't have gone off too far, not if they wanted to keep taking people without difficulty. Whoever it was didn't seem to pick people in any real pattern. Or was there a pattern he wasn't seeing? Curious once again, he went back to his computer screen and starting writing out a spreadsheet to see if he could find any dots to connect.
The first person to disappear had been at the end of summer, a young accountant named Andrew Hodges, who had no criminal record, a large, loving family, and hardly an enemy to speak of. An unlikely target for a kidnapping, since his family really wasn't rich. Just a typical, middle-class suburban white family. All the rest didn't really have any similar pattern. Jose Martinez was a hard-working Mexican immigrant, legal and ethical too. He didn't have a family here except the wife and daughter he supported. He disappeared one week after Mr. Hodges vanished, but they were so dissimilar that no one bothered to consider that the two cases were related.
The non-pattern was true of all the others. James Jackson, a white loan shark. Patrick Jones, a black pastor. Annita Neilson, a latina high school student. Brandon Lee, a Chinese computer scientist. Marjori Little, an unemployed welfare mom. Justin Burns, high school student and professional asshole. Thomas DuBois, black attorney. And finally, the most recent disappearance, Trey Atkins, high school student. Aside from all living in the same general area, they really had nothing else obvious in common. Maybe it was someone they'd crossed paths with at some point?
He couldn't tell, not without interviewing families, and that would take a lot of time to do, if the families even talked to him. Maybe the pattern was that none of them had anything in common? He huffed a sigh of frustration. This was just too much to think about when he was running on so little sleep.
"Man ain't'chu listenin' to me?"
Huey cast a glare over his shoulder. "Hell no," he retorted. "Why would I wanna listen to you complain all damn night? I believe you, you're innocent, quit bitchin' about it."
Riley glowered at his older brother and sat down on his bed, arms folded indignantly over his chest. "Jeez, ain't gotta be a dick about it." Huey rolled his eyes. "What's that?" the younger Freeman boy asked, peering at the monitor. "You still try'na find Tom?"
"Of course I am."
"So what's wit' all the names?"
Huey pondered a moment. "I'm seeing if there's a connection to the other disappearances. If there is I might be able to track him down, or at least find some clues."
For the first time in a very long time, Riley seemed interested in his brother's words. "So like... if you fin' out who took 'em, you can figure out where they at?" he asked.
"Yeah maybe, I'm not really sure if I can figure out who took 'em though. There's not a pattern here."
"But like, if you could, you could get the po-po off mah back."
So maybe Riley's interest was purely self-serving. Even still, another pair of eyes would definitely help him out. He'd take what he could.
"Sure," Huey replied, his voice resigned. "But we gotta find a pattern, or a trail or somethin', or else we're not gonna figure out shit."
Riley stared at the list and tapped his lower lip, thought flickering behind his wine-colored eyes. "What about... like, routines an' shit?"
"Huh?"
"You know, like on those cop shows Granddad watches. Serial killers pick out people who cross 'is path durin' the day."
Huey pondered that for a moment. It was possible, but unlikely.
"Or maybe it's a body type." Huey glanced at Riley quizzically. "Wull like, certain height, weight, shit like that."
"I need medical records to know that."
"So git 'em."
It wasn't beyond the scope of his abilities to hack into police records and medical databases. In fact, he'd done just that many times while he was still an active domestic freedom fighter (the FBI called him a terrorist, but labels didn't mean much to him) so it was entirely possible to do.
"I think I'm still being monitored by the FBI," Huey replied. "Can't do it from the house."
"So do it at the library, dayum nigga. I thought you was s'posed to be the smart one." Huey once again responded with an eye-roll.
"I'll try and do it at school tomorrow, but we're not gonna get a lot more out of this tonight," he said, and rubbed his face. He glanced out the window again, eyes staring through the murky abyss of the storm. Beyond what little the bedroom light illuminated, the street below was pitch black.
And then he noticed it. The light was reflecting off of something. Headlights? He squinted his eyes, willing them to see more, to make out the shape in the darkness. Was that a car? The shape was right. Someone was sitting out front of their house in a car. What they were doing though, well fuck if he knew.
Whoever was parked in that car apparently noticed that they'd been spotted, because it steered off and vanished down the street. "I think we're being watched."
"Nigga you paranoid."
The rain had let up by the time the sun rose, and the clouds had dispersed by the time school started. Despite the heavy downpour, the temperature hadn't dropped even the slightest. Now it was hot and humid out, making the students even more miserable than before. Huey hated the persistent heat. The one good thing about moving to the Woodcrest area had been that it had four very distinct seasons, instead of only having a series of hot and cold seasons like other places might. But it was 90 degrees outside at the end of October.
Fuck it was hot.
Fortunately it was air-conditioned inside the school, so it wasn't quite so miserable. Their morning classes passed quickly enough. It was mostly review for the coming midterm exams, but Huey didn't pay attention. He didn't need to all that much, and his mind was on other things. On the other hand, Jazmine had been taking notes furiously. With all that was going on, and the panic she couldn't help feeling, it seemed like there was no way she could retain all that information without writing it down. She kept nervously asking questions, checking and double checking her information, and cramming more and more onto the already-saturated sheets of note paper.
Physics was the worst. At the best of times, she needed a little extra concentration to understand the lectures, but in her nerve-wracked state, it looked like she was cracking. It had been four days since her father had gone missing, so it was fortunate that the teacher took pity on her and sat her down to explain it all to her slowly. Even still, by the time the bell rang to signal lunch, she was almost in a fit.
"Huey I-I-I don't wanna fail," she muttered.
"Jazmine have you been sleeping?"
"Of course! I sleep... I sleep during... d-during the daylight hours."
He shook his head. "You have to sleep, if you wear yourself down like this you're putting yourself in danger."
Her eyes glossed over. If she started crying he didn't know what he was gonna do. "I c-can't help it Huey, I can't sleep at night!"
"Calm down, alright? We'll figure something out. Right now let's go eat lunch. You need the energy."
She nodded fervently and followed along behind him, gripping the sleeve of his black t-shirt. "I-I-I should g-get a coffee."
"I don't think you should, caffiene will just make your nerves worse. Come on, let's go outside. Fresh air might do you some good."
The pair walked to the willow tree, where Riley and Cindy were already sitting. They'd apparently decided to join them today. "Hey," Cindy said through a mouthful of chips, which she was muching happily away at. Riley was leaning back against the tree, soda in one hand and piece of chicken in the other. Huey had to resist the urge to slap his palm to his forehead.
"H-hi," Jazmine replied, and plopped down on the ground beside the blonde-headed gangsta girl.
"Jazz I think you need ta sleep," Cindy said slowly, arching one eyebrow at the mulatto girl.
Huey waved the comment off. "We'll get to that later," he said, and pulled out a tupperware dish full of broccoli. "I'm gonna go to the library after school to see what I can find out about the disappearances."
"Then you gon' get the cops off mah back?"
"I told you, there's no guarantee they'll just back off if we come up with a link, we actually have to find them."
Riley scowled, but conceded. Instead of arguing, or furthering the discussion, he asked, "Hey, who's dat?"
He was pointing to a car. A black car. With black tinted windows. It was creeping down the street slowly, drawing closer like a shark. Huey wasn't a stranger to that sort of thing. He'd seen cars drive like that plenty of times in the hood when he and Riley had lived in Chicago with their parents before their deaths.
Riley noticed too. Both boys exchanged identical looks of disbelief and worry. "Shit," Huey hissed.
"Drive-by!" Riley shouted, grabbing Cindy around the head and pushing her down, covering her protectively. "DUCK!"
Sure enough, the sounds of gunshots were the next things to be heard. Huey yanked Jazmine down by her arm, pushing her behind him and shielding her with his body and covering his head with his free arm.
BANG BANG BANG BANG, the shooting went on for what felt like hours. Clicking signaled its end; they'd run out of bullets. The car squealed as it pealed out and shot off down the street.
"Is everyone alright?" Huey asked as they stirred, finally confident that the shooting was over.
"Yeah, we good," Riley said. His voice was a little shaky, but he seemed none the worse for wear.
Jazmine's nerves looked about fried. "Aw damn," Huey muttered. "Okay, I'm gonna take Jazmine home 'fore she snaps. You two get inside, an' make sure you don't do anythin' stupid."
"'Ey I don' wanna have to sit in school," Riley began to argue, but a stern look from his brother silenced him. "Aight fine, I'll go to stupid class." Defeated, he pulled Cindy up and folded his arms. "But I bet those bitch-ass niggas with that pussy who was treadin' on our turf were the ones in that car." With that they trotted off across the field for the school to the sounds of nearing police sirens. Someone had obviously called the cops.
Huey turned his attention back on Jazmine. She was shaking and she needed sleep, or she was gonna have a mental break. She didn't seem to be in any fit state to walk on her own, so he gripped her hand and pulled her to her feet. Her whole body was trembling.
"God damn it," Huey grumbled, then picked her up. She wasn't very heavy. By estimation, the heaviest part of her was likely her mass of curly, poofy hair. She'd probably lost a few pounds over the last few days too. He trotted with her down the street, still shaking and raggedly breathing. Being shot at probably didn't help her any. The heat wasn't good for her either. He strode silently down the street, with only her shuddering breathing to listen to. Huey sighed.
The door of her house was locked, so he rang the bell. He heard the scraping of Sarah unlocking the deadbolt and the door swung open. She didn't look much better off than her daughter, but she wasn't quite as much a wreck. Her hair was a bit of a mess, and her eyes were red with tears. She'd stopped bothering to put makeup on, since it would only be smudged once the tears came again. Her glossy blue eyes fixed on Huey, then Jazmine.
"What happened?" she asked.
"There... was a drive-by at the school," he answered slowly and honestly. Huey never sugar-coated anything. Honesty was probably his most endearing quality, the most consistent thing anyone would be able to rely on. Sarah stared at him with mingled shock and confusion. There wasn't a trace of sarcasm in his voice.
"C-come in," she stammered and moved to allow him entrance. "What happened? Are you okay? Are either of you hurt?"
"No we're fine," he replied and carried Jazmine into the house. The girl was still shaking. "I don't think she's slept in days. I'm gonna take her upstairs and put her to bed."
Sarah swallowed hard and nodded. "Yes... yes that's a good idea. Thank you so much for looking after her, Huey."
"Sure," he said simply, and made his way up the stairs to Jazmine's room. The door was ajar, so he nudged it open with his foot and carried her through the doorway to the bed, where he lay her gently. He draped a blanket over her gingerly and turned to leave, but her delicate hand caught his.
"Wait... stay until I fall asleep," she breathed. "Please?"
He sighed with resignation. "Fine," he said, and sat down beside her on the bed. He'd go once she fell asleep and do more digging, but for now, he'd stay. She needed the company anyway.
