A Dark Path – Chapter 19
His idea wasn't as crazy as the last one. Luck and a couple more days of solid police work led to an interview in which the differences in the parent's stories led to their collective undoing. As the mother cracked under the pressure and the guilt, they made the arrest.
Ultimately, both parents were led away in cuffs, her for second-degree murder, him for wrongful disposition of a body and accessory after he fact; Abigail and Chauncey cried bitterly as they were dragged off by child services. They'd solved the case, broken a family, orphaned kids into foster care – Madeline was still dead. No one won; everyone lost.
"Why does this feel all wrong? How can this be right?" Dani wondered aloud and turned on her heel and stalked off silently.
Charlie didn't answer because some questions there are simply no answers for.
It was about all Dani could take and when he looked around she had vanished – no good byes, no checking out, no note, no call. He looked up and she was gone. He waited for hours and she never came back. She didn't answer her cell. Finally out of options Charlie inquired with Tidwell. The gloating smile from his Captain didn't help things.
"Just check on her will ya?" he asked tersely.
"Sure thing, Crews," Tidwell smiled slyly. "Tidwell's still got a shot…" he mumbled to himself and grabbed his coat and keys.
Tidwell called three times, maybe more, but there was no answer. He decided to just drop by, but when she didn't answer the door he used his old key to let himself in. He knew they were no longer a "thing," but he also knew her well enough to sense when she wasn't doing well and today was one of those dark days. Her father's funeral was hard on her and she and Crews were just not clicking on all cylinders. He had a feeling she might be in trouble and he'd been around the block long enough to trust his gut.
She was sitting with her back to the door wearing headphones, which was why she didn't hear him knocking. There was a vodka bottle on her kitchen table with about three inches of liquid remaining and a forgotten juice glass on the floor under the table. He figured she'd been drinking…he figured wrong.
While he was thinking about how to let her know he was there without scaring her, she figured him out - feeling someone behind her she turned. An arched brow questioned his use of the old key, which he wordlessly laid on the table by the bottle as he passed it.
She removed her headphones and stared at him.
"Uh…you been drinking?" he questioned.
"No," she answered coolly, "not today."
"But you have been drinking?" he confirmed.
"All my life," she defied his attempts to get a straight answer out of her.
"You okay?" he tried another tack.
"Some days, yes; some days, no," she replied sounding more like Crews than she wanted to. Then it occurred to her why he was here. "He send you?" There was no need to qualify who the "he" she referenced was – they both knew.
He nodded. That was new. Crews wasn't a coward, he was giving her space, time, options. He was giving her something else most people didn't – respect. "Tell him I'm fine."
"Dani…" Tidwell began, but she cut him off.
"Kevin, I really am. I'm fine." She could tell he didn't buy it and after all their time together she owed him more. "I've had a rough month, my dad, this case and…other stuff," she referenced obliquely her ongoing issues with Crews. "I struggle, but I'm getting there – and I'm doing it without help – yours or his."
"He says that's why you left," Tidwell toed the carpet with his shoe. "Cause you could manage on your own. Cause you don't need me or him."
"He's right," she revealed.
"That's sad, Dani," he commented shyly looking up from under the unruly lock of hair that fell across his forehead, "for you to be alone."
"No," she scoffed, "it's healthy. For once in my life I'm not using sex to forget about my troubles."
"Is that what we were?" he asked a hard question.
"No," she crossed and took his hands in hers. "No, we were good."
"But…" he pursued.
"But not right," she confessed and kissed him on the cheek. "Go home, Kevin."
He walked toward the door and asked looking back, "what do you want me to tell him?"
"That I don't need you carrying messages for me," she advised. "I'll call him."
On the way out, he paused and looked at the old cassette player, a Walkman from the 1980's, "that's vintage."
She smiled, "yeah, kinda."
"Old mix tape?" he questioned.
"Yep," she lied. She couldn't tell him, she didn't want to that it was a Zen tape Crews played in the car all the time. Somehow the clipped voice on tape wasn't as threatening as her almost always right Zen partner. Still the things he said made sense to her now - now more than ever. She didn't want's Crews help but she needed it and him more than she wanted to accept. Reality was staring her in the face. She put the headphones back on, pressed play and listened to the metallic hiss of the tape rolling through the Walkman as the voice spoke the words - but in her mind they were coming from Charlie's lips.
She sat staring at the phone, wondering exactly what she'd say when she finally pushed the speed dial that would magically connect them, when there was a knock a her door. "I said I was fine…" she answered smiling expecting Kevin Tidwell when what she got was a pale shadow with copper colored hair.
"So he said," Crews replied and his smile was slow and sly. "I had to see for myself."
She didn't invite him in and he didn't offer to leave. They stood there in awkward silence until he jammed his hands down in the pockets of his jeans to keep from fidgeting.
"You shouldn't be here," she warned.
"I have to be somewhere," he teased.
"Charlie," her voice held warning but her face a smile.
"Let me kiss you," he asked boldly. "Just once, then I'll go."
"We both know you won't," she foretold their combined lack of will power when it came to what they both wanted. He seemed embarrassed so she clarified, "I wouldn't let you."
The tightness across his features eased and he nodded. "Yeah, okay," softly adding, "You're right" as he turned to leave. "It's just…" he wavered unsteady and unsure for the first time in a long time, "someday, somewhere you're gonna let me kiss you again right?"
"Awfully sure of that aren't you?" she teased. He knew she wanted him. He knew he wanted her. They were locked in a battle that would last them a lifetime, but one neither would give up on.
"I'll just keep hoping," he twirled his car keys around the long middle finger of his right hand where he'd held them to keep from jingling them nervously. He winked at her and smiled. His walk back to the car had bounce in his step and purpose in his movements.
She shut the door and leaned against it. She exhaled a sigh and wrapped her arms around herself. Twin temptations had knocked at her door tonight. Comfort in the arms of a known and release in the grasp of an unknown. She'd beat them both back. The forgotten juice glass was retrieved from the floor and the contents of the bottle poured down the drain. Today she was not giving in to temptation.