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Chapter 7- Tattered Whispers.
"Where the hell have you been?" Johnny yelled in her ear as soon as she grumbled hello into her phone to stop it's shrilled ringing.
"I..." Gail didn't know what to say to that. Johnny was crapping her out from a dizzy height for leaving the bar unmanned while some joker hit the fire alarm last night.
"I need you in at five. Don't be late" he yelled again before hanging up on her.
Gail started at her phone when she pulled it away from her ear, she really didn't know what to say.
The bedroom door opened after a light rap on it, and Sam stood in the doorway with a curious look on his face. "Johnny said 'don't be late" Gail mimicked in her version of a really bad rendition of his voice.
"Thats good right?" She added sitting up.
"We'll see" Sam said before throwing his thumb over his shoulder. "Breakfast?". He failed to add anymore words to his warning, so he stepped out of the doorway and closed the door behind himself.
Peck appeared ten minutes later utterly shocked when she found Sam sitting at the kitchen table. The table was littered with food and an elderly woman hovered around in the kitchen.
"Sarah, you're late" she sang before facing Gail and turning her back on Sam who mouthed 'Sorry Mom' really slowly, and repeatedly to Gail.
"Sorry Mom?" Gail whined out before the woman nodded towards the table and Gail moved to sit down staring at Sam who was hiding his smirk in his coffee cup.
She booted his shin under the table and his knee hit the underside of it when his leg pulled back, a clatter sounding through the room.
The elderly woman looked at Gail disapprovingly before carrying on with whatever she was doing.
'Who's mom?' Gail mouthed when the woman looked away.
'Mine' Sam mouthed back making Gail knock her glass of juice over when her fingers fumbled with it.
"Sarah!" The woman scolded as she came over with a cloth and handed it to Gail. "Sit still and eat like a lady" the woman added before ushering herself out of the room.
"Sam!" Gail said under her breath as she mopped her mess up. "Are you insane?".
"No, it's okay don't worry about it" Sam said looking kind of tense. There was a lot that Peck didn't know about him, and this would be at the top of that list. Hell, Andy didn't even know about THIS.
"And if she tells someone we're here?" Gail said stopping all movement.
"She won't" Sam sounded really confident saying that, because it was true.
"But,...".
"Mom". Sam yelled, the woman reentering the room a few seconds later.
"Oh Sammy, you're home. And Sarah made breakfast" she smiled sweetly at them both.
"Go take a nap, we'll clean up" Sam said after standing up and going to give his mom a hug.
The woman left them alone and left Gail staring at thin air with questions filling her face.
"Trust me, no-one pays attention to what she says" Sam said picking his plate up from the table and walking over to the sink.
...
Andy stared out of the window, her mind willing her body to stay awake. She'd had a rough few days since running into Sam's sister at the cemetery, and then seeing the for sale sign pegged into the grass on his front lawn.
That made everything real.
She had mostly been remanded to riding the desk, but today she was partnered with Oliver on patrol and she had the feeling that he had asked Frank to let him take her for the day.
The morning had been spent lazing at home after her run, and she should have taken a nap, but her mind wouldn't shut off, so she spent nap time rolling around wondering what Sarah meant when she said "You're her".
"Do you know Sarah?" Andy asked avoiding looking at Oliver. She just threw it out there, trying to make it sound like it was a normal conversation topic.
He cleared his throat and nodded before a sad smile graced his lips. "Yeah".
"Whats she like?"
Oliver smiled even more when she asked that question.
"Funny, she asked me the same thing about you" Oliver let it out on a chuckle.
"She did?" Andy felt slightly panicked when she asked the rhetorical question. What had Oliver's answer been?.
"Yup, she said she met you..." Oliver slammed on breaks just as something hit the hood of the cruiser.
Looking forwards Andy saw a teenager with his hands on the hood, he'd run out right in front of them and Oliver had nearly run him over.
"Hey! Hey" a woman yelled as she came running towards them, the teen tapping the hood of the cruiser and taunting them before running off again.
Oliver pulled over and hit the cruisers lights while Andy scrambled out of the cruiser and pursued the running teen when she noticed the purse in his hand. He definitely wouldn't buy himself a pink manbag.
Oliver called after her, his head popping out the window, but she didn't stop, or even acknowledge her name.
Andy followed the teen between buildings, her feet keeping a steady pace as she called out to him to stop, but he just wouldn't give up, he so didn't want to get arrested.
He was tiring, and so was Andy, but she was driven by her need to make the world a better place so she started closing the distance between them as the teen started to slow down.
And then he ducked into what looked like an apartment building, surely he wasn't stupid enough to make the cops follow him home?
Andy slowed down and skidded to a stop outside the front door to the building, her instincts telling her not to go in there. She radioed in her position and then threw caution to the wind and opened the door.
Andy surveyed the entire first floor, most of the apartments downstairs had; had their front doors removed so there were only vagrants occupying them.
Trash and inanimate objects littered the hallway leading up to the staircase, Andy stepping lightly as she followed a hunch and slowly made her way upstairs.
She had radioed in again and called her location on the second floor, just so that Oliver wouldn't have to worry that she was not doing okay.
"McNally hold your position and clear the location" Oliver's voice followed hers seconds later. The apartment block was a well know crack house and a female cop inside it alone was just asking for trouble.
But, she ignored it and began sweeping the rooms, some of the apartments up here actually had doors so it was more likely that the purse snatcher was hiding up here.
She tried the first door, but it was locked. The second apartment didn't have a door and a quick survey showed no-one so Andy went to the third door and tried it, her hand turning the handle and the hindering object swinging open.
First she cleared the lounge, then the kitchen and then she moved to a bedroom off that area. This apartment was definitely lived in, but no-one was here, and still, Andy was cautious.
Finding nothing, Andy stepped back out into the hallway, something hard and heavy hitting her over the head as her vision clouded over in grey before seeping to black.
...
"That it?" Sam asked Callaghan before he received a nod in reply and pocketed the wad of cash he'd just been handed.
Sam didn't wait around for anything after that, he just yanked the door open and stepped out of apartment two-o-five. Callaghan would hang back a while before leaving, just so that they wouldn't be seen together.
As Sam looked up he saw Andy looking straight at him before she sagged down and hit the ground in a tangle of limbs.
The kid standing behind her was so preoccupied with his masterpiece that he failed to see Sam who stepped over Andy and slammed him into the wall so fast that he doubted the kid even saw him move.
"Sammy..." The kid mumbled out as he took in Sam's features and recognized him. "She was chasing me man" the kid added in defense when he saw Sam's eyes darken to black. He knew Sam as someone dangerous and already tried to explain himself.
Sam shoved him into the wall before a "stay" came out of his mouth between gritted teeth.
Letting go of the kid, Sam moved over to Andy and bent down to check on her. She had a nasty bump on her head that thankfully wasn't bleeding, but he was glad to see that her pupils contracted when he rolled her onto her back and lifted an eyelid gently.
"Get over here" Sam growled out to the kid who seemed to come when he was beckoned over. He knew Sam, and he knew that he wasn't someone you screwed with.
Sam still bent over Andy, unclipped her radio receiver and held it up in front of the kids mouth. "Repeat after me" Sam said in a tone that made the kids eyes stretch wide open.
"Officer Down" Sam pushed the button on the side as the kid mumbled the words. As soon as it was said, Sam let go.
"Give this address".
"One-Seven Miller Street, second floor" the kid hummed the words out, his tone shaky.
Sam nodded and the kid backed away, all the way away until Sam had room to move and reclip Andy's radio on.
He took one last look at her and stood up, his anger flashing through his eyes as he glared at the kid.
"Sammy, why are you helping her? She's a cop?".
Sam slapped the kid against the back of his head before saying the only thing that came to mind "Didn't you're Mama teach you anything? Never hurt the pretty ones".
...
"Want to tell me why the hell you abandoned the bar?" Johnny yelled at them. Gail and Kim were both in his office, his temper flaring as he yelled at them, his face turning red.
Gail looked at Kim, she was a nice girl, but she was always either high, or loaded, and she so needed to save her own ass right now.
"She said the cops were here" Gail shrugged, and kim nodded. Gail didn't think she even knew what they were talking about right now.
"So, you hit the fire alarm?". Johnny leaned forward making Gail cringe.
He looked so mad, he looked like he was about to fire her. And that couldn't happen, at any cost.
So Gail leaned over the table, her hands braced flat against the wood, enough cleavage showing to make Johnny stare at it. He was a boobs guy, he stared at any and every pair of boobs on anyone.
"Yeah Johnny, I hit the fire alarm. You see I thought the cops were raiding the place, so..."
"You got a record?" Johnny asked her boobs.
"No sweetie, but do you really think I work everyday with a hangover to get busted for a few lines in my pocket? Besides I really don't think you wanted the publicity". Gail stood back up and looked over at Kim who looked like she was watching flowers grow on the ceiling.
What a waste.
She was so young, and really intelligent, and pretty and she was throwing it all away.
So far they knew that Johnny and the bouncers were the only dealers in here, anyone that tried to move in on this place ended up really badly hurt, or dead, depending on how many warnings they'd received. They only gave the first one for free, after that you paid the price, heavily. It all depended on what Johnny's supplier had to say.
"Really?". Johnny looked lost in deep thought for a minute.
"Look, don't waste my time, fire me or let me get back to work?". Gail said letting her sassy side flare.
"Why? So you can screw business?".
"Seriously?" Gail said and stuck her hand into her shirt Johnny getting a really sick smile on his lips. "I don't need to work, Sammy let's me because I get bored and then I create havoc". Gail tossed a small bag across the table, it's white contents drawing Johnny's attention more than female anatomy ever could.
"As for business, your shit's a total buzzkill. Oh, and another thing, next time the cops show up give me a heads up, I really don't like the looks of a prison cell" Gail turned to walk away but Johnny's voice stopped her.
"Where'd you get from?".
Bingo!
"You wanna talk business, you talk to Sammy, I just get my party-time when I'm a good girl".
Gail left Johnny's office, and walked in behind the bar before telling Steph that she could leave. She looked up to find Sam slipping into his usual chair in the corner at the bar just like he said he would.
He had to go across town to make a pickup, then the plan was for him to walk in here, sit down and order a drink. If Gail wasn't behind the bar, he'd come and get her even if it was the hard way.
"Regular?" Gail asked, her signal word for Johnny taking the bait and having his interest peeked.
"Double" Sam said smirking.
...
"I'm fine" Andy said avoiding eye contact with Traci when she got back to the barn.
Oliver had wanted to take her to get checked out, but at the hospital she wouldn't get out of the car so he brought her back to the barn and told her to go find Traci.
Luke had somehow managed to be the first to arrive on scene and she woke up on the floor looking up at him with a pink purse clutched in her hand.
But the second her eyes opened she sat up and took her surroundings in before coming to the realization that she had been imagining things when she thought she saw Sam.
Oliver had arrived seconds later and taken her down to the cruiser without saying a word.
He was mad at her for running off, she could tell, but he didn't need to go off at her. Her headache was more than enough punishment.
Now in the locker room with Traci, Andy felt a little more emotion sweep through her as she sat down on the bench in front of her locker and shook her head at her own hallucination.
"You okay?" Traci asked and sat down next to her.
"No" Andy said weakly, she didn't even bother to hide it now, Traci would know anyway.
"I... I thought I saw Sam..." Andy said looking up at Traci and waiting for the pity and sympathy that she knew would cloud her friends face.
"Oh sweetie, that still happens to me. I wake up in the morning and think I'm going to look over and see Jerry, or Leo does something amazing and I grab my phone and think 'I need to call Jerry and tell him' even though I know he's not there".
Andy felt invisible tares make their way across her heart, she had done that a few times too and also managed to stop herself when those heart-crushing memories seemed to engulf her.
"This was different, he walked out of an apartment and then I blacked out".
"Andy, you were scared, things like that happen. Your mind reaches for a lifeline".
Andy huffed out a loud sigh. Traci was right. Again.
"What happened, you know. That day?" Andy finally asked the question that had been haunting her. She'd never had the inclination to look at Sam's file, she didn't want to risk seeing photo's or reading the unabridged, gory details.
"I don't know, I wasn't allowed on scene. Luke was first responder, then Noelle and that's all I know".
"Luke was there?" Andy found that a little strange.
"Yeah, Sam... Sam did the drug sweep with Luke..." Traci stopped talking when she saw how pale Andy went before Andy was on her feet and moving.
Traci raced after her, hoping to stop her, but Andy wouldn't let it go. She kept zooming through the barn heading straight for Luke's office.
Luke was sitting at his desk, his eyes widening when Andy slammed his door against the wall behind it and stormed into his office.
He saw Nash a few feet behind her, and she just shrugged. They all knew that this day was coming.
"I want to know what happened" Andy said surprisingly calm.
"Andy..."
"No, I want to know okay. I want to know what happened, and I want to know if there... There was anything that you would have done differently". Andy's voice started out as strong, but by the time her final words were out, her voice was a tattered whisper.
"Okay" Luke said gesturing towards the empty chair across from him but Andy declined and stayed standing as she looked at him expectantly.
After a moments silence, Luke leaned back and swallowed hard.
This was going to hurt him as much as it was about to hurt her.
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Jelly Bean Jenna©