by Levi Fuller
“Look on the bright side. When you return, he won't be here any more,” he met her eyes as she glanced over at him. “Whatever his sentence for what he did, he won't ever be welcomed here again.”
Violet smiled. “Good night, Mark.”
“Good night, Detective Turner.”
Violet's smile widened at his use of her title. She hadn't gotten around to celebrating the news that she had passed her final exams and was officially a fully fledged Detective of the VCB. The news had arrived the day of Jane's bacherlorette's and she hadn't wanted to steal Jane's night. Afterwards, it seemed completely unimportant. Now she decided she would celebrate, but she'd combine it with a thank you, to Alma, for exposing Jason's true colors.
10
I sit down beside Kareena, watching her as she laughs with her brother. I’ve always been profoundly glad that she prefers to eat in, avoiding restaurants and cafes unless we’re far from home. I keep my eyes and mind on her, my anchor, the only thing that keeps me from becoming a creature made entirely from shadows. She is my humanity.
The people in the restaurant laugh and talk, their shadows, their fears, almost begging me to take a closer look, to see who would be a good hunt. I lean in closer to Kareena, needing her, as a large group enter.
I feel Dhillan's eyes on me and look over at him. He manages a smile and I realize something. He is observant, more observant than your average person. Perhaps it is a product of his profession, or maybe it is simply innate in him, as my calling is. Whatever the reason, I know now why he is cautious around me. He sees the level of devotion I have for Kareena. Something in him knows it is different from the normal love people share. But he also sees that it means she will always have me and my protection. That is why he keeps his discomfort to himself.
I will have to work harder to conceal my true self around him.
“Ah, the lady of the moment.”
Dhillan and I look away from each other as Kareena speaks. Violet smiles at her, then greets us all.
“Are the others not here yet?” she asks, taking a seat beside Dhillan.
I watch his muscles tense. It is likely inevitable that they will be together. It would have bothered me greatly before, but now I am calm. When Violet invited me here, she had made it very clear that she wanted my help, wanted my input on whatever cases she was tracking. If Dhillan helped her, too, then I would be in a position to keep tabs on both of them.
Kareena laughs again and makes a pointed comment, earning her a blushing scowl from her brother.
Just stay out of my business, Dhillan, please. For Kareena's sake, if not mine.
At that moment, the others arrive, Mark, the Orlo twins and the eccentric Lucy from Forensics.
Once everyone is settled Violet raises her glass to me.
“To Alma. Thank you.”
I smile and raise my glass, too, as they all toast me.
Winning people over is easy. I meet Violet's eyes and know that she has unreservedly welcomed me into her heart as a trusted friend. As long as she keeps her nose out of my business, that decision won’t cost her her life.
****
Violet stepped into the Hut, a feeling of relief and belonging built in her chest. She had been suspended for a month, but the court had overall found in her favor and Jason was still awaiting his final sentence. In the meantime, Alma would fill his place until a replacement could be found.
Coming in on a Friday felt a little pointless, but Mark had made it clear that she was to get through her backlog of paperwork before Monday.
She looked behind her as the automatic doors opened again and shut.
Dhillan gave her a bright smile.
“I had hoped to catch you first.”
She felt herself respond to the tone of his voice and had to remind herself of where they were. Over the month of suspension, he had been her life-line. Coming with Keme for walks, taking her out for lunches and dinners. He had never asked or even hinted at wanting anything in return, but she wasn't blind. She knew he wanted more than just friendship and even though she had tried to reason herself out of it, she wanted the same thing.
“And why was that?” she asked, as the silence began to stretch and his soft gaze become more intense.
He leaned in closer and his eyes swept left and right in a parody of secrecy.
“Because I sent my findings to Montgomery yesterday. Nothing matches. They'll have to let you go.”
Her hand flew to her chest as her heart leaped. Losing her best friend had created a terrible wound and it had been festering, unable to heal as she was questioned and accused of murdering someone she loved. If what Dhillan was risking his job to say came to fruition, then perhaps she could start to heal.
“They'll want to run their own tests, too, no doubt.”
He nodded and then took her hand. A bold move, considering the lack of privacy Rose was affording them. Violet resisted the urge to glance over at the old receptionist and see what she was doing.
“Their tests will yield the same results, Violet.”
She squeezed his hand then removed hers from his grip. “Thanks, but now I am going to forget that this conversation ever happened.”
He breathed a chuckle. “Welcome back, Detective Turner.”
She laughed with him and decided that tonight, she would be the one to invite him out. Maybe they could do something this weekend.
****
I breathe in the smell of the river. The scent of the silt loam is rich and cloying. It is barely dawn and all is quiet, the autumn air edging towards the freezing temperatures of winter, my breath coming out in a cloud. Kareena believes I am out for my habitual jog, the one I take everyday in the pre-dawn. But today I am out for a different reason, to gain relief for a different need.
The key to the storehouse is small and silver, making it easy to conceal. It never leaves my person.
I turn the lock and take one last glance at the color-streaked sky before I enter my store-house. The light doesn't work. It never has. I flick on my torch as I shut and lock the door behind me.
At a glance, it looks as most would expect. Boxes sealed with brown packing tape, plastic bins filled with paper and a few bits of disused furniture.
I move over to the old kitchen unit and slide the left hand door aside. Bending down, I press the false back in just the right place. A small click meets my ears and the partition is ready to be moved aside. I crawl through the opening into the space beyond.
I had long debated whether or not to make a room like this. It was a bad idea for people like me to have too many tangible hooks into their shadow lives. But I had discovered that certain fears required more work than others to get right and having a space like this is necessary.
I look around the small, subterranean room. A computer is set up near the back, several monitors surrounding it. The group of teenagers I am hunting have been going about their lives, unaware that their abundance of tiny cameras is making my job almost too easy.
I have files, one for each of those I might have the pleasure of meeting here this coming spring break. A strange excitement begins to build. Knowing that any one of them could be a safe hunt, but not knowing which ones it will be was not a sensation I got to experience very often.
Group hunts were more dangerous than regular ones, which is why I am being this thorough, taking this long.
The pressure spikes but I shove it down, logging in to my hijacked accounts on social media.
Patience. It will be worth it in the end, I promise.
****
Violet watched Dhillan's steps falter as he spotted her waiting by the glass security doors to the forensics labs.
She smiled at him as he continued towards her. The doors parted as he swiped his ID and the scents of disinfectant mingled with his cologne tickled her nose.
“Did you have a good first day back?”
She met his eyes and shrugged. “It wasn't too bad. I had
a bunch of paperwork to get done, so it was boring, but still, I had missed this place.”
He smiled, waiting for her to explain her presence.
Violet felt butterflies assault her stomach and laughed at herself. This isn't your first rodeo, kid.
“I was wondering if you were available tomorrow? Or Sunday?”
His eyebrows shot up and a big smile spread across his lips. “Tomorrow is fine. What did you have planned?”
Violet met his searching eyes. “No real plan. Lunch, a walk, maybe dinner, too.”
His eyes grew more intense as her suggestion indicated a longer visit than any before. “What time should I meet you?”
Violet smiled as the butterflies increased their tempo. Dating colleagues was never the best plan, but there was no rule against it. Besides, the decision had already been made.
“Is eight too early?” she blurted out.
He took a step closer. “No. I can be at your place by eight. Are we going for breakfast, too?”
She sized up the distance as she answered him. “If you like. I know a great pancake recipe.” Before he could reply she had stood on her tip toes and kissed his cheek. “See you tomorrow,” she called over her shoulder, leaving him standing there, surprise still holding him captive.
****
I stay still, behind the large tree, my gloved fingers digging into the bark. My feet are going numb, even in the comfort of my boots, the snow still falling from the gray sky. I hadn't meant to give in to the pressure that had been building in my mind. I was supposed to be punishing myself for my foolishness over Jane. Now I have nowhere to run, my heart races in an unfamiliar pattern. The pattern of a deer, hoping not to be spotted by the wolves.
It would serve me right if they found me like this.
Dhillan and Violet walk past my hiding spot, on the trail just below this ridge. Their breath mingles in the frozen air as they laugh together. Their blissful walk blinds them to the shroud of death above them. Their footsteps crunched in the new snow and I keep myself tense for a few minutes more, but the one I feared most, the dog, doesn't appear.
I send a prayer to whatever dark god is watching my back. The keen senses of a canine would certainly have been my downfall. My heart slows, back into the confident beat of an apex predator. I look over my shoulder at the homeless man I had tricked into following me here from the back alleys of Charleston. It wasn't like it had been with Jane. No one would miss this man. He was just one of many nameless, faceless people that those around him seemed to prefer to ignore. His fear hadn't needed any preparation. Nature would do all the work for me, so I had taken the opportunity.
He was stripped naked and hung in the tree, high out of reach of any scavengers willing to brave the cold. It had taken him most of the night to die. Slowly freezing to death. His scraggly white beard had small icicles clinging to it, where his tears had frozen. I remove the ropes I had used to hoist him into the tree, leaving him hanging only by the length of copper wire he had tried to sell me back in Charleston. The wire immediately presses into his hard skin making shallow wounds as his weight falls to it. Eventually it will push through to the bones. I turn to the side and add the ropes to the small pile of dirty, ragged clothes and holey shoes. I keep watch over the fire in the deep pit I had dug while he had shivered and begged.
When all is ashes, I cover the pit again, soil and snow smothering the dying embers.
I breathe in the frigid air, another hunt officially over. Time to go home. Kareena will be expecting me back around noon. It would be nice to arrive a little early and surprise her.
****
Violet felt nervous as they rounded the corner. She had never been to Dhillan's house before and although they had crossed the boundaries of friendship, they hadn't yet taken that final step.
“Thank you,” she said as he pulled out a key to a the small, light-blue house nestled back among the trees, “for helping me cope with everything.”
He had been very patient, going into the forest with her, holding her when the loss and memories became too much. He had never questioned, never asked for anything and she loved him for it.
He gave her his now-familiar half-smile. “Anytime. Do you want to come in?”
If he had been anyone else, that question would have meant something entirely different. She smiled up at him and stepped closer, enjoying the way his strong arms immediately encircled her.
Violet had spent most of her adult life fighting her way into what, even now, was still a male-dominant world. She always had to be tougher than them, stronger than them. But not here. In Dhillan's arms she felt like a fragile thing, so breakable, but cherished in a way that meant she felt no fear or shame at being weaker.
“If you think Keme won't mind.”
Dhillan cocked his head to the side, then suddenly swept her legs out from under her. He put her down on the wrap around porch and unlocked the door, swinging it open. Keme hobbled to them, tail wagging frantically, his injured paw securely wrapped up.
“I think he is happy to see you.”
Violet looked up from patting the big black dog to find Dhillan's face inches from hers. One of his big hands circled her waist and pulled her in closer. “Will you stay?”
Violet met his steady gaze, feeling the heat flooding his body. “Yes.”
His lips pressed on hers with all the fire he had been suppressing these past weeks, her own blood electrifying as he pulled her into the house, kicking the door shut behind them.
****
Christmas and New Year’s had come in the form of blizzards and snow so deep we had all been home bound for weeks. I pull my eyes away from the window, where snow is once again beginning to fall. I smile at the fat flakes. No one has found my John Doe yet and if this weather kept up, no one would until spring.
I turn back into the meeting room as Violet stands abruptly, toppling her chair. I watch as reason vanishes from her eyes, obliterated by anger and loss.
Mark heaves a regretful sigh. “I am sorry, Violet. It has been more than six months. Montgomery stopped their involvement almost three months ago. We have our protocol—”
“To hell the protocol.”
Mark stands, his face hard. “There can be no special cases. You know that. I am sorry, but we have no leads left to follow. It is over. This case goes in the Freezer.”
I move over to pat Violet's shoulder as she collapses into another chair, loss winning out over anger. I am only here because she asked that I be present, I must play the role she desires. I need to remain in this inner circle.
Dhillan watches me from his seat, then turns his eyes to Mark, a small smile on his face.
“So, the Luton case is no longer active?”
I realize why he's bothered to state the obvious when Violet stiffens under my comforting hand.
She looks from Dhillan to Mark and back again.
“That's what I said, isn't it. The case goes in the Freezer, with all the other cold cases.”
Violet smiles too. “Then I can work on it?”
Mark eyes her up and down and I almost laugh at the fatherly look on his face. “You shouldn't be directly involved if you don't want your finds thrown out of court. But,” he runs a hand through his hair, “if you find something that might be linked, call me in and I will see what I can do.”
I remove my hand and step back as the atmosphere changes from one of defeat to one of determination. Inwardly, I sigh. I have no reason to fear that they will get any closer, but having my kills continuously looked into is irritating. I wish they would just leave them alone.
Violet grabs my hand so suddenly I have to work hard to keep my facade in place, my mind snapping back to the moment.
“Alma, I want to officially ask for your help. I want to look at the psychological files about each of the victims Dhillan linked with that piece of fabric, maybe even a few more.”
“Detective Turner, that fabric was deemed too co
mmon to qualify as a unifying factor. If you are doing this, it will be in your own time, do you understand?”
She barely glances at Mark. “I understand. Will you help us, Alma?”
Us. If Dhillan and I both get involved, Kareena will probably be dragged in, too. But if I refuse, I won't know if they manage to make any real progress.
“Of course. I'd be happy to.”
Violet grins at me and then at Dhillan, confident in her new ally.
11
The winter snows have begun melting. My heart races in anticipation. Spring is just around the corner. In another few weeks, Water Ways and the camping grounds in and around Kanawha County would be visited by teenagers desperate for some kind of freedom. Most skipped out of West Virginia all together, but there were always a few who didn't, either because they couldn't afford to, or because they weren't allowed to.
I look over at one of the monitors in my underground room beneath the shed at the docks. James is yelling at his mother again. I can't hear them, but I can guess it is like all the other arguments since the weather started to warm. He wants to go party for spring break, she's reminding him that he is still on probation for armed robbery. The furthest he can go from Boone County is Kanawha County. He, in turn, will remind her about their unused camping gear and swear or beg some more.
I smile. I already know he will be allowed to go. I can see it in the weary lines of her face and the slumped set to her shoulders. His mother has already lost the argument. She lost it the day he was arrested and her idealistic vision of her son was shattered. Would she regret these fights after he never returns home?
I shake my head, turning away. Collateral damage was not my concern. My eyes move along the wall, along the fifty small tanks I have placed there, each with it's own eight-legged occupant of varying sizes. I have managed to gather a nice variety. Tiger wolf spiders, jumping spiders, orb-weavers, even a few black widows.
