by James Hunt
Without knowing how much time he had left, Gary closed his eyes and was greeted with Anna’s smiling face. He felt the warmth of her skin. He watched the shyness of her smile. His mind was suddenly overwhelmed with the moments they had shared together, and then he felt a stab of regret at all of the moments he would miss. Tears burst from his eyes. “Will you keep your promise?” With what courage that remained to him, he opened his eyes, finding the killer’s gaze. “Will you let Anna live?”
“But don’t you see? With your death, her soul is broken and a life with a broken soul is already dead.” It could have been the shadows or a trick of the light, but when the killer finished his thought, it looked as though the lines of his smile crawled all the way to his ears. “And what is a more painfully beautiful story than that of a broken heart?”
The serrated metal tore into the puffy white flesh of Gary’s neck. The first scream gargled in blood, and he tasted the warm, metallic crimson on his tongue. Pain flooded his mind, and he felt warmth spill onto his chest and legs. His mind grew heavy, and the warmth soon faded, quickly replaced by an icy cold. Lacking the simple strength to keep his eyelids open, his last vision on this earth was that of the kidnapper with the blade in his hand, dripping blood, smiling from ear to ear.
Chapter 2 – Baltimore – Present Day
The headstones that surrounded the crowd were just as solemn and stoic as the sea of bodies dressed in black. Sniffles and quiet sobs dotted the priest’s eulogy as heads bowed. But one face remained lifted, and Detective Adila Cooper squinted from the glare of the sunlight off the casket.
Scabs had formed over Cooper’s knuckles, the wounds nearly healed, but with the tight grip with which she held onto her detective’s badge, they looked ready to burst and bleed once more. She stood off to the side, away from the rest of the family per Tim’s wishes, which had been the only instructions he’d given her after Beth’s passing. The fact that her will stated she be buried in Baltimore didn’t help things either. Despite Tim’s rant with the lawyer, there wasn’t anything he could do. However, when Beth had made the arrangements, she probably didn’t think she would die so young. No one did.
Cooper’s eyes drifted from the casket to her nieces. Mary, the youngest, cried into her father’s leg, while Sarah had her head bowed but her eyes open.
It should be me in that box. Beth was the one with a family. She still had people that cared about her, loved her, needed her. Cooper looked to Hart, who stood by her side, the only other officer in attendance besides herself. It’d been a while since she’d had anyone to lean on, and over the past few weeks, the rookie had proved himself.
“And the dead in Christ will rise first,” the pastor said, crossing himself. “Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air and so we will always be with him.” He bowed his head and tossed dirt onto the casket.
Tim led the girls to the casket, and each of them placed a rose on top, though Mary had to give hers to Tim because she couldn’t reach over far enough on the casket to get the rose to stick. The seats emptied, and the line started for each person to throw in a handful of dirt. But while the sea of black hurried into line, Cooper remained frozen.
Hart nudged her arm, keeping his voice low. “Hey, you all right?”
But Cooper was transfixed on the casket and the lifeless body inside. She would never hear Beth’s voice again, never have the opportunity to right all of the past mistakes. Their mother had died nearly a year ago, and their father had left before she was old enough to remember him. With Beth in the ground, she knew Tim wouldn’t allow her to see the girls anymore. She was alone.
“Cooper,” Hart said, nudging her arm again.
“We should head back to the precinct.” Cooper watched the dirt sprinkle onto the curved top of the casket and roll down the sides. “We need to find out what Hemsworth knows.”
“The case is the last thing you should be thinking about,” Hart replied. “You need time to mourn. Let Hemsworth and the FBI take it for now. You have a lot on your plate.”
The casket was lowered into the ground, and Cooper felt her heart sink with it. “I can’t eat. I can’t sleep. I can’t feel anything except the warm slime of blood on my hands. I need to wash it off. I have to get rid of it.” The casket dipped from view, and Cooper turned, heading toward the car.
Hart followed, sticking close to her side as they weaved through the silent, fleeing masses. “Look, I don’t know what you’re going through. I can’t even imagine how you feel, but I do know that there isn’t any way Hemsworth is going to keep you on the investigation. Not now.” He grabbed her by the arm, stopping both of them. “The man who killed your sister is still out there, and the last thing you need right now is to struggle between justice and vengeance.”
Cooper yanked her arm free. “Trust me. It won’t be a struggle.” But before she turned around, she felt another hand grab her shoulder from behind.
“You shouldn’t be here.” Tim tightened his grip like a vise. He gritted his teeth, clenching his jaw. His face was beet red from sun and rage.
Cooper shoved him in the chest, pulling herself free and fighting the desire to reach for her pistol. “She’s my sister—” But before she could finish, Hart stepped between them and pushed her back. She struggled against his size and strength, screaming at Tim. “You’re a fucking coward!” With a quick shove and a side step, she darted around Hart and sprinted back toward Tim.
“You’re never going to get anywhere near my girls. You understand me? Nowhere!”
A crowd had gathered around their argument. Shocked faces and disgusted looks were cast in both directions at the abhorrent scene. Drunk on a cocktail of grief and rage, Cooper swung her right fist, connecting with Tim’s jaw.
Gasps and shouts erupted from the circle of spectators, and it was Hart who pulled her back, while two other men grabbed hold of Tim. “You fucking cunt!” Blood dripped from the corner of his mouth, and his lip puffed out, already swelling. The two men eventually let him go, and Tim stormed back to the car, where Mary and Sarah gawked from the backseat window.
Cooper wiggled free from Hart’s grip and pushed her way through the stunned crowd. She locked eyes with the girls as the black sedan drove off, leaving a trail of exhaust in its wake. As the adrenaline from the moment subsided, the ache in her right hand surfaced from the punch she had landed on Tim’s cheek. When she looked down, the scabs had broken, and her knuckles were covered in blood.
“C’mon,” Hart said. “We need to get back to the precinct.”
“Yeah,” Cooper replied, though her words were like the whisper of a ghost long forgotten by the world. Her sister was dead. Her mother was dead. And now the last pair of her remaining bloodline would be kept from her.
Cooper rested her head against the window while Hart drove, and she devoted her time to watching the buildings and pedestrians. The glass was warm from the afternoon sun, and her skull rattled from the vibrations of the road. “We drifted apart. Beth and I.”
Hart glanced sideways but kept his main focus on the road. “What happened?”
“I used to think it was after our mother died last year.” Cooper frowned. “But the truth was it happened long before then.” She lifted her head from the window and reclined in her seat. “I’ve watched people die before. I’ve seen the light in their eyes go out more times than I care to count. It’s something you expect in our line of work. It’s something that you have to prepare to handle.” She nodded. “And I’ve done that. I’ve handled it. I’ve never let it affect me before. But this…” She rubbed her forehead, unsure of where her thoughts were taking her and slightly afraid of what she’d find when she arrived.
Hart shook his head. “I can’t imagine what you went through. To see your family like that, it’s just—” He tightened his grip on the wheel. “All I know is if it happened to me, I wouldn’t be able to keep it together. If I saw my brother, or my wife, like you
did?” He scoffed. “It’d only be a matter of time before I ended up behind bars myself.” He slowed at the signal of a red light, and as they came to a stop, he looked over. “But you’re better than that. You’re smarter than that. You know that the only way to catch this guy is to stay on the right side of the law.”
Cooper picked at the badge hanging from her neck. “I don’t know what the right side is anymore.”
A car honked behind them, and Hart returned his attention to the intersection, where the light was green. The rest of the trip to the precinct was in silence. When they arrived, the media circus was still in full flow, and they waded through a sea of cameras and microphones on their way inside. Cooper kept her head down, while Hart held up his hands, blocking the reporters from continuing their harassment. “We have no comment on the investigation at this time. And we ask that you respect the privacy of both Detective Cooper and her family during this difficult time. FBI Special Agent Hemsworth will be making a statement later today regarding the investigation. Thank you.”
Once they were behind closed doors, the roar of questions lessened to a dull moan. Cooper kept the tunnel vision all the way to Hemsworth’s makeshift command center near Captain Farnes’s office. If there were any sympathetic gestures offered by her peers, she didn’t see them. They’d never accepted her before, and her sister’s death wasn’t going to change their minds. Without knocking, Cooper burst into Hemsworth’s office, interrupting the agent in mid-presentation.
“Detective Cooper,” Hemsworth said, every head in the room turning at the announcement. “I didn’t realize you were on duty today. I was told you had your sister’s funeral.”
Cooper glanced at the projection on the wall. It was a map of Baltimore that had six or seven different locations highlighted. “What is this?” She recognized the sections of the city, most of them in the impoverished and low-income areas. One spot in particular was close to her old neighborhood. “Are these—” But when Cooper turned around, both Hemsworth and Hart were at the door, keeping it open.
“Can I speak with you for a moment, Detective?” Hemsworth asked. “Privately?”
The rest of the room remained seated and shifted in their chairs uncomfortably, none of them looking her in the face. When Cooper walked out the door and into the hallway, Farnes was there, and before either Hemsworth or the captain had a chance to speak, Cooper jumped on the offensive. “You’re not taking me off this case.”
Hemsworth held up his hand defensively. “Detective Cooper, you need to be with your family right now. There is paid leave for this type of event, and it’s something that you need to take advantage of.” But while Hemsworth glowered concern, Farnes remained stoic. “I’ve spoken with both Captain Farnes and Police Chief Alcorn, and everyone is in agreement that it’s best if you take the time off work.”
“I was there, Hemsworth.” Cooper kept her voice at a harsh whisper. “Everyone here knows this was a personal vendetta the killer has against me. He targeted me, and there’s no reason for him not to do it again. I’m not going to sit on the sidelines while that psychopath is out there getting away with cold-blooded murder.”
“This is still a federal case,” Hemsworth replied, his tone hardening. “And the FBI has jurisdiction.”
“Then I’ll do this without a badge,” Cooper replied, her face reddening. “I will not sit here with my thumb up my ass while that fucking bastard is still breathing!”
“Then you’ll be arrested,” Farnes said, his voice as calm as the serene look on his face. “Your grief doesn’t give you the authority to work outside the laws of the land.”
Cooper knew how much Farnes had been looking forward to this. He’d been against her from the beginning, in every single case she worked. Ever since the IA with her partner that would have linked him to the same corruption along with his brother, the former governor. Now the ball was in his court. Now he held her fate in his hands, and he was more than willing to end her career just when she’d lost everything else. She only had one card to play now.
“The killer wants me.” She turned to Hemsworth. “You need me.” Cooper watched Hemsworth weigh the options as Farnes spit off every reason she’d already thought of to keep her off the case. She can’t be trusted. She has too much personal emotion invested. She’s a liability. She’s grieving. It’s against protocol.
“Enough.” Hemsworth cut through Farnes’s excuses, and the fat on the captain’s neck turned red from embarrassment. “I’d like to speak with the detective alone for a moment, Captain.”
The loose skin on Farnes’s body wiggled in defiance, but he finally submitted. “I’ll be in my office when you’re done.” He slammed the door shut forcefully, leaving Hemsworth and Cooper in the hallway.
“Detective, I know what you want.” Hemsworth’s voice took on a more fatherly touch. “It’s the same thing I want. It’s what everyone wants. But you have to know by now that I can’t use you. It goes against every protocol I have.”
“I don’t give a shit about your protocol. I don’t give a shit about how you think I feel, and I certainly don’t give a shit about what happens to me after all of this.” Cooper stepped forward, inching as close as she could to Hemsworth without actually touching him. “You have no idea of what I want!”
Cooper panted heavily, and her face had flushed red. To Hemsworth she must have looked like a wild animal, but to her surprise, the veteran agent didn’t raise his voice or make any threats. He simply took a breath and stepped backward. “If you interfere with this investigation, it won’t be Captain Farnes you have to worry about. It will be the full force and authority of the United States government.” He reached for the door handle to return to his meeting but paused before he entered. “Don’t make this difficult on yourself, Detective. Mourn your sister. Let yourself feel it. This isn’t just another homicide case. This is your life.” He shut the door and left Cooper alone in the hallway.
Feel it? She’d always felt it. Every bloodied body she came across, every tear-soaked mother, father, sister, friend, brother, lover, husband, wife that she had to interview, she felt their pain. There was no compartment in her brain where she stored those files, no secret box for them to be hidden in and forgotten. She processed everything, and she let that pain and fear and hurt and anger sharpen her skills. But by the time she found this killer, she wasn’t sure what would be left for her to feel.
Cooper returned to the office, and Hart was already inside. He was at the suspect wall, peeling the pictures off. “What the hell are you doing?”
“We’re both off the case, Cooper.” Hart stacked the pictures in a box along with the tagged evidence. “You heard Hemsworth. They’re taking it from here on out.”
Cooper yanked the box from Hart’s grip and clutched it protectively. “You fucking knew about this? And you’re letting it happen?”
Hart threw up his hands, exasperated. “Cooper, I told you they weren’t going to let you continue this! For Christ’s sake, you just buried your sister!” Frustration took hold, and he paced the office in circles. “I know you think the last thing you need is to step away from this, but it’s the truth! You’re going to end up killing yourself or someone else!” He took a breath, shaking his head and taking a step back. “I’m sorry, I—”
“Fuck you.” The words spit from Cooper’s mouth before she had a chance to stop them. “What if this was your wife? Your pregnant wife. You don’t think I’d have your back on that? You don’t think I’d do whatever I could to help? Or have all the rumors about the devil detective finally eaten through that thick skull of yours?”
“You don’t get to say that, Cooper!” Hart shouted, thrusting his finger in her face. “I’ve never held that against you, I’ve never brought what happened between you and your old partner up without you talking about it first, not once.” He loosened his tie, muttering under his breath. “I’ve already told you I don’t know what this is like, but you’re right. If it was my wife and my unborn child that we
re killed, I’d lose my fucking mind. But you know what else I know?” He inched closer, his face aged beyond his young years. “I know you’d do everything you could to stop me. Because you know what happens when you get to the end of the road you want to go down. And partners don’t let that happen.”
“We were never partners, Hart.” Cooper shook her head. “You were just the rookie I had to babysit until your training wheels came off.” The guilt and rage that funneled through her veins at the sight of Hart’s reaction would have normally triggered her to apologize, but she didn’t. Deep down she knew that both Hemsworth and Hart were right. She was too close. She was too wrapped up with vengeance instead of justice. But her sister was in the ground. And she didn’t give a shit anymore. “So why don’t you crawl back to the captain and tell him whatever the fuck you need to in order to save your own skin.”
“Fuck you, Cooper.” Hart flipped her off then slammed the door shut on his way out.
The rush of wind that accompanied Hart’s exit stung her cheeks. Most of the strength and rage evaporated in the quiet of the office, and she set the box of evidence down and collapsed in her chair. The constant pounding in her head that had plagued her all morning returned in full force, crippling any train of thought she tried to string together. She reached for the bottom drawer of her desk and sifted through the old candy bar wrappers and chip bags until she felt the rounded neck of the whiskey bottle she kept hidden inside. She unscrewed the top and tilted the bottle up and let the liquor slow the roaring train speeding through the tunnels of her memories, trying to force her to confront her childhood and a past she desperately wanted to forget.
Eventually the liquor did its job, and Cooper felt the stoic calm numb her nerves and relax her muscles. If she was going to do this, then she’d have to act quickly. She screwed the cap onto the bottle then tossed it into the box of evidence, along with anything else she’d collected working on the case. She scooped the box into her arms and headed down the hall. She passed a television on her way out, and the anchor’s voice caught her attention.
