Secrets Room

by Kim Faulks

  Adley waited for an answer. Waited for the strength not to pull the trigger and spray Edric’s brains all over the swing set behind him. It wasn’t the murder charge Adley would face that stopped him. It was the fact that he’d never get closure for his broken sister.

  Lila now lived in Richmond Clinic, a psychiatric hospital specializing in rehabilitation of the broken. She was lost to Adley, lost underneath a fractured mind that understood all too well her little boy was never coming home. Lila needed to know this monster was never going to hurt another little boy ever again. She deserved closure, but she deserved to know her brother wasn’t going to maximum security to get it.

  Adley snorted. His breath passed between him and this… this thing while he waited. There was no answer, only a spark of recognition passing between them. An understanding of what Edric Hasting was and what Adley had to do. He had to put this thing away for good, the right way.

  Adley eased back, letting Edric’s shirt go, before he turned to face Nathan’s shocked. “I’m good, man. I’m all good.”

  “What the fuck has gotten into you?” Nathan growled. “Luke is sitting there watching you pull your gun, for fuck's sake.”

  Shit. Luke. Adley spun to where the child sat burying his face into the dog’s fur, his face bright red and blotchy as his tears fell. “I’m sorry,” was all he could say, torn between doing the right thing for his best friend and the right thing, period.

  Adley holstered his firearm, ignoring the twitch in his trigger finger. “I’m okay now. You best get Luke home. You’ve been gone too long. Sarah’s got to be getting worried.”

  “Can I trust you not to off this guy on the way back to the station?”

  Those words stung. He’d never had to justify himself before, especially not to Nathan. He nodded and bent down, picking up the zip lock bag with enough evidence to convict Edric Hasting of twelve counts of murder, in his mind at least. He just had to make sure everyone else saw this as well.

  He grabbed the chain on the cuffs and used them to push Edric forward, past the crowd. They moved out of his way, a silent parting of the sea of parents and children.

  “Because I can.”

  The thing in front of him spoke as they broke free from the trees. Adley looked at the back of Edric’s head. In his mind, he saw the exit hole from the bullet, and white speckled blow-back as clearly as though he’d actually pulled the trigger. He didn’t want to answer, but the desire to understand was overwhelming. “Because you can what?”

  His voice, devoid of any inflection, made cold sweat break out on Adley’s neck and chest. His gaze darted to the cuffs, making sure they were secure. “Back there you asked me why. Because I can.”

  Chills rushed along Adley’s skin and even though the sun still beamed in the sky, his world felt a little darker, a little colder. Acid made its way into Adley’s mouth and his stomach clenched. He licked his trembling lips and swept his hand across his forehead. Jesus Christ, what the hell is this thing?

  Adley gripped the handcuffs tighter at his back and pushed him faster toward the car. Hasting’s low chuckle seemed to slap him across the face and he fumbled with the keys, hitting the unlock button. Adley wanted to be free of this thing, he wanted Hasting gone.

  He grabbed the door handle, and swung it open while Edric said quietly. “Adley Scott… hmmm… say, didn’t you have a nephew once?”

  Adley’s scream felt like it tore something in his chest. He tasted blood as he inhaled sharply, wrenching air into his lungs. Adley shoved Edric down into the back seat of the car before he slammed the door shut. He couldn’t kill him. I can’t kill him. But fuck, he wanted to. Adley placed his hands on the bonnet of the car and dropped his head while his body shook with rage and frustration. He focused on the dirt and the grass seeds clinging to his black pants. He focused on anything else, anything but what sat in the backseat. He had to get himself under control. He had no choice. Adley had to think about Luke. He opened the driver’s door and slid into the seat. Not once did Adley look into the mirror. Instead, he started the ignition, gripped the wheel with both hands, steeled his resolve, and headed for the station.

  “I want in, Sarge.” Adley stood hunched over his Commanding Officer’s desk. “I can get this guy to talk.”

  “Not gonna happen, Scott. Leave it be.” His commanding officer didn’t bother to lift his head as he scribbled on the pile of paperwork on his desk.

  Adley wasn’t going to be dismissed so easily, not when he knew what they didn’t. “I’m not gonna get shut out of this one, Sarge. You don’t understand. I think he’s the—”

  “Stop!” growled his CO, slamming his fist down on his desk. The papers jumped and the pens rattled. “You couldn’t just leave this alone, could you, Scott?”

  Adley wasn’t following and he didn’t want to. All he wanted was to make his CO understand. Adley was convinced he was the only one who could get this piece of shit to come clean. He was already ten steps ahead, taking the opportunity to plan the court orders to search Edric Hasting’s house and car—

  “Are you listening to me, Scott? Have you even heard a word I’ve been saying?”

  Adley pushed off the desk and eyed his CO, now understanding what was happening. They were shutting him out. “Yeah, I understand real well. Thanks for having my back, Sarge.”

  He shook his head, the movement followed by the booming voice of his CO. “Stay out of it. That’s an order.”

  He shook his head. There was no way he was staying out of it. He didn’t care what they said.

  “Then your gun and your badge. Now, Scott.”

  Adley glanced up at his scowling CO. He knew in his heart there was no help for him here. He turned sideways and wrapped his hand around the butt of his Glock, feeling the familiar bite of the textured grip against his palm. The leather holster cuddling the firearm seemed to hug the metal, refusing to let go. Slowly Adley coaxed the weapon free, feeling the weight of his act. The force was the only family he knew.

  What would he do now? This was the only job he’d ever had. Sweeping the release catch aside with his thumb, he yanked the magazine free and slammed the slide back. The chambered round ejected into the air, the dull brass-jacketed bullet glinting under the pitiless fluorescent lights. The ammo, harmless now, bounced end over end across the CO’s desk before rolling off the edge. How could he protect Luke now?

  Adley slapped the weapon into his superior’s outstretched hand. He pulled out his badge and flipped open the leather cover, taking one last look at the soaring, wedge-tailed eagle and the motto he had built his career on, punishment follows closely upon crime. He closed the cover, feeling his shoulders sag and his hands shudder and jerk, refusing the commands from his mind. He threw his badge on his CO’s desk. The thump of metal felt like his own heart.

  Adley straightened his shoulders and ground his teeth. This was no time for weakness or defeat. His suspension wasn’t going to stop him from doing the right thing. The loss of his badge wasn’t going to stop him from protecting those he loved. Adley would do his investigating on his own time, which he now seemed to have plenty of. He looked down at the slip of paper in his hand— suspended with pay pending an investigation. Yeah, he had all the time in the world.

  Three weeks dragged by before Adley was rostered back on duty. He’d given numerous statements of the events in the park. The questioning seemed to focus more on the fact he’d punched the piece of shit and had drawn his firearm. Not once did they ask about the information Adley had given them. For all intents and purposes, the department didn’t seem to care.

  He strode to his desk and sat down, staring at the file for some bullshit case of employee theft laying on his desk. He inclined back and stared at the other desks, packed tightly together like a freaking call center. Some of the other detectives sat hunched, typing furiously. No one paid him any attention. That was, until Nathan walked through the door.

  Adley’s calls to Nathan had gone unanswered during his suspension. He
knew he acted badly. But, given the chance, he would’ve explained. Nathan’s gaze seemed to darken when he saw Adley. His former partner’s long strides quickly covered the distance to where Adley sat. There was something going on here, something he didn’t understand at all.

  Righting his chair, Adley started to stand when Nathan’s fist whipped him square in the jaw. He stumbled back, taking the employee fraud file with him. Papers scattered across the floor while Nathan leaned over him. His blood-shot eyes and creased clothes told Adley he hadn’t gone home. His friend was sleep-deprived and that shit drove you to the edge. “Fucking attempted abduction charge, that’s it! Thanks to you.”

  The room spun, but Adley got to his feet. His heart ached more than his jaw as he faced his best friend. “I don’t understand, Nathan. Because I roughed him up a little? Fuck that shit! What about resisting arrest, hindering police investigation? We can find some charge to hold him on.”

  Nathan snarled, but the sting was gone from his eyes. “They’re off the table now. They were lucky to get him on the attempted kidnapping.”

  “Jesus, Nathan. I’m so sorry,” Adley started, but Nathan cut him off.

  “Save it. Save your bullshit for someone else, Scott.” Nathan’s voice grew softer when he turned away from Adley. “What am I supposed to say to him?”

  Adley stood silent, not wanting to provoke Nathan any further. He was angry and hurt; both would drive him to do things he would never normally do. Like end a friendship. Adley swallowed the lump that had appeared in his throat, but the thing wouldn’t go down.

  Nathan stood with his back toward him while he asked the question again, even though Adley had no answer. “What am I supposed to tell my son when he wakes screaming in the middle of the night?”

  The vision of Edric Hasting taunting him arose in his mind. Adley Scott… hmmm… say, didn’t you have a nephew once?

  Adley wished desperately he’d pulled the trigger. He’d failed to save his godson, just like he failed to save all the other kids who’d become Edric Hasting’s next victims.

  “Tell Luke we’ll protect him,” Adley croaked, forcing the lump down. “Tell him we won’t stop until he’s safe.”

  Nathan whirled on him, backing him over the desk as a tear slid down his face. “You don’t get it, do you? It’s your name he screams in the middle of the night, Adley. It’s your face that makes him piss the bed in fear. Jesus, seeing you pull your gun. He’s fucking terrified of you!”

  Adley slumped down on his desk, as everything good in his world fell from view. He now pieced it all together. The unanswered phone calls. The cold shoulder from every other officer at the station. They all hated him, every last one. Adley looked up at the man who had once been his best friend. Could he blame them?

  Adley had spent enough time with Nathan to know this would eat at him. He would turn bitter and depressed knowing he turned his back on his best friend. Nathan would pull away from Luke and he would take this out on Sarah. He would blame himself. He was too good a friend not to. So Adley had to change that.

  “Fuck you.”

  Nathan looked up at him, fresh tears gleaming in his eyes. He blinked, forcing them to fall. A blank look crossed his face. “What?”

  Adley may well have ceased to exist, for he felt just that empty. He forced the poisoned words from his mouth. “You heard me. Fuck you and fuck your family. You weren’t there for me when I needed you. Just like you’re not here for me now. Fucking hypocrite.”

  Nathan flinched and the color drained from his face. He lifted his finger, jabbing hard into Adley’s chest. “Weren’t there for you? Sarah and I were the only ones who’ve ever been there for you!”

  “Yeah?” Adley spat, pushing into those jabs as he stood up to Nathan. “So Sarah can tell everyone at the school what fucking saints both of you are? How you’re taking care of the broken copper and his psychotic sister? You look at me every fucking day, and don’t think for a minute I don’t know what you’re thinking. Your mouth says you’re sorry, but your eyes say something different, friend.”

  “Yeah, what’s that, Scott? Don’t hold back, mate, lay it all out on the fucking table!” Nathan’s face flushed red from shouting.

  The slam of his CO’s door boomed inside the office. He’d heard it enough times to know his superior was watching him, but he refused to move his gaze. “Your eyes tell me you’re glad it was Matthew and not Luke, that’s what they tell me.”

  Adley braced himself. He withstood not one, but three hard punches, before he went down under a hail of blows.

  Two months later, after a stint with the Tactical Action Group, he came back to scornful looks and turned backs. It seemed his only friends on the job were now the boys in Forensic and a few officers who’d transferred and hadn’t yet got on board with the ‘ignore Adley Scott’ program. So when the word got around a new recruit had been assigned to transfer Edric Hasting to Bartley’s Island, Adley made it his mission to find out who that officer was.

  Bartley’s Island was a medium security prison about four hundred kilometers away, just off the coast of Queensland. The place was notorious for its high inmate rape stats. Adley came in early and scanned the officer’s work logs for the next day until a comment, Transfer caught his eye.

  Colin Murray was new to Corland. He’d been relocated from one of the inbred country stations where everyone knew each other just a little too well. He smiled and held out his hand when Adley approached him. Colin liked to talk, a lot. Adley played nice for the first fifteen minutes, and then the chatter just got on his nerves. It came up in conversation; Colin wanted to make new friends. He was a nice enough kid, but Adley would save him the heartache. Adley wasn’t friend material. He’d proven this with Nathan. All he was interested in was Colin’s assignment the following day—transport duty. Adley thought his scheme was going to be difficult. He was expecting a barrage of questions when he explained what he wanted the younger officer to do.

  Colin shrugged and nodded, “Sure. No skin off my nose.” The deal was done. Adley turned up the next morning, logged on at the station and collected the court documents from Colin, ready for the prison transfer. His partner for the trip was Detective Rachel Gordon, from a specialized station, probably Liaison.

  He drove into the underground park at the double doors used for prisoner transfers and motioned to the toilets. “Gotta go. You mind signing him out?”

  Rachel sighed, grabbed the documents and got out of the car while Adley headed for the toilets. He needed to make sure no one saw him anywhere near this job. Fuck, he felt like he was in high school again, hiding out in the men’s room. He just hoped to Christ no one noticed and raised the alarm. He eased open the door to the parking lot, checking the car while he rubbed the back of his neck and scratched his face until the watch house boys walked Edric Hasting out and secured him in the backseat.

  Adley made one final adjustment to the microphone strapped to his chest, making sure it would pick up every word, and strode out. This was his last chance with Edric. One last chance to get anything on record he could use to arrest the scum for the twelve unsolved murders haunting him.

  Adley slid in behind the wheel, fighting the urge to look at the thing in the rear vision mirror. He didn’t have to.

  “Well, hello again, detective. How’s life treating you?”

  Adley ignored him. He also ignored the cocked brow Rachel gave him.

  The trip was quiet, uncomfortably quiet, as Adley left Corland behind and headed along the country road. He looked into the rear vision mirror. He would never forget this face. The broad cheeks and strong jaw Adley saw didn’t match Edric’s lifeless brown eyes.

  “Take a good look around, Hasting. Won’t be long now and all you’ll be seeing is the mattress, face down with your ass in the air.”

  “Fuck you.”

  Adley’s skin crawled, but he smiled with a sense of triumph. He was finally getting somewhere; he was finally getting to Edric. “You know there are a lot
nicer places than Bartley’s. I hear they paint the shower floors to cover the bloodstains and the condom machine is always full.”

  The face in the rear vision mirror sneered back at him. Adley had found a weakness and he’d exploit it as much as he could. “Yeah, won’t be long now. If only there was something to bargain with, huh?”

  A snort came from the passenger’s seat. He turned to look at the detective. Detective Rachel Gordon was a senior detective. Why she’d volunteered to spend an entire day doing this was beyond him.

  “So how come the request?” Adley said. He'd been trying to break the awkward silence since they left. One-word answers and her cold personality were making conversation extremely difficult and they were only half-way there.

  “Got kids.”

  It was the most she’d spoken all morning, even though her terse explanation didn't make any sense to Adley.

  “Cool,” Adley said, exhaled with a slow shake of his head. How hard was it to have a conversation with this woman? “I've been working the child murders for the past year now.” He watched for any reaction in the backseat.

  “Congrats.” Rachel looked out her side window. The low chuckle in the back made him snap his head up.

  “You got something to say, Hasting?” Adley asked before he flicked his eyes from the road to the mirror and back to the road.

  “Yeah, I got something to say. How's the investigation going for you, detective?”

  Adley glanced up and stared at the reflection of evil. The strong jaw, full lips and smooth skin would have looked handsome on anyone else. What emanated from inside made Hasting as ugly as hell.

  “Holy fuck, what’s that crazy bitch doing?” Rachel yelled.

  Adley jumped and snapped his attention back to the road. The brakes came to life, screaming as he pumped them. It wasn't so much what Rachel yelled which grabbed his attention. It was the fact that she spoke at all.

  The tires of the car skidded and he turned sharply. The car careened sideways, failing to respond to his commands. Adley pumped the brake, narrowly avoiding a woman dressed in white. The vehicle skidded to a stop.