by D. A. Brown
Bodhi ran with her nose in the air, her nostrils practically vibrating with every stride. Rotting seaweed and algae bloom, pungent and on display with the low tide, braced against the breeze coming off the Sound. There was a storm surging in from the southwest, the smell of rain now mixing with dead shellfish. She’d memorized the word that named the smell; petrichor, the scent of rain on dry earth.
The day drew out behind her, her mind fixed on the strain in her knees and hips. Every year, it took longer for her muscles to warm and stretch. Where once she could bound up from the floor in a single unencumbered motion, she now labored to do it in two. Whether it was the wear and tear of the job or the stress of the last few years, she was not the pain-free athlete of ten years ago.
Robin picked up after two rings.
“You up for a quick couple of martinis? My treat, as previously promised.”
“I just canceled a blind date. He sounded like my dad on the phone. So, yes. I’m in.”
“Meet me in an hour. I have to take a shower.”
“Please do. See you there.”
The two women had met working opposite sides of a rape case, Robin representing the suspect and Sophia investigating the crime. They shared a love of good wine, bad men and Clint Eastwood movies. Despite their differences on the subject of criminals, they had become fast friends.
Sophia found a parking spot a half a block away. She spotted Robin, her head in her phone, walking on the opposite side of the street. She ran up behind her and slapped her on the ass.
“Dammit, Sophia. You scared the shit out of me.” Robin fumbled with her phone.
“You should be scared. Just because it’s Seattle doesn’t mean it’s safe. Remember what I always tell you? Head on a swivel.”
Robin hugged Sophia, burying her face in her friend’s neck. Robin’s curly hair engulfed Sophia’s face.
“How the hell are you?”
Sophia stepped back, holding Robin’s hands in front of her. “You look fucking gorgeous.”
“Oh please.” Robin dipped her chin and sized up Sophia.
“You look skinny and pale. Are you eating or just chasing bad guys all day long?”
“Most of my calories these days seem to come out of a wine bottle. But hey, on that note, let’s drink.”
The two women found a small table near the back of the bar. They each ordered vodka martinis.
“Tell me about this guy you ditched for me tonight.”
“One of the guys at work set us up - Jeff. You remember him, right?”
Sophia had met Jeff at trial, when he tried to flirt with her in the courthouse elevator.
“Yes I remember him.”
“I got cold feet yesterday.”
“You googled him, didn’t you?”
“Maybe just a little.”
“Robin.” Sophia shook her head.
“I know, I know but I just had a feeling about him and I didn’t want to ask Jeff. He was so excited about the two of us hitting it off.”
“So he could get all of the sordid details from his friend if you two hooked up.”
“That’s disgusting.” Robin ordered them both a second drink.
“And?”
“Cats. His social media profiles were filled with cats. If I wanted to date a lesbian, I’d just do it.”
Sophia laughed. “So what’s new with you, anyway?”
“I had a client bite me today.” Robin held out her hand and tipped it up to the light.
“Jesus Christ. Did you go to a doctor?”
Robin ran her finger along the small red indentation on the top of her hand. “No. It was really more of a nibble anyway.”
Sophia finished her first drink and pushed it to the edge of the table.
“I think Tommy’s going to retire.”
“Really? I just assumed he was going to go out with his boots on.”
“The poor bastard is really looking tired. I’m worried about him.”
“Guys like that live forever. He’s lucky his wife hasn’t shot him after all the bullshit he’s put her through.”
“I suppose.” Sophia took a sip of her second drink. “I’m still going to miss him.”
Robin’s phone vibrated.
“Sorry, I have to take this. Give me a minute.” She stood up and walked toward the restrooms. Sophia admired her friend. She had a classic New York look to her - long, dark curly hair, flawless skin and a knack for fashion that made Sophia envious. She glanced back at Sophia and gave her a wink.
“I hate to do this to you, but you know that new city council guy, Shane Zimmerman? He just got picked up on a DUI. He’s asking for me personally.”
“So you’re going to meet him at the precinct with a martini on your breath?”
“I’m fine. I only got through one.” She pushed her drink over to Sophia. “You finish this one. You’ve got a get out of jail card anyway if you get busted on the way home.” Robin leaned over and kissed Sophia on the cheek.
“Now, I’m the shitty friend. I promise I’ll make it up to you. And next time, I want you to show up on that motorcycle of yours and give me a ride.” She winked and blew another kiss.
“Drive carefully.”
Robin ran out the door and across the street, several eyes in the bar following her every move.
By the time Sophia got home, it was nearly eleven thirty. She snuggled up to Bodhi on the couch and grabbed Patricia Cornwall’s The Body Farm from the top of the pile.
A loud buzzing sound startled them both and Bodhi bounded to her feet, cocking her head toward Sophia’s cell phone rattling on the dining room table. Sophia glanced at her watch. Her friends knew better than to call this late.
The caller ID showed a 425 area code. It wasn’t from a city number and she didn’t recognize it as belonging to one of the guys in the squad. She hesitated. The only reason to pick up was the time of night. Bad news always seemed to come in the dark.
“Hello?”
There was mostly static on the other end, but she could make out the sound of music in the background. It sounded as though someone had accidentally butt dialed her.
“Hello.” She said it a little louder and looked at the number again.
“Sophia?” A man’s voice barely cut through the noise.
“Who is this?”
“It’s…” Another rush of static filled the speaker.
“I can’t hear you. Who is this?”
“David.”
Sophia’s stomach jumped. She hadn’t heard from her ex-husband in over two years.
“I can’t hear you. Where are you?”
“I’m at Vito’s. Sorry about the noise. It’s mostly my shitty phone.” He was drunk.
“What’s up?” She tried to sound nonchalant.
“I have to talk to you.”
“You do know there’s still a protection order in place, right?” She closed her eyes and steadied herself against the table, a sudden vodka rush spinning the room.
“I know, I know.” He paused. “But you’ve got to let me see you. I have something…
“Are you drunk?” She glanced out the front window. “Do you want to go back to jail?”
“Sophia, you’ve got to hear me out. It’s got to do with that case.” David lowered his voice as the noise in the background subsided.
“What case?”
“You have to trust me.”
“Well that’s pretty fucking priceless, David. And no, I don’t have to talk to you, or trust you, for that matter. And if anyone on the department is talking to you about any case I’m working…” She stopped. “You don’t have a clearance. You’re not a cop anymore, David.” Sophia shouted now, competing with the noise on the other end of the line. “And what case are you talking about?”
“That Halifax girl.”
Sophia drew a short breath. Bodhi scratched at the back door, pushing it open enough to slide out.
“What Halifax girl? What are you talking about?”
“Stewart Halifax’s daughter.”
Sophia walked to the front door and checked the lock. “How do you know Stewart Halifax?”
“I can’t have this conversation over the phone. I have to talk to you in person.”
“Not going to happen, David. Tell me what you know now or I’m hanging up.”
The connection started to cut out. “I can’t Sophia. I just can’t.”
“Then I’m done.” Sophia turned off the phone. “Goddamnit.”
Leaving the back door ajar for Bodhi, she grabbed a half-full bottle of Merlot from the kitchen counter and emptied it into a tumbler. She sat on the couch and took a long sip.
“Piece of shit!” She threw the phone across the room and into the base of a brass floor lamp. By the time she finished the wine, she only vaguely recalled the conversation with David. A good red made everything better.
CHAPTER FIVE
Bodhi’s rapid barking from the kitchen startled Sophia and she sat up. The room spun.
There was a steady, cool breeze coming from an open door. A gust burst through, slamming the back door against the wall. A strand of hair fluttered against Sophia’s forehead.
Bodhi’s barking was suddenly short and hoarse. Someone was tightening the collar against her throat.
Grabbing her gun from the bookcase, Sophia slid along the hallway wall toward the kitchen. She steadied her breath, slowed her heart rate. The house was dark. That gave her a tactical advantage but she’d have to make the corner without a flashlight. Bodhi’s nails scratched and slid against the linoleum floor.
Deep breath. Finger off the trigger. Get a sight picture.
His back was to her as he struggled to hold the dog. A hunched stranger in a black coat and black jeans.
Aiming her Glock in the middle of his back, she yelled, “Let go of my dog you fucking asshole or I’ll blow your head off.”
“She doesn’t recognize me anymore,” the man said still holding Bodhi’s collar.
“Release my dog, goddammit. Now.”
When he let go of Bodhi’s collar, the dog lunged against his lower legs, pushing him against the fridge, sending magnets and photos flying.
Sophia switched on the light. “Jesus Christ, David.”
“Bodhi, come here.” The lab bared her teeth and growled at David. She walked over and sat panting against Sophia’s right leg.
“Good girl, Bodhi.” Sophia reached over with her left hand and stroked the dog’s head. Her right hand still held the Glock level with David’s chest.
“I’m sorry. I’m sorry, Soph.” David’s hands stretched out in front of him, palms to Sophia. “Can you not point that at me?” He looked like the homeless men who lined up outside the St. Martin de Porres shelter on Alaskan Way every night with two days’ worth of beard and hair that looked as though it hadn’t been washed in at least a month.
“What the hell, David?”
David pulled out a kitchen chair and straddled it like a cowboy, with the back to her. He looked so different from the last time she saw him. Pathetic. Forgettable. Sick.
She lowered the weapon.
“You look like shit,” Sophia said.
“I haven’t looked in a mirror in a while, but I’m sure you’re right.” He shifted his weight and looked at the floor. “I didn’t want to come over but you wouldn’t meet me when I called you. When I drove by the house, I saw the open door and figured you were home. I forgot about Bodhi.” He smiled at the dog. “Pretty good guard dog, you have there.”
“If she was a good guard dog, she would have ripped your throat out.”
“Oh, she tried but I don’t think she really has the killer instinct. I think I broke my thumb holding her collar. She got a good twist on me.” He held up his thumb to the kitchen light. It was cartoonishly swollen.
“I wish I could say I’m sorry.” Sophia leaned against the doorjamb. “I almost shot you. God that would have pissed me off.” She slid the Glock into the front waistband of her pants.
“Look, I have to show you something, but I need you to meet me tomorrow at that coffee shop on lower Queen Anne.”
“Just tell me what it is, David. I don’t have time for this. You’re already in violation of a court order. What difference does it make?”
“I don’t want to pull it up on your computer.” He rubbed his hands together as if to warm them.
“Pull what up?”
“It’s a website. That kid, Halifax’s kid, she’s on it.”
“Grace?”
“Don’t know her name.”
“So how do you know it’s his kid?”
“I just do.”
Sophia moved closer to David. She rested her hand on the butt of her gun.
“How do you know Stewart Halifax?”
“I don’t know him. I know who he is and I know who he knows.” His hands shook. “I have something you need.”
He looked at her for the second time. His eyes were soulless, black pools.
“David, you’re not the one with the gun right now.” His face sagged with fatigue. She was struck by how much gray had grown at his temples and crept down into his beard.
“Look, I’m going to leave before you call your buddies in to arrest me. I’m sorry I did this. It’s just really important, Sophia. I wouldn’t have taken this chance. I’m not stupid. I know what I’ve done here.” His eyes filled with tears.
“If I was going to call the police, I would have.” Sophia rubbed her forehead.She made a promise to herself at that moment that she would never touch red wine again. “You know I’m going to be just as much in violation of the no-contact order as you now if I meet you.”
David stood up and gently pushed the chair away.
“This better be good.”
“I promise you.” He pulled open the kitchen door and looked back at Sophia.
He slipped onto the back porch, pulling the door closed behind him. Sophia flipped the lock. Pulling back the blind, she watched David jog into the alley and into the dark.
Sophia double-checked the locks on all of the doors and windows. Against the window panes, the soft tapping of rain reminded her that summer was still a month away. Bodhi followed at her heels, nearly tripping her.
Lying on top of her comforter still fully clothed, Sophia closed her eyes and tried to remember the David Montero she’d met almost nine years ago in the academy. He was different from the other guys in her class – college educated with no prior law enforcement or military experience. Quiet and disarmingly charming, with a dark complexion that made him popular with the other female recruits. She’d been drawn to him immediately, not because she found him attractive but because he made her feel comfortable.
But there was a darkness to David that Sophia noticed early in their friendship. He shifted quickly from sullen to elated but she dismissed it as stress from the rigors of the academy. Besides, he managed his mood well through training and graduated top of the class. And the day after they were sworn in, he and Sophia moved in together. She was sure he’d change, once he was able to relax into life with her.
It was not something she did normally – make a rash decision to commit to someone she really didn’t know. She and David had kept their affair under wraps through the academy, although many of their classmates suspected. Sophia wouldn’t know until much later what her decision would eventually cost her.
Bodhi stirred at the end of the bed, flipping over on her back and sticking her legs into the air. Sophia sat up and removed the dog’s collar, the leather warm and supple. Bodhi snored though it.
It was almost three AM. The only light in the room was from the alarm clock, and it teased Sophia with the certainty of a five am wake-up. If she could just salvage two hours of sleep, she’d be able to stumble through the day.
She awoke to the soft light of the alarm blinking off and on. Reaching across to the nightstand, she faltered and failed to hit the snooze button before the ear splitting buzz began in concert with the flashing light.<
br />
Bodhi jumped to attention. Unaccustomed to the alarm, she let out something between a howl and a bark.
“It’s OK, girl.” Sophia reached out and stroked the dog’s muzzle. She looked at the skylight above her bed. Raindrops beaded, then ran quickly down the glass, repeating a metronomic patter against the stifling silence of the morning.
Rolling out of bed, she pulled back the curtain and looked out to the street. It was part of her morning ritual, checking the kingdom for any signs of the enemy. She toyed with the idea of calling in sick.
“I know, I know. This isn’t allowed. That’s our agreement, isn’t it girl?” Sophia scratched Bodhi behind her ears. “Let’s go eat.”
The kitchen light was still on and the chair David had commandeered a few hours ago sat in the middle of the room. Clumps of grass caked with dirt lay on the floor beneath the kitchen table. Leaning down to clean up the dirt, she steadied herself with one arm on the table, a heavy steel replica of a 50’s dinette. Bodhi nudged Sophia’s rear end with her cold nose. Sophia reflexively bucked, her head bumping into the table’s trim.
“Goddamn it, Bodhi!” Sophia furiously rubbed the back of her head and looked up, fully expecting to see blood on the underside of the table.
That’s when she saw it.
At first she thought it was an old piece of gum or a blob of plumber’s putty haphazardly placed against the slide release. But as she moved closer and squinted into the dark corner of the table’s underside, she saw the clear outline of a severed human thumb.
Sophia lurched back, propelling herself across the kitchen floor. She struggled to her feet, rising quickly as Bodhi reared back like a cartoon character on the linoleum.
CHAPTER SIX
The pounding on the door startled Sophia and as she headed to the living room to grab her cell phone, she glanced at the time again. She wasn’t expecting company. Rounding the corner, she saw Tommy’s hands cupped around his eyes, his face pressed up against the window trying to see into the front hall.
