by K. J. Emrick
Not anymore.
To prove to Chris what he is, Harry made an entire apple pie appear in the middle of the table, complete with a crumble topping and fresh whipped cream. I’ll never forget the way Chris jumped out of his seat when he saw it. When he finally calmed down and tasted it, he said it was the best that he’d ever had. Harry had grinned from ear to ear at the compliment as if he’d cooked the pie himself. Maybe he did. I’m still a little fuzzy about how magic works.
Chris is still working on accepting it. No matter what his eyes and ears—and taste buds—have told him, it’s going to take him some time to believe Harry’s a genie.
Baby steps. At least now my two best guy friends know each other.
“Is he here?” I ask Chris.
“Yup. At my desk. Just like we planned.” He’s in his plain clothes today, jeans and a polo shirt. It’s his day off but he still agreed to come in to help me.
Me, and the guy sitting at his desk.
Clancy Whitaker is still filthy. He still stinks. And he’s still frantically trying to confess to something.
“Are you going to arrest me this time, Chris?” he asks hopefully. “You know what I did. I tell you every time I do something. You can arrest me, Chris. I won’t cause no problem. I promise I won’t.”
Chris eases himself into his chair and drops a folder on his desk. “We know each other pretty well, don’t we Clancy?”
“Sure we do. We’re good friends. That’s why I trust you, Chris. You and your friend here.” He turns to look back at me over his shoulder, with a smile that actually makes him look not so bad. “She’s got a nice face. I like her face.”
“Know what? So do I,” Chris tells him. “She’s a private investigator, you know.”
“Is she? That’s cool. I always wanted to do something like that. When I was a kid I wanted to be a cop but, you know, I have this condition and it makes it hard for me… I keep doing things. Bad things. I just need to be arrested and punished for them. That’s all I need, Chris.”
He says it so passionately that my heart crawls up into my throat. I really feel for the guy. His mind’s unhinged, and it’s not his fault and there’s nothing he can do to make it better. Not by himself.
Not without a little help.
Opening up the folder, Chris pulls out a single piece of paper. “So, Sidney here—”
“Sidney?” Clancy interrupts. “Isn’t that a boy’s name?”
I sigh, but I don’t say anything. Even when I hear it ahead of time with my future-sense, it’s still annoying. I’m going to start dropping a dime in a jar every time someone asks me that. By the end of the year I’m going to have… well, a lot of dimes. That’s what I’ll have.
“Anyway,” Chris says to him. “Sidney did some research on you. I didn’t realize you used to live in Washington, D.C.”
Clancy shifts in his chair. “Yeah, I did. I mean, it was like five years ago. That was before I started doing all these bad things. Before I had to leave and try to start over but even here in Detroit, I’m doing all these bad things, Chris. I just need to be punished. I need to be stopped.”
Five years ago. Near as I’ve been able to figure out, that’s when Clancy’s life started spiraling out of control. Back in Washington, D.C. That’s when this mental illness of his started to manifest. It’s eating up so much of his life now that he’s been living on the streets, unable to manage his life. Chris understood what was happening to Clancy, and he’d done a background check on his life in Detroit, but I have a few contacts who can check databases across the country. I found the rest of the story.
Coming around to Chris’s side of the desk this time, I smile down at Clancy. “I think we can help you, Clancy. Me and Chris both.”
His expression is so hopeful that I want to cry.
“You can help me?” he says in a small voice.
“We can,” Chris tells him. “It seems that back in those days, back in Washington, you owned a car. You got into an accident with it. Remember that?”
He nods his head, his scraggly hair falling every which way. “Yeah. That was a long time ago, but… yeah. I was upset. I shouldn’t drive when I’m upset. I drove it right into the side of a warehouse and smashed it all up. I tried to tell the police back then what I’d done but they were too busy and they just kept sending me to different departments. Traffic division, patrol, just one cop to the next and no one had time for me. So… I left the car there. What else could I do? Nobody’s ever listened to me when I tell them I did wrong. Nobody but you, Chris.”
“And now me,” I let him know.
“Yeah. You and Chris. You’re the only two.”
Sliding the page across the desk, Chris taps his finger on it. “We’re going to help you, Clancy. Turns out there’s been an open investigation on that case. I talked to the police out there, and they’ve got some questions they want to ask you. Seems you’re going to be charged with leaving the scene, and felony criminal mischief. Maybe a few other things.”
If we had told that bit of news to anyone else, they would have gotten angry. They would have argued that they didn’t deserve to be punished for something that happened years ago, especially if they had gone to the police and tried to turn themselves in, only to be ignored. That’s what would have happened with anyone else I know.
For Clancy Whitaker, the news that he was going to be arrested made his eyes light up. Finally, someone was going to punish him for all the things he thought he’d done wrong. He was going to pay for the mistakes that his conscience kept trying to punish him for. Things he hadn’t actually done. It didn’t matter in his mind that he was an innocent man, a good man just trying to do right. In his mind, he needed to be punished.
Me and Chris were going to do that for him. To help him.
People like Clancy Whitaker can’t be forcibly treated for their conditions. In fact, if they try to voluntarily go to get help a lot of them are going to be turned away simply because the places who help people like him are completely overwhelmed already.
But, if someone gets arrested and put in jail, there are free mental health services available to inmates.
I know, it’s a little upside down. In this case, however, it’s going to work out in the favor of the person who actually needs the help. Me and Chris have already worked everything out with the cops in D.C. They’re going to put Clancy in jail. We’re doing that for him, so he can get the help he needs.
Sometimes, you just need to come at a problem sideways.
But then Clancy’s expression falls again. “I got no way to get back to D.C., Chris. I barely have two bucks in my pocket right now.”
Chris flips another paper in the folder and takes out a bus ticket. “This will get you there. You’re leaving tonight, and the cops in D.C. are going to meet you at the other end. There are free showers in the bus terminal for people who have tickets. You should clean up a bit before you go, okay?”
There are actual tears in Clancy’s eyes as he nods his head. His gratitude is choking him up.
From my back pocket, I take out a white envelope, sealed with tape, and hand that to Clancy. “Here’s some walking around money. It’s not much but it will allow you to buy meals all the way there. Maybe a haircut too, and some new clothes, if you feel like it.”
It’s two hundred dollars, is what it is. Hey, I’m good for it now. Amelia Falconi’s check cleared, and I’ve got a small advance from Arnie Chen in my account, too. I think I sent my bank into shock when they saw that much money in my account for a change.
Sure, I could have spent the money on myself, but right now I’ve got everything a girl could need. I think it’s better off with him, and like I said before… sometimes you just have to do what you think is right and stop second guessing yourself.
Clancy takes the envelope with a trembling hand and holds it to his chest like it’s gold.
Then he gets up out of his chair. His lips are trembling too hard to form the ‘thank you’ I can see clear
ly in his eyes.
In my future-sense, I can see him coming around to give me a hug. He’s dirty, and he smells, and not too long ago it took me days to get the smell of a dumpster off me and now he’s going to leave me smelling like one again.
I saw it coming, and I didn’t try to avoid it. I let him hug me, and I hug him back, and I wish him good luck.
Sometimes, stuff like that is the best magic there is.
Continue with Book 3
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Acknowledgments
Edited by Adam C-S and L.E. Crase
Formatted by L.E. Crase
Cover Design Joanna Walker at http://bookcovermasterclass.com
About the Authors
K.J. Emrick
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Kathrine Emrick writing as K.J. Emrick is the author of the popular Darcy Sweet Cozy Mystery series and the Pine Lake Inn Cozy Mystery series.
Strongly influenced by authors like James Patterson, Dick Francis, and Nora Roberts, Kathrine Emrick dreamed of being an author for the majority of her life.
She never quite gave up on the idea of being a published author and at the age of 51, thanks to the self-publishing explosion, she finally realized her dream. Her maturity allows her to bring a variety of experiences and observations to her writing.
She lives in beautiful South Australia with her family, including several animals. Kathrine can always be found jotting down daily notes in a journal and like many authors, she loves to be surrounded by books and is a voracious reader. In her spare time, she enjoys spending time with her family and volunteering at the local library.
Her goal is to regularly produce entertaining and noteworthy content and engaging in a community of readers and writers.
To find out more please visit the Kathrine's website at kathrineemrick.com
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S. J. Wells
S. J. Wells is a native of Northern New York, where his gift for writing was born and raised not far from the Canadian border. He spent several years there working in law enforcement before returning to his true passion…writing. It seems his imagination has always run on a short leash, bringing him to places where fantasy and reality mix, places where the most interesting characters live and love and play and tell him their stories with a cheeky grin or a malevolent smirk. When he isn’t completely losing track of time while walking down the twisted pathways of plotline and prose he is hanging out with his family, nurturing the imaginations of his three sons and repeating every Canadian joke he hears to his very patient and very beautiful wife (who happens to be from Canada).
