Believer

by Ravin Tija Maurice

  Another one of the chain gang approached us as we were walking out the door to leave. He was in his mid-50s and had longer hair that he pulled back into a sort of man bun, but he looked like the type of man that would never be mocked for his hairstyle. His well-muscled physique was obvious through his shirt. He smiled at me and was ruggedly handsome. Millie blushed when he came over to us. She tried to hide it, grinning ear to ear like a school girl.

  He handed me his business card. “Don’t hesitate to call if you need anything.”

  When I took the card, there was still a tiny bit of white around the ring on my finger. He saw it, then winked and nodded at me.

  “Thank you, I appreciate it,” I said. He walked away, and we left the restaurant.

  “Liam Fitzpatrick?” I said to no one in particular as we walked down the street. I was examining the business card; all it had was a name and a phone number. No business name, logo, nothing else. Chinatown continued to pulse around us like a bright neon star. People were still out walking around, even though most things were closed except a few random restaurants.

  Millie blushed again and grinned, lowering her eyes. I put a hand on her arm.

  “For real? You and him?” I could not help but smile. “That was the Fitzpatrick you mentioned? I see what you mean.”

  “I wish there was a me and him,” Millie sighed, her face glowed at the mention of him.“He knows the full deal, about you I mean. He is a powerful ally, and he will keep your secret.”

  “So, he’s a…a werewolf?”

  “Not just a werewolf, but the alpha of the Fitzpatrick clan. He could sense something about you, and I know he is trustworthy. I wonder if anyone else could sense what you are.”

  I shrugged. “I wish I had talked to him.”

  “You will. One thing at a time.”

  “So what do we do now?” I asked as we started walking again. I had to be careful to avoid some of the garbage on the street. There were less and less people as we walked back to the parking lot, and I tried to be more aware of our surroundings. It wasn’t unheard of for people, especially women, to get robbed in this neighbourhood at night.

  Nya had her phone out and was scowling. She had been on it since we left the restaurant.

  “You good, Nya? What’s wrong?”

  Nya waved at me like she was brushing me off. “You want answers? We need to find the fucking traitor. We need to talk to Lilly Darling.”

  4.

  The next day at the office, I watched Eric. I was waiting to see if he was who I had seen last night.

  Who? Or what?

  But everything was business as usual. All that staring at him gave me a chance to see how cute he actually was. I loved the way his hair framed his face, drawing attention to his penetrating gaze. The slight hint of stubble, giving his jawline even more definition; it was calling me to touch it. He stood with the presence of a warrior, his well-muscled hands an implement of his strength. The pull was strong, and I hoped I could compose myself so I could carry on a conversation with him. The fact that he would probably never take me seriously didn’t matter. Yet.

  Maybe I wasn’t giving myself enough credit.

  He smiled at me as I sat by the break table and watched him, daydreaming as I held my coffee.

  “Hey there,” his voice snapped me out of my trance. “Everything good, Camille?”

  “Five by five,” I replied. Before Eric could get a chance to continue, I blurted out, “By any chance, were you in Chinatown last night?”

  Something flickered in his eyes when we made eye contact, and his pupils dilated slightly. The edges of his mouth tilted up slightly like he was going to smile but didn’t.

  “No. Why? Were you?” he joked.

  “Yeah. I thought I…never mind.” I waved him off and took a sip of my coffee. Either he was a damn good liar, or I was being paranoid.

  Eric sat down next to me and sipped his coffee. After a few minutes of uncomfortable silence, I spoke.

  “Did you get those issues with Photoshop figured out?” I asked.

  “Yeah, I think so. I still haven’t figured out exactly what Mrs. Tanner is up to.”

  I smiled. “You may not. It may be Lewis who shows it to you. Sometimes these things aren’t so easy to spot, and it takes someone more experienced to see it.”

  “Has that happened to you?”

  I shrugged my shoulders. “Sort of. Lewis did point out to me that Mrs. Tanner could be using the situation as a way to hide her own affair. She came in originally and met with me about a stalker.”

  “Huh. I will have to take a second look at the evidence I gathered with that in mind. Maybe I missed something. Thanks for the tip.”

  “Anytime.” My phone beeped a few times from the table, and I briefly glanced at it. It was Kiera. Whatever it was could wait until this moment with Eric passed. Just in case I didn’t get another one for a while. Or at all.

  “I won’t keep you.” He stood up, adjusting his grey button down shirt. “We’ll chat more later.”

  We smiled at each other, and then he walked away.

  Good gravy he’s cute.

  I didn’t check my phone until I got back to my office. Kiera had texted after she just called. It said CALL ME NOW! I didn’t want her getting really angry with me, so I called her from the landline.

  “Where the fuck is the phone, Camille?” she snapped at me when she answered.

  “It’s in my purse. Chill out. I am at the office if you want to come get it. I didn’t know this was considered a homicide until you told me in the last few days so I didn’t think it was an issue. You don’t normally take two weeks to decide.”

  “I don’t have time for this shit. Is the battery toast?”

  “Nope. I charged it as soon as I got it.”

  “Who had it before you?”

  “His idiot friend Rollo. According to him, someone found it in a garbage can at a bar downtown. He collected it from them when Jesse was still missing, I believe.”

  “What bar?”

  “Don’t know. The last picture is a bathroom selfie. That might help.”

  The picture flashed in my mind, how terrible he looked in those final moments. I didn’t want to remember him that way, all strung out and shitty looking. A pang of guilt went through me, and then I remembered Amanda, and it went away.

  “Send it to me right now.”

  “Alright. Just—”

  “Now, Camille!”

  “Can I open my laptop, Kiera? Jesus.”

  “Can’t you send it directly from his phone? Why are you opening your laptop?”

  “I copied the contents of his phone to my laptop when I got it just in case. If the battery charge hadn’t held, I wanted to make sure we were covered.”

  She hesitated. “That was smart. My boss is riding my ass because of the family connection. It’s aggravating, considering the direction the evidence is going. But that stays between us. I am super stressed. Send me the phone contents. All of it. It will save me coming to get it for a little longer.”

  “Why would you need it at all then?”

  “The GPS and Bluetooth. Techie needs access to the actual chip.”

  “I did not know that. Thanks for the tip.”

  “Send it. Right now.”

  “Putting it in a zip file and sending it now. Calm down.”

  “I will when we find out what the fuck happened to Jesse. I am trying my best to tell these morons that you were not together so questioning you is pointless, but it might not work forever. They may want to talk to you. Send me a list of his known associates and any details on them you think I need. And the ones you don’t. I also want those videos you mentioned. From the brothel. Tell Ted and your tech.”

  “Will do.” I texted Kiera’s email to Q and told her to send the video to her. “Hey, Kiera, can I ask you something? Why is Jesse’s death being investigated as a homicide?”

  “The short answer that I can actually give you? Jesse’s cause of death
was left as undetermined. There were two autopsies performed. The second one found something that would suggest homicide. The two weeks were spent running tests. And just an FYI, you also may have been listed as his next of kin, but now that his parents are involved, you have no legal binding to him that you would be kept in the loop. I just did that as a courtesy.”

  “Well, okay then.” I wasn’t sure what to say about it, I couldn’t exactly argue with her about his relationship with his parents, nor did I want to. “I will provide you with whatever info I can.”

  “Good. Maybe my boss will stop riding my ass. Talk to you later, kid.” She hung up before I could say anything else.

  I stared at the phone in shock—something I felt like I was doing a lot lately. I quickly hung it up, dropping it like it was something gross. I hadn’t even entertained the idea of being questioned by the police about Jesse’s death. How would I explain my drive-by breakup to a homicide detective?

  I crawled out from behind my desk and went to Ted’s office.

  “This feels like weird Deja vu,” I said as I closed his door behind me.

  “Explain.” He kept his eyes focused on his laptop.

  “Was I not just in here talking about Jesse’s murder case?” My question made him perk up and look at me. He looked tired, the bags under his eyes a little darker than normal. I’d asked him why he didn’t dye his hair to match his eyebrows, and he said that he liked the salt and pepper. It reminded him that he’d lived through some shit.

  “What about it?”

  “I talked to Kiera. Sent her the contents of his phone, which she is going to come get at some point. She wants you to send her that evidence you got from the brothel. She asked for Q’s video too.” I sat down across from him. “I had totally brain farted on the idea that they might want to question me. But they might. This is weird.””

  “So? That’s not a big deal. You have nothing to hide.”

  “Oh? I GPS tracked the victim’s phone and caught him in a brothel. Then my friends and I tracked him again, so I could set up what would appear to be a random encounter to break up with him. Isn’t that something to hide?”

  He groaned. “I forgot about all of that. You can’t mention Q’s name to a detective. Cannot. Under pain of torture. I do like the idea that you guys are becoming friends though.”

  “I won’t. What about the rest?”

  “They might not handle the illegally obtained video well. Let me talk to Kiera.”

  “Cops have a funny way of making things work when they need to, don’t they?”

  He stopped what he was doing, pushed his laptop aside, and looked me dead in the eyes. “What’s going on?”

  “What do you mean?”

  “They will catch who did this to him, Cas. And they’ll figure out what happened to your friend’s brother too. You can trust Kiera. You know that. How is Bliss holding up?”

  “She’s alright, I think. I haven’t heard from her in a few days.”

  “Is everything good, Cas?”

  I dug my nail into my palm to stop myself from tearing up. I wanted to tell him. I really did. He was always my safe space. I knew no matter what happened he would take care of me. I would be okay as long as I had my Uncle.

  “Yeah, Ted. I’m good.”

  I got a text from Millie a few hours later, saying that she had gotten word of another poker game, and Lilly Darling might be there. I told her I was down to go.

  Should I ask why there is so much poker playing going on?

  I didn’t see Eric for the rest of the day, and I found that I was a little disappointed. I barely knew him, but I wanted to know more about him. I hadn’t ever wanted to spend time getting to know a guy before; it had always been all about Jesse. This was a new feeling for me.

  I was thinking about Eric on my way home with Ted when Obsidian Butterfly came on the radio.

  I turned up the volume a little. “This is Noah Fray and his band. Did I tell you that?”

  “It came up, but we probably didn’t discuss it. Have you seen him lately?” Ted asked, and my heart sank.

  I had sorta agreed to be Fray’s girlfriend, and now…now I wasn’t so sure what I felt. It wasn’t like he had called me lately. As a matter of fact, I hadn’t heard from him since that morning I split from his place to go to the doctor. Which was also the same morning I saw a girl leaving his place while I had slept in the bedroom.

  “No. It’s been a weird couple of days. With Jesse’s funeral and Bucky being dead, it’s just been like the world is spinning a bit too fast.”

  “Your mom’s family popping up must be weird too.”

  “Yes and no. Millie and her daughter are cool. I am going to see them again later, by the way. But they told me some stuff I wanted to ask you about. Do you know anything about my mom’s parents? Her siblings?”

  He thought for a moment. “She said her parents were dead. And there was something about a brother, but that was it really.”

  “Well, apparently, they’re not dead. Scratch that, my grandfather is not dead. My grandmother passed recently, but he is still around. Along with my mother’s sisters. Can you believe that? Millie said there was a falling out where my mom disowned them or something.”

  “Whatever it was, it must have been serious. Did Millie say…?”

  “No. She doesn’t know why. I told her that I have no interest in seeing them or speaking to them. If Mom didn’t want me around them, I am sure she had a good reason. I will respect her wishes.”

  “I know that may seem weird, but I think it’s the right thing to do. She was a pretty level-headed woman, your Mom. If she disowned them, it must have been for something she couldn’t get past,” he paused, watching my face in the rear-view mirror. “Did you look into them?”

  I shook my head. “Nope. If I am respecting her wishes, I don’t want to know.”

  “Do you want me to look into them?”

  I thought about it for a minute. It would be a way to check in and see the aftermath of…of what I had done. Ted could find out if there were police reports, and shit that I couldn’t easily get access to. Knowing Ted, I was surprised he had not done it sooner, even if he was respecting my Mother’s wishes.

  “Sure. But I don’t want to know unless it’s serious. Normal bullshit I don’t care about.”

  “I can’t imagine I would ever be able to find out why your mom disowned them.”

  “Of course.” I laughed. “I know that. But you might, depending on what it was.”

  I wanted to tell him. Soon enough, I may be able to ask her.

  Millie and Nya came by after dinner. Ted was still in the kitchen cleaning up with Cuddy. Watching the two of them interact always made me smile because even though there was some teasing and silly comments, there was so much love. Ted loved his son like no one else, and Cuddy worshipped the ground his father walked on. I always wondered if my parents were like that with me, but I was never jealous of what my Uncle and cousin had because it was beautiful.

  “Millie, you know Ted. Ted, I wanted you to meet Millie’s daughter, Nya, and both of you to meet my cousin, Cuddy.” I smiled. “Cuddy, this is Millie and Nya. They’re my mom’s people.”

  Ted looked surprised when he saw Millie, who was dressed in a black leather jacket, tight jeans and knee high boots with a heel. With her dark hair flowing around her shoulders and deep berry coloured lipstick she looked great, very different then how she looked when she was working at the Whistlestop. Clearly Ted was taking notice.

  “It’s nice to meet you, Nya.” Ted shook her hand as Cuddy smiled and waved. “Where are you ladies off to tonight?”

  “Well, Camille has been telling me she can’t cook. So I thought I would bring her by our place and teach her something,” Millie said.

  Cuddy laughed. “You got a fire extinguisher?”

  “Yes. And I’m well insured,” Millie replied with a wink.

  I kissed Ted on the cheek. “Don’t wait up.”

  “I won�
�t, as long as you promise that I don’t have to be a taste tester.” He smiled and waved as we headed out.

  Once we got outside, I said, “I hate lying to him.”

  “I know, but it’s necessary,” Millie replied as we got in her SUV.

  “Where are we going?” I asked as we got moving.

  “Another poker game. This one is not nearly as civilized. Be prepared. Things could get a little fucky,” Nya said with a laugh.

  “What’s with the poker games? It seems like there are a lot of them.”

  “There are. It’s how people trade things and information. Where we are going is not as pleasant as Madam Vo’s,” Millie began. “There is a pair of gloves for you on the back seat, Camille.”

  “Awesome. Thank you. I was going to grab some and totally forgot.” I looked around for them on the seats and found them on the black floor mat. They must have fallen when I got in. Luckily, they stretched over top of my mother’s ring and up into my sleeve so I didn’t have to worry about my wrists.

  “Now, what do you mean by ‘not as pleasant’? There are a lot of words I would use to describe yesterday, and none of them involve ‘pleasant’.” I asked.

  Millie chuckled. “Do you know anything about the neighbourhood just east of downtown? Within walking distance of the Eaton Centre?”

  The Eaton Centre was a large shopping mall in the middle of downtown Toronto. Lots of things surrounded it, including the campus of Ryerson University. Just east of it was a dangerous area filled with drug dealers, hookers, gangs, and every other ingredient you would need to make a cesspool. Where Chinatown was a mix of lights and sounds, this neighbourhood was verging on being a slum. Dark and dirty, the air smelt like sweat and filth. I became very conscious of how dark it was, and that we were surrounded by shadows.

  “Fun fact, the brothel Jesse was running is in that neighbourhood. He frequented the area, so I know a little.” Why I was so chipper about such a terrible fact, I couldn’t tell you.

  “Well, Burnt Offerings is a dangerous place where all the bottom of the barrel hang out. I got word Lilly Darling might be there,” Millie said.