by Candy Crum
He invited me inside and started making some coffee. I wasn't sure if it was going to be crappy cop coffee, or if he actually knew what he was doing. As it turned out, he had a fancy-shmancy coffee maker that made a variety of yummy delights. He made me a mocha something or other, and I couldn’t deny that I was pretty impressed. It was amazing.
“So, what did you invite me in for?” I asked, rolling my eyes back a little as I took a drink of the deliciousness. “You're not getting all weird on me are ya?” I smiled and gave him a wink. Since all was well, I decided a little friendly jabbing wouldn’t hurt.
He smiled. “Not hardly. I don’t look forward to nearly dying again anytime soon—although—if I had to die, that would sure as hell be the way I’d want to go out. But, as always, I’m very professional. I had a moment of weakness where I chose to be a friend.”
“Moment of weakness? Ouch.” I twisted my face in feigned heartbreak.
He laughed then, the sound wrapping around me. I was happy that he was still so comfortable around me. I’d been worried that we might lose that.
“I actually invited you in, because I had some news for you. It appears that you were right. Looks like the presence of some of the firefighters that volunteered that day actually had a little bit more to do with Jay’s influence than their own.”
My eyes widened a bit as I took a sip of my coffee.
“You’re suspiciously quiet after learning that bit of information,” he said, his eyes narrowing a bit.
I sat the cup down, tracing my finger around the lip of the mug. “Okay… Hypothetical question.” He nodded in response, his eyes still narrowed. “What if—hypothetically speaking, of course!—but what if I told you that I already knew that?” I lifted the mug again, occupying myself while I waited for his reaction.
“I’d say that’s pretty good detective work on your end. So, then I’d tell you that a few of those guys were brand-new and had only been there for a week or two. The same guys that started, are now gone. I don’t mean just out of the department’ I mean gone. Period. I assume they started there strictly for the purpose of being at the school after it exploded.”
My nose scrunched.
“You knew that as well?”
I nodded, fighting a smile.
He sighed. “Okay then. How about this? Guys are still working in the lab to figure out just how much product was in the building, but there was a hell of a lot more than just a few hits. The basement was packed with it. We think that it was being manufactured there.”
“And there you go. That’s new.”
He smiled. “Good. I was beginning to think that you were suddenly better at this than I am. How the hell did you know all that?”
“My anger got the better of me.” I wanted to sound sophisticated and like I knew what I was doing, but the truth was, I just got pissed off. I was angry about the firefighters just letting everything go instead of helping, and I wanted answers. “Wendy and I went down to the firehouse and questioned a couple of guys there. Dave and his nephew Joey. They told us everything that you just told me. They also said that Arthur owed some money to Jay. Not sure how or why other than he got mixed up with drugs after his wife died. We found a little black book in a false bottom in the desk. Naturally, I took it. I haven’t finished going through it yet, but you’re more than welcome to have it when I have. On the way out, we informed Dave and Joey that Arthur had been killed and asked why they just let him tell them not to run in and save the kids. As it turns out, they were threatened by a couple of cops that they’d be arrested if they went in. Neither one of them could afford it, so they stayed back.”
Andrews looked impressed. Good. I thought we did a pretty good job.
“First, that was some amazing work. Good job. I’m proud of you. There is a lot of information in there that even I didn’t know about yet, so I’m glad you told me. Secondly, why the fuck didn’t you tell me about that sooner?”
“I see how it is. Death at my hands by way of vagina—that’s totally cool—but don’t report back to you right away because I’m trying to give you a day or two to get back to normal because of said near-death-by-vaginaing and now we’re angry?”
His jaw was slightly open, and his eyes were narrowed. I could literally see just how little he could believe what I’d just said.
“Vaginaing?” he asked. I nodded. “There is something very wrong with you.” He shook his head. “Anyway, yes. The near-death thing was an accident, but this is important. I know that it’s your investigation because of what you plan to do, however, I’m still a cop, and I still have work to do. This is my case. Legally mine. If you figure something out before I do, you have to let me know.”
I nodded. “Yes, sir. I’m sorry. I really did plan to tell you. I just wanted to wait until you were healed up. That’s why I came to see you today. First and foremost, to apologize. Then, I planned to tell you everything.”
He nodded. “Thank you for wanting to apologize and also for coming to tell me what you found. I do appreciate both. Let’s just work together. I do this for a living. I might be able to be some help to you.” He smiled.
I hated how gorgeous he was. It always stopped me.
“Anyway,” he said. “Back to the case at hand. Like I was saying—they think that the drugs were manufactured in the school. At least some of them. It seems the basement was packed with it. The chem hall and the lab had been closed down for a very long time. It’s possible that they were able to do it without anyone noticing. That part of the school has always been rather secluded.”
“Yeah—because when they’d do the dissections on the sharks and shit, it smelled like leathery, burnt, baconated asshole that had been shit on, spattered with some kind of vinegar, and then simmered to skank-fection.”
He closed his eyes and shook his head. “That… was a lovely image. Thank you.”
“You’re welcome. I’m just saying… It smelled like—”
“Like ass. I get it.” He laughed, but it was more exasperated than amused, though it was a bit of both.
I smiled. He enjoyed my sense of humor, but he apparently didn’t have the patience for it right then.
“Anyway,” I said. “Making any kind of drug is going to smell bad. With that section of the school being so sectioned off, it’s possible, but I doubt it. I think it was just stored there. But one thing’s for sure… That's why I had such a hard time while in there. If it was downstairs on fire, then it rose to the higher floors. Damn him! He knew I'd be there. He knew I’d come. Those poor kiddos were set up. Some of them fucking died. He killed three innocent children and four teachers. Good people. I swear to you… I'm going to rip him apart when I find him.”
“Oh, I know you will. Of that, I have no doubt. But we need to talk about our next move.”
“Do you have something in mind?” I asked.
He sat back, taking a drink of his coffee. “I do, actually. Tell me… how good are you with a gun?”
I nearly spat my coffee all over the table. Guns? Not great. Dad was a hunter and had lots of them, so it wasn’t like I didn’t know how. I just wasn’t that great. However, it wasn’t like I didn’t need to learn. While I had some power, I had nothing like Tristan. There was no way I could compel a room full of adults to play nice. I was as strong as a human man three times my size, but nothing like a Vampire. Even Wendy, the Immortal, had more physical strength than I did, and she flat out said they were more or less the vaginas of the shadow world. I’d newly discovered the whole witch thing, but that was still too new—and weird—for me to know much about yet.
No… There was nothing overly special about me yet. If I planned to do anything and win, I needed to be a badass in other ways. Jay and his men were certainly great with weapons. I’d seen—and felt it—enough to know that. I needed to quit letting him get the best of me. If I was going to win, then I needed to train in every field that I could. Hand to hand combat. Swords. Knives. Guns. Absolutely anything that I could get my h
ands on, I needed to train in. I refused to let him get the best of me again. I refused to stand by while he killed innocents. I would stop him, I just needed to learn how.
“Sure don't. You gonna show me?”
He nodded. “Of course, I will. You'll be hanging out with me today. You okay with that?”
I nodded, a smile on my face. “Absolutely.”
We finished our coffee and chatted for a little bit before heading out. It was his day off, and he was using it to show me a few things. That was kind of cool. It meant a lot that he’d do that for me. I sat in his car while he went in the garage to get his stuff. As he walked back, I realized that he had more than just “stuff.”
“You have a fucking sniper rifle?” I asked. “Are you serious? Oh, my God! Are you gonna let me shoot that?”
Suddenly, I was very excited for our little trip. Even more than before. Andrews smiled. He’d smiled more today than in the whole time I’d known him. I suppose that death had a funny way of making someone smile a bit more. Well, some people anyway.
“I might. Depends on how you do with the other goals that I give you. You sure as hell aren’t starting out with it. That’s for sure.”
“You just suck the fun out of everything, don’t you?” I asked, but I wasn’t serious. I didn’t want to shoot the sniper rifle right away. That would be asking for trouble.
“No… Not really—but you sure do.”
My brows furrowed for a moment before it dawned on me what he was getting at. “Hey! That’s not nice.”
He laughed. I didn’t care how many bad jokes I had to take. I just loved to see him so at ease, especially after everything that happened with Michelle and finding all those other girls.
It took almost an hour to get to our destination. I say it like that because I literally had no idea where the fuck we were headed. It was way out in the middle of nowhere. His parents owned the land, and there sure was a lot of it. Fifty acres, to be exact. Most of it was wooded, but there was a large pasture—where we were walking.
“This is beautiful,” I said.
The landscape was stunning. The pasture was rich and green. The tree line thick and lush. I inhaled deeply. It was nothing like the city. Sure, I’d spent my fair share of time out in the country, but it was always so close to the limits that I could still smell the factories. This… This was so much different. It was untouched. The heavy woods were vast and surrounded by farmland outside of that. Wide open fields, woodland, and farms as far as the eye could see.
“It really is. My parents have been here all my life. My sister lives a couple miles down the road. Just across all those trees to the west there.”
“I’d have a four-wheeler out here, burning it up every day. This place has a lot of potential!” I said, still taking in the scenery.
“We have some here; they just don’t see much action anymore. My mom and dad bought a golf cart when it got too painful for them to ride the ATVs. They still keep them for me just for whenever I come here to hunt, but other than that, they just sit in the garage.”
“What the hell are you doing in the city? You’re a country boy at heart. I’d have my ass out here quicker than hell. Had I known we were coming here, I’d have brought my dad. He’d love it here! You should take him hunting sometime. He’d love that, too. Shit… The second you drive me back to town, I’m probably going to choke to death on the air. God. It’s amazing here!” I was so excited that I found myself talking quickly. I probably sounded like a crazy person, but I’d gotten so used to feeling stuck in my hometown that I’d forgotten what it was like to be somewhere like that.
“Well, well,” Andrews said. “I wasn’t expecting you to like it here that much. You seem like more of a city girl.”
“Despite the fact that I like the seclusion of my parents’ house and working on old cars with my dad?” I asked.
He shrugged. “That doesn’t mean anything.” He winked. “Anyway, are you ready?”
“Yes,” I said excitedly.
“Good! I have everything set up here. I’m going to set up the targets, and then we’ll get started.”
I didn’t mind the wait. The excitement was there, but I didn’t mind sitting and enjoying the landscape some more. By the time he returned, I had found a lovely little patch to lie in. My eyes were locked on the bright, blue sky.
“Comfy?” Andrews asked.
I smiled. “You have no idea.”
“Get up. Time to play.”
Andrews pulled a small case out of his bag. Inside was a Ruger LC9S. It was small, something I saw as semi-feminine.
“I bought this because I wanted to teach Michelle how to shoot. I never got the chance. You’ll be the first, other than me, to shoot it.”
“Wow,” I said. On one hand, I felt a little honored by that, but on the other, I felt terrible.
“Don’t get all sentimental on me,” he said. “Today is supposed to be fun and educational. You are going up against a drug lord after all.”
“Yeah, yeah. Just show me how to do this.”
First, we went over the boring, but very necessary basics. He showed me everything about it, even how to take it apart and put it back together again. I thought that was pretty cool. Next, we made our way over to an area clearly set up for close-range target practice. He stood me about ten to twelve yards away before going over some more basics. Andrews was a very serious teacher. He was a cop, though… So, I guess that should have been obvious.
The first few shots did not go well. I had the shittiest aim. But, before long, I was shooting inside the targets with ease. It wasn’t perfect, but it would do. After spending two mags, we put the Ruger away—to be cleaned later, of course—and he pulled out a Glock 23. It was larger, the same kind that he used at work.
“This one is going to be a bit more powerful,” he said. “Use both hands and keep them steady. Don’t try to shoot quickly. You’ll lose accuracy. You can learn speed later. Right now, you’re trying to actually hit something.”
“Ha ha ha,” I said.
He wasn’t wrong. The gun was quite a bit more than the other more modest Ruger. It wasn’t too much, especially with my stronger hands, but it was more than I’d been expecting. I missed the first few shots, but quickly recovered.
I liked training with Andrews way more than training with Tristan. Mostly because Andrews didn’t shoot me in the arm to make a point. Though, I had to say that Tristan did his best with what little parenting skill he’d been given.
I looked down at the sniper rifle perched on the ground in front of a blanket and smiled. “Can I? Can I, can I, can I?”
Andrews rolled his eyes and smiled. “I don’t think you’re ready, but I’ll let you look through the sites on it and get a feel for what it’s like. I might let you shoot next time, though.”
I pouted. “Fine. But you’re dangling a high-powered rifle in my face… and not letting me play. That’s not nice!”
I made myself comfortable on the blanket, and Andrews walked me through how to position myself and the rifle. Looking through the scope was incredible. Trees that were over a hundred yards away were crystal clear. I could see everything.
“This is fucking awesome!” I said. “Pleeease let me shoot something!”
I moved rotated the rifle a bit, looking at more. My dad was a hunter, and I’d been interested in that when I was younger, but I lost that as I got older. I had no interest in shooting an animal, but I did want to set up some targets at two or three hundred yards and see what I could do.
Probably nothing…
As I entertained myself by looking around, Andrews phone began to ring. He wasn’t shy about taking the call there, which as it turned out, involved me anyway.
“Who is this? No. You’re not asking questions; I am. Who is this? You’re calling from my sister’s phone; who the fuck is this?”
Well, that piqued my interest. I looked over to see a very angry Andrews pacing back and forth.
“Put it on spe
akerphone!” I whispered loudly.
With the click of a button, I was let in on what was happening.
“…here soon, with the girl, I’ll blow your sister’s fucking head off. Understand?”
The moment I heard the voice, chills ran down my spine. I knew exactly who that was, but I planned to wait to let Andrews in on that little secret.
“What do you want with the girl?” Andrews asked.
“You know what we want.”
“Yeah. To kill her. Do you honestly think I’m going to let you do that?” Andrews asked.
“You have a choice to make. Your beautiful sister, who I must say is a dead ringer for little Shelly. Like mother, like daughter I suppose. And I have to tell you, I was very fond of Shelly… So, if you don’t want me to get too sentimental over here, I think you need to get your ass here. With the girl. Got it?”
Andrews looked pissed. His free hand was clenched so tight that I thought it would break. His jaw was just as set. I found myself hoping he didn’t break any of those beautiful teeth.
“It’ll take an hour,” Andrews said.
A look of confusion crossed my face. He said his sister lived just down the road. Why would it take an hour to get there? I didn’t ask. I didn’t want them to know that I was there with him already.
“We know how far the drive is. You have exactly one hour. If you are even a minute late—your sister’s kitchen is going to get a new bright-red coat of paint.”
“I’ll be there,” Andrews said.
Andrews hung up the phone and began packing up.
“Thank you for not saying anything,” he said. “It would have blown what I was trying to do.”
“Yeah… About that. What are you trying to do? We need to get to your sister’s and quick. Why did you tell them an hour?”
He paused and looked my way. “Because they believe we are still in Jackson. He didn’t know you’re with me in Mount Vernon. The drive alone from here to Jackson is an hour. He thinks that I still have to convince you to leave with me and then pick you up. So, in other words, his smug ass thinks he has the upper hand and has actually constricted me on time. The truth is, it’s the other way around. Now, we have time to get through the woods and set up. We have time to surveil the place and see what we are up against.”
