“Right.”
Bryonie had finished her donut. She stared on her coffee.
“It’s amazing though how we can still be friends,” Taylor said. “I thought I’d lost you. I was such a bitch. I did so many fucked up things. But you forgive me. Don’t you?”
Bryonie slowly nodded. “No one’s perfect I guess.”
“I’m gonna miss you,” Taylor said. “But … then again, I guess I’ll be back someday. With some crazy stories no doubt. I really want to meet some more shifters. They’re just so fucking awesome compared to regular guys. Don’t you agree?”
Bryonie put her coffee down. “There’s someone out there for me. I have to believe that. Whether he’s a shifter or a normal guy or something else, I couldn’t say. I’m just gonna know when I meet him.”
“You didn’t think Finn was the One, did you?”
“Yeah,” Bryonie said. “I kinda did.”
Taylor reached out and touched her hand. “You’ll meet him. I see big things for you.”
“Thanks.” Bryonie retracted her hand.
“So, I can’t talk you into coming with me?” Taylor asked.
“I would like to see you again,” Bryonie said. “I would like to have adventures.”
“Cool.”
“But I just have to get through this thing today. I have to look at them in the eyes and know that we did the right thing. That Finn … was evil.”
“And what if he wasn’t?”
Bryonie looked up.
Their eyes locked together.
“Then I won’t stop until he is avenged.”
*
It was only twenty or so minutes later that Bryonie was waving Taylor goodbye as she set off on her adventures on the road, wherever they may take her. It had felt good seeing her. Especially the way she was. Taylor really seemed like she was beyond everything that had happened. She was changed, for sure. Changed forever. Of course Bryonie would be as well. But Bryonie had unfinished business.
At ten past eleven, a black car pulled into the diner’s car park. Bryonie stood up from where she was waiting. She slung the carry-bag over her shoulder and walked over. The back door was pushed open and Bryonie got into the car.
“Put this on,” Ms. Ferns said handing Bryonie a woolen bag.
Bryonie didn’t ask any questions.
She put it over her head and then the car left the area.
An hour or so later she was in Haley Ferns’s office inside the Paranormal Police headquarters, awaiting instruction. “You want a coffee?” Haley asked. “I’ll get you a coffee.”
She left Bryonie alone for a little while.
Alone, to ponder her thoughts.
She got out of her chair and walked casually around to Ms. Ferns’s desk. There was a photo there of Ms. Ferns, her dashingly handsome husband, and their two children. Bryonie almost couldn’t believe it was real. That a job like this could lead to happiness.
Ms. Ferns re-entered.
“Here you go,” she said, handing Bryonie the coffee.
Bryonie accepted it. “This is like my third one today, so don’t offended if I don’t finish it.”
Ms. Ferns smiled. She saw the photos had taken Bryonie’s interest.
“Your family?” Bryonie asked.
Ms. Ferns nodded.
“You all look so happy.”
“We are.”
Bryonie moved past her and found her seat again. “I’m sorry. I think I’m becoming a bit of a pessimist now. That things didn’t really work out for me.”
“You’re still young,” Ms. Ferns said. “You’ll find love one day.”
“I hope so.”
Ms. Ferns opened the file on her desk. “It says here you want to skip the training program. That you just want to launch right into the field.”
Bryonie nodded.
“I know you must be angry after everything,” Ms. Ferns said. “Are you sure this is the best way for you to channel it?”
“I don’t know,” Bryonie sighed. “Maybe I should be like Taylor. Run away from it all. Find my fairytale.”
“But that isn’t what you want?”
Bryonie leaned forward. “These guys. These shifters. They think they can do anything.”
“Some of them do, yes.”
“I can’t allow it,” Bryonie said. “I can’t allow for someone else to get played the way I did.”
“These guys aren’t just players, Bryonie. You think Finn is the worst guy on our books? Trust me, you haven’t even begun to see the underbelly of this city. If it weren’t some of the good people here, I sometimes wonder if our entire country would get sucked up in chaos.”
“I want to help,” Bryonie said. “I want to do everything I can. But before I do I need to know…”
Ms. Ferns leaned forward.
“Did Finn really kill all those people?”
“I’m sorry to say, he did,” Ms. Ferns answered. “I know it can be hard, to not find closure. To not have him confess in the end. In a way, I’ve been lucky on that front. I’ve never had to leave a case ambiguously.”
“You’ve worked undercover before, haven’t you?”
Ms. Ferns nodded. “My very first case I was eighteen years old. A baby. They just through me in. It was a complete nightmare. My family was killed.”
“Oh my God.”
“I’m sorry, I – I didn’t want to upset you. The truth is a lot of people have lost their lives, fighting this fight. But we keep on going somehow. Till we can find … Our happiness…”
Bryonie smiled.
The door suddenly opened.
“You’re back, there’s something I need for you to –”
Goosebumps rose all over Bryonie’s arms.
Colton was standing over her.
“Oh hello,” he said politely.
“I’m busy now, Colton,” Ms. Ferns said. “You’ll have to come back.”
“I’m sorry,” Colton said closing the door. “This cannot wait.”
He walked over to Ms. Ferns and handed her a manila folder. She opened it and peaked inside.
“You got him? Oh my God. Well done. Are you sure it’s him?”
“We believe so,” said Colton. “The evidence all leads to him.”
“Holy shit, I’ve got to get in there.”
“No,” Colton said. “This is my case. I get the first run at him. If he doesn’t confess in fifteen minutes, you can have a crack.”
“I’m sorry,” Bryonie said. “What are you guys talking about?”
Ms. Ferns sighed. “We just caught another serial predator. His paranormal class is that he’s an intergalactic being.”
“What?” Bryonie said. “You mean he’s an alien?”
“That’s correct.”
Bryonie stood up. “Can I have a look at the file?”
“Why?”
“Because … maybe I can help.”
Colton scratched his head. “You know, maybe it would be a good idea for Bryonie to go in first.”
“Are you kidding?” Ms. Ferns exclaimed. “Now Bryonie’s going in?”
“It might help to lower his guard. Make him think we’re a bunch of amateurs.”
“Thanks a lot,” Bryonie said. “You ever think, maybe I might be able to get something out of him? I mean, just let me try.”
Ms. Ferns and Colton looked at each other.
“Alright,” Ms. Ferns said. “You can have five minutes with him.”
“Are we going to go in together?” Colton asked.
“No … You take Bryonie down there and I’ll meet up with you. I have to call administration and get her into our system.”
“You got it.”
Colton turned to Bryonie. “Ready?”
Bryonie stood. “Ready.”
They left Ms. Ferns’s office together and walked down the hall. Adrenalin was rushing through her body, bleeding out of her eyes. Adrenalin, and caffeine.
“How you been holding up anyway?” Colton asked.
“It’s funny how things went down,” Colton said. “You know even as close as I was with Finn, he never gave himself up to me. Never told me about what he’d been up to.”
“Can we not talk about Finn?”
“Why are you still emotional?”
Bryonie stopped. Her eyebrows raised. Her lips pursed together.
Colton grinned.
“Tell me it isn’t you,” she said.
“What?” Colton replied, lowering his head.
“Tell me you’re not the killer.”
“I’m not the killer,” he said flatly.
“I can’t do this thing with you … if … if I can’t even trust you…”
His head went back up. “You can trust me, Bryonie. I promise.”
Finn’s face flashed in her mind.
She had to close her eyes to get it away.
“Bryonie?” Colton asked. “Are you okay?”
She didn’t reply.
It was as if all the strength had gone out of her.
“You need to convince me,” she whispered. “I need to believe you’re not a monster.”
“I’m not a monster,” Colton said. “I promise you. But there is a monster waiting for us on Floor Seven, Interrogation Room F.”
“How can I tell the difference?” Bryonie asked. “Between you and him?”
“There’s only one difference,” Colton said. “I won’t say I love you if I don’t mean it.”
He put out his hand.
“Friends?”
Bryonie hesitated.
Then she put her hand out too. “Friends.”
COMING SOON IN EARLY NOVEMBER 2016
PARANORMAL MYSTERIES #2
ALIEN SUSPECT
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Cruisin' With Sharks (Paranormal Mysteries #1) Page 18
