by Max Walker
Hell, I would have given him way more, but I felt like I’d really freak him out. I didn’t want him to think I was trying to win him over with my money.
And I certainly didn’t want him running from me. Not after these last few weeks of getting to know him. We hadn’t been able to have another night like we had in the Velvet Room. My schedule had become tight with Hazel’s case, but I talked to him as much as I could throughout the day. Either through texts or phone calls, we were always chatting, and sometimes we were just on the phone in silence, something I’d never experienced before.
There was a lot about Sam that I’d never experienced before. He had such a bright way of tackling the world, and that brightness seemed to spread from person to person, whoever surrounded him. I noticed it whenever we were together. He had a way of lighting up the room without even realizing it.
That guy is brighter than bright.
Maybe that’s why I’d been smiling so much lately.
My phone started to vibrate with a call. Sam’s name appeared on the screen. I answered it with a friendly hello, but Sam didn’t waste a beat: “Rocky, you’re crazy! Seven hundred dollars? I can’t accept that. And also, you’ve got to unsubscribe, or I’m blocking and reporting you.” He said the last part with a laugh, which of course spread to me, even over the phone.
“Go ahead,” I said, challenging his threat. “I’ll just make a new account to subscribe to you with.”
“I can’t believe you.”
“Believe it.”
He sighed. I could almost hear his eyes rolling as loudly as I could hear the smile in his voice. “You aren’t going to Pretty Womanize me, okay? I’m not going to be bought over by a big bank account.”
“How about a big—”
A knock on my door interrupted me. I could see two shapes moving behind the frosted glass. “I’ll have to call you back. We’re still on for tonight, right?”
“Yes, of course, even though I’m super mad at you.”
“Perfect,” I said, chuckling as we hung up. “Come in.”
The door opened, revealing a smiling Holly and an equally smiling Angel. “I’m taking bagel orders for today. Want anything?” Holly asked.
“Go for the everything bagel with strawberry cream cheese,” Jonah Brightly said as he walked past my office.
Angel nodded. “Do it.”
“I’ll take an onion bagel with regular cream cheese,” I said. I actually hated strawberries, but I didn’t expect many people to know, especially not the guys at Stonewall. I wasn’t very open with the detectives I worked with. Something I was realizing more and more as the weeks passed and people seemed more distant with me. It wasn’t what I wanted to happen, it was just… a defense mechanism. A way to survive.
But with Sam in my life, I was beginning to see that there were other ways to keep myself protected, and being an asshole wasn’t one of them.
It’s why I had been making a conscious effort to open up and be… well, nicer.
“I’ll try that one next,” I called out to Jonah, hoping he heard me in the hall.
Holly got my order and thanked me, stepping out and being replaced by Angel. He walked in, looking pretty sharp in a navy blue button-up and a light gray sports jacket, his khaki pants neatly rolled at the ankle to show off a pop of the blue-and-green socks he wore.
“Got a minute?” Angel asked.
“For sure.” I glanced at the clock on the wall. I had a meeting in about an hour regarding Hazel’s case, but until then, I had time for a chat. Old me may have turned Angel away. The old me may have preferred being locked up in a quiet office even if I had nothing else to do, only so that I wouldn’t have to talk to someone else.
“What’s up?” I asked, leaning forward on my desk.
“All right, so get this, I’m working on a case where the wife thinks her husband is cheating on her, and she thinks he’s doing it with her own daughter.”
My eyebrows shot up. “Oh, whoa.”
“Yeah. Daughter from another marriage, but still. All kinds of fucked-up. I wanted to run some details by you and see if you can help pick any weird things out. You helped me with the Silva case, so I was hoping you still had some of the same magic.”
“All right, let’s see what we can figure out.”
I sat back in my chair, and Angel and I went over his case, going through the details and the evidence he had compiled on the husband. From phone records to GPS tracking to eyewitness reports.
“All you’re missing is a sex tape between him and the daughter,” I said when my mind had been made up. “He’s definitely cheating.”
“Yeah, that’s what I thought, too. I’m going to tail him for a couple more days and see if I get any undeniable proof. Thanks for talking this through with me, Rocky. Stonewall’s lucky to have you.”
“You did all the hard work,” I said, pointing at the stacks of papers.
“And how’s your case going?”
“It’s going.” I ran a hand through my hair. “And by ‘going’ I mean I’ve got zero solid leads and about a hundred thin threads going in every single direction. Anya’s coming in soon; she said she found some things she think can help.”
“That girl is a wizard with computers.”
“She really is. Do you know that she figured out where the bomb threat had come from?”
Angel leaned forward. “What? No?”
“Fox is going to have a big meeting to discuss it—I think it’s planned for this afternoon. I only know because I talked to her this morning about my case and she mentioned it.”
“So we know who’s threatening Stonewall?”
I crossed my fingers. “I hope so. She said it’s not definitive, but that it’s a big step forward.”
Ever since Stonewall Investigations had opened up a branch in Miami, we had experienced a few different threatening moments. Graffiti had been drawn on the building, telling us to get out, signed by a “fallen angel.” Then there had been a bomb threat, most likely made by the same person, someone who wanted us out. At first, we all suspected the threats were coming from religious extremists, especially since there was a very popular church just down the street from us that brought people from all across the world for their sermons. All the detectives had their eyes open since pretty much everyone was a suspect at this point, but one thing was for sure, Stonewall Investigations would never close.
“Good, I’ve got two things to be excited about this evening.”
“What’s the second?”
“I’ve got a date.” The words practically fell out. That’s how bubbly I’d felt at the thought of a date with Sam.
“Oh, nice, what are you guys going to do?”
“We’re thinking of having a date night at the fair.”
Angel perked up in the seat. “No way, Peter and I were going to have a date night there, too. We should make it a double-date thing.”
I hesitated for a moment. I could choose to keep Sam and I secluded, private from the rest of my life. It would keep things slightly safer, slightly less risky. The moment I began introducing him to people in my orbit, I knew it would push us into brand-new territory.
The hesitation only lasted a moment. “Yeah, let’s do it. Want to meet there at around eight?”
“Sounds good to me.” Angel clapped his hands, smiling, before he grabbed up his papers and stuffed them back into the folder he had brought with him. He stood up, tucking the folder under his arm.
“Oh, perfect timing,” I said, seeing some shadows move behind the frosted glass of my door. “Looks like Anya’s here.”
Sure enough, the door opened and Holly stood there with Stonewall’s resident star hacker, Anya. She was typing furiously on her phone, only briefly pausing to move a dread over her shoulder. Gold and silver rings caught the light in her hair as she looked up. I couldn’t tell if her eyes were lit up because of the phone screen’s glare or because she was that excited to talk to me about what she found.
; Probably both.
“Hey, Rocky, I’ve got Anya here to see you.”
“Great, thank you.”
She gave a little nod and stepped back out, Anya stepping in her place. Angel snuck out behind her, waving a hand over his shoulder as he shut the door.
Anya stood with well-earned confidence, rocking an artfully torn-up jean jacket with a dozen different patches sewn into the arms and chest, adding pops of color that matched with the various colorful rings she had placed into her long dark braids. She was Stonewall’s helpful neighborhood hacker and came highly recommended by the rest of the detectives. I had only recently met her after needing her assistance on Hazel’s case. Unlike most people I’d met, she seemed to have clicked with me right from the start.
“Hey, Rocky. Nice little office you’ve got.”
“It’s not the penthouse view like you have, but I’ll take it.”
“I can hook you up with some cool VR goggles—it’ll be like you’re up in a penthouse all damn day.” She came over to the chair in front of my desk and sat down, posting an arm on the back of it.
“I think I’ll pass for now.”
She placed a black USB on my desk. “All right, well, forget the goggles, then. Let’s get to the important stuff.”
I grabbed the USB drive and plugged it into the computer. Almost instantly, a folder popped up with a couple of different files. I turned the screen so both Anya and I could get a good look at it.
“Click that one first.” She tapped on the last file in the row. When it opened, grainy black-and-white surveillance footage filled my screen. We were looking out into a parking lot. It was Sam’s parking lot. I could see his building in the distance.
“Where’d you find this?” I asked, leaning in.
“There’s a closed-down outlet mall on the other side of the parking lot. Thankfully, one of their cameras was still plugged in and grabbed some footage I think you’d be interested in.”
Two shapes moved in the video. It was hard to discern who they were exactly, but just judging from the tall and slightly overweight build, I could see which one was Jesse. He was facing the camera and was making out with someone. It happened quick, and when it was over, Jesse could be seen looking around, practically whipping his head in a full 360-degree turn. The long-haired girl he was with didn’t seem all that bothered. She even tried to initiate another kiss, but Jesse pushed her off.
And then the girl turned.
And my jaw cracked open.
“Wait a second,” I said, leaning in. The girl who the neighbor had witnessed kissing Jesse, and the one I was assuming was with Jesse now, wasn’t a girl at all. “Who is that?”
“That’s Jesse’s best friend, Nick. And this was taken ten minutes before the murder.”
“Holy shit…”
I watched as Nick and Jesse seemed to have a short shouting match before Jesse started to go up to his place, Nick following close behind.
Nick, the homophobic asshole, was the very last person to see Jesse. And he was there when the murder happened.
The video cut out. “Do we have any video of the moments after the murder? I want to see what Nick does.”
“The rest of the footage is corrupted. I’ve been trying to fix it, but I can’t work miracles, unfortunately.”
“Fuck.” I needed to talk to Nick. I’d been wanting to for weeks now, but I couldn’t track him down. All I had was an old place of work, and they hadn’t seen him in months. His social media had been filled with all those hate comments, but nothing telling me where I could find the bastard.
“All right, now click the next file.”
I exited the video and clicked the unnamed file.
“Anya, take back what you just said.” I smiled as I read what was on my screen. “You really are a miracle worker.”
“Wellllll.” She shrugged and brushed off some imaginary dirt from her shoulder.
Filling up my computer screen was a phone bill, registered to Nick Ricks, but it wasn’t the charges that interested me. It was the address at the top left corner. Nick’s address.
“Wait a second.” I narrowed my gaze, reading over the street three times before I spoke again. “He lives down the street from Stonewall… are you fucking kidding me? He’s been down the block this entire time?”
“Yeah, crazy, huh? When I found this bill, I thought it had to be some kind of cosmic joke. So I dug around some more. The next file is a copy of his driver’s license. Registered to the same address.”
“Holy… shit.”
I clicked out of the files and grabbed my phone from the desk, standing up from my seat and startling Anya.
“Thank you, Anya. You’re a boss.”
“And you’re about to go confront Nick, aren’t you?”
“You’re also a fortune teller,” I said, smiling. I felt like this was the biggest crack in the case yet, and it could be exactly what I needed to finally get Hazel off the suspect list. If Nick was the one who murdered Jesse, which it was seeming more than likely based off timing alone, then I had to focus all my energy on putting him behind bars. And if he wasn’t the killer, then he must have known who was.
Either way, it felt like Nick was the answer, and I couldn’t wait a second longer to talk to him. The last thing I needed was for him to leave the country or go into deep hiding, so I had to catch him, especially now that we were practically neighbors.
And catch him was exactly what I headed out to do.
21
Sam Clark
This wasn’t the first date Rocky and I had been on, but that didn’t make getting ready for it any easier. Especially since Rocky told me it was now a double date, with another detective and his boyfriend. That surprised me at first, since I knew Rocky wasn’t exactly close with a lot of other people, but it did make me happy to see he was connecting with people at work. And I was excited to meet another couple, even though it did make me a little anxious. I ran around my tiny bedroom looking for a matching pair of socks while also trying not to mess up the hair I’d spent about five hours trying to gel into just the right position, where it looked like I cared but not “spent five hours moving individual strands of hair” cared, and I think I nailed it. Now I just had to make sure I didn’t make too many sudden movements and knock a strand out of place.
I found the missing sock and put it on, now having to spend the rest of my time looking for the sneakers I wanted to wear. They weren’t in the closet—trust me, I moved the pile of dirty clothes just to make sure they weren’t underneath—so I checked the next best place.
Under the bed. They were both there. I pulled them out and sat down on the bed, taking a breath. My door was closed, but I could hear Hazel chatting with Olive, our new roommate. She was a girl who loved new-age medicine and talking about The Bachelor, so she was a very welcome change to the situation we had been stuck in for so long now. I wasn’t entirely sure if she knew what had happened inside of these four walls, but I certainly wasn’t going to bring it up and neither was Hazel.
I gave myself one last look in the mirrored closet door. My blue-and-white plaid shirt camouflaged the wrinkles I couldn’t seem to iron out. My dark blue jeans were new, my mom having bought them for me after I showed up at their house in a pair of jeans that was four threads away from ripping down the back. And then there was the new underwear I had bought off Amazon. That was the star of the show, for sure. I couldn’t wait to see Rocky’s expression when my jeans came off and I was left standing there in my mesh jockstrap.
He’s going to start drooling.
At least, I hope he does.
In the living room, Hazel and Olive were sitting cross-legged on the couch, laughing as they shared different memes with each other. I loved hearing Hazel laugh. She may have been going through the absolute darkest period in her life, but my best friend always knew how to keep her spirits up and lift everyone else’s around her, too. They both looked my way when I entered, Hazel and Olive saying in unison, “Hello,
handsome.” They looked at each other and laughed before sharing a high five.
“Hey, you two.”
“Give us a twirl,” Hazel said, spinning a finger in the air.
“In slo-mo,” Olive added.
I couldn’t help the laugh as I gave a slow twirl in the center of our living room, holding my hands up and sticking my butt out.
Olive and Hazel both cheered me on, everyone laughing by the time it was over. It felt good to laugh. We hadn’t felt happy in our own apartment for a long time. This felt different. It was like things were falling into place exactly where they needed to be. The bigger picture was forming, and it had us all smiling and having a good time.
We almost missed the knocks that were coming from the door.
Almost.
But then they got loud. Shaking the doorframe. We all stopped laughing, Hazel’s eyebrows coming together and Olive looking at the door like the SWAT team was about to bust through. I checked my watch. Rocky said he’d pick me up but not for another fifteen minutes, and besides, why would he be knocking so hard? We had a doorbell, and I didn’t have any missed calls on my phone. Hazel’s phone was on the counter, and it wasn’t budging, so I didn’t think she was expecting any hard-knocking visitors either.
I went to the door and looked through the peephole.
“What the…”
I opened the door. Standing there was Nick Ricks, Jesse’s sketchy best friend.
“Hello?” I said, confused as all hell. What did Nick want? We hadn’t seen him for what felt like months. Not since Jesse died.
“Have you seen my laptop?”
And before I could even answer, Nick pushed past me, his skinny frame surprisingly strong. I could smell cigarette smoke in his greasy hair, which he seemed to have chopped off some inches from. It no longer reached the small of his back, ending closer to his shoulders now. On his arms, I could see what looked suspiciously like track marks, and some of them seemed fresh.
