Detached

by Elicia Hyder

  The line rang over the speakers. “Gregg.”

  “Hey, it’s Essex and Nyx. Random question, but did you interview a woman named Norina Grumley? She might be a parent of one of the kids at the—”

  “Grumley, yeah. Her kid left early today. Went home sick. He’s fine.”

  “So you actually talked to her?” I asked.

  “Yes. Her kid was sick.”

  “Did you ask if her son brought anything to school with him?” I asked.

  “What do you think this is, my first day? Of course I asked. She answered no.”

  “Did you run her?”

  “Since I didn’t have a reason to, no.”

  “Can you?”

  Gregg sighed. “Look, Nyx, I’m in over my eyeballs right now with all the shit—”

  “Can we question her?” I asked.

  “Sure. Knock yourselves out.”

  “What’s her address?”

  With a huff, Gregg put us on hold.

  “What CI have you been talking to?” Essex asked.

  “You know I can’t tell you that.”

  His brow crumpled. “Why not?”

  Before he could squeeze an answer out of me, I was saved by Gregg with an address.

  “It’s 1708 Big Pine Way.”

  “Thanks, Gregg,” Essex said and disconnected the call. He looked across the car at me. “I hope you’re right about this.”

  I couldn’t say the same. I didn’t want to be right about anything I knew might be true.

  Eight minutes later, Essex turned onto Big Pine. “Is that 1708?” He was looking at a wood-paneled, one-level home.

  “Yeah.”

  He pulled into the short driveway, and we both got out. While he rang the doorbell, I walked to the front of the patrol car where I could see the angles of this side of the house. The door opened, and a painfully thin woman with straggly brown hair stood in the gap. “Hello, Officer.”

  “Ma’am, I’m Sergeant Tyler Essex with Sapphire Lake Police Department. Are you Norina Grumley?”

  “Depends who’s asking.”

  “I’d like to ask you some questions about—”

  “If this is about what happened at the school, they already called. I told them Aiden’s fine. He was picked up early today and doesn’t know anything.”

  When Essex looked down at her track-marked arms, she quickly folded them. “You’re not in trouble, but we would like to ask what you know about a drug called hypnox.”

  All the blood drained from her face.

  Bingo.

  “Is that what those kids got into?” Her voice was suddenly scratchy.

  “We believe so. A dark residue was on their hands, consistent with hypnox. The packet found was branded with a crown. A child could have mistaken it as candy. Does any of this sound familiar?”

  Guilt filled Norina’s sunken eyes, but before she could speak, Essex’s head flinched up as he looked beyond her. I checked the back yard again.

  Essex pointed. “Is that Aiden?”

  Norina looked back. “Aiden, come here!”

  A young boy with a brown buzz cut and no shoes or shirt squeezed between his mother and the doorframe to stand in front of her. She put her hands on his shoulders. “Aiden, did you see any little packets at school today with a gold crown on them?”

  Essex hadn’t told her the crown on the packaging was gold.

  When the boy looked at Essex again, he seemed ready to burst into tears. “Please, Officer, don’t take my momma to jail.”

  Essex knelt down. “Hi, Aiden. I don’t want to take anyone anywhere. Did you know some kids at your school got really sick today?”

  The boy sniffed and wiped his nose as he nodded.

  “Have you seen any little white packets about this big?” Essex held his finger and thumb two inches apart. “They have a picture of a crown, like kings wear, on them.”

  Aiden nodded again.

  “Did you take some to school?”

  “Aiden, don’t answer that,” the woman snapped.

  Essex grabbed the radio on his shoulder. “Dispatch, this is Delta One. Need CPS at 1708 Big Pine Way—”

  “Not CPS!” Norina cried, pushing Aiden back into the house.

  I crossed the driveway and walked up on the short porch. I touched Essex’s arm. “Go call Gregg. I’ve got this.”

  With a nod, he walked back toward the car.

  “Norina?” I asked gently.

  She stared at me, tears flooding her eyes.

  “My name is Corporal Saphera Nyx. My partner is calling CPS to talk to your son. They have licensed people trained to talk to kids, that’s all.”

  She relaxed a little.

  “I want to help you, Norina, but I can’t do that if you lie to me. Do you understand?”

  Tears streamed down her cheeks. “Are you going to take my boy?”

  I shook my head. “That’s not my call, so I don’t know. What I do know is someone else’s child died today and two others are being kept alive by machines. I also believe the heroin they found came from here or someone you know, and I need you to tell me so—”

  Aiden pushed through the doorway again and grabbed my pant leg. “It was me. Please don’t take my momma. I didn’t want her to get sick anymore, so I took that stuff and threw it in the woods.”

  Emotion bubbled up inside me as the boy started to cry. I knelt in front of him. “You must love your momma a lot.”

  He nodded and grabbed her legs.

  “Thank you for telling the truth.”

  Norina held Aiden’s head against her. “I’ve been off it for a few days. He must have found what was left.”

  I stood. “Where did you get it?”

  She hesitated.

  “They’ll go easier on you if you cooperate, Norina.”

  “This guy I see. Lucas Costa.” She lowered her voice. “He’s a King.”

  “Nyx!”

  I looked at Essex in the driveway.

  “CPS and narcotics are on their way.”

  I nodded.

  Norina sank onto the top porch step with Aiden in her lap. She sniffed and wiped snot on the back of her arm. “You promise I’m not going to jail?”

  “That’s another promise I can’t make.” I sat beside her. “But I’ll do everything I can to help you if you’re honest with me. I have some questions.”

  “Can Aiden go play on the swings?” The rickety swing set was in the side yard, in front of Essex’s SUV.

  “Sure.”

  “Go on,” she said, patting his thigh.

  When he was out of earshot, I checked to make sure Essex was still on the phone. He was.

  “What do you know about the gold heroin?”

  She hesitated.

  “You took it, and it scared you off it. Am I right?”

  She nodded. “They’re calling it Kings’ Gold. I ain’t never been high like that. I was out of my body. Walked all around the house. All around the neighborhood. I even watched Aiden sleeping in his bed.”

  “That shit you’re messing around with isn’t normal heroin. It opens a door you don’t want to walk through, you understand?”

  “Hold up. You mean that was real?”

  I nodded because that couldn’t be seen or heard on my body camera.

  “The man, was he real too?”

  I straightened. “What man?”

  She touched her forehead. “I thought I was hallucinating.”

  “What man are you talking about, Norina?”

  “He was kinda like an angel.” She licked her cracked lips. “Had the prettiest blue eyes I’d ever seen.”

  Blue eyes.

  “Did he give you a name?”

  “Orion.” She pointed to the sky. “Like the constellation. Do you think he was an angel?”

  “I don’t know.”

  Sirens wailed in the distance.

  “Norina, do you still have drugs in the house?”

  She shook her head. “I flushed everything else I
had.” Tears flooded her cheeks. “Those kids died because of me.”

  “All you can do is cooperate now. That’s the only way this gets any easier.” I stood.

  “Officer?”

  I paused.

  “Was that place heaven?”

  I smiled. “God, I hope not. Do me a favor?”

  “Anything.”

  “Whatever happens, get your shit together. That kid deserves a mom and a better life.”

  She wiped her nose again. “I promise.”

  I’d heard that a thousand times.

  Essex was off the phone. “What were you talking to her about?” he asked as I walked over.

  “She was just telling me about what she took. Said she had some kind of out-of-body experience. She flushed all the heroin she had. Think they’ll work with her since she’s being helpful?”

  “Kids died today. I doubt it.”

  “Kids, plural?”

  He held up his phone before snapping it back onto his weapons belt. “That was O’Malley. The boy didn’t make it.”

  Chapter Thirteen

  I wiped vomit off my chin with a wad of toilet paper before flushing. Slumping sideways onto my hip, I rested the back of my head against the toilet-stall door.

  Silent tears drizzled off my cheeks.

  Norina Grumley was booked in to jail for child endangerment. I suspected some form of murder charges would follow as well. The magistrate denied bail, so Norina wouldn’t see the outside world—or her son—for a long, long time.

  She’d cried as I’d led her by the elbow into booking. And people around us clapped.

  I was crying now. Not because I didn’t think she had endangered anyone—she absolutely had—but there were no winners in this situation.

  And I certainly wasn’t a hero.

  All those letters I’d thrown in the trash. All the calls I’d sent to voicemail. If I’d actually talked to my father, maybe I could have prevented everything from happening.

  Five people were now dead—far more than the number Elias was guilty of. Except these could very well have been all my fault.

  Essex was in the hall chatting with Baker when I walked out. Baker beamed when he saw me. “Nicely done, Nyx.” He offered me a fist bump, and I knocked my knuckles with his, forcing my lips into an appreciative smile.

  “What are you doing here?” I asked.

  “Same as you, but not as successfully.” Baker gripped his weapons belt. “You on tonight?”

  “Riding with Sarge. I’m on light duty until next week.”

  “That reminds me, I need your doctor’s note to turn in to HR,” Essex said.

  “Shit. It’s at home.”

  “It’s OK. We’ll swing by and grab it.”

  “How’s the head?” Baker leaned sideways for a better look at the gash in my skull.

  I turned my head so he could see. “It’s healing.”

  He sucked in a sharp breath through his teeth. “Damn, girl. That looks like a shark bite.”

  “I think I’d rather take on a shark.” The three of us started down the hall toward the exit.

  “You calling 10-8 early?” Essex asked him.

  “Nah. I’m going home to crash for a few hours. You?” Baker replied.

  “I don’t know.” Essex looked across him at me and smiled. “I hadn’t planned on being done this early.”

  “You’re welcome,” I said with a wink as my heart twisted deep inside my chest.

  When we walked out into the bright sunlight, Baker slipped on a pair of black sunglasses. “Well, I’ll see you guys tonight. Shift briefing at five forty-five?”

  “Yep. See you here,” Essex said.

  “Bye, man,” I said as Baker walked out into the lot.

  Essex turned toward me and put on his aviators. “What do you want to do?”

  Part of me really wanted to go home and sleep. I could detach for a few hours while there was still daylight. Maybe find Orion and check on the one kid still living. Then again, with all the adrenaline pumping through my bloodstream, sleep wouldn’t come easy. Perhaps not at all.

  “You hungry?” Essex asked before I could sort my thoughts into an answer.

  “Actually, yeah.”

  “Want to get something to eat at that pub across the street from your place? We can grab your paperwork when we’re done.”

  “Sounds good.” We started toward his SUV.

  “Nice work today, Nyx!” a man called out as I reached for the passenger-side door handle.

  I looked across the lot and saw Lieutenant Henley sitting in his squad car.

  “Thanks, Lieutenant!” I replied with a wave.

  “That’s got to be a good sign,” Essex said as he got in the driver’s seat.

  “Henley’s opinion isn’t everything. I still need the chief’s approval.” I buckled my seat belt.

  “You’ve got the chief in the bag. I talked to him mys—” He turned his wide eyes toward me.

  I shook my head. “I knew it was you.”

  He chuckled. “I put in a good word. There’s nothing wrong with that.”

  “It shows special treatment.”

  “I’m your boss. They always ask our opinion.”

  “Did he ask your opinion?”

  “Well, not in so many words . . . or in any words.”

  I backhanded his arm, and he laughed.

  As he started the engine, I saw the lunch sack Bess had packed. I grabbed it and opened it on my lap. “Forgot about my lunch.”

  Smiling, he stretched his arm across my seatback to reverse out of the parking space. “Gonna ditch me in favor of a PB&J and some fruit snacks?”

  “Maybe.” Inside was a sandwich, a bag of pretzels, a soda, and—I pulled out a piece of pink paper—a note decorated with smiley faces. I read it aloud. “Nyx, watch out for cars.”

  Essex chuckled. “I like her.”

  “She likes you too,” I said, stuffing the paper back into the bag and dropping the whole thing by my feet. “She thinks you’re hot.”

  “Well, of course she does. She’s got eyes.”

  I laughed.

  “How’s that working out?”

  “The roommate situation?”

  “Yeah.”

  “I’m hoping it’s more temporary than I offered.”

  “Driving you crazy?”

  “She has her moments. She sings a lot.”

  “Oh no. Not singing.”

  “And god, she’s messy.” I laid my head back against the headrest. “But she buys groceries and packs my lunch, so . . .”

  He smiled. “As weird as it is, I think she might be good for you.”

  “Gran would have loved it. She hated that I lived alone.” My phone rang. I pulled it off my belt and looked at the number. “Excuse me a sec. It’s my brother.” I put the phone to my ear. “Hey.”

  “Hey.” Ransom’s flat tone said he still wasn’t over it. “Paps and I saw the news. Those kids are dead?”

  “Two of them, yeah.”

  “Is it really hypnox?”

  “Yes.” I lowered my voice. “I could really use your help.”

  “OK.” He cleared his throat on the other end of the line. “I have to work tonight, but I’ll head that way when I get off in the morning.”

  I exhaled for what felt like the first time all day. “Thank you, Ransom.”

  “Mmm-hmm.”

  “I’ll see you tomorrow.”

  “Nyx?”

  “Yeah?”

  “Don’t detach at night.”

  “I won’t.” I was smiling when he ended the call.

  “Everything OK?” Essex asked as he turned onto the highway.

  I sighed, settling back into my seat. “It will be.”

  When we arrived at Delaney’s, the lot close to the restaurant was full, so Essex pulled into a spot near the ice cream shop farther down the block. At one of its outdoor tables, a blond-headed man was playing air drums.

  Essex nudged me. “There’s Teek.�
�� He immediately began panning the area.

  Teek had a part-time job stocking shelves at the grocery store in the village. He usually loitered somewhere close by, waiting on a ride home after his shift.

  The last time we’d all been around this block together, Essex had lost a tooth.

  I walked over. Teek was too busy jamming out to notice me at first. I waved my hand in front of his face. With a startled jerk, he smiled and plucked the earbud from his ear. “Hey, Nyx.”

  “Hi, Teek. What are you listening to?”

  “The Freckled Misters.”

  “Never heard of them.”

  He offered me the earbud. “They’re awesome. You wanna listen?”

  I smiled. “Thanks, but I’ll take your word for it. What are you doing here?”

  “Waiting on Kush. He’s late.”

  Kush, his brother. Not Kush, the cannabis strain. I hoped, anyway.

  “You guys going to have some ice cream?” Essex asked.

  Teek’s face scrunched with confusion. “Why would we do that?”

  Essex and I both looked at the ice cream parlor behind him. Essex chuckled and shook his head. “Never mind. Dumb question.”

  “Are you staying out of trouble, Teek?” I asked.

  “Oh, yes, ma’am.”

  “No more zucchinis in your future?”

  He shook his head. “Nah, I don’t like zucchini.”

  “You’re done being a lone wolf then?”

  He howled toward the sky and laughed.

  A car horn honked in the parking lot. “Teek!” a voice boomed. “Get in the truck!”

  Essex spun before I did. When I looked, I saw why. It wasn’t Kush. It was Borg Fleming in a wife beater, with a fresh new prison tattoo on the side of his neck. When he registered our faces, he smiled, showcasing the worst meth mouth in Sapphire Lake. “Tyler Essex.”

  “Mr. Fleming.” Essex’s glare was dark. I was surprised he didn’t have a hand on his gun.

  “He’s out?” I whispered.

  Teek stopped beside us. “I gotta go. You sure you don’t wanna hear my beats?” He offered me the earbud one more time.

  My eyes fell to the earbuds’ cord dangling free in front of him, not plugged into anything. “No thanks, buddy.” I patted his shoulder. “You’d better get going. Don’t want to keep your dad waiting.”

  “Yeah.” Teek waved as he walked into the parking lot. “I’ll see you soon, Nyx!”