Dark Streets, Cold Suburbs

by Aimee Hix

  “Shit! One of those guys is the neighbor and the other is my backup.”

  Tense and Scowly snickered. “You have backup? You’re a consultant.”

  “I’m a PI and that guy you cuffed and tossed into your cruiser is a five-time World Martial Arts champion, current record holder, sixth level blackbelt, and likely the most well-known and beloved living figure in the martial arts community besides Jhoon Rhee.”

  They looked at each other and then Sedate and Laconic beat feet out to make apologies.

  “I’m going upstairs to get my friend. That cool?”

  He nodded and I turned my back on him to go upstairs only to hear him choke out a strangled yelp. I turned back to see his hand hovering over his holster. “You’re armed?”

  At the reminder, I registered that the gun was digging into the small of my back with a sting. In all the running around and sweating the gun had rubbed a good four-inch abrasion into my skin. That’s what I got for leaving my holster in the gun safe at the apartment.

  “Yup. Sorry ’bout that.” I wasn’t sorry for him being freaked out. I was sorry I hadn’t mentioned it because that shit is how people end up with a clip emptied into them. Sometimes mentioning is also how people end up with a clip in them. It was a crap shoot these days.

  I took the stairs two at a time, holding the weapon to my slick skin trying to avoid a deeper wound, to get up to Aja. I called out when I was on the second staircase up to the loft so she knew it was me and didn’t decide to start chucking lamps.

  She was sniffling in the corner where I’d left her. I walked over and held my hand out to help her up.

  “Where’s Cole? Is he okay?” Jeez, the kid was either a stellar human or a right dumbass.

  “He’s got EMTs looking at him. He fell down the stairs and is unconscious. I’m actually more worried about you right now.”

  She stood and held my hand tightly, pressing herself into my side. I wrapped my free arm around her and tried to pull her deeper into me but all the space that was left was occupied by skin and muscle.

  “I’m okay. He was just … so scared.” She hiccupped. She was going into shock. I wanted to get her out of the house and back to Nancy, who could deal with it better than I could. Adam was just as qualified and he was even closer.

  I walked us both slowly down the multiple sets of stairs. The EMTs were carefully working on Cole and I skirted us both right past them and down the basement stairs, as Aja tucked her head into the crook of my shoulder. My heart flared a little. How had this kid I barely knew become so important to me in such a short amount of time?

  I took us out through the broken slider, reminding myself to call my dad to board that back up again when we got to the truck. I was happy to see Adam and the nosy neighbor were out of the backseat of the car and uncuffed as we made our way up the side yard. Adam had a blanket ready for Aja and he wrapped her up in it, taking possession of her.

  I turned to the old man. “Sorry about earlier. I was a little pumped up on adrenaline when we got here.”

  He nodded curtly then took off his jacket and offered it to me. “I don’t approve of that kind of language but I see you were just worried about the young woman.”

  Well, didn’t that beat all. He was actually gallant in a sexist, fusty kind of way.

  “Thanks. I appreciate you accepting my apology. I know things have been kind of crazy here lately. You probably don’t believe it, but I have been trying to calm it all down.”

  He nodded again and I wondered if it hurt his neck to jerk it like that. Then he turned on his heel in perfect military precision and walked up the yard to his own house. I saw the curtain next to the door twitch. So the wife was alive and her chain reached to the door.

  I went to the truck where Adam had Aja sitting and disarmed myself. The scrape on my back was stinging more as the sweat seeped in. I settled the gun into its home in the truck’s built-in case and set the lock, shutting it firmly and sliding it back under the seat. If I was going to go on anymore rescue missions in workout clothes, I needed a better system and vowed to suck up the cost for the torso bandage-style holster. It was a write-off, at least.

  My phone rang and I saw that it was Jan. “Where the hell are you? You missed all the fun.”

  “Fill me in.”

  Was she serious? She wasn’t coming.

  “Seriously?”

  “Something came up with the Murphy case that I had to handle here.”

  I waited for her to elaborate and she failed to do so. It was an awkward couple of minutes while we each waited for the other to speak. I finally caved mostly because I was freezing my ass off in the February evening wearing sweaty, abbreviated workout clothes and the old man neighbor’s Members Only jacket. Where did one even find these things anymore?

  “Aja was poking around school today asking questions about Damian and one of the other kids involved must have gotten spooked. He played the friend card and then forced her to come to her house looking for, and I quote, ‘the package.’ Whoever Damian got it from or was supposed to give it to is rather pissed off that it’s missing. He threatened that if they didn’t get it, he was going to kill them—and no, I don’t know who them is—like he killed Damian. Said Damian paid the price for getting greedy.”

  “That’s … uh, complicated. Damian’s parents were here wanting to know what was going on with their kid’s murder case. Their lawyer had been stonewalling every attempt for us to get any answers from them about his life, activities, friends, health. Anything and everything we need to help us figure out what he’d gotten himself into.”

  “Can you get a warrant?”

  “Done, but they’ve had time to sanitize. What about the kid?”

  “He’s not talking. He’s pretty seriously hurt. Took a header down the stairs. I’m not sure … he may not make it.” I had turned away, putting my back to Aja, and lowered my voice. I didn’t need her freaking out any more than she already was.

  “I’ll get a warrant for him too—blood test, home, car, phones. Seems like you’re seeing all the action and I’m doing all the paperwork, kid.”

  I was starting to feel like I wanted to make the trade. Watching Cole hit that wall was going to be in my head for a long time. I had a feeling that whatever replaced it might end up being worse if this case went on too long.

  “Don’t worry. I’ve got plenty of paperwork too.”

  Chapter

  17

  A flashy black sports car sat out front of the house when I pulled up. Aja sighed heavily. “My parents.”

  It was not the response of a child who’d been terrorized repeatedly and only wanted her mom and dad. It was the weary declaration of someone who’d lived far too long with disappointment and had grown used to it.

  “I’m sorry. I know you’re not thrilled to see them but—”

  “I’m just tired of it all. When do I get to come first with them? Do I ever?”

  “Hey, they came back. They could have sent a lawyer, someone with guardianship papers to handle it.”

  “They’re selfish. They don’t care about what happens to me.”

  “You know, I’m not a parent but I think, even the ones who are wrapped up in themselves, care. They just don’t necessarily know how to show it.”

  “But your parents—”

  “Let’s not set the bar too high to reach. My parents can swing too hard in the other direction, you know. It isn’t annoying to you yet because it’s new.”

  “I don’t think I’d ever get sick of it.”

  “My dad sent me on a fake stakeout and everyone knew except me.”

  The look on her face as we climbed out of the truck was almost enough to make me forgive him. Almost.

  My mother waved at me from the picture window in the kitchen and I motioned her outside. She looked behind her and then disappeared from
view to open the front door and hurry down the stairs. I met her halfway up the walk.

  “Aja’s nervous.”

  “So are they. This seems to be their cross-country bus moment.”

  Of course she’d known I overheard them. Nothing got past her. At least she wasn’t crying. That was the only thing saving me from it.

  “It damn well better be. They owe her better than what they’ve been giving her, which is a whole lot of nothing,” I said, quietly sniffing. It was misty and tree pollen was starting to cause budding. I wasn’t crying.

  Nancy reached up and cupped my cheek. “She’ll be fine no matter what. She’s got a friend to help her through it.”

  I sniffled again. Pollen. It was the pollen.

  “Why don’t you go around back and get some real clothes on?” She’d phrased it like a question but it was a motherly order, and I managed to get around the side of the garage before the tears trickled. I swiped at them with the back of my hand. I was exhausted. I was stressed about Aja and the two murders. I hated to admit it even to myself, but I needed my partner and he’d abandoned me.

  I yanked my cell out of my pocket and fired off an explicitly angry text to Seth. Damn him. You don’t just disappear. He’d harangued me to make sure I didn’t do it to him and I’d, technically, only run off in the most extreme walk of shame anyone had taken. I hadn’t owed him anything at that point. I hadn’t made him any promises.

  I saw the bubbles of his impending reply. Then they stopped. I waited for the bubbles to return. Nothing.

  Fine. That was the way it was. I stuck my phone back into my hoodie pocket and walked the length of the house to the back door.

  I opened the slider and there was my baby brother, the one I’d abandoned at Adam’s dojo to deal with the beginner’s class, and my dog waiting for me.

  “Hey, Willy Bean.” He smiled. I was in such a wobbly place emotionally that I didn’t know if I was going to actually start crying but I found a laugh burble up. Leave it to Ben.

  I crouched down and motioned for Fargo, who came at me with all the force her puppy body could generate—a considerable amount—knocking me on to my butt and causing Ben to laugh. I was glad our parents had splurged on the extra plush carpet padding. In the months since I’d been working with Adam, the fat pad on my backside had diminished considerably.

  “Crazy day, huh, Benjy?” I rubbed Fargo’s belly while she arced on the carpet, shedding her thick needle fur for me to step on later when I was barefoot.

  Fargo lost interest in me and stretched then got up and ambled over to her bed.

  “You scared the shit out of me, Will.”

  My phone buzzed in my pocket. I ignored it. Seth could damn well wait his turn.

  “Sorry, Ben. This is the job.”

  His sweet man-boy face contorted. “No, it’s not. Dad’s been doing it for years and it’s nothing like this.”

  I opened my mouth and had no idea what to say so I closed it again. I closed my eyes to shut off the sad, scared look in his eyes. He was right. Of course. This wasn’t the way Dad did the job.

  “I’m not Dad, Benjy. I’m me. This is … this is how I know how to do what needs doing. I wasn’t about to leave Aja scared and alone. I had no idea who had her or what they were capable of. I did what I’d want someone to do if it was you.”

  “And last fall? That wasn’t about me. You’ve been off the force less than a year and you’ve been in more danger than in the five years you were a cop. That’s bullshit, Will.”

  It was bullshit because he really had no idea how much danger I was in as a cop. I probably had no idea either. It wasn’t as if that was a safe job. I knew he wanted me to say something that would reassure him, like that I’d stop. I’d had the conversation enough with our father. Would I just look before I leapt? Could I weigh the possible consequences? As if I could calculate those with some kind of formula or algorithm. Even if that was possible, I wouldn’t have been capable of the math.

  “I know you’re scared. I understand it. I feel it every time Seth leaves the house in a bulletproof vest. I felt it every time Michael missed a call.”

  “And you know what can happen. You know what happened to Michael. He’s dead. He got killed. Seth could get killed. You seem to be trying to get killed. Why are you all so ready to die?”

  God help me. I was related to the only seventeen-year-old boy in the world who had a fully developed sense of mortality.

  “It’s not that we’re ready to die …”

  He glared at me. I wasn’t getting out of it without answering him. Ben was the most stubborn person I knew. He eclipsed me and Dad by miles.

  “Michael died and I just … I was scared all the time. It didn’t matter what it was. If my gums bled when I brushed my teeth I was convinced I was dying. And I gave in. It was easy. I pulled fear over me like a blanket. And I snuggled down into it and let it protect me. From everything. It wasn’t Michael’s death that started to change me. It was letting fear rule over me in the wake of it. And it almost killed me, Ben.”

  “No, what almost killed you was a crazy racist.”

  It was hard to argue with that. Except with the truth.

  “And, yet, I’m still here. Annoying you.”

  “For how long? Until the next time you do something stupid and scare the shit out of me?”

  He was really working the curses today. He was pretty mad at me. And he was probably upset about Aja. He got attached to people a lot more easily than I did and that girl had wormed her way into my cold, dark heart.

  My phone buzzed again and I grabbed it, intending to quiet it, but I saw it was Boyd.

  Kid’s not going to make it.

  “Shit.”

  “What?

  “Jan says that Cole kid isn’t going to make it.”

  “Cole? What about him? Make it where?”

  Wait.

  “Do you know Cole, Ben?”

  “He’s a friend of John’s, sort of. They worked on a project together last year. John felt kind of bad for him. He’s not exactly good at social stuff. Bullied.”

  “Blond kid?”

  He nodded. I hadn’t seen John in a while. He’d better not be mixed up in this mess.

  “How close are they? John hasn’t … changed lately like Damian, right?”

  Ben morphed back into normal teen boy and twisted his face into such disgust and annoyance I feared he’d sprain a muscle. “Dude, no. He’s not stupid.”

  “How much do you know about this going on at school, Ben? Is this a lot of kids?”

  His expression turned to disdain, one I was familiar with, and pity, an even more familiar one. This was the You’re so stupid but I’m not going to say it because you’d kick my ass face.

  “Will, the school is enormous. I only know about Damian being in this stuff because Aja told me and Cole because you just told me. I don’t hang out with people like that.”

  People like that. What did that mean exactly? High school was pretty different than when I was there. It seemed like with these giant secondary schools, cliques didn’t really form. And this generation Z as they were called were supposedly more evolved and socially conscious. What did it mean when a good, kind, generous kid said people like that?

  Us millennials were inconsiderate assholes so I put him on the line, cocking an eyebrow at him. “People like that?”

  “Jeez, I didn’t mean anything bad by it. Just that I’m not really in classes with kids that aren’t in the AP and honors program. Look, I know that’s mean, but kids like Damian are the kids that need the A in gym, you know?”

  Stunned was a reaction I didn’t often have with my brother. I’d got used to his brilliance when he was small but he’d always been kind about it. This sentiment was ugly arrogance.

  “You meant something bad by it, Ben. And that you don’t see
it makes me really angry and sad. I was the kind of kid that needed the A in gym.”

  I stomped past him and shut the door to my room much harder than it needed shutting. Within seconds I heard soft scratching and I opened the door to find Fargo waiting patiently on the other side. Of course she was on my side. She’d failed out of explosives detection school. She trotted in and I shut the door again.

  I took my time gathering my clothes and texting Jan back. The whole Cole thing was throwing me for several loops. I felt guilty for my part in him falling. I hadn’t put him in the position, but I’d distracted him and that was going to stay with me for a long time. I knew Aja was going to take it pretty hard too and she’d been through so much.

  Chapter

  18

  “Come on, girl. Let’s go get cleaned up.”

  The adrenaline sweat had dried and it was not a pleasant smell.

  I took my clothes and the dog and showered as quickly as I could, trying to keep her out of the water. She acted like a water dog and was always trying to get in with me. It was cute and tiring. She was a smart, tricky dog and getting clean with one foot off the ground to keep her nose out of the stall was a balancing act worthy of an acrobat. I had tried locking her out, but that resulted in a door that needed sanding and painting. She was fine being separated from me as long as running water wasn’t involved. Eh, I had personality quirks too.

  I toweled off and twisted my hair up into a clip. That was as fancy as I got. Nicer jeans than I would have worn while working and a button-down that mostly fit but was too short in the sleeves (long arms are almost always convenient except where sleeves are concerned) and I was presentable enough to meet Aja’s parents.

  The parents I was already predisposed to not liking. This would be a test of my tact and grace, as far as those existed. I would do my best to be the grownup in the situation and not the angry young woman who’d just had to rescue their child, the one they’d abandoned to jet around the world and party, not once but twice (or was it three times, at this point?) from a situation that, had they only stuck around to be near, could have been avoided with maybe one less murder and a potential fatal fall down stairs for a scared young man. Ah, the soothing tact and grace was just welling up from inside.