Thicker than Water

by Danae Ayusso

  “Yeah, I do. Vicks was going to sleep with you, Fury. She was falling, or thought she was, for someone at work—a fifth grade teacher named Mr. Hall—but she felt guilty that she no longer had the feelings for you that she had for him so she was going to sleep with you in order to see if that would fix it. She told someone of her plan and that is why she was killed. Someone is killing for you...killing to keep you from getting laid, I think. Or, worst case scenario, killing for you.”

  The room started to spin so Colt sat on the couch and struggled to keep from throwing up.

  How can that be possible? I’ve never wished harm on anyone, other than Pope. If Vicks wanted to end it, I would have been hurt, but I wouldn’t have hated her for it. If anything, I would have been pissed that she slept with me when she didn’t love me anymore.

  Cat sat on the couch next to him and weaved her fingers through his. “We'll figure this out together, okay?”

  Colt simply nodded.

  “I need you to take me back to my place then send Salvati over as an escort,” she continued. “Don’t let anyone know. I think there’s a leak somewhere and until it’s plugged, whether it be by handcuffs or a nine-millimeter to the head, we need to keep this on the down low. Got it?”

  Again, he nodded.

  “Colt,” she whispered, and he turned to look at her; never had she called him Colt before, it was always Fury. “I’m not going anywhere, but until this sonuvabitch is caught we need to be extra careful. Do you understand?”

  He nodded.

  “I’m going to need some case files,” she whispered. “But they have nothing to do with Pope. I need the case files from every suspicious death and accident for the past twenty years. Can you arrange for that?”

  His brow furrowed. “What exactly are you looking for?”

  Cat’s forced smile fell before it even began. “His first kill because I know it wasn’t Vicks.”

  “You can let go anytime now,” Cat choked, trying to shove Salvati off of her.

  Salvati smiled and rubbed his hands across his eyes to wipe away the tears. “Jesus, Rossi. Look at you! Blonde…ew, not a good look for you,” he informed her.

  Cat gave him a look. “That was the point, smart ass. I can’t believe they let you into the Bureau.” She missed Salvati, he was the little brother she never wanted but was proud of. Both she and Frankie were. And when he graduated from the Academy, they were there cheering him on, then got him a job at their precinct so they could keep an eye on him, but he turned it down and went his own path, which they both respected, to one of the roughest beats in the Bronx.

  Salvati chuckled. “I know. But it was yous twos death that prompted me to join… Can we talk about something else?”

  Cat nodded. “Pope would be a good start,” she said, checking her makeup and drying her eyes.

  “Pope?” he asked, scratching his head.

  “Yea, Pope. The serial killer running around killing people in Eureka, Montana. Perhaps you’ve heard of him?” she said, making a face at him.

  “I’ve heard,” he said with a smirk. “Didn’t know you made it a habit of hunting down serial killers in your spare time, Rossi.”

  “Any times a good time, Nato. You know that. Besides, what else am I supposed to do?”

  A smile filled his face. “Oh I don’t know, how about a certain mountain of a man detective that’s head-over-heels for you?”

  She gave him a look.

  “Damn it, I can’t tell if you’re blushing through the bondo on your face. Why are you posing as a white person?” he complained. “You’re starting to creep me out.”

  Cat shook her head. “Remind me why I specifically asked for you again?”

  He smiled wide. “Because I’m armed!” he beamed.

  She pulled a gun from the back of her pants and cocked an eyebrow.

  “Well, you’re no fun,” he pouted before smiling. “Why do you need me if it isn’t my mouthwatering olive skin tone and exotic accent you’re after?”

  Cat laughed. “Trust me, Nato. No one around here thinks our New York accents are exotic. If anything, they can’t understand a word out of our mouths.”

  “Then let’s speak the tongue of our ancestors,” he suggested and wagged his brows at her.

  “Fine,” she conceded, speaking in Italian. “We are going to do a deep dive into Eureka’s unfortunate past,” she explained as she prepared them some cappuccino for the road. “I know it isn’t as exciting as hanging around with a bunch of backwoods cops in a cramped office, but at least you’ll be in good company.”

  Salvati nodded. “Much better than the alternative,” he agreed. “Never have I seen belt buckles so big or shiny, not to mention, what is with all of the cowboy hats? I feel like I’m going to a rodeo.”

  She rolled her eyes. “Nato, you’ve never been to a rodeo, and I highly doubt you’d know what one was even if you found yourself in the middle of it.”

  “True. But still, what is with all the cowboy hats and belt buckles the size of something seventies-Elvis would wear?”

  “Elvis impression appreciated, but I can’t tell you because I’m not entirely sure,” Cat admitted. “Fury doesn’t wear either, thankfully. He sticks to standard Army issued belts, beanies, and the occasional ball cap that looks older than I am.”

  Salvati smirked. “Good to know. I thought for sure your white guy was going to shoot me as we drove over here. Montana’s not much of a talker, is he?”

  Cat shrugged and handed him one of the travel thermoses. “He can’t seem to shut up around me, but he doesn’t say much to others. I like that about him. Frankie would talk my ear off all the time, and I could never hear myself think. But Fury, sometimes I have to give him a little push then he opens up, but he gets me opening up as well…I don’t like that aspect of it though.”

  They were both quiet for a moment and Cat fingered the delicate cross hanging from around her neck.

  “Frankie loved you, Rossi. You know this,” Salvati whispered when he noticed her cross, Frankie’s cross. “There is nothing he wouldn’t have done for you. You protected his ass more times than he could count, but he never stopped trying to return the favor. You have to forgive yourself for what Daniele did.”

  She looked at him curiously. “Fury made me realize that same thing, but why… You know, don’t you?”

  He nodded. “Frankie told me. I haven’t told anyone, I swear it. But I understand why you won’t go back to testify against Daniele. If you do, every case you’ve ever touched will be thrown under the microscope and a chunk of them would be overturned since only you and Frankie were the witnesses in them—you’d be inadmissible and Frankie’s dead. I get it, so I can’t fault you for that, Rossi. Frankie wouldn’t want you to throw away everything yous twos achieved together just to avenge him; he wasn’t a selfish bastard like that.”

  Cat knew he was right, but it was a hard pill to swallow.

  “I know. Let’s go dig up some skeletons that might kill my newly found sex life…hopefully not in a literal sense,” she said.

  Salvati smiled wide. “Just like old times!” he beamed in an attempt to cheer her up, but it’d take a lot more than that.

  ****

  Colt searched through Raven’s desk drawers, pulling out every piece of paper and looking it over before organizing them in piles on the top of the desk.

  There has to be something here. She had to have died for a reason!

  Many notes were in Siksika and Colt couldn’t read them in the least so he put those in one pile, which he’d have to get help translating from the tribal representatives that arrived earlier in the day. There were printouts from pro and amateur rodeo sites, catalogues and pictures taken with a digital camera from local gift shops, and information cards of various stones.

  “What did you find, Raven?” Colt mumbled, trying to decipher her chicken scratch notes.

  When the front door opened, he looked up and fought the urge to groan.

  “Oh, now you�
��re working late?” James sneered, closing the door behind him.

  Colt nodded. “Sorry I was late. This case is kicking my ass and I haven’t been sleeping well, obviously, and I overslept.”

  “Uh huh,” was all James said as he sulked to his office. “What are you doing in Raven’s desk?” he asked as more of an afterthought.

  Colt wanted to talk to James about it, especially about the man who was outside his window, who had been spying on him for God knows how long, who watched him make love to the woman he loved… He wanted to tell his brother everything, he needed to, but Cat told him to tell no one.

  Especially anyone on the force.

  The annoying FBI agent bouncing up and down in the passenger seat as he drove him over to the cabin at the Paterson estate, something that would reveal Cat’s existence and identity to someone from NYC and could easily result in her death if the Calandriello family discovered she was alive, irritated the hell out of him, and he felt it was hypocritical to tell Salvati but not James. But Colt did it despite his reservations about the giddy FBI agent and the potential danger which could result, simply because Cat asked him to do it. For some reason he couldn’t tell Cat no, and he wasn’t entirely sure if he liked that or not, but he loved her and trusted her instinct and experience in law enforcement so he took the gamble.

  “Trying for closure,” Colt said instead of what he really wanted to say.

  James tossed his cowboy hat and jacket on the desk in his office then took a seat across from Colt at Raven’s desk. “It isn’t your fault,” he said.

  “I didn’t say it was,” Colt said defensively. “I didn’t know Raven well, but what I knew of her was good. She was strong, hardheaded, the only woman in an station filled with men, and she represented her tribe and people in a positive light. She was dedicated to family and the force…she was a good person and deputy.”

  “Yes, she was an asset to the force,” James guardedly admitted, sensing there was something more Colt was trying to hint at, but he didn’t know what. “I didn’t know you knew her well.”

  “I didn’t say I did,” Colt said in a clipped tone; he had just told him that! “Where are the tribal representatives?”

  James reached for one of the stacks of papers on the desk, but Colt slapped his hand on it and pulled it away from him. “What gives, Colt?” he demanded. “She was my deputy and friend. You said so yourself, you hardly knew her, and now you’re getting all protective of the crap in that mess she called a desk?!”

  Colt was taken back. He didn’t think he was being argumentative or short with James in the least, and yet James was getting defensive all of a sudden. “What gives?” he asked, confused.

  James glared at him. “What gives? Oh, I don’t know, why don’t you tell me?”

  He pocketed the stacks of papers from the desk, his eyes never leaving James’ face. “Why are you getting short with me?”

  “I’m not,” he snapped.

  “You sure?” Colt pressed. “Because you apparently have something on your mind,” he said with a chuckle, trying to alleviate the sudden tension in the room.

  “Don’t laugh at me!” James snapped and Colt’s eyes widened. “This isn’t funny in the least!”

  “I didn’t mean-” he tried to assure him, but James wouldn’t hear him in the least.

  “You have a lot of nerve, Colt Fury. You really do,” he said. “You’re the one that spent the past five years in a hole in the mountain, shutting out the world and turning your back on those who love you and who needed you. Do you think that this has been easy for me…for any of us? Grandmother constantly asked me when I was going to bring her grandson home, when I was going to get you off of that goddamn mountain. Every damn Christmas it was the same thing, ‘I miss Colt and Vicks.’ Did you ever stop to think of what losing you, as well, would do to us?

  “And now, you’re back…but are you really?” he venomously asked. “I’ve seen you only at the station and on Sundays at Grandmothers. You haven’t stopped by to see my new place. You haven’t just sat down and enjoyed a beer with me, or bothered to ask how I was doing, or how I felt! Did I mean nothing to you? Were you only my friend so you could get in my sister’s pants?” he demanded.

  Colt glared at him. “Get in your sister’s pants?” he shouted. “You have some damn nerve, Jimmy. You of all people know that I never got in your sister’s pants because, according to Vicks’ diary, you were constantly cock-blocking me!”

  “Excuse me? You have her diary?”

  “Yeah, I do,” Colt hissed. “More than once Vicks mentioned that she wanted to take our relationship to that all-inclusive level, and when I tried to do what she was hinting at, suddenly she’d get closed off and quiet. I could never figure out why that was. And now I know. It wasn’t because she wasn’t ready, it was because you were telling her that she wasn’t ready. You told her that I wasn’t ready. You kept asking what would Jesus say about sex before marriage. What would your mom and dad have to say about their only daughter acting like a slut?! You guilted her into keeping her virginity! Why? Why did you have to put your nose into our relationship, over and over? Was I not good enough for your little sister? Was that it?! Your parents thought I was good enough, your grandmother thought I was more than good enough, so what was the problem? I thought we were friends, brothers even, yet you purposely took her from me.”

  James continued to glare at him. “Where did you find her diary?” he demanded.

  “That’s all you have to say?” Colt scoffed. “You want to know where I got her diary?”

  “It’s the last of my sister,” he said. “I want it.”

  Colt shook his head. “Yeah, not going to happen, Sheriff. If anything, it’s a piece of evidence in an ongoing investigation.”

  “What?”

  “Did you know that your sister and Mr. Hall liked each other? He was in love with her. And guess what, Jimmy? She reciprocated the sentiment! But it was you who told Vicks that she was making a mistake, and that Hall wanted nothing but to use her because she was untouched, and everyone knew it. Do you know what she was going to do?” Colt demanded. “Vicks was going to sleep with me just to prove you wrong! What kind of brother are you?”

  James got to his feet. “A better brother than you could ever be!” he shouted. “That idiot Ron Hall didn’t love her, didn’t give a damn about her, he just wanted to take what no one else had. Nothing more and nothing less. And Vicks was too stupid to know any better.”

  “But it wasn’t your choice to make!” Colt argued, getting to his feet. “It was Vicks’ body, her heart, and her choice. It wasn’t yours or mine, or Ron Hall’s choice to make. It was hers. If she didn’t want to be with me anymore, didn’t love me, didn’t feel the same way as she did when she was younger, I would have understood. Everyone grows and changes, and guess what, so did I! We grew apart, I was just too damn scared to admit it. Everyone I have ever cared for has left me, everyone, and I didn’t want to lose someone else simply because I was too scared to admit that we had fallen out of love with each other. But Pope took her from me before that could happen...before I could admit that I loved Vicks but I wasn’t in love with her anymore. And you would have known that if you would have been less busy putting your nose in our relationship and lack-of sex life and been a goddamn brother to us!”

  James glared. “You are not my goddamn brother, Colt! You never were. I want my sister’s diary.”

  Colt looked at him confused, the anger in him dissipating. “What are you saying, Jimmy? We grew up together. You and Vicks were there for me when I lost my parents, grandfather...when I thought that I was heading to foster care. You’ve always been there for me and now you tell me that I’m nothing to you?”

  James jutted his chin out. “Welcome to the world of disappointment, Detective. It’s a cold, lonely world. But don’t worry, Fury, a man like you won’t be alone long. You’ve always attracted the attention of women. It’s one of the things that worried my sister the most about yo
u. So don’t worry about those that don’t have that to fall back on,” he venomously said before storming across the room to his office and slammed the door shut behind him.

  Colt stood there in stunned silence. He wasn’t entirely sure what to think or say. James hadn’t denied, in not-so-many words, that he was purposely interfering with their relationship. He knew about Mr. Hall, but never told Colt about it, which he thought was strange. And James was adamant about wanting Vicks’ diary, but he could understand why: it was the last part of his sister he had left. And he was right when he accused Colt of being selfish; he hadn’t thought of how his actions of hiding up on the mountain would affect those he left behind. James was left to handle all of it. He had to take care of Emma, when the stubborn woman would let him, and was stuck with the constant reminder of his failure in apprehending Pope. James not only lost his twin sister, but he lost Colt as well.

  “Damn it,” Colt grumbled and sulked across the room and knocked on James’ office door. “Jimmy, the door is glass so I can see you,” he said when there was no answer.

  James rolled his eyes and spun around in his chair, turning his back to Colt.

  “I can still see you,” Colt amusingly pointed out so James held his hand over his head and flipped him off. “Real mature, Sheriff,” he said. “You were right,” he continued, pushing the door open, “I didn’t think of those I left behind, I was only thinking of myself. So yes, I was a real selfish sonuvabitch and didn’t care about how others felt. I’m sorry we haven’t gotten to hang out like we used to since I’ve been back, but you have to understand that Pope coming back isn’t the best thing to reunite over and hangout as if everything is good and a serial killer isn’t running around again. You understand?”

  “I’m not stupid,” James grumbled under his breath. “But still, you came down the mountain yet you still shut me out. Where have you been hiding and why?” he asked, turning to look at him. “You’ve changed, and I don’t know what to think about that.”