by Andrew Hess
Amanda’s car door slammed shut as she ran back to the house. Tears spilled from her eyes. She barely waved to Matthew before unlocking the front door and going inside.
“Is she all right,” Matthew asked.
“No,” I replied. The frustration showed in my voice. “I thought I got through to her tonight. She agreed to talk to someone and get help for her drinking. But I was an idiot and pushed my luck by bringing her with me to the video store.”
Matthew put an arm around my shoulders. “You’re not an idiot Ali. You just wanted your sister back.” Warmth spread throughout my body from his mere touch. “I got us some Chinese food.” He picked up the bags from the porch and showed them to me.
I glanced up at the open front door. My stomach sank and felt a twinge of pain in my chest. “Thanks, but I don’t think either of us are in the mood to eat right now.”
I expected a look of disappointment in his eyes. Instead he met my gaze and curled his finger under my chin. “I’m sure there are other ways we can pass the time.”
I thought about what Amanda was going through and took into account what she said earlier. She wanted us to spend some alone time together. But after what happened in the video store, I didn’t think that was a great idea.
“I know that look.”
“What look?”
“The one that tells me I’m SOL tonight.” Matthew could see the look of distraught on my face. “So what happened?”
“We went to the store together. She was fine at first. We walked the new release wall, but there wasn’t anything she liked. I stopped at the comedy section and chose a random movie. She freaked out when she saw I was holding the Notebook.”
“That wasn’t the best choice.”
My eyes glared at him and told him not to mess with me; not now and not tonight. “She told me to just get a movie for you and me. I went to grab one, but she found a DVD that reminded her of Shawn. She’s been like that ever since.”
Matthew looked back at the house. He hated seeing Amanda like that just as much as I did. “I wish there was something I could do for her.”
“I think I’m gonna set up an appointment with my therapist.” I knew she just agreed to get some sort of help, and maybe I was overstepping just a bit, but Amanda needed to talk to someone. She needed to find herself again.
“You still want dinner?”
I gave a half smile and wrapped my arm around his waist. “Sure, let’s go.” We walked back up to the front door. My hand reached for the knob, but was stopped by the blaring sound of my cell ringing. I reached into my pocket and retrieved it. Rodney’s name was emblazoned in green letters. “Sorry,” I mumbled to Matthew. “Ryan here.”
“Hey partner, we found the victim’s car. It was parked at a bar called Whiskey J’s. Do you know it?”
“Yeah, I know it.” I wanted to hand the reins over to Rodney and let him take over the case. But something was stopping me. Something just didn’t feel right about it. “I’ll be there in a half hour. Don’t let anyone near the car.”
“Yes ma’am,” Rodney snapped sarcastically.
“In the meantime, find out who the manager is, talk to the bouncers and flash Ambrose’s picture to see if they recognize him.”
I hung up with Rodney. I could feel the heat from Matthew’s eyes burning a hole in me. It was Deja-vu all over again. I broke another dinner date to go investigate a crime scene, even though our dinner date consisted of eating Chinese food at my house.
I turned towards Matthew. “I’m really sorry but…”
“Yeah, I know. You have to go.” The harshness in his voice sent a chill down my spine. I guess I was going to be the one in the dog house tonight.
“Can you-can you stay here tonight?” The anger in his eyes grew. “I mean, I just don’t want Amanda to be alone tonight.”
“I’ll stay, but only to make sure your sister is okay.”
I squeezed his hand lovingly before leaning in. My lips barely touched his before I pulled away. “I’ll try not to be long. I promise.” I scurried back to my car swearing I heard Matthew muttering something under his breath.
**************************************************************
Whiskey J’s was a bar in Wappinger’s Falls which was about fifteen minutes from the Poughkeepsie Galleria. It was the start of their night, and the parking lot was already half packed. It was the perfect time for us to get the answers we needed.
When I arrived, every entrance had been blocked off with a squad car. Rodney took position by the front door. The man next to him appeared dwarfed in comparison. He was older and had long dirty blond hair that had been tied back with a rubber band. His tacky dark gray suit looked like it was bought on clearance from a cheap department store. Knowing this was the man in charge, I gritted my teeth and strutted up to the group of cops blocking the entrance. I didn’t recognize any of their faces which seemed a little odd. I thought I knew most of the Ulster County P.D. That’s when eyes slanted to the right and saw the Dutchess County logo on the side of their squad cars.
Damn it! I had hoped this could’ve been kept out of their hands. Having multiple Counties working a case together becomes more like a pissing contest. Who has the power? Who calls the shots? Who answers to whom? It was bad enough reporting to Lieutenant Esposito. Getting permission from other counties for things is impossible.
I flashed my badge and pushed my way through the two officers. Rodney saw my flaring nostrils and my quick pace as I stomped towards him.
“Hey, if it isn’t my partner.” Rodney was abnormally cheerful. He wasn’t acting like himself. He whispered to the man in the doorway and laughed. What the hell was so funny? “Hey Ali, I got everything covered here. Why don’t you go home and spend some time with your family?”
I raised a single eyebrow at my dismissal. “No, I think I’d rather take a look around here.”
The cheery look on Rodney’s face slowly faded. “Then how about you go inside, make yourself useful and get us some coffee?”
What the fuck? Did I just slip into some weird time warp or time space vortex thing? “Excuse me,” I snapped. “Who the…”
Rodney placed his large hand over my mouth. “Look sweetie, the men are talking. Go inside and keep out of trouble and I’ll deal with you later.”
My blood was boiling. I don’t know what came over Rodney, but it was going to change real quickly or it would be beaten out of him. Instead of fighting him, I decided to keep quiet. I bit my tongue and did as Rodney suggested.
Inside was brightly lit, contrary to the dark setting with colorful spotlights that I was used to seeing. The waitresses and bartenders were huddled together with two officers standing guard. Another man dressed in khaki pants and green button down had another woman cornered across the room from the others. He gestured his hand for the woman to return to work. He motioned towards the officers to send the next employee.
Who the hell was this guy? I held up my hand and stormed towards the nicely dressed man. He flashed an award winning smile that could make most women melt, but not me.
“Now you don’t look like a bar employee,” the man joked as his eyes scanned my body from my black heels, up my gray dress pants to my red button down blouse, finally landing on my green eyes.
I showed him my badge; well it was more like I shoved it in his face. I wanted him to know I wasn’t some woman he could hypnotize with his charm.
“I’m Detective Ali Ryan; Ulster County Police.”
The man laughed as he slowly slipped his badge from his pants pocket. “Detective James Thornton,” he replied with another warm smile. He stuck out his hand in which I respectfully accepted. “I’m with the D.C.P.D.”
Great, not only was the Dutchess County Police on the scene, but they also had one of their detectives working the case. Instead of having an attitude, I decided to do as Lieutenant Esposito frequently said, play nice.
“Have you turned anything up about the Ambrose case?”
You’ve gotta be kidding me. I’ve known James Thornton for all of three minutes and he was trying to use the case as a way to ask me out. “How about you tell me what you found out about my case so we can find Ambrose’s killer.”
And just like that, Thornton’s smile was gone. It was as if my words slapped him in the face. “What makes you think he was murdered?”
“For starters, his car is still sitting in this parking lot. His body was found at the foot of the Mid-Hudson Bridge. There’s no way someone like him would walk that far, especially if he planned on jumping.”
Thornton tapped a finger against the tip of his chin. He kept his focus on the group. “Good to know; I’ll have my boss contact yours with what we find.”
My hand curled into a fist. I was ready to deck the guy. I would’ve too if it wasn’t for Rodney coming to Thornton’s rescue.
Rodney placed his gargantuan hands on our shoulders keeping the distance between us. “Everything all right here?” My hand was still ready to strike at any moment. I just happened to have two targets in my crosshairs at that moment. “What’d ya get from the staff,” he asked Detective Thornton.
I could see he wanted to shrug off Rodney’s comment, but realized he was outnumbered on this case. “One of the bartenders saw Ambrose last night. Said he was being a real prick too.” Thornton scanned the room and pointed to the large hunk of a man with bulging muscles. “Ambrose ordered a few beers and a couple of shots, but the bartender didn’t get a good look at who Ambrose was with.”
“What about the bouncers, the waitresses or other bartenders?” Both Rodney and Detective Thornton had me hot under the collar. I was getting my first taste at what they uncovered in my brief absence, and I wanted to know everything they knew.
“A couple of the waitresses and bartenders saw him talking to some pretty blond, but said he was getting trashed pretty fast.”
“Did they get a description of the woman?”
“It’s a dimly lit bar. The only thing the guys care about is how hot a girl is and the only thing women care about is getting paid or getting free drinks.”
“So that would be a no then?”
“Look, the girls here noticed Ambrose getting pretty drunk. The girl left while Ambrose was still sitting at the bar. No one saw him leave. They turned around and he was just gone.”
“What about the security tapes? Maybe we can use them to find out who he was with and when he left.”
Rodney cleared his throat loudly. “The owner is working on getting us the recordings. But we need a warrant for the logs.”
“I can get you that,” Thornton said happily. “I can call in uh favor.” I didn’t want to know how someone could owe a guy like him a favor and what he would normally cash a favor for. But it would be nice to get a warrant without jumping through hoops or playing the waiting game.
“Fine, call in your favor and get the warrants,” I snapped. Thornton wasn’t happy to be taking an order from me. His gave me a sideways glance before walking off. That left me with the other man I was furious at. “And you...Who the hell do you think you are; telling me to go inside so the men can talk or telling me to get you coffee?”
Rodney’s milk chocolate skin turned pale white. He should’ve expected this. Maybe he did. “Ali, let me explain.” He reached to place another hand on my shoulder.
“Don’t you fucking touch me.”
“Let’s talk in the car.” Another command. I hated taking orders from anyone. To hear my partner barking them out to me turned my insides into a raging inferno.
“You’ve got five minutes and you better make it good.”
Rodney escorted me outside toward his car. He opened the door for me. It was his first nice gesture of the evening. He entered from the driver’s side and gave me a sad puppy dog face.
“I’m sorry for what I said Ali.”
“You’re sorry? You’re sorry; that’s all you have to say?”
“Well, no. I was one of the first ones here. The guy you saw me talking to was the owner. A real piece of work if you ask me. He made a few comments towards the women at his bar when we arrived and another at one of our female officers. I figured he was the type that would talk more if he had someone like him asking the questions.”
“So you thought you would embarrass and humiliate me to get close to him?” My words stung Rodney. He knew I always held him in high regard. Even with my teasing and our constant back and forth bickering, I never treated him like he was inferior.
“Look, I’m sorry Ali. It needed to be done. If you came waltzing up demanding answers, he was going to clam up and we wouldn’t get shit outta him or his staff. At least now we know he was with some blond last night, we got his car, and we’re getting the security tapes.”
I refused to look at him. “You better turn up something from this. I want that car towed back and our forensic team to go over every inch of it.”
“That might be a little hard.”
I sighed heavily. “Why?”
“Because we’re now working with the D.C.P.D. on this case.”
“What? Why?”
“The body washed up in Ulster County, but the crime technically happened in Dutchess. We gotta work together on this.”
Wonderful; just wonderful. It was bad enough that the Lieutenant found out the victim’s name. He was already demanding answers from us. But now we had to tip toe through more B.S. red tape from another department. And that would mean more time spent with Mr. Personality, Detective Thornton.
We spent hours combing through Whiskey J’s and talking to the staff. We didn’t find out much. There wasn’t any signs of struggle in the bar or near the car. No one saw Ambrose leave or who he left with. But there was one thing I had to go one. Ambrose’s car was still in the parking lot which was the only piece of evidence I needed to confirm Blake Ambrose didn’t commit suicide.
I felt nothing but relief when I pulled into my driveway. First day back out in the field and I felt like I’d been running a marathon. The case was definitely weighing heavily on my mind, but the thought of curling up in my nice warm bed with Matthew put me at ease. I turned down the dead end street and crept closer to the driveway. Matthew’s truck sat in its usual spot which was closer to the neighbor’s house than mine. My lips curled into a smile. It was the first genuine one I gave the entire night.
After turning off the car, I noticed the lights were still on in the living room. It was something that struck me as odd. Matthew was never up that late and Amanda was typically out getting drunk, was passed out in her room, or would watch TV with the lights off. Maybe he forgot to turn the lights off before going to bed, I thought. My hand gripped the door knob. It was locked. That was a relief. At least someone was smart enough to lock-up before going to bed.
I entered the house and climbed the few steps to the first floor landing. I hung up my jacket and kicked off my heels letting my blistered feet touch the soft carpet that led the way into the living room. It wasn’t much, but it brought me a sense of peace, a moment of peace that I was sure wouldn’t last long.
I thought about what I would do to wind down for the rest of the night. I could make myself a plate of whatever food Matthew and Amanda left me. I could draw a nice hot bath and soak in it for a while. I could wake Matthew up to apologize for bailing on him tonight, or maybe I’d apologize in a different way.
As I entered the living room to turn off the lights, I stumbled onto something I wished I never saw. My eyes nearly popped out of my head. The heat in my body rose.
“What the fuck is going on here,” I yelled.
Matthew’s eyes flashed open. He saw the anger raging through my mind as I stood with my hands resting on my hips. He looked down and saw Amand
a’s head nestled on his chest. Her body was curled up next to his with her loose fitting shirt hanging off her shoulder.
“Ali, it’s not what it looks like.”
“Really? Cause it looks like you two were nice and comfy curled up on my couch together.”
Matthew tried to slip out from under Amanda. “Nothing happened. We were watching TV and must’ve passed out.”
“Then why was she lying on you?”
There was a look of hurt in Matthew’s eyes. He was being accused of messing around with Amanda behind my back. It was ridiculous I know. But I have seen too much on the streets and had enough betrayal from people, including boyfriends. When I first moved out here, I had a close group of friends. We’d hang out all the time, meet up for drinks at happy hour, or waste an entire night signing or dancing at some club. We were like sisters, but that changed when I caught my boyfriend cheating on me with one of the girls.
Matthew jumped up from the couch. “I can’t believe you would insinuate something like that.”
I was sure nothing happened, but I kept visualizing a drunk version of my sister stumbling around the house in her tight clothes. I knew Matthew was pissed off when I left and thought there was a chance he might’ve joined her in a few drinks. One thing could’ve led to another and then...
I tried to shake the images from my mind. Neither of them would do something so vile to hurt me. Maybe it was just an innocent misunderstanding, but I wasn’t in the mood to sort out what really happened.
“I think you should go,” I finally said. I was choking back tears of regret as the words spewed from my mouth.
“Ali, you can’t really think something happened here.”
“I just-I don’t know what to think right now.” He reached for my hands, but I pulled away. “It’s been a long day. I really don’t want to argue right now. I just want to go to bed.”
“So let’s go.”
“No, I need to be alone tonight.”
Matthew’s face had a tinge of red in the cheeks. “Fine, you want me gone? Then I’m gone.” He stormed towards the kitchen, ripped his suit jacket off one of the chairs and stormed towards the stairs. “Call me when you finally come to your senses.”