Coming Back

by Tabitha J Arment

  Ben took the file back from her and sat down. “Yeah. I know. It’s a bit silly, but everyone screws up sometime. This guy went away right after the killer went inactive and got out not long before he left the note on your card. Then he showed up at the cemetery and attacked you after we had you taunt the killer. Why else would he have done that?”

  Veronica knew that he was right, but she could not shake the feeling that this guy was not smart enough to pull off the crimes their killer had committed.

  Sensing her misgivings, Ben wrapped his arm around her shoulder. “Blake is working on getting a warrant to search his place. He hasn’t been out of jail for long so he’s currently staying at a halfway house. The day is pretty much over, so we won’t be able to get in until tomorrow. We’ll know more after that. In the meantime, let’s head out.”

  Within half an hour, they were at the bar ordering their first drinks of the night.

  One by one, each of their friends arrived celebrate with them. Even Blake stopped by for a short time before heading home to catch up on some much needed sleep. The drinks were flowing right up until last call.

  While Veronica was drinking and making merry with everyone, she found herself watching her friends as they let off steam. They had not all been together without the cloud of this investigation hanging over them for a long time.

  She saw Mark and Jack jaw boning off to the side with an awkward Sam trying to join the conversation. She may only be a rookie, but she was determined to push her way into this group of veterans.

  Natasha had been called to join them and she was currently huddled with Cheyenne looking at something on her phone. No doubt they were Facebook stalking her date and judging their values.

  The most interesting thing to catch her eye was a clearly still sober Erica and Tyler furtively slipping out of the bar together while everyone else was distracted.

  After seeing this, Veronica finished her drink and turned to find Ben watching her from the bar stool that he had deposited himself on.

  Happy that they would not be the first to leave, they made the rounds to say goodbye to everyone and left the bar.

  When they arrived home again, they hurried to greet Charlotte and Ace to soothe their neglect. Once the animals were happily curled up and sleeping again, they wasted no time in moving upstairs and into Ben’s room.

  They both knew, based on what time it was and what time they would be expected back at the station, they should go to sleep. Neither one of them functioned well without it, but they had both been dwelling on their moment in the observation room ever since it happened. Sex in the station with all of their friends on the other side of the door would have been an awful idea, but the lack of it had left them frustrated and unsatisfied. The fact that they had managed to wait so long before leaving the bar was a testament to their self control.

  That control was no longer needed.

  They were alone, locked safely in a house, away from their work and their friends. They fell happily into bed together, content in the knowledge that this whole ordeal would be over soon.

  Once it was, they would be able to further explore what was happening between them and what it could mean for their future.

  DAY 16

  T

  hey were both incredibly groggy when they woke the next morning.

  Between the alcohol and the late night, neither one of them felt up to doing much of anything that day. Knowing that was not an option, they made eggs and drank a lot of coffee.

  There was no conversation; in fact they barely acknowledged each other at all.

  By the time they were ready to leave for work, they were both still hung over but feeling slightly more human than when they woke up.

  In spite of the pain radiating through their skulls, they both felt their excitement rising as they left.

  Today was the day that the warrant to search their suspect's house would come through. While he waited in a holding cell, they would be searching through his belongings and they were sure they would find something tying him to their case.

  By the time they reached the station, they could barely contain themselves.

  Veronica went to the locker room and Ben went straight to Blake’s office for an update on the warrant.

  When Veronica was half way through changing into her uniform she watched a dishevelled Erica rush into the room.

  Veronica gave her a look, but Erica averted her eyes and said nothing. Knowing that she would have plenty of time to get details later on, Veronica decided to let it slide for now.

  When she left the locker room, she saw Ben slam out of Blake’s office and stomp into his own. Not sure what could have caused such a foul mood, Veronica followed him.

  She did not say anything, knowing that would only lead to yelling. She simply stood next to him and waited for him to feel ready to talk.

  Eventually, he took a cleansing breath and spoke. “It seems that the powers-that-be have decided no one in our precinct can be trusted to handle this investigation objectively. Now that a suspect has been found, the investigation is being handed over to another department. They came in and transferred Eric Hannaman out of here earlier this morning. They aren’t even gonna let us search his apartment.”

  Veronica felt white hot fury rise within her, but fought to keep it under control.

  She took a few minutes to digest the information then dropped heavily into a chair. “Well, to be honest, there was little to no chance they were ever going to let me have any more involvement in the case. I’m glad I was in on the take down. And if you think about it, this is a good thing. We stand our best shot at getting a conviction if we avoid the appearance of bias.”

  Ben’s shoulders slumped. “I’m aware of that. I just wanted to see this through to the end. At least they’re gonna keep us informed.”

  Ben and Veronica sat for a few moments longer in silent commiseration.

  He was the first to speak. “At least we have him in custody now. We don’t have to worry about finding anymore of his ‘gifts.’”

  Veronica straightened in her chair. “That’s right. I guess it’s safe to go back to my apartment.”

  They shared a sly look and smiled.

  “Well, I do have a lot of stuff at your place and Ace is happy with Charlotte. I suppose it wouldn’t hurt for me to stay one more night. That is of course if you are okay with it.”

  Ben looked away, “I’m sure I could be convinced.”

  Veronica felt herself leaning towards him, then remembered the glass walls of his office.

  She leaned back and cleared her throat. “Well, that’s good to know. We should definitely continue this later, but for now I should go find Erica and get to work.”

  Veronica made sure not to look back as she exited the office. She checked on Erica and found she had finally managed to get fully into uniform. They retrieved their assignment for the day and then headed out to their car. They spent an incredibly boring day writing tickets and listening to their radio.

  During her lunch break, Veronica made a call to Ben to see if he had heard anything about the case. When Ben answered, she heard the happiness in his voice.

  Before she could ask what had happened, Ben cut her off. “You are never gonna believe this. They searched through Eric Hannaman’s room and found my mother’s purse. He even still had my old house key! Slam dunk! We have our man!”

  A tightness in her chest that she had been carrying around for over a year now suddenly released as she heard those words. Truthfully, she had been harboring doubts about Hannaman, but Mrs. Becker’s purse being in his room was too much of a coincidence.

  He had to be their killer.

  “Have they managed to pull a confession out of him?”

  “Technically, I don’t officially know anything about the interrogation. They’ve been a bit closed mouthed about it. But I’ve got an old friend who’s in on the new investigation, and he’s been filling me in. I don’t think I’ve ever heard a weaker story. He�
��s trying to convince them that he thought the whole thing at the cemetery was a prank. He claims that he was paid to give you a bit of a scare. He also supposedly has absolutely no idea what the guy who paid him looks like.”

  Veronica was giddy as she listened.

  That was a ridiculous story.

  “This is really happening. We’ve really got him.”

  “That’s right baby, we got him.”

  Veronica scrunched her face with a look of revulsion.”Ew, don’t ever call me that again.”

  She heard him chuckling on the other end, “Yeah, it felt wrong the second I said it. Well, I have to try to catch up on some of the cases I’ve been neglecting so I will see you when you get back.”

  After a brief goodbye, they both disconnected.

  When Veronica turned back to finish her food, she found Erica smirking at her.

  “Oh no! Don’t give me that look. Not unless you want to explain where you and Tyler went off to last night!”

  Erica turned away and went back to her own food without another word.

  “That’s what I thought.”

  Veronica shared Ben’s information with Erica.

  The good mood that it brought on managed to get them through the rest of their dull day.

  Without their serial killer case to work on and no special assignments, they found the final hours of their shift dragging on.

  The most exciting part had been finding a drunk man stumbling down the sidewalk and yelling at pedestrians. He had tried to run away when they pulled up next to him, but only succeeded in tripping over his own feet and face planting on the pavement before they could even get out of the car. They had the joy of taking him to the emergency room to get his face stitched up before they could bring him back to the station to book him.

  Even with all the paperwork that came with taking someone to the hospital, Veronica was glad they had such an uneventful day. It reminded her of what the vast majority of her days had been like before everything had happened.

  When Veronica and Erica got back to the station at the end of their shift, they all decided none of them could handle a second night at the bar. But they would get together for another poker night over the weekend.

  Veronica had also informed Erica that they would be spending some time together over the weekend and she would be getting Erica to talk about Tyler.

  Erica was not looking forward to that conversation, but after what they had put Veronica through with Ben, she could not argue against it.

  Once Veronica was back in her civilian clothes, she made her way over to Ben’s desk to see if he was ready to head home for the day.

  What she found was a bedraggled man sifting through a pile of paperwork looking miserable.

  “Remind me next time I know I’m going to be coming to work to a massive stack of pending cases, not to stay up all night the day before.”

  Veronica smiled and teased him. “Don’t tell me that you regret last night.”

  Looking up from his paperwork, Ben met her gaze.”Regret is not the word I would choose, but it has been a very long day.”

  Veronica relaxed against the doorframe. “For you and me both. I say we head back to your place, order takeout again, and have a quiet night that ends early.”

  Ben cleaned up his desk as he spoke. “I won’t argue with that.”

  For the first time in two weeks, neither of them felt any apprehension as they approached her car, or Ben’s front door. They were completely positive there would be nothing to find.

  Even the animals seemed to sense their relief and greeted them with extra vigor.

  As they decided on a place to order food from and what to watch, Veronica suddenly realized that they were being normal. A serenity she had not felt in a long time washed over her as she remembered that the man who had been terrorizing her was off the streets and could no longer hurt anyone.

  ◆◆◆

  They are so damn stupid.

  Do they really think I’d be dumb enough to fall for that silly little gag they ran?

  I’ll let them revel in their “success” for the weekend. Then I’ll show them exactly what I’m capable of.

  ‘Basic stalker stuff.’

  I will make that bitch rue the day she ever became a cop.

  DAY 17

  V

  eronica woke up knowing that this was going to be a far less stressful Saturday than the last one.

  She and Ben still needed to clean up his house, but this time they were not preparing for a dinner with his terrifying mother. Ben had called her the night before and asked for a raincheck on their weekly dinner because his friends were coming over for another poker night. Mrs. Becker had not been happy about that, but agreed to have the dinner on Sunday night instead.

  Veronica was sure that Mrs. Becker was going to blame her for the change in plans, but she could not make herself care. She could deal with Mrs. Becker’s ire later on.

  They spent much of the day using cleaning to avoid talking, but eventually they ran out of things to do.

  After several awkward moments of silence, Veronica was the first to speak. “Okay...so...I’m thinking that I should probably start sleeping at my own place. You know, since they’ve got Hannaman in custody now. We did say yesterday that I would only stay one more night.”

  Ben had remained silent while she talked, but started speaking when she finished. “You’re trying to get out of being here when my mother comes over tomorrow night. Come on! You and I both know that you’re not gonna be in any shape to drive after tonight. Stay one more night and then go back home tomorrow.”

  Veronica watched as Ben gave her his best dimpled smile and crumbled. “Fine! One more night! I mean it this time. I’m going home tomorrow. This whole normal life thing only works if I can go back to my own apartment.”

  Ben’s smile only grew as she spoke. “Okay. That works. And...uh...in the name of normalcy...would you maybe want to go to dinner or something after shift on Monday? You know, like a first date.”

  Veronica tried to keep a straight face as she tamped down her enthusiasm. “I think that would probably be a good idea. You know, for the sake of normalcy.”

  They both stopped talking and grinned at each other.

  Eventually Ben cleared his throat and they both got up.

  They spent the rest of their day picking up supplies at the grocery store and hanging out as they waited for their friends to arrive.

  Jack was the first, closely followed by Blake. They were chatting in the living room when Tyler arrived with Cheyenne and Erica in tow. Veronica raised her eyebrows at Erica, but did not say anything in front of the others. Mark made it moments before Natasha. Once everyone was there, They ordered pizza and discussed what movie to watch while they ate.

  The women were trying to convince the men that Love Actually was not a chick flick, but were ultimately unsuccessful. The men were rooting for Lethal Weapon, but Natasha and Cheyenne would not agree. They only landed on watching Twister moments before the doorbell rang and the pizza arrived.

  With everyone either scrunched into the couches or on chairs from the dining room, they dug into their food and watched the movie. This was a favorite for their group and everyone was quoting lines with the actors.

  Even though they had originally planned on this being a poker night, none of them were in the mood for it. They had had an incredibly stressful two weeks and wanted to relax.

  After Twister ended, they made a deal. If Natasha and Cheyenne would agree to watch Lethal Weapon, the men would agree to watch Love Actually afterwards.

  Throughout all of this, the alcohol had been flowing. They even made a drinking game out of Lethal Weapon. Every time that Murtaugh referred to his age or retirement, they had to take a drink. Normally, it would have been a shot, but they all wanted to survive the night.

  By the time the movie ended, everyone was feeling pretty loose. Veronica was pushed up against Ben on the couch. Tyler and Erica had moved to the flo
or and she was sitting in his lap. Again, Veronica was tempted to say something, but she had enough control left to hold her tongue. She caught Natasha giving them a look, but made sure to cut her off every time that she opened her mouth. Eventually, Natasha caught the hint but she did lean over and whisper something to Cheyenne. Cheyenne nodded back to her eagerly and they continued to gossip in the corner.

  When they turned on Love Actually, the men were buzzed enough to admit that they were enjoying it. During the scene where Hugh Grant made a fool of himself by dancing around the Prime Minister’s mansion, Ryan got up and started dancing as well. Tyler pulled out his phone and recorded it to use as blackmail later on.

  At the end of the night, there was only one person that was not too exhausted or buzzed to drive. Blake had decided to stop drinking early on so he was fine to drive home and he offered to take as many people as he could. Mark, Ryan, and Tyler opted to go with him and come back for their cars the next day.

  Natasha, Cheyenne, and Erica decided to hang out at Ben’s place until they sobered up so that they could drive home. None of them had drank much during the last movie, so they did not think that it would take too long.

  Veronica made a pot of coffee for them and they all feasted themselves on chips to try to soak up some of the alcohol in their stomachs.

  Ben watched them all sharing significant glances and nudging each other so he knew there was a conversation coming that he did not want to be a part of. Telling them that he was dead on his feet, Ben retreated upstairs so that they could talk without him being in the way.

  The moment they heard Ben’s bedroom door close, Natasha and Veronica simultaneously turned on Erica.

  “Spill!”

  Erica wore an intentionally blank face as she said, “I don’t know what you are referring to.”