Coming Back

by Tabitha J Arment

  Once again in unison Natasha and Veronica responded,”Yes, you do!”

  Cheyenne was giggling off to the side. “You two have spent way too much time together.”

  Erica muttered her agreement and tried not to look any of them in the eye.

  The alcohol was making it difficult to control their impatience so Cheyenne hit her with a pillow. “You know that this is gonna go a lot easier for you if you tell them.”

  Erica glared at her and Cheyenne dove to the floor to avoid the pillow that went flying towards her face. Erica turned back to Natasha and Veronica only to find that they were also armed with pillows.

  Knowing that she was not going to get out of having the conversation, Erica relented. “Fine! I’ll tell you! But I swear to God, the first time someone starts humming ‘Summer Lovin’ I’m leaving. I don’t care if I have to walk all the way back to my apartment.”

  Veronica, Natasha, and Cheyenne agreed to those terms, and sat cross legged on the floor in front of her with their pillows in their laps.

  Erica looked down at them from her place on the couch and started laughing. “You look like a bunch of first graders waiting for story time.”

  Natasha pulled her pillow up and swiped at her with it. “No more stalling.”

  Erica glared at her fleetingly then took a deep breath. “Okay, so...Tyler and I were hanging out at the bar with everyone the other night and we were having a good time. Everyone was so relieved and happy and we were too. We were both a little tipsy and Tyler asked if I wanted to get some air. Next thing I know, we’re outside and talking and then...I kissed him.”

  Erica cringed knowing what was coming.

  The three women sitting before her squealed with excitement. They heard movement behind them and watched a groggy Ben stumble halfway down the stairs.

  “Do you mind keeping it down with the girl talk? I’m trying to pretend I can’t hear you.”

  The women were still giggling as he trudged back up the stairs and closed his door again.

  Veronica was the first to gain her composure and speak. “I can’t believe that you made the first move! Tyler’s been drooling after you forever. I was sure it would be him.”

  Erica bashed her in the head with her own pillow, and continued. “He has not been drooling after me! Anyways, we kissed outside for a while, then we went and got some coffee. We decided that it might be worth going on a date to see what this is between us. We haven’t had a chance yet. We were thinking maybe Monday.”

  Veronica began laughing and everyone looked at her like she was crazy.

  Erica looked offended, “It is not that funny.”

  Veronica managed to stop laughing so that she could explain herself. “I know. That part isn’t funny. It’s just, Ben and I decided today that we would have our first date on Monday. Looks like we’re both gonna be having interesting nights.”

  All four of the women were snickering at that when they heard Ben yelling from upstairs.

  “You all suck at being quiet!”

  They laughed and chatted for a while longer until Natasha, Cheyenne, and Erica were okay to go home. Then, Veronica dragged herself up the stairs and curled up with Ben.

  DAY 18

  T

  he next morning Ben and Veronica had to clean his house yet again.

  Much like the day before, they found themselves sitting uncomfortably on the couch after everything was done.

  Once again, Veronica was the first one to speak. “Well, now that’s taken care of, I guess I should get my stuff together. Time to move back to my apartment.”

  Ben nodded and took her hand. “Yeah. We shouldn’t keep putting it off. Besides, if you go back home, we can start dating like normal people.”

  She squeezed his hand, then stood up. “I’m gonna go get my stuff. Do you mind grabbing Ace’s leash for me?”

  Ben nodded and she made her way up the stairs. By the time she went back down, Ben was standing by the door with Ace on his leash.

  “I’ll walk you out to your car.”

  Veronica stopped by Charlotte, who was reclined across the back of the couch, to say goodbye to her. Afterwards, she hiked the strap to her duffle bag higher on her shoulder and walked out the front door.

  Veronica was actually looking forward to being on her own for a while. It was going to feel great to be living in her apartment again. As much as she enjoyed her time with Ben, she missed her bed.

  She could tell that even Ace was excited to be going home because he started whining and dancing in the back seat as she pulled into her parking lot. He was dragging her as she moved across the lot and up the stairs to her floor. It was difficult to hold him still while she got her front door unlocked. When she finally got the door open, Veronica remembered that her apartment had been picked over by her colleagues twice in as many weeks.

  Her whole apartment was a mess.

  She knew that it was going to take the better part of the day to put it back to rights.

  Before she did anything else, she wanted to check out her bedroom and make sure that there was no trace of Hannaman left behind. She stopped in the kitchen to pick up some cleaning supplies then went to work. It took a couple hours, but eventually she was able to scrub every surface and tidy everything in her room. Then she pulled the sheets and comforter off of her bed and threw them into the washer.

  For the next four hours, Veronica cleaned her entire apartment and washed every scrap of fabric that would fit in her washing machine.

  When she was done with that, Veronica grabbed a trash bag and moved into her closet. She pulled out all of the soulless and drab clothing that she had been wearing and threw it in the bag to be donated later.

  For the last year, she had been trying to make sure that she went unnoticed by everyone. She had wanted to be overlooked, invisible. She was done with that. Now that the killer she had been afraid of was caught, she had no reason to hide. Ever since she moved and got her new job at the art museum, she had claimed she was protecting herself. The truth was she had been hiding. Thinking that she could ever make the museum job permanent was silly. She was born to be a police officer. It was what she was made for.

  Once she was done cleansing everything in her apartment and throwing out half of her wardrobe, Veronica was completely out of energy.

  She heated up a bowl of soup, changed into her pajamas and curled up on the couch. Her tv show of the night was Rookie Blue because it was one of her favorites and it always made her laugh. So many of the characters reminded her of her colleagues at the station, and she always chuckled in the first episode when the main character wore her radio on the wrong side.

  When she could no longer keep her eyes open, she shut it off and bundled up under her freshly washed covers.

  DAY 19

  L

  et the games begin…

  ◆◆◆

  Veronica woke up early on Monday morning feeling more refreshed than she had in a long time.

  She showered and moved to her closet. Evaluating what was left of her wardrobe, she dressed to kill in black skinny jeans with boots and a bright purple top. She also grabbed a black dress and strappy silver heels to wear in case Ben decided to take her somewhere fancy.

  Putting enough food in Ace’s bowl to last until the next day, Veronica was very happy she could trust her dog not to eat it all at once.

  In her excitement, Veronica had gotten ready in record time and could actually make a real breakfast before going to work. She quickly scrambled some eggs and ate them with toast and coffee. After checking she had everything that could possibly be useful to get ready for her date, she made her way out the door.

  When Veronica made it to the station, she practically skipped through the door.

  She checked out Ben’s office on the way to the locker room, hoping to see his reaction to her outfit.

  Like he could feel her gaze on him, Ben glanced up and locked eyes with her. They shared a lingering look until Jack snuck up behind her a
nd grabbed her in a weak choke hold.

  “What if I were a suspect? What would you do?”

  Veronica laughed and jammed her elbow into his ribs. “Really! You’re testing me again?”

  Jack pulled back, “Well, you’ve been gone for awhile. Just want to make sure that you’re back up to speed.”

  Veronica shoved Jack into a wall. “I am fine! Don’t start treating me like a rookie again.” Without giving him a chance to respond, she left him behind.

  When she got into the locker room, she found Erica stuffing a dress bag into her locker.

  “Is that your outfit for the big date?”

  Erica glared for drawing attention to her as all the other women in the locker room swarmed.

  “It’s not a big date, it’s just a first date.”

  Veronica gave an apologetic smile and moved to her locker before Erica could ask her about her own date for tonight.

  Erica made a fast retreat from the room to avoid more probing questions from their colleagues.

  Veronica changed quickly into her uniform and met Erica in the briefing room. They were all given their assignments for the day and moved out to their squad cars.

  Right out of the gate, Erica and Veronica were called to a home invasion. By the time they arrived on the scene, the front door was hanging wide open. They exited their vehicle as fast as they could and drew their weapons as they entered the house. They quickly cleared the first floor of the house and them moved up the stairs in tandem. When they started to clear the second floor they came across a locked door. After a few seconds, they heard a woman crying on the other side. They identified themselves as police officers and the door flew open. A young woman collapsed into Erica’s arms and sobbed out her thanks.

  Uncomfortable with the physical contact, Erica patted her back and tried to calm her down so that they could figure out what had happened.

  While Erica was taking care of the woman, Veronica took the opportunity to search the rest of the house.

  The two of them helped the woman down the stairs and into the kitchen.

  Veronica got her a glass of water and the three of them sat at her kitchen table. They took notes as she described the man that knocked on her door and forced his way in when she opened it. She had smashed a nearby lamp into his head and fled upstairs to lock herself into the bathroom.

  They waited at the house for the crime techs to arrive and then brought the woman to the station so the detectives could get her full statement and take a look at mug shots of suspects for similar crimes in the area.

  Veronica and Ben shared another moment of giddy grinning through the glass walls of his office as she walked by.

  She was tempted to leave their victim with Erica to visit him, but she grabbed Veronica by the arm and dragged her along with them.

  Erica muttered at her quietly so that only she could hear. “Keep it in your pants until after shift.”

  Glaring at her, Veronica casually stuck her leg out and tripped Erica.

  Under her breath Veronica responded, “Bitch.”

  Erica smirked at her. “Slacker.”

  Veronica cut her gaze over to Erica. “Ice Queen.”

  Erica punched her in the arm, but regained her composure quickly when their victim turned back to look at them.

  They shared a sheepish glance and then meekly directed her to the interview room.

  The detective assigned to the case was already waiting for them when they arrived.

  Erica and Veronica excused themselves so that the detective could conduct his interview and they could write up the paperwork required for the call.

  After grabbing some lunch, they headed back out on the road.

  They had been out for another hour when they received a call from dispatch that got their hearts racing.

  A 9-1-1 call had come in reporting smoke coming from the Phoenix Memorial Park and Mortuary.

  Veronica knew that it was silly as they had their killer in custody, but the fact that there was smoke coming from Nick’s cemetery made her nervous. She could tell Erica was feeling the same way because her voice shook a little bit as she informed dispatch that they were on their way.

  With the lights and sirens blaring, they sped to the cemetery as fast as they could. They could see the smoke rising into the sky as they pulled up and Veronica could tell that it was coming from the same area as Nick’s grave.

  Throwing herself out of the car, Veronica sprinted across the park with Erica close on her heels. She could hear Erica shouting into her radio for the fire department to come so that they could put the fire out.

  Within minutes, Veronica was standing aghast in front of Nick’s grave.

  She could not think.

  What she was looking at simply did not make sense to her.

  There was a pile of paper and photographs burning in front of Nick’s grave with a large sign next to it. Once again there was a message written on it in dripping red paint.

  “DID YOU THINK IT WOULD BE THAT EASY?”

  Veronica’s head was spinning and she could not get enough air into her lungs.

  Erica pulled up next to her and after a moment of silently staring, they turned to look around trying to spot whoever had left this for them.

  Erica was reaching to her radio when there was a loud crack.

  A fine spray of blood filled the air and coated the side of Veronica’s face.

  Veronica turned to see Erica’s body on the ground next to her.

  There was a small hole in the upper right side of her forehead where the bullet had gone in and a large chunk of her skull missing from where it had come out.

  Lifeless eyes stared up at her.

  Veronica went numb when she understood the implications of what she was seeing. There was nothing she could do. Nothing left to save. In the space of a second, one of her best friends had been ripped out of the world and she knew it was her fault.

  Before she could reach for her own radio or even look up three more cracks disturbed the silence.

  Veronica felt three excruciating kicks to her chest and abdomen as the bullets embedded into her vest. The force of them hitting her threw her back onto the ground behind her.

  Veronica heard the sound of the fire department’s sirens and approaching footsteps before she passed out.

  ◆◆◆

  By the time that the fire department arrived, all that was left was the remnants of the burning documents, the sign, and Erica’s body.

  The moment the call of a downed officer went out over the radio. Everyone in the precinct was speeding towards the cemetery.

  By the time Ben made it to the cemetery, he could hardly breath.

  As he got closer to Nick’s grave, he could feel his stomach tying itself into knots and his chest tightening. He could see Ryan trying to console Cheyenne as his sobbing partner sank to the ground. Tyler was sitting nearby wearing a vacant expression with his knees pulled up and Jack was next to him placing a comforting arm on his shoulder. Mark was standing a little to the side talking to Blake over the phone. The only downside to Blake’s promotion above them was that he had to coordinate from the station rather than be here with them.

  Ben could feel himself slowing down as he drew nearer trying to pull himself together before he looked at the body on the ground.

  When he finally looked, he stopped walking entirely.

  Conflicting emotions were ripping him apart.

  Ben was pained and saddened by the knowledge that he would never hear Erica’s unintentionally evil laugh or received one of her handmade gifts.

  He was also relieved to find that he was not looking at Veronica’s body on the ground.

  Guilt flooded through him because Erica had been his friend and he found himself glad that she had died in Veronica’s place.

  He felt the air leave his lungs and his knees hit the ground as he remembered that Erica and Veronica had been partnered up and Veronica was nowhere to be seen. He frantically searched the crowd arou
nd them,but could not find her.

  With her partner lying dead on the ground as part of an obvious message, it became clear who had her; and it was not Eric Hannaman. He was still safely ensconced in lockup.

  They had been played.

  When Mark got off the phone with Blake, he passed on Blake’s order that they all return to the station.

  Once the medical examiner arrived and started looking at Erica’s body, they all made their way out of the cemetery. None of them were all that interested in watching their friend being treated as evidence.

  They piled into their vehicles and made a forlorn procession back to the station.

  ◆◆◆

  Everyone congregated in the briefing room as they awaited orders from Blake. Some were sitting at tables with vacant stares, and some could still be seen with tears on their cheeks. Others were pacing around the room like lions at the edge of their pens. When Blake finally entered, everyone focused their attention on him.

  Blake made it to the podium at the front of the room and looked out at his officers.

  The others needed to see him confident and in control. He had spent the last ten minutes trying to figure out exactly what to say, but no words had come to mind.

  The senseless murder of one of his officers and the abduction of another had left him feeling untethered. He was doubting whether or not his leadership would be enough to see them through this new crisis. Blake cleared his throat to give himself a moment to bury his insecurities and pain.

  “We lost an officer today. Many of you, myself included, were good friends with Officer Mathers. If any of you are not going to be able to get back out on the road today, I need to know right now. Another one of our own is missing and in grave danger so I cannot afford to be sending distracted officers out looking for her.”

  At this, he looked at each one of the men and women in the room, pausing longest on Cheyenne and Tyler.