by Amy Briggs
“You ready to head downtown?” Clayton asked joyfully.
“Yep, are you?”
“As soon as the investigation team gets here, which should be any minute, we can get the fuck out of here,” Clayton replied. Just then, an unmarked van pulled into the driveway and parked behind Reyes’ sedan. “Ah, right on time. What a wonderful day,” he almost sang.
Clayton quickly walked over to brief the team that would be collecting evidence at the house. In many situations, Clayton would have done the collecting and searching with the team, however he was anxious to get back to the precinct to question Reyes. Scott rested his head back against the seat and shut his eyes, deliberating everything that had happened that day. All he’d wanted that morning was to sleep in with his girl. Now he was covered in blood, had put out a fire, and gotten into a fist fight with a murder suspect. What a fucking day.
“You all right over there partner?” Clayton asked enthusiastically as he sat down in the driver’s seat, shaking Scott back to the moment. “What’s on your mind?”
“Yea man, I’m good. I’m tired, hungry and filthy. Just thinking about what a fucking crazy day it’s been,” he replied.
“Yea, I’ll need your statement too now that you mention it. Haha, but damn brother, I gotta say. That was nice fucking work out there today. Dumb as fuck to chase that guy unarmed, but fucking amazing to watch you tackle him to the ground. I feel like I was watching it in slow motion,” he laughed, reminiscing.
Letting out a chuckle, Scott replied, “Not gonna lie, that was fucking exhilarating. I haven’t hit anyone like that since high school. I’ll probably regret it tomorrow though.” He rubbed his sore hand which was turning red, and definitely going to bruise.
“Well I’m sure Dani will take care of you,” Clayton teased.
“She’s going to meet us at the station so she can grab me some clothes,” Scott replied.
“Nice. Maybe I should find a chick to do my bidding as well. That would certainly be handy. Although I’m not quite as much of a mess as you are,” he continued to laugh, completely satisfied with how the day turned out.
“It’s totally worth it, man,” Scott replied, his thoughts turning to how happy he’d be to see Dani.
28
Dani walked into the precinct, knowing exactly where to find the guys, but not expecting to see what she did. Scott’s shirt was covered in blood and he had the appearance of someone that had been hit by a truck. As a gasp escaped her lips, Scott’s attention turned up to her from where he was sitting in Clayton’s office.
Rushing over to Clayton and punching him in the side, she exclaimed, “What the fuck happened here?” As Clayton grabbed his side, she turned her attention to Scott. “Are you ok?” She dropped to her knees in front of him, and started looking for wounds that needed attention.
Letting out a stifled laugh, Scott grabbed her hands, “I’m fine babe. I was wearing a vest. I got tousled around a bit, but I’m not hurt.” He lifted her back up to her feet and stood up beside her.
Stunned, she asked, “Well then why are you covered in blood?” Dani was confused and turned back to Clayton who was rubbing his side while glaring at her.
“That’s confidential evidence, it’s not his blood. And where did you learn to hit like that? Fuck Dani, that hurt!” Clayton answered.
“Whatever, you obviously put him in danger, so enjoy the kidney pain. I hope you bleed when you piss later,” she said angrily.
Unable to control his laugh any more, Scott tried to explain what he could. “I got shot, but the blood is the suspect’s. That’s why I need new clothes.”
“Well you look like you rolled around in a garbage dumpster, no offense,” she said. “So what the fuck else happened?”
“I got into a scuffle with the suspect when he tried to run away,” Scott explained.
“Yea, it was fucking awesome. Scott tackled this guy to the ground at top speed, it was amazing to watch!” Clayton exclaimed again.
Balling her little hand into a fist to hit Clayton again, she yelled, “You’re the cop! Why the fuck was he chasing the suspect while you watched?” Then, she paused, “You know what? I don’t even want to know. Don’t fucking say a word. Fucking lunatics. Scott, where are your keys?” She turned back to him, exasperated with both of them. They seemed awfully proud of themselves and it sounded like a real shit show to her.
Reaching into his pocket and handing her the keys, Scott held her hand in his for a moment. “I cannot thank you enough for doing this, seriously. I have to turn my clothes over for evidence, so I need new jeans and a shirt please?” He leaned down to kiss her, softening her stance immediately.
She kissed him back sweetly and whispered, “I’m glad you’re okay.”
Clayton cleared his throat and interjected, “I’m fine too, thanks for asking.”
“You shut up,” she pointed an angry finger at him. “You know better.” She glared at him, causing him to be quiet, even though he felt like he could explain. It wasn’t lost on him how sweet it was to see them looking after each other, and a bit of pride washed over him.
“Okay, okay. We’ll be out by interrogation by the time you get back, so shoot a text or something when you get here,” Clayton said as he sat back down at his desk.
“Thanks again babe, I really appreciate it,” Scott said.
“You’re welcome, I’ll be as fast as I can,” she gave him a quick peck and left.
As soon as Dani was out of earshot, the two men started laughing hysterically. “Sorry man, I should have come to your defense,” Scott choked out.
“No worries, I’m used to her temper. She’s been punching me in the kidney since she was ten. I’m sure I’ll need a new one soon,” he said, almost snorting from laughter.
“She did get you pretty good,” Scott said.
“Yea, she’s a master of the sneak attack. There’s some free advice for you,” Clayton continued. “Keep your defenses up!”
As the guys sat in Clayton’s office laughing and waiting for the suspect to be booked and taken to interrogation, Detective Seth Lane tapped on the door. “Hey man, heard the expert witness turned out to be your guy, eh?”
“Yea, can you believe that shit?” Clayton replied.
“Why do you look so shiny and clean, and our fire department friend here looks like shit?” Turning to Scott, he said, “Sorry man, you look like you did the dirty work. That’s not your blood is it?”
“No worries man, I ended up tackling the guy. It was not exactly intentional or part of the plan. Long story, but he was running in my direction. It’s his blood actually,” Scott replied.
“Well, nice work you two. You question him yet? Any idea why he did it?” Seth asked.
“Not yet, we’re waiting for him to get taken down to interrogation. Should be any minute now though,” Clayton replied. “Thanks for the tip on the guy Lane. Not only was he our expert, he was our guy, so that worked out better than we would have thought.”
“Well I didn’t know he’d turn out to be the guy, so… glad that worked out for you. I saw him in the hallway on his way down, so they’re probably waiting for you.”
“Oh, great. Scott let’s go, you can watch the interview,” Clayton stood up.
“All right, I’ll leave you to it. Walker, nice job today. Have fun boys,” Seth headed back to his own office, he had a pending case that needed his attention.
Scott followed Clayton down the long, grey hallway to interrogation, where Reyes was waiting at a metal table, handcuffed. The two way mirror in the hallway provided them a perfect view of Reyes, who had waived his right to an attorney, and was sitting upright, with his hands folded at the table.
“Legally, I can’t have you in there, so you’ll need to stay here. You can hear and see everything though, and if you need to get my attention, just knock on the glass. I’ll come out,” Clayton indicated.
“This is exactly like it is on television,” Scott peered around the area, taking it a
ll in.
“Yea, now and again, they get something right,” Clayton chuckled. “All right, it’s go time, let’s see if we can’t find out why this guy did it.” Clayton entered the room to question Reyes, while Scott waited outside with another officer, watching through the glass.
29
“Dean Reyes,” Clayton said smugly. “What do you have to say for yourself?”
Blankly staring back at him with cold eyes, Reyes didn’t reply.
“This can go one of several ways; it’s up to you. You already waived your right to an attorney, so let’s cut to the chase here and save ourselves some time,” Clayton said.
“I have all the time in the world detective,” Reyes said without emotion.
“Not as much as you think. So why don’t you start by telling me why you murdered all those people,” Clayton was growing annoyed quickly, but attempted to control his temper for the time being. “Did you know them? How did you pick your victims?”
“I had met them at one time or another,” Reyes replied.
“So you knew them?”
“I wouldn’t say that. I said I had met them all,” Reyes stated again.
“Okay, so you had met them all. Why’d you do it man?” Clayton wanted to get to it already.
“Well, I mean why not? They weren’t important,” Reyes replied.
“What do you mean they weren’t important?!” Clayton raised his voice angrily.
“Nobody cared about those people. I checked. They had no families. No one to mourn their loss.”
What the fuck, Clayton thought.
“So you researched your victims. I see. And why did you decide that killing them was a good idea?” Let’s get to the fucking motive already.
Scott watched on from the other side of the glass, completely mortified that Reyes said the victims didn’t matter. The whole reason he got into investigating in the first place was because everyone mattered. He was completely in awe of Clayton maintaining composure during the questioning; all he could think about was beating the shit of the guy.
“Well, the first one I just wanted to see if my handheld railgun system worked. The only way to really test something like that is to try it in a realistic scenario. I’m an inventor, a scientist. I was testing a theory you see,” Reyes began to smirk, causing Clayton even more irritation.
“Listen here Reyes. I’ve already done my fucking homework here. I’ve got you for two murders, and one attempted murder. Because, guess what? The last guy you shot lived. So, I’ve got a witness placing you there. Also, your DNA is a match to the bullets you fucking made. You dropped one at the second scene. So, you can tell me or not tell me, you’re going away for this either way. It’s up to you if you want to tell me why the fuck you did all this,” Clayton was out of patience, and ready to let this guy sit and rot in jail.
“You raise an interesting point detective. Sure, I’ll tell you why I did it,” he continued to smirk, acting as though he had some bomb to drop.
“Then let’s get to it; I don’t have all day,” Clayton snapped at him.
“I was a Marine. I was deployed in the Middle East for a long fucking time detective. You do things there. Bad things. That changes a man,” he paused, looking over Clayton’s shoulder into the two way mirror. As Scott caught his glance, it sent chills down his spine. “I killed a lot of people back then, but it was totally cool. That’s what we did. I even got a fucking medal for it. Our country thanked me for killing. But then you come back, and everyone expects you to act like nothing fucking happened. Like murder wasn’t an everyday occurrence.”
Realizing this guy was off his fucking rocker, Clayton encouraged him to finish the story, so they could lock his ass up. “Okay, so what? You missed killing people? That was your motivation?”
“I wouldn’t say I missed it, so much as it’s a part of who I am really. I have a predisposition for it. A propensity for causing death I’d call it,” Reyes sat back in his steel chair, awaiting a response from Clayton.
“So, you’re meant to kill. That’s what you’re telling me?” Clayton restated.
“Yes, that’s exactly what I’m saying. I was made for it,” Reyes replied.
“Okay, so why all the drama? Why make bullets out of your own blood? That seems kind of time consuming. Why didn’t you just buy a regular gun and get to it?” Clayton was extremely curious for the answer.
“Why not? It took you longer to find me than it would have otherwise. No ballistics with a railgun, which I’m sure you already figured out didn’t you detective? You had to come to me for answers. That part I didn’t expect, and that made it much more exciting,” Reyes lips drew up into a wicked smile.
“Yea, it slowed us down, but we found you. Why did you make frozen bullets out of your own blood?” Clayton was more disgusted with each passing moment in the room with Reyes.
“In the beginning it was just to see if I could. It was cheap and easy, and ice bullets seemed so… passe.” He let out a chuckle.
“You think this is funny?” Clayton slammed his hands on the steel table, causing Scott and the officer next to him to flinch in surprise, but Reyes didn’t move an inch.
“No detective, it’s not funny at all. It’s just science. I experimented with a few things, but the blood was a far more interesting twist, don’t you think?”
Done with the interrogation, and having confirmed what he needed to know, Clayton stood up to leave, but not before saying one last thing to Reyes. “Using your own blood is how we found you actually. You’re careless Reyes. Not a scientist. Not a hero. You hung yourself.” With that, he turned and left to the room to find Scott still staring through the window, mouth open in shock.
“He’s a fucking lunatic,” Clayton shook his head.
“So, now what? That’s it, right?” Scott asked.
“Well, he’s clearly fucking crazy, so whoever gets assigned his case is probably going to try to have him committed instead of jailed, but we’ll fight it as premeditated. That’s the best we can do at this point,” Clayton explained.
“Jesus Christ. So he could get off for being crazy?” Scott was appalled, shaking his head.
“He won’t be free for a very long time, even if he does beat the charges with a crazy plea. Two people died, and one is in the hospital recovering. That, plus the felony arson charges you presented will all keep him tied up legally behind some kind of lock and key for the foreseeable future,” Clayton paused, assessing Scott’s disappointed expression. “Look man, that’s how justice works. It’s not all catch the bad guys and toss em in the slammer unfortunately. We did a fucking bang up job on this. You should be proud. Seriously, don’t look so down about it. We got the bad guy.” He clapped Scott on the shoulder, and led him back to his office, where they found Dani waiting with fresh clothes for Scott.
30
Clearly disappointed in learning that Reyes could eventually be set free, Scott perked up slightly at the sight of Dani. “Hey you, thank you so much,” he greeted her softly.
“Of course,” she replied. “What’s wrong?” She asked, sensing his distress.
“Eh, nothing. We got the guy, that’s all that matters,” he replied.
“Exactly!” Clayton exclaimed, pleased to close another case.
Pulling him off to the side, Dani whispered, “Are you sure? Do you want to talk about it?”
Smiling down at her and appreciating her concern, Scott replied, “Nah, I’m ok. I’m free to go, so I’m gonna change real fast so we can get out of here.”
“Don’t worry about it one bit,” she took his hand, squeezing it affectionately before he walked off to change.
When he came back a few moments later, he reached his arm around Dani’s shoulder and whispered, “I need to take a shower desperately. Do you want to come by my place, and we’ll get some food? I’m fucking starving after this day,” he also realized how sore he was becoming all over. As in shape as he was, no one was really prepared to tackle another human being of
f the football field at full force, and he was beginning to ache.
“That sounds great,” she glaced at him tenderly. Looking over at Clayton, Dani asked, “Are you guys all done here or what? I’m gonna take Scott home if you are,” she gave him a look that said ‘you better be done’.
“Yes ma’am we are done. I’ve got a shit load of paperwork to do, but Scott can go,” Clayton turned his attention back to Scott who was taking on the look of a zombie. “Seriously, nice work today man. It was awesome working this case with you,” he stuck his hand out to shake Scott’s.
As Scott returned the handshake, he replied, “Yea, hell of a day. Hell of a catch man. Thanks for letting me come along for the ride.”
“All right kids, get out of here. I have shit to do. Dani, I’ll talk to you later. Scott, I assume I’ll see you at family dinners, so until then,” he gave them a mock salute followed by a gesture toward the door, indicating they should leave him in peace.
Laughing, Scott replied, “See ya man.”
Dani took his hand, and they left together.
31
Dani followed Scott to his house in her car, thinking over how tired Scott looked. It must have been a hell of a day. She wished she were a better chef, he looked like he needed a home cooked meal or something. It was long past dinner time, so he had to be hungry; all she wanted to do was take care of him.
When the arrived at his house, before they walked in, Scott gently placed his hand on Dani’s cheek. “Thank you so much for coming today,” he said quietly, gazing into her blue eyes.
“I wouldn’t be anywhere else,” she smiled sweetly back to him. “Now, let’s get inside and get you cleaned up and fed. You’re a hot mess,” she teased him.
“I feel like a hot mess,” he replied as he let them in, tossing his keys on a table by the door.