Closed at Dark

by Rob Blackwell

Sara rushed into the police station, towing Alex along reluctantly behind her. She gave the officer sitting behind the metal detector an impatient look.

  “Edith, so help me God, but I do not have time for this today,” Sara said.

  The officer gave Sara a sympathetic look and waved her through. The machine beeped as she brought her purse and son with her.

  “You’re just lucky it’s me and not Maria,” Edith replied. She pointed up the steps. “Ken warned me you’d be coming. He’s upstairs.”

  Sara was frustrated and desperate to get going but heard her mother’s voice in her head about minding her manners.

  “Thank you,” she said, nodding in Edith’s direction.

  “Don’t mention it,” she said. “We’re sorry we don’t see you anymore.”

  It might have been a pointed comment, meant to criticize her for breaking up with Officer Kenneth Sharpe, but Sara didn’t know if it was meant that way. She waved regardless and dragged Alex up the stairs behind her.

  Even with her working knowledge of the station, it took her a minute to find the right location. She swept through double doors on the right and into an area buzzing with activity.

  “Can I help you, ma’am?” the man behind the front desk said.

  Sara didn’t recognize him, which was unfortunate. She opened her mouth to respond when a familiar figure came rushing up. Ken Sharpe was a massive guy dressed in an immaculate police uniform. He was beefy and muscular, his head shaved so fine she could see the sheen of the florescent lights reflecting off the top of his head. At six foot, two inches, he was likely an intimidating presence to any criminal he encountered. But Sara felt only relief as he walked up and hugged her.

  “It’s okay,” Ken told the man behind the desk. “She’s with me.”

  The phrase was almost painful coming out of his mouth. Ken was compassionate, intelligent and — if she admitted it to herself — a damn-fine looking man. The fact that she had a lot of issues had not been his fault.

  “Hey Officer Ken,” Alex said, his mood improving dramatically at the sight of the police officer. “How come you don’t come around anymore?”

  Great. That was just what she needed. But Ken once again saved the day.

  “Oh, you know how it is, buddy,” Ken said. “Keeping the streets safe for you and your mom is very busy work.”

  Sara cast him a grateful look and he smiled back at her. At that moment, she didn’t know why she’d broken up with him. Her mother never had either. She’d taken to Ken immediately, glad for once that Sara had brought her a boyfriend who fit her stringent criteria for a life partner, including that he was black. Her mother had always warned that a relationship with John, who was white, was doomed, based on outdated ideas about interracial dating. She’d been right on the outcome, but wrong on the reason why.

  “Where is he?” Sara asked.

  Ken frowned.

  “Back this way,” he said.

  The three of them started walking as Ken eyed her warily.

  “I don’t think you want to be involved with this guy,” he said. “Do you know what he’s accused of doing? It’s not just today, trust me.”

  Sara sighed and forced herself not be annoyed.

  “I’m not ‘involved’ with him, okay?” Sara said. “I hired him to look into what happened to Alex the other day. And I’m well aware of his past. Take a look at the names on his rap sheet and you’ll see why. I wouldn’t be here if I thought he’d done those things.”

  Ken nodded, but looked unhappy.

  “He hasn’t been the most cooperative suspect,” he said.

  Sara smiled involuntarily. Same old Soren, never great with authority. They walked through a series of doorways until Ken led them into a room where Soren sat across a table with three officers.

  “Causing trouble?” Sara asked when she walked in.

  “You know me,” Soren replied.

  She did, but Sara was forced to admit Soren was different than he’d been seven years ago. He was still cocky and arrogant, but his edges were sharper. He’d always been prone to sarcasm, but now there was a bitterness to his tone that worried her. She’d stayed away because she assumed that’s what he wanted, but what if he’d taken the same approach? What if they’d both been keeping their distance for the wrong reasons? It worried her the way Soren had come to the door the other night. She thought he had gone and built a new life for himself, but from what she could tell, it was lonely and dangerous.

  The officers started throwing a series of questions at her, but Ken quieted them down with a single hand gesture.

  “We just want to make sure his story checks out,” Ken said. “Did you hire him?”

  Sara nodded.

  “Yes, just after the incident yesterday,” Sara said.

  “Technically speaking, she’s not paying me anything,” Soren said.

  “Yes I am,” Sara said.

  “I’m not accepting your money.”

  “I don’t really care about that,” Ken said, interrupting them. “Why did you hire him?”

  “He’s a supernatural investigator,” Sara said. “And from what I’ve heard, one of the best.”

  “He’s a fraud,” one of the officers said.

  “Oh, I’m the fraud,” Soren said. “Let’s look at the police report on the attempted kidnapping the other day. I know what Sara told you. She said the suspect disappeared in front of her eyes. But I bet if we look at the report that’s not what you wrote down, is it?”

  The cop stared back at him defiantly.

  “We were trying to preserve Sara’s credibility in the event this came to court,” the cop replied.

  “Right. By lying about what she actually said. I’m sure that won’t cause any problems if it ever goes to trial. Which it won’t, because you guys can’t catch this thing.”

  “Thing?” Ken asked.

  Sara could tell he was trying to keep the skepticism from his voice.

  “I keep trying to tell you,” Soren said. “I saw him — or it, I don’t know — at the playground before you showed up and arrested me.”

  “Sure you did,” another officer said.

  “What’s your theory, guys? If I was the guy who tried to kidnap Alex, why would Sara hire me? Why wouldn’t Alex be shouting that it’s me right now? You know I didn’t do it or you’d never allow me in the same room with Alex.”

  “You saw him?” Sara asked.

  Soren nodded.

  “I tried to shoot him too,” Soren said. “He vanished before the bullets hit him.”

  One of the officers made a disbelieving clucking sound and Soren pointed at him.

  “One of these days, you’re going to encounter something like this,” Soren said. “And then you won’t be sitting there sounding like a dying chicken. You’ll be shitting your pants.”

  The officer rose to challenge Soren, and Ken waved his hand again.

  “Sit,” he said.

  “Just to be clear, I hired Soren. He’s not the guy who took Alex,” Sara said.

  Behind her, Alex nodded.

  “He’s daddy’s friend,” he said.

  “Yeah, some ‘friend’ he was,” one of the officers said.

  “Fuck you,” Soren spat at him.

  He looked guiltily at Alex.

  “Whoops,” he said. “Sorry, kid.”

  “Anyway, you’re right,” Ken said. “You don’t fit the description of the suspect and Sara has corroborated your story. You’re free to go.”

  “But Detective Sharpe...” one of the officers said.

  Sara raised an eyebrow.

  “It’s detective now?” she asked.

  Ken nodded and she could see the pride in his expression. He’d finally done it.

  “Good for you,” she said.

  “I’d like the other officers to leave the room,” Ken said. “I can handle it from here.”

  It looked like one of the officers was going to protest, but Ken stared h
im down. Finally, they reluctantly filed out. When they were gone, Soren stood up.

  “Let’s get going,” he said, and started to walk out the door.

  “Not so fast,” Ken said. “I’d like your help.”

  Soren stared at him in obvious disbelief.

  “No you wouldn’t,” he said.

  “Yes,” Ken said. “I wasn’t aware of this case until today, but it’s my priority now. And I’m pursuing all leads.”

  “I’m telling you, you’re not ready for this,” Soren said. “You saw how those guys reacted. You put any hint of the paranormal into your report and they’ll demote you within 24 hours.”

  “Probably right, but I’m not worried about the paperwork,” Ken said. “Right now, I’m worried about Alex. Let’s stop what’s out there, and I’ll deal with the bureaucracy later.”

  Soren looked at Ken as if for the first time. The expression was quizzical and confused, but he shifted his eyes to Sara. She felt herself blush.

  “Oh,” Soren said.

  She knew Ken and Alex wouldn’t notice it, but there was considerable emotional weight behind the single syllable he uttered. She wanted to grab Soren and shake him while telling him to mind his own business.

  John was dead and Soren had exiled himself from her life. He couldn’t have been surprised that she’d moved on. If he was, then that was his issue.

  The distress on her face must have been obvious, but Soren said nothing. He just stared at her for a moment. She couldn’t tell if the judgment she saw was really there or just a reflection of her own guilty conscience.

  “I need you to tell me what you saw,” Ken said.

  Soren turned away from Sara and sat back down again. He put his feet up on the table.

  “Okay, but you won’t like it,” he said.

  “Just try me,” Ken replied.

  Soren looked defiantly at Ken while he recounted how he arrived at the playground. Sara tried to repress a shudder as he detailed the creature he encountered. She wished Alex wasn’t there to hear this, but she didn’t know what to do with him. She was afraid to let him out of her sight for fear he might suddenly vanish again.

  Soren was clearly waiting for Ken to express disbelief, and there was an almost disappointed look on his face when the detective took him seriously.

  “When you shot at him, he disappeared?”

  “Poof,” Soren said, bringing up his hands in a dramatic gesture.

  “Did any of the shots connect?”

  “I don’t think so,” Soren said. “Whatever this thing was, he seemed to know what I was going to do before I did it. I assume it has some type of telepathy, maybe some precognition. It’s hard to be sure.”

  Ken nodded his head as if this made perfect sense.

  “You’ve seen this kind of thing before?” he asked.

  Soren frowned.

  “No,” he said. “I’ve seen other nasty creatures, but nothing exactly like this. I can’t shake the feeling that I’ve come across some mention of it in the past, but I’ll be damned if I can remember what it is.”

  “Let me ask you something else,” Ken said. “Do you think it was after any kid, or specifically Alex?”

  Soren glanced at the boy, who was drinking it all in. Sara wished he would lie, but knew it wasn’t Soren’s nature.

  “He wants Alex,” Soren said. “He said he was his.”

  “Why would he think that?”

  Soren looked at Sara and she saw the uncertainty in his eyes. She wanted to grab Alex, throw him into the car, and drive as far away as possible. She wondered if that would help.

  “I don’t know,” Soren said. “But if you’re really interested in helping to solve this...”

  “I am,” Ken said. “Contrary to your assertions, not all cops are the same. Some of us have seen stuff we can’t explain. It doesn’t end up in the official reports, but it does happen.”

  Soren nodded, looking impressed despite himself.

  “There are two things that need to happen,” he said. “One is that we need someone to look into the case of Alastair Horne. He’s another kid who went missing two years ago. When I said his name, the creature reacted in a personal way. He seemed mad at me.”

  “Why?”

  “Got me,” Soren said. “I’d never heard of the kid until last night. I searched the Internet for evidence of the case, but we need someone who can go deeper. We need access to police files.”

  “What are you looking for?”

  “We know the case involved the white-haired man,” he said. “But I don’t know anything else. I’d like to see if some other similarity jumps out at us.”

  “You said there were two things,” Ken said.

  “If you start looking at the Horne case, I need to do more research on our mysterious friend,” Soren said. “I tried to hit the thing and couldn’t connect a blow. I fired a gun at it to no effect. From what I can tell, it could march right into this police station and we wouldn’t be able to do a damn thing to stop him.”

  “Soren...” Sara said warningly, watching Alex’s face.

  “Sorry,” he said. “But it’s the truth. If we’re going to stop him, I need to know what I’m dealing with. I have to know how to kill it.”

  Chapter Six