Total pages in book: 69
Estimated words: 82282 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 411(@200wpm)___ 329(@250wpm)___ 274(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 82282 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 411(@200wpm)___ 329(@250wpm)___ 274(@300wpm)
The next thirty minutes was excruciatingly horrible. The girl was worse than I’d expected, and wouldn’t go anywhere or do anything unless I was with her.
That was how I found myself driving the girl back in my passenger seat because she refused to get in the ambulance.
I’d dropped her off at the hospital where her parents were waiting at the ambulance bay.
When they saw their daughter, they’d gathered her up and led her over to the gurney that the hospital staff had at the ready.
After filling out my report, and chatting with the parents, I was physically and emotionally drained.
Then I had twelve stitches placed in my face from temple to cheek, and I still had four hours to go on my shift.
“What the fuck was that?” Loki asked me as he followed me to a local diner where we sat to eat.
“What was what?” I asked curiously, handing Radar a bread roll.
“You getting slashed with scissors. Did you not see them or something?” He asked.
I shook my head. “Nope. The girl was moaning in the backseat, and drew my eye for a split second. I was lucky too. Then Radar barked. If I hadn’t moved, he would’ve stabbed me in the fuckin’ eye.”
“You’re not so pretty anymore with that cut. What’ll the ladies think?” Loki goaded.
I flipped him off and sat back with my own coffee.
“The one that matters doesn’t even see, so how can my scar bother her?” I asked.
“Viddy?” Loki asked.
I nodded. “Yeah. We’re going riding on Saturday to Texas to eat at the fish place in Waskom. Want to come?”
I’d noticed the change in my best friend since he’d taken the last assignment.
Knew about the girl that he’d fallen in love with but refused to speak to or explain things to.
He’d been working an undercover assignment portraying a tweaker when he’d met his ‘next door neighbor.’ They’d hit it off, but Loki was portraying a druggie, and was good at his job. Then she’d found out that he was a cop, making it even worse.
He’d left for Florida, spending nearly a month with his family, and had just gotten back to work after his leave of absence.
He didn’t go back into undercover work, though. Now he was a detective. He knew when enough was enough.
He’d come back a different man. Harder. He wasn’t so easy to get along with now, either. He had a perpetual bad attitude and he refused to go out on runs. Hell, I hadn’t had him ride with me in well over four months now.
Something was seriously wrong, and I had a feeling it had everything to do with the ex-neighbor.
Not that he’d tell me.
Loki’s eyes met mine, and something shifted in them. Something like guilt.
He nodded once. “Yes. I think I’d like that.”
Dinner was going surprisingly well for how the night had begun until I got the first phone call of the evening.
“Hello?” I said around a mouthful of lasagna.
“There’s someone in my apartment.” A whispered voice greeted me.
The fork that had been in my hand dropped, clinking against the plate with a loud clatter.
I sat forward, staring at my food unseeingly. “Viddy? What’s happening?”
“I’m under the bed. There’s someone in my house.”
She was speaking so quietly that I had to strain to hear her over the din of the busy restaurant.
“Please.” She pleaded.
With no word to Loki on where I was going, I shoved back from the table and took off, calling in backup as I exited the parking and headed towards my cruiser.
“Unit 5-2 responding a 10-31 at the apartments South of the lake. Unit 1A. Requesting backup.” I bid urgently.
“10-4 backup dispatched.” The dispatcher acknowledged.
I had no knowledge of getting in the car, nor driving to Viddy’s apartment. The ten minutes in between leaving the restaurant and arriving were a blur. One minute I was letting Radar in the cruiser, and the next I was parking across three spots, two apartments down from Viddy’s.
We went straight up to her apartment.
I used the key she’d given me earlier that afternoon in case of emergencies, thankful that she’d done so. I was even more thankful that I’d programmed my number into her ICE-in case of emergency- contact list. I was number one. The police were number two. And Adeline was number three.
Radar was close at my heels as I walked in the door, crouching down low just in case.
Her apartment was completely black except for the blinking red light that indicated she had a message on her machine.
Hitting the button on the barrel of my gun, I turned the LED flashlight on and surveyed the room.
There was nothing there.
Which was the case in the next two rooms I went through as well.
I did notice that the kitchen window was open, the curtain flapping in the breeze.
Finally, at the last room, Viddy’s bedroom, I pushed the door open to see a figure hunched over the bed.
“Freeze!” I roared.
The figure hunching over the bed froze.
Reaching over with my free hand, I flicked on the light switch, illuminating the room in a bright fluorescent glow.
And none other than Paul, Viddy’s ex, stood there.
He was completely naked with a pair of Viddy’s panties in one hand held up to his face and his tiny little dick in the other.
“Hands in the air.” I growled.
“Backup. It’s me.” Loki’s voice called from the front room.
“In here. Back bedroom. I’ve got him.” I called.
Walking slowly forward, I took first one, and then the other hand, cuffing them quickly and efficiently behind his back. Just barely resisting the urge to slam the man’s face into the large wooden pillar that made up the bed’s footboard.
Once done, I grabbed him by the wrist and ushered him in Loki’s general direction.
With one disgusted snarl, Loki led him from the room.
“Viddy?” I called eyes on the bottom of the bed.
“Under here.” Came her muffled reply.
Dropping down to my knees, I looked underneath to find a shit load of boxes.
“Where under here?” I asked curiously.
Her little hand poked out from between boxes, and I had to laugh at the absurdity of it all.