touch me.”
“Let’s talk in the car.” Another command. I hated taking orders from anyone. To hear my partner barking them out to me turned my insides into a raging inferno.
“You’ve got five minutes and you better make it good.”
Rodney escorted me outside toward his car. He opened the door for me. It was his first nice gesture of the evening. He entered from the driver’s side and gave me a sad puppy dog face.
“I’m sorry for what I said Ali.”
“You’re sorry? You’re sorry; that’s all you have to say?”
“Well, no. I was one of the first ones here. The guy you saw me talking to was the owner. A real piece of work if you ask me. He made a few comments towards the women at his bar when we arrived and another at one of our female officers. I figured he was the type that would talk more if he had someone like him asking the questions.”
“So you thought you would embarrass and humiliate me to get close to him?” My words stung Rodney. He knew I always held him in high regard. Even with my teasing and our constant back and forth bickering, I never treated him like he was inferior.
“Look, I’m sorry Ali. It needed to be done. If you came waltzing up demanding answers, he was going to clam up and we wouldn’t get shit outta him or his staff. At least now we know he was with some blond last night, we got his car, and we’re getting the security tapes.”
I refused to look at him. “You better turn up something from this. I want that car towed back and our forensic team to go over every inch of it.”
“That might be a little hard.”
I sighed heavily. “Why?”
“Because we’re now working with the D.C.P.D. on this case.”
“What? Why?”
“The body washed up in Ulster County, but the crime technically happened in Dutchess. We gotta work together on this.”
Wonderful; just wonderful. It was bad enough that the Lieutenant found out the victim’s name. He was already demanding answers from us. But now we had to tip toe through more B.S. red tape from another department. And that would mean more time spent with Mr. Personality, Detective Thornton.
We spent hours combing through Whiskey J’s and talking to the staff. We didn’t find out much. There wasn’t any signs of struggle in the bar or near the car. No one saw Ambrose leave or who he left with. But there was one thing I had to go one. Ambrose’s car was still in the parking lot which was the only piece of evidence I needed to confirm Blake Ambrose didn’t commit suicide.
I felt nothing but relief when I pulled into my driveway. First day back out in the field and I felt like I’d been running a marathon. The case was definitely weighing heavily on my mind, but the thought of curling up in my nice warm bed with Matthew put me at ease. I turned down the dead end street and crept closer to the driveway. Matthew’s truck sat in its usual spot which was closer to the neighbor’s house than mine. My lips curled into a smile. It was the first genuine one I gave the entire night.
After turning off the car, I noticed the lights were still on in the living room. It was something that struck me as odd. Matthew was never up that late and Amanda was typically out getting drunk, was passed out in her room, or would watch TV with the lights off. Maybe he forgot to turn the lights off before going to bed, I thought. My hand gripped the door knob. It was locked. That was a relief. At least someone was smart enough to lock-up before going to
“Let’s talk in the car.” Another command. I hated taking orders from anyone. To hear my partner barking them out to me turned my insides into a raging inferno.
“You’ve got five minutes and you better make it good.”
Rodney escorted me outside toward his car. He opened the door for me. It was his first nice gesture of the evening. He entered from the driver’s side and gave me a sad puppy dog face.
“I’m sorry for what I said Ali.”
“You’re sorry? You’re sorry; that’s all you have to say?”
“Well, no. I was one of the first ones here. The guy you saw me talking to was the owner. A real piece of work if you ask me. He made a few comments towards the women at his bar when we arrived and another at one of our female officers. I figured he was the type that would talk more if he had someone like him asking the questions.”
“So you thought you would embarrass and humiliate me to get close to him?” My words stung Rodney. He knew I always held him in high regard. Even with my teasing and our constant back and forth bickering, I never treated him like he was inferior.
“Look, I’m sorry Ali. It needed to be done. If you came waltzing up demanding answers, he was going to clam up and we wouldn’t get shit outta him or his staff. At least now we know he was with some blond last night, we got his car, and we’re getting the security tapes.”
I refused to look at him. “You better turn up something from this. I want that car towed back and our forensic team to go over every inch of it.”
“That might be a little hard.”
I sighed heavily. “Why?”
“Because we’re now working with the D.C.P.D. on this case.”
“What? Why?”
“The body washed up in Ulster County, but the crime technically happened in Dutchess. We gotta work together on this.”
Wonderful; just wonderful. It was bad enough that the Lieutenant found out the victim’s name. He was already demanding answers from us. But now we had to tip toe through more B.S. red tape from another department. And that would mean more time spent with Mr. Personality, Detective Thornton.
We spent hours combing through Whiskey J’s and talking to the staff. We didn’t find out much. There wasn’t any signs of struggle in the bar or near the car. No one saw Ambrose leave or who he left with. But there was one thing I had to go one. Ambrose’s car was still in the parking lot which was the only piece of evidence I needed to confirm Blake Ambrose didn’t commit suicide.
I felt nothing but relief when I pulled into my driveway. First day back out in the field and I felt like I’d been running a marathon. The case was definitely weighing heavily on my mind, but the thought of curling up in my nice warm bed with Matthew put me at ease. I turned down the dead end street and crept closer to the driveway. Matthew’s truck sat in its usual spot which was closer to the neighbor’s house than mine. My lips curled into a smile. It was the first genuine one I gave the entire night.
After turning off the car, I noticed the lights were still on in the living room. It was something that struck me as odd. Matthew was never up that late and Amanda was typically out getting drunk, was passed out in her room, or would watch TV with the lights off. Maybe he forgot to turn the lights off before going to bed, I thought. My hand gripped the door knob. It was locked. That was a relief. At least someone was smart enough to lock-up before going to
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