Freeing Lana (26 page)

Mel
Massey knew there would always be questions surrounding Lana Martin, as well as
the events that had taken place in Daniel Morrow’s home, and then of course in
Tink’s. With everything he had removed from the scene tonight, he was certain
he could alleviate some of them and most likely restore her honor in the eyes
of the public, but not without completely destroying anything good Tink had
ever done in his career. Mel saw no point in that, not at this point. Lana
Martin was safe, and that would just have to be enough for now.

When
the first television crew showed up, Mel made his way back to his car, taking
himself out of their view so they wouldn’t even be tempted to ask him anything.
James
Plowick
, the shift commander during the night
shift, would be there soon enough, and he could deal with that shit. Hell, he
lived for it anyway. He pulled Tink’s cell phone out if his pocket and looked
through the pictures.

“Damn
Tink, what the
fuck were
you thinking?”

He
began deleting all the pictures of Lana, starting at the top and working his
way down the long list. He paused only once, when he came upon a picture that
seemed a little more innocent than the others, just Lana sitting innocently at
the table, but he went ahead and deleted it as well. The last thing those
fucking sharks needed was the slightest hint of blood in the water to stir shit
up even more than it already was.

After
the pictures, Mel began deleting contacts in the phone. Anything he couldn’t
say for a fact was work related disappeared immediately. He found reason to
pause once during this list as well just like with the pictures, but this time
before he deleted the contact, he typed the name and number into his own phone.
Sometime later, after all this had blown over, at least as far as something
like this could blow over anyway, he thought he just might want to call that
number.

Mel
watched as
Plowick
talked with the group of reporters
that now outnumbered the police officers themselves. It was a complete cluster
fuck by now. When it looked like they were finally wrapping it up, he got out
of his car and called the shift commander over to the side.

“Hey,
I’m not sure if it means anything, but Tink left this in my car when I drove
him home,” he said handing the man Tink’s cell phone. The man stuck it in his
pocket, looking around to see if anyone had seen him do it.

“Thanks,”
he said finally, “I’ll take a look at it later, when I get back to the office
perhaps.”

Mel
just nodded, knowing if he had missed anything on the phone, this guy wouldn’t,
and it would be gone long before anyone else got a look at the phone. That’s
just the way things were, even if the man in question was no longer one of
their own. If nothing else, Tink had earned that much at least.

Mel
walked away, knowing he would be back later. In his car, as he made his way
around all the damn news vans, he flipped his phone opened and looked at the
number he had copied from Tink’s. Yeah, he’d definitely be making that call one
day. Sergio
Marsilis
hadn’t seen the last of Mel
Massey.

2

He
stood there above her, watching her sleep in his chair, the very definition of
beautiful. She had no idea what he had been through tonight, and if he could
help it, she never would. She had already seen enough of the ugliness the world
had to offer; she had paid her dues and then some, the way he saw it. The
Daniel Morrows of the world would always be there somewhere, lurking in the
shadows that fringed the rest of us, but they couldn’t let it change the way
they saw the world itself. He walked past her intending to grab a beer, but she
caught his hand as he passed.

“I’ve
missed you,” she said, squeezing his hand in hers.

“I’m
here, Lana. You couldn’t get rid of me if you tried.”

She
smiled, but her eyes were already closed again. Sergio walked back to the door
and locked it, turning the tumbler as quietly as he could. Yeah, they were
still out there somewhere, and they would always want to corrupt what they
couldn’t possibly understand. The secret of it all was plain and simple, the
way he saw it; you just had to go on with your life and not let them change
you, no matter what.

The
smile was still on Lana’s face when he passed by her again and it filled his
heart with a joy he could hardly contain. He wanted to curl up in the chair
with her and just hold her, just love her, but her happiness was more important
than his own, so as long as that smile was on her face, Sergio would never wake
her. She could sleep until the end of time of that was what she wanted to do,
and he would be happy that she was smiling. She deserved to smile more than
anyone he had ever met and now she was finally free.

“I
love you,” he whispered under his breath, “I always will.”

###

THE END!

Don’t
worry! There will be more Sergio and Lana! Well, if you want it! Let me know!

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