Payback (8 page)

“No, I—“

“Sir!”

Adam Myers, the head forensics blood spatter expert rushed into the room just then. He looked like he had heard the best news that had ever come across his ears in his entire life. Brian braced himself for something not useful. Adam had the same tendency with any new little tidbit that he happened to find out about any case that was coming his way. It was disturbing how much this guy actually loved blood. It was like he day dreamed about blood and all of the different things you could do with it. It had always given Brian the creeps.

“What is going on?” Brian asked.

“We were able to retrieve some of the blood of the assailant. We found some clinging to the sink drain where she washed up at the neighbor’s apartment. We found a small trace and we were not sure it belonged to anyone besides the owner of that apartment or the victim here. But it does not match either one.”

“Did you run it through the database?” Arnold asked.

“We are doing that as we speak. I’m excited. It could take several hours, but if this guy has ever had his DNA collected for any reason in his life we will have it.”

“That is great news!” Arnold said. He slapped Brian a high five.

Brian did not share the chief’s enthusiasm on all of this. It was promising, but he didn’t think this guy was going to match anything.

“What’s wrong?” Arnold asked.

“I don’t think we are going to get a hit. It would be amazing of course if it did turn up something, but I just don’t think it is going to happen.”

“Why?” Myers asked. He looked like he might fall to pieces and start crying any minute because Brian had dashed his hopes and dreams in the world. He was going to have to step in front of a semi now and do the world a favor.

“So far as meticulous and as careful as this guy is, I just don’t think he has ever been in trouble with the law before. A lot of these types of offenders have minor things on their records from petty crimes when they were younger, but I just don’t think it fits this guy.”

“Well, you are certainly a party pooper, “Arnold said. “ We will just have to hope for the best here.”

When Brian got home that night and laid down he found himself unable to rest. It was almost four in the morning and he had to get up and report to the station by nine to start his regular shift, but he was wide awake. Although he was tired as hell and his legs and back both felt like he had just fallen off the side of the Sears Tower. He was always in so much pain these days. He wondered if he should go see a chiropractor or if he should follow the advice of his awesome wife and just eat better and get more exercise.

The chief would probably understand if he didn’t make it in till a few hours after normal because of the late night they pulled, but Brian wasn’t wired that way. He couldn’t live with taking the baby way out and giving in to the sleep monster when he had responsibilities he had to live up to. He could guarantee that the chief was not even going to go home. He would possibly change his shirt with the backups that he kept in his office and he would probably brush his teeth and shave with the travel pack that he also kept. The man was a machine and that was probably why he had been chief for twenty years. He was the best and he was willing to do what most would not to make shit happen. Brian had to admit that he deeply admired the man.

When he got home Amber was fast asleep, which was a relief because the last thing in the world that he wanted to do was discuss the new developments about the case with her. She had finally calmed down enough about it all to stop fretting and thinking every single second of every day that someone was coming to kill her. Brian had come so close so many times to divulging the fact that he had a cop stationed outside their house at all times to report any suspicious activity and to make sure that his family stayed safe during this ordeal. So far the chief had not even said anything to him about using the extra resources to accomplish this. He knew why Brian was doing this and he was perfectly fine with it all.

Brian closed his eyes and tried to drift off to dream land and hoped
that he could at least salvage a few hours of precious sleep time. It was rather unlikely with all of the thoughts that were swirling around his monstrous dome. He kept thinking about the blood sample that they had discovered. If it did turn out to be a match for someone in the data base then it was game over for this bastard. They would throw him in a cell before he had any idea what was about to hit him. It all sounded too easy and it sounded just like someone who was ready to give up on it all would be banking on. It was a coward’s way out and he was not going to think about the possibility of it anymore. It was easy to find yourself giving up on things if you did that. He wanted to remain focused on this and then he wanted to move on and put it all behind him. The whole damn police career; he was so done with it. He realized it more and more all the time. Working this case had actually taken its final toll on him. He did not want to do it anymore.

As he lay there thinking of the way his life had started to crumble down around him, he found sleep and he slept like the dead.

He winced as he rolled out of bed and brushed his chest wound against the bed. After taking a copious amount of pain killers that he had stolen from a small veterinarian clinic he had finally drifted off to sleep just fine. Looking at the clock beside his bed he saw that he had slept for six straight hours.

The chest wound was not throbbing as badly as he thought it would be. It had subsided a bit and he felt like only a small bit of that was the pain meds. He liked to think that pain did not affect him the way it did other people. It was a weak, human feeling that people allowed to govern their lives. People lived their whole lives to avoid pain of any sort and it was just a feeling. The fact of it being good or bad was open to interpretation and it was open to the context. A lot of people went through extreme pain to just get to reach a certain goal or obtain something that they desired. The pain was worth the effort because the reward was great.

There were other kinds of pain though. Like the pain he was experiencing right now. That sort of pain was purely physical and it was covered in rage and anger. Every time he hurt he got mad at that bitch who had not known her place and had in fact attacked him. She was working in self-defense and fear, but it pissed him off all the same. Did she not understand that she was interfering with his work and his mission?

The need had risen exponentially since then which only added to his discomfort. He had to kill someone soon, but he was not going to be able to do so safely while he was injured. Luckily for him the girl’s aim had been bad and she had missed his heart by a few inches and the rubber of the suit he had been wearing did contribute to the blade not going in quite as directly as she had been aiming. Luck had worked out in his favor. He would never forget that and it only aided him in his reasoning that he had been chosen to do this work.

He was not sure by whom or how it had happened, but he now understood why he had the need. He was not evil. He was not cursed. He had been given a gift and a mission. He had never believed in a God or a higher power of any sort, but he knew that the need had been given to him somehow. Whether you wanted to call that God or nature, or whatever—he didn’t really go into that sort of thing. He just knew what he needed to do and he had always done his best to serve his own needs. To a lot of people that meant that he was selfish, but why would you not be selfish? You had to love yourself more than your fellow man, even family was not as close to you as you were. He had never understood how people would constantly put others ahead of themselves. He had never been built that way and he never would be.

He did not care about the lives he shattered because he was serving what was best for him. There were sheep and wolves in this world and his path had been decided at an early age. He did not realize it then, but he had been set on a distinct course in this world.

Surviving this attack only added to this.

He thought about the girl nonstop and had been thinking about her ever since this happened. Darla… she would need to pay, but he would not go for her now. It would be a long time coming and she would never see him coming after her. It might even be years from now when he was living somewhere else far away. He would never be able to continue his work in one spot for too long. The powers that be would try to catch him at every turn and eventually they would find some odd little thing that would trip him up.

He stood up out of bed, wincing the whole time and made it to the bathroom. He turned on the shower nice and hot and let it run for a few moments, appreciating the steam that was coming out of the hot water. He could feel the infection trying to start in the wound. He would not allow that to happen. To think that all of his work and his mission could be foiled by a stupid chest wound infection. That would be hideous to go out that way. He would not allow that.

When he had arrived back at his home he had carefully removed his clothes and hopped in the shower to wash the wound carefully with hot water and soap. Then he had applied alcohol. The burn had been insane and he had blacked out from it, falling in the bathroom and narrowly missing hitting his head on the corner of the sink. It had been almost an hour before he came to, his chest was still throbbing a hot pain that echoed throughout his body. He had lost a bit of blood and he was feeling dizzy but he had managed to get the bleeding under control.

It had been two days since his encounter and the wound had not bled anymore and so far he showed no sign of infection, but he did not want to take the chance. The wound was still a large, open cavity in the middle of his chest and it was terribly painful. Any small movement at all felt like he was being stabbed again, as if the wound was being ripped open repeatedly. It was a ghosting sensation because every time he checked it certain that he had torn it open, and it was fine as could be. It was an odd sensation. He hoped that little bitch Darla would have fun with the pain he was going to inflict on her.

He had toyed with the idea of attacking someone she was close to, but delving into her background she had been a product of junkie parents and really had no one close to her. She had fought so hard to live when she didn’t have anyone to live for except herself.

He wasn’t sure if he found that admirable or just plain sad.

The shower was ready and he braced himself as he stepped inside the hot water. The pain hit him with the ferocity of an atomic bomb exploding in his lap. He had to grit his teeth to keep from screaming at the top of his lungs and he wondered how long it would be before he passed out this time.

***

“What do you mean you have a date with Darla?” Brian asked John standing beside his desk. John as usual was stuffing his face with donuts and downing enough coffee to kill a small farm animal. He had too much of his dad in him that way. He was apparently also a lady killer like his dear old dad.

“Why is that so hard to believe?” John asked.

“Because she is a witness to our case,” Brian replied. “You don’t think that is somehow unethical?”

John wrinkled his brow and thought for a moment. “No, I don’t.” He proceeded to eat another donut. The man had four stacked up on a tiny paper plate. He truly did possess the metabolism of a God.

“What does your dad think about this?”

“Oh, he reminded me to wrap it up each and every time,” John said with a smile.

“Did you tell him you don’t believe in that sort of thing?”

“Nah, I didn’t want to hurt the old man’s feelings.”

“You are a disgusting pig, you know that. You think that you will end up in bed with that girl on the first date? I don’t think she is like that. In fact, if you piss her off she might filet your ass,” Brian said.

“Well, I will just have to take my chances.”

Brian had to laugh at his friend. John had not really had a serious girlfriend in about two years. Brian was pretty sure that ending things with Michelle had messed John up something fierce. It seemed that after that happened he became a lot more of a hound dog and just kind of spent his time chasing loose women wherever he could find them.

“So how did this come about?” Brian asked. He hated to pry that much and he usually didn’t but this had him damn curious.

“Well, you know how she has been having cops watching her night and day. Well, I saw how cute she was and I volunteered for the job on a few nights. She invited me in for a few beers. We talked a bit and watched a few movies together. We actually hit it off really well. There is something special about this girl,” John said.

“Well, that is awesome. I’m very happy for you, man.”

“Thanks.”

The chief walked in right then. He marched over to John’s desk and grabbed a donut off his plate.

“Did he tell you about the date he has planned for that Darla girl?”

“Yea, he was just telling me they are going out.”

“Tell him where you guys are going,” Arnold said. He was chuckling already so it had to be something good.

John looked sheepish as he sputtered out his response. “I’m taking her to see a chick flick.”

“Wow, that is lame,” Brian said.

“What? I thought it would put her in the mood,” John replied.

Arnold and Brian laughed hard over this one, mostly just to piss John off. He shook it off easily enough though.

“You would think that,” Arnold said.

“What? Did they even have chick flicks when you were dating dad?”

“Not really, but I know a thing or two about romance. Romantic movies do not work nearly as well as you might think—“

“Hey, I got the results back!”

Myers came running into the room.

“Great, what did you find out?” Arnold asked.

Myers sat a printout down on the table with a picture on the front of it. The picture looked like a man who was in his mid-twenties with medium length black hair. He looked like a man who could have been good looking if he had not used a scowl as his permanent facial expression. He looked like he was a combination of angry and totally sad at the same exact time. He looked like a victim.