The Depth of Darkness (Mitch Tanner #1) (20 page)

“He tried to kill her?”

Bridget nodded slowly, looking toward the
ceiling. “I haven’t seen her since I graduated high school. Even
then, she didn’t come up to see me. She sat in the back and then
walked out. Didn’t show up for my college or law school graduation,
or when I graduated from the Academy.”

“I’m sorry, Bridget. I really am.”

She shrugged and then stretched. “It’s all in
the past. It made me who I am. I can’t complain about that.”

We both walked to the kitchen to grab a fresh
beer. The clock on the microwave said it was three in the morning.
I opened the fridge, reached in and pulled out two more bottles.
Lavender rode a breeze that blew in my direction. When I turned
around, Bridget was standing in front of me. I leaned in and so did
she. Our lips met. I didn’t stop kissing her until well after our
clothes were off.

I woke up on the floor between the couch and
the TV, on top of a comforter I had pulled out of the linen closet.
Though it covered most of the floor, Bridget and I only took up a
small section of it. I’d fallen asleep with her in my arms. I woke
up alone. Rising, I glanced toward the kitchen. An open pizza box
stood between a half-dozen or so beer bottles. I reached my arms in
the air and twisted the kinks out of my back.

“Bridget?” I called out.

There was no response. I assumed she’d gone
home. Had she tried to wake me before she left? Perhaps she felt
too embarrassed. No reason to dwell on it. Not yet, at least. We
were both professionals, and could act accordingly the next time we
were in each other’s presence in a professional setting.

Alone, though? Time would tell. I hoped.

My phone beeped from somewhere in the
kitchen. I found it on the counter, silenced it and started a fresh
pot of coffee. While waiting for my morning java to brew, I checked
my missed calls. There were sixteen. Guess that’s what I got for
silencing the ringer. I counted five calls from Sam, eight from
Huff, two from my mother, and one from Bridget. Had she called to
apologize? And if so, for what? Coming over, or running out?

The final drips of fresh brew fell from the
filter into the pot. I filled a mug and topped it off with some
cream. Anticipation built as I lifted the hot liquid to my mouth.
Like a junkie and a needle, I tell you. The first few sips went
down hot. Instantly I felt awake. My finger hovered over Bridget’s
number for a few seconds. Instead, I called Sam.

“I just heard the news, Mitch.”

“What news?” It could have been anything.
I heard about the ransom demand. I heard about Lana banging
McCree. I heard about you banging Bridget.

He hadn’t heard any of those things. “A month
without pay, man. That’s harsh.”

Ah, my suspension. “Christ, is that what I
got?”

“You don’t know yet?”

“I just got up.”

“Say what?”

I said nothing.

“You didn’t go in to defend yourself?”

“They had at least eight witnesses. It was a
lost cause.”

“You might have only got two weeks, though.
And with pay.”

“Perhaps.”

“Yeah, perhaps. That’s all you got to
say?”

I said, “Whatever. I can use the time
off.”

“You’re crazy.”

“I know.” I took a sip from my mug. “What’s
new with the kids?”

“No one’s telling me anything.”

“I heard that the boy’s parents are loaded.
Something about the dad selling something to the government.”

“I heard something like that myself.”

“Wonder if it’s from the same source?” I
asked, trying to be as smooth as possible while gathering
information on Bridget.

“Is that source the reason why you woke up so
late?”

I didn’t reply.

“So what are you going to do?”

I hadn’t thought about it. Figured then was
as good a time as any. “I’m going to go pick up Ella and head out
of town for a couple of days. Go camping or something. Spend some
time just me and her and hope that clears my head.”

“I heard about Lana,” he said. “Sorry.”

“Yeah, well, it was bound to happen sooner or
later.”

“Like I said from the beginning, Mitch, she
was too hot for you.”

“Screw you,” I said and then I hung up the
phone to the sounds of Sam’s laughter.

I fixed a couple eggs, scrambled, then called
Huff to receive the official word that I’d been suspended. The call
was much shorter than my conversation with Sam.

Huff said, “One month, no pay. Don’t even
think about coming around the station, not even to use the
toilet.”

I didn’t bother to reply. After I hung up, I
checked my email. My personal account was full of new junk mail.
Apparently, someone in Africa wanted to send me eight million
dollars if I helped them open a bank account. Maybe I could look
into that if this cop thing didn’t work out. Perhaps not. When I
tried to access my work email account, a message popped up that
told me it had been suspended as well.

One month, no pay, no email.

Bummer.

Not for Ella, though. Not at first, at least.
After a few weeks, she’d grow tired of daddy telling her what to do
and when to do it all day long, every day. Then again, maybe not.
Kids that young have a way of bouncing back relatively quickly.
It’d be a good thing, overall. A chance for the two of us to
reconnect. I’d worked so hard to shield her from the realities of
life without her mother and brother that I worried I’d begun
shielding her from the rest of the world around her. A month could
help us both rediscover our place in this crazy world.

After I finished my second mug of coffee, I
powered off the laptop and headed upstairs. Folded clothes covered
my bed. I’d forgotten to put them away. It made it easy to pack. I
tossed a pair of shorts, jeans, some t-shirts and boxers into a
duffel bag. Should be plenty assuming there was access to a washing
machine. I showered, skipped shaving, and put on some fresh
clothes. Jeans and a polo. Casual Tuesday’s, you know. I left the
rest of the clothes on the bed and headed downstairs. I emptied the
contents of the coffee pot into a travel mug and headed out the
front door. Only problem was, the Chevy was gone. The department
had reclaimed it already. They didn’t waste any time. It’d be
thirty days or so before I saw it again. Maybe they’d make Sam
drive it around from now on.

The cold front had come through last night.
It made driving the Boss a little more bearable since the car
didn’t have working air conditioning. I backed the beast out of the
garage and let it idle in the driveway while I got out to shut the
garage door. Mine was the only house in the neighborhood without an
automatic opener. Wasn’t the only way I stood out from the rest of
my neighbors.

With the windows down and the radio turned up
too loud, I drove to the hospital to pay a visit to Lana. I still
hadn’t decided whether or not I’d confront her over the revelation
made in the transcripts of McCree’s interview. It could have been
that McCree was aware of our relationship and said that stuff just
to get a rise out of me. Or it could have been the truth.

I parked at the back of the visitor’s lot.
The sun beat down from directly overhead, absorbed by the blacktop.
The tall buildings blocked the breeze, leaving the air hot and
stagnant. I crossed the lot quickly and made my way through the
main entrance. Double glass sliding doors slid open, freeing a
burst of disinfected chilled air that quickly cooled me off. I
walked past the information desk. The old woman seated behind it
smiled. I nodded back. No directions today, ma’am. After five
minutes of walking through plain hospital hallways, I stood outside
of Lana’s room. I took a deep breath and knocked on the door, and
then I stepped inside the room.

She looked up, surprised. A weak smile formed
on her lips. “Mitch.” Her smile faded as quickly as it appeared,
and her eyes glossed over.

Part of me wanted to go over and comfort her.
The woman had been through a lot. Seeing those kids taken while
under her care could not have been easy and probably hurt worse
than her physical pain. Of course, there was a lot she’d been
through that she hadn’t told me. Things that she didn’t want me to
know. And now I knew. The two sides warred within me. The side that
won kept me rooted where I stood.

“They say I should be out in a couple days,”
she said.

I nodded. “That’s nice. I’m sure they’re
going to want to question you,” I paused and watched her. “About
the kids and what happened.”

“Of course. I’m ready. You can send them now
or I can give you a statement.”

“No questions from me. I’m off the case. In
fact, I’m so off the case that I’m suspended without pay for the
next month.”

“Mitch, what happened?”

I stared at her with dead eyes and no
expression. “Just Mitch Tanner being Mitch Tanner. You know how I
get when I’m worked up. The case got to me, as it did everyone
else. Only I exploded and hit another detective.”

“Oh, honey,” she said.

I wanted to tell her don’t honey me. But I’d
decided to wait until she was out of the hospital before
confronting her over McCree’s statement.

“Anyway,” I said, “I’m taking Ella out of
town for a few days.”

“Where to?” she asked. “I’ll come meet you
there. I could stand to get away for a few days.”

I shook my head. “Just her and me for a few
days. We both need it.”

She nodded and said, “Is everything okay,
Mitch? You seem, I don’t know, distant.”

I walked toward her, leaned over and kissed
her cheek. “I’ll see you in a week or so, Lana.” She called after
me as I exited the room. I didn’t bother to turn around. At that
moment, I didn’t care if I ever spoke with her again.

A half-hour later I pulled up to my mother’s
house. The door opened before I stepped out of the car. Ella ran
toward me, arms outstretched. I lifted her into the air and hugged
her like I hadn’t seen her in a year.

“You got the cool car out, Daddy,” she
said.

“That’s right,” I said. “The cool car for the
cool chick.”

“That’s me,” she said, smiling ear to
ear.

I kissed her cheeks a dozen times before
setting her down. She ran around the front of the Boss and pulled
open the passenger door. Her smile didn’t fade. I wasn’t sure if it
was due to me being there, or the car.

Momma came up and said, “Where you
headed?”

“Out of town,” I said. “You might want to do
the same. Go visit your sister down in D.C. for a week while I’m
gone.”

“You think I should?”

I nodded and said, “I do.”

“Then I will.” She turned and walked up to
her house. At the front door, she looked back and said, “You two
have a safe trip.”

That’s my mother. No need to waste words when
they weren’t needed. She’d been that way since I was a kid. I could
have a mountain of a problem and her advice wouldn’t stack up
higher than an ant hill. But it always worked. It was always
right.

So I got Ella settled in the car, gassed up,
grabbed some sodas and snacks, and we headed west for the
mountains. I called on the way to reserve a cabin for two,
hopefully on the lake.

I never could have guessed the surprise that
waited for us there.

I’d been going to this campground since the
age of eight or nine. It was our family vacation spot. Momma
couldn’t afford to take us anywhere else. The cabins were cheap, so
we got up there a few times every year. I guessed we spent a
cumulative month there every year until I graduated high school.
The owner of the place had a son named Terrence. The two of us were
about the same age and we hit it off right away. From the moment
I’d arrive till the time when my mother had to pull me out of a
canoe, or off a bike, or out of a tree, Terrence and I were
together. And we were trouble.

The memories flooded me as I pulled the Boss
up to the wooden building that served as the check-in office and
convenience store. The sign out front had been replaced and the
shutters had been repainted. Otherwise it looked the same as it did
twenty years ago. I reached over and gently shook Ella to wake her
up.

“Are we there?” she asked, yawning and
stretching her slender arms above her head.

I nodded and pointed toward the building. She
smiled and hopped out of the car. I climbed up a set of creaking
stairs and met her at the front door. She pulled it open and went
inside. The place smelled like mothballs and beef jerky.

“Son of a bitch,” the guy behind the counter
said.

Ella giggled. I smiled. “Terrence,” I said.
“How’ve you been?”

Terrence came around the counter and shook my
hand. “What’s it been? Four years now?” He reached down and placed
his hand on Ella’s head. “This one was still in diapers back
then.”

I nodded. “It’s been a while.”

“The rest of the crew outside?”

I took Ella’s hands in mine. “Just the two of
us this time.”

His eyes grew wide like he remembered
something. I nodded at him, letting him know it was okay.

Terrence went back behind the counter and
opened up his reservation book. “A little daddy and daughter
adventure, eh? I see you spoke with my wife. That’s why I didn’t
know you were coming.” He tossed a set of keys to me. The fob
attached said cabin thirteen. “Right on the water, in front of the
dock.”

“Excellent.”

“We rebuilt it a few years ago. Perfect
condition.”

I stood there, smiling, holding Ella’s
hand.

“Ah, right, well you two go get settled in.
Come on back up and I’ll have some bait and poles waiting for you
so you can get some fishing in. Then tonight, we’ll grill whatever
you catch.”

“I don’t like fish,” Ella said.

“Then I’ll make you some hot dogs,” Terrence
said. “Fair?”