The Improbable (22 page)

           
David kept eye contact with me when we were finished, staring deep into my
eyes, breathing heavily and eventually resting his forehead on my chest. I
caressed the hair on the back of his head and moved down to his neck.

           
“That was everything and more than what I have ever dreamed of…thank you.” I
breathed.

           
“My pleasure. Anything for the love of my life. I love you, but somehow saying
those words just doesn’t seem like enough to express the way I feel about you.”
David whispered.

           
I laughed lightly. “I could say the same thing.”

           
David was silent for a long moment before he rolled over on his back. Without
another word he rose, dressing himself, and disappeared down his dark hallway.
I could see his silhouette grab something from the closet in the hallway and
pillows off the couch. I heard him open the door to his garage and go inside. I
waited in the dark…wondering what I should do and also wondering what he was
doing. I reached for the robe and slid it on, tightening it around my body,
waiting for him to get back. The door to the garage closed and I watched as his
shadow came closer.

           
“May I ask what you’re doing, sir?” I asked.

           
David held out his hand. “I have something to show you.”

           
I looked at him questioningly but took his hand anyways.

           
He grabbed my hand, leading me to the garage.

           
“What’re we doing?” I asked when I saw that stairs had been pulled down from
his garage attic.

           
“I thought you didn’t question the one you love?” He teased and turned me
around. “Go on up, it’s safe.”

           
I looked up into the dark attic and felt uneasy. But I trusted him so I began
climbing up into the attic.

           
“Okay now, step on this box and I’ll help you up onto the roof.” David
instructed.

           
I looked up at the opening to the roof and stepped onto the box. David’s strong
hands wrapped around my hips and pushed me up. I felt wobbly on his roof until
he was next to me, stabilizing me out. David had spread out a blanket and
pillows on his rooftop. I looked at him with a smile. “We’re sleeping on the
roof?”

           
He shrugged and lay down on the blanket. “You call it sleeping, I call it
gazing at the stars.” David patted the spot next to him. “Come on.”

           
Oh this man was completely out of this world! I lowered myself down and rested
my head on his chest as he wrapped his strong arm around me. I looked up at the
stars and truly felt as if I’d entered another universe. The sky was barely
black because there were so many stars lighting up the sky! They gleamed,
shining bright and proud. It looked as if there were millions of crystals and
diamonds strewn across a black marble floor.

           
“It’s breathtaking,” I took a deep breath, the sight was to die for.

           
“Absolutely.” David agreed.

           
“I’ve never taken the time to just sit and stare at the stars.” I admitted.

           
“Me either,” I felt David shrug. “Well I take that back.” He said after a
moment.

           
“So you always stare at the stars…?” I giggled.

           
“Eva,
you
are my sky full of stars that I’m always staring at; whenever
I look at you, I just sit and wonder how God made someone so perfect and
stunning. Someone that has enough energy to shine even at the darkest of times.
I wonder how you put up with everything you do and continue to be filled with
love that stretches on so long that even the universe is jealous. These stars
are wonders of the world and
you’re
the wonder of mine.”

           
My hand came over my heart and I leaned down to kiss him gently. “Thank you,” I
whispered against his lips.

           
He put his hand on the back of my neck and pulled my forehead to his, smiling. “Even
if it’s us against the world…it’ll be forever you and me.”

           
A grin swept across my face. I nodded and gave him another peck on the lips.
“Forever. You and me.”

           
This.

           
Was.

           
Love.

T
he
sun was shining bright while the city of Chicago bustled busily underneath.

Sounds
from the street below streamed into the open window in my office, joining in with
the lovely French song I’d been playing nonstop to get me through the day. As I
sat and gazed aimlessly out the window, I realized that there had been no days
of rain in the summer so far. In a way, it reflected my life since I’d been
with Eva-Marie – no bad days. I smiled as I thought of how comfortable she
appeared when she slept and how her sweet scent enveloped me whenever she was
around. My heart ached for her every time we were apart. Everything with her
just felt so…
right
.

However,
there was one small thing nagging me in the back of my mind and that nagging
grew more and more everyday – who I was to her was a lie! I didn’t want to
admit to the fact that I’d been lying to her ever since I told her my name was
David Finley and not David O’Neil. How would she react when she found out who I
really was? Would she be able to trust me the same? I couldn’t help but feel as
if she’d think I’d let her down by lying to her. My body went cold at the
thought of her tearing me out of her life. It couldn’t hurt to tell her the
truth, right? She would understand it was part of my job, wouldn’t she? That
was it! I would tell her. I
had
to tell her.

           
A knock at the door broke me away from my reverie. “Oh it’s good to catch you
in here, son.” Warren said as he entered my office.

           
I turned from the window and leaned forward on my desk. “Pop, how are you?”

           
He sat in the seat in front of my desk and crossed his ankle over his knee.
“All is well. How has your progress been coming along ever since you let that
negro
girl go?”

           
My stomach twisted. “Fine,” I said curtly, not wanting to elaborate on
that
subject.

           
“Good,” he nodded, “I would presume you’ve been getting more work done.”

           
“Yes sir.” I stood and headed to the board behind my desk. There, I had all of
the information Clayton and I had gathered sorted and ready to be figured out.
“We believe that Mr. Nicholas Brandy is the main producer, however, we’re
lacking the evidence we need to convict him.”

           
“This case is going to have to pick up speed. It’s been two and a half months
and it’s only getting worse. Two more bodies were found over the weekend.” My
father sighed and shook his head. “This drug is running rampant.”

           
“I agree,” I nodded. “That’s why I met with the coroner to get more information
on
anything
that would help us. He pointed out that since the bodies
have been discovered, there’s been a rising level of a certain component of the
drug called Dexonine. It essentially sends the body into an overdrive that it
can’t come down from, causing the recent bodies to die with eyes wide open.”

           
He had his hand on his chin nodding, listening intently – the
only
time
I had his full attention. “
Mhmm
.”

           
“Now since Nicholas admitted to adding an extra high to sell at a higher price,
we know that if the substance he uses to add a high to his product matches the
substance the coroner has tracked in the bodies then we have him for good and
the case is closed.” I explained. Even though we had our differences, I still
wanted to make him proud. Our complicated father-son relationship…

           
My father clapped and stood, a smile on his face. A
genuine
smile. He
held his hand out to me to shake. “Great work, son! This is coming to an end, I
can feel it!”

           
Clayton entered my office next. “Good day Chief, how
ya
doin
’?”

           
Pop nodded at him, still smiling. “Even better, now that I hear you two are on
the way to closing this case in the near future!” He patted Clayton on the
back.

           
Clayton nodded in agreement, “I’d give it a few days to get a positive test on
the substance. Since I been in cahoots with our good friend Mr. Brandy, I seen
that he only produces this stuff once every so often. I know that within the
next two weeks he’ll be
gettin
’ some more ready to
go, it’ll be tough but I’ll get a sample straight from the source – you can bet
on it.”

           
My father chuckled, “I have faith in you both. I don’t think I’ve ever been so
proud in my years.” He turned and winked at me.

           
Pride welled up inside of me; for once in a long time I had done something
right in my father’s eyes! The feeling made me feel as if I was on top of the
world, I couldn’t wait to actually finish the case and show him that I could
handle whatever was thrown at me!

           
“Well I just came to let
ya
know that we’ve got block
watch, son.” Clayton looked over at me.

           
I nodded and began to gather my things.

           
“Oh! Then I’d better let you two get going. Keep up the good work boys, we’re
on to something!” My father called as he exited my office.

           
When Clayton and I exited the station to make our way to the car, a black man
standing at the end of the block caught my eye. He was staring with his eyes
squinted and his hands in his pockets, a camera hanging from around his neck. I
didn’t have time to be paranoid about every little thing, I had more important
things to worry about at the moment.

           
“Can you believe all of this is almost over, boy?” Clayton asked as he was
parking the car once we reached the southern side of the city.

           
I sighed. “Thank God Almighty.”

           
Clayton chuckled. “What you don’t like
workin
’ with a
rowdy southerner like myself?”

           
“No, this ended up working better than I saw it going. You’re not so bad I
guess.” I shrugged, biting a finger nail and looking out the window at the
surroundings.

           
“Well, alright!” Clayton pumped his fist in the air. “So what’re you
gonna
do when I’m the new chief? Are you
plannin
’ on
bowin
’ down or
kneelin
’?” He teased.

           
“Neither,” I said laughing lightly through my nose. “I’ll stick to clapping.
But on to more important subjects, where is everyone there’s only three people
out here.” I desperately wanted to change the subject. Over the months I’d
become a more soft-hearted and understanding person and not such an ice cold
asshole as I was before Eva brought me back to life. As a result, I wanted to
do something…
nice
for someone. I had decided that I would tell my father
I wanted him to pass the position down to Clayton because I knew that he
deserved it over me any day.

           
Clayton looked around as well. “Maybe everyone stopped buying.” He shrugged.
“That negro down there looks a tad suspicious
whaddya
think?” Clayton pointed to the corner of the block.

           
I squinted at the man he was speaking of and my eyebrows furrowed. It was the
same man from outside the station! As soon as I made eye contact with him he
turned and walked away. Was I seeing things? I couldn’t have been if Clayton
saw him too! I was growing suspicious but didn’t let Clayton know. “Looks like
he’s just walking through the neighborhood.” I shrugged.

           
“Are you kidding me? The –”

           
I cut him off, “Wait! Look, right up there!” I pointed to a car driving up the
block, away from us.

           
Clayton leaned forward for a better look. “That
ain’t
Brandy’s vehicle…”

           
The car crept slowly down the block and stopped at one dealer. The dealer
appeared as if he was listening intently to whomever he was speaking with. A
nervous smile cross the man’s face before he took the hand of the person, which
was covered with a white glove, and planted a light kiss on the back of the
hand. The person in the car handed him a brief case and he backed away to let
the car drive off. Most of the time we’d just witnessed Nicholas regularly drop
off his product to the dealer. Where was Brandy?

“You
think it’s someone that works for Brandy?” I asked.

Clayton’s
eyebrows were furrowed and he was shaking his head. “I can’t tell…why would
he…? I can’t see him having a female working for him.” He appeared entirely
perplexed.

           
“Well there’s only one way to find out,” I opened my door.

           
Clayton’s eyes doubled in size. “What’re you
doin
’?”

           
“I’m going to ask the man who that was and where Brandy is, this has got to
end!” I hissed before exiting the car. I could hear Clayton’s footsteps behind
me as I approached the man.

           
“Just relax, David. Don’t wanna scare ‘em off, now.” Clayton grabbed my
shoulder.

           
I stopped and sighed. “I know how to handle myself.”

           
Clayton stared at me for a long while, most likely remembering all the times
I’d lost my temper, and then continued walking.

           
“What’s up buddy, you
sellin
’?” I asked the man
coolly.

           
He turned and looked at us. “It’s your lucky day, just got some fresh new Trio
straight from the boss.” The man beamed with pride as he opened the brief case
and revealed his new supplies.

           
I pulled out a wad of money from my pocket and began counting as if I was
actually considering buying that shit. “Ah, you mean Brandy?”

           
The dealer snorted. “Yeah that guy wishes. That there,” he pointed in the
direction the car had gone, “was
thee
boss that sits at the top. That
one is untouchable. If they figured out what Brandy’s doing to get more profit…he’d
be dead in no more than five seconds.” He shook his head. “So what’ll you get
today?”

           
I stopped counting the money and shoved it back in my pocket. “I’ve got what I
need. Thanks.” I swiftly turned to walk back toward the car.

           
“Well I’ll be damned!” Clayton exclaimed once we were alone.

           
“I knew it! I knew he wasn’t the main supplier!
Gah
!”
I punched the dashboard in frustration. It made me angry that we’d been on the
wrong path for the last few months and in the back of my head I knew something
was wrong!

           
Clayton shook his head slowly. “I can’t believe this…how did I not know?”

           
“I knew it,” I mumbled, staring straight ahead. After a few moments of silence,
I couldn’t take sitting in my frustration anymore. “Take me back to the
station.” I knew that Eva and I had planned to meet in the train yard before
the sun set and didn’t want to be late. Not to mention, she could always
relieve my stress… I didn’t want to deal with the case anymore.

“Eva!” I
called when I arrived to the train yard later on that evening. There was no
answer, only silence and the gravel crunching beneath my feet. I shielded my
face from the evening sun as I walked, searching for my beautiful girl.

           
“Up here David,” I heard her sweet voice from above me.

           
I stopped and looked up. There on top of the train was my stress reliever, the
love of my life, my Eva-Marie. She looked breathtaking with the sunset
illuminating her from behind. I breathed a sigh of relief and smiled weakly up
at her. “There you are.”

           
“How was work today?” She asked, smiling.

           
“How did you get up there?” I questioned, looking around.

           
“The ladder, silly. Right on the other side.” She giggled.

           
“I don’t know if it’s safe for you to be up there,” I noted as I found the
ladder and started climbing.

           
Eva placed her hands on her hips and scowled playfully. “Oh is that so? Then
may I ask why you’re making your way up here?”

           
“To save,” I hoisted myself up and picked her up, “the one I love from any
harm.”

           
She pressed her nose to my own lightly. “My knight in shining armor.” Eva
giggled and kissed my cheek. She pulled back and grabbed my face in her hands. “You
look so…stressed.” She pouted with her bottom lip. Eva leaned closer and
whispered into my ear, “What’s wrong with my love?”

           
The way Eva had whispered the words into my ear had been so sweet and caring
that I wanted to break down right then and there and reveal to her
everything
I had been going through with the case in the recent months! I wanted to tell
her my real name and my real profession and exactly why I had lied about it to
her before! I felt so overwhelmed.

           
“Talk to me,” she hummed quietly.

           
I studied her face; noticing how her furrowed brow indicated that she was truly
confused, how the corners of her lips were turned down giving away that she was
honestly concerned, and how her head was cocked to the side just simply trying
to understand me. All of these signs showing that she cared about me, that she
loved
me.