The Last Wizard: Case Files (12 page)

ONE
Jordan

   Bill returned to the room, his face stern and gripping, as if he was overdue on a bowel movement. His eyes fidgeted between us, "C-can I see you for a second sir?" He said putting an emphasis on his stare towards Alice. He must have something on her.

   "What is it," I asked, waiting... "spit it out man."

   My eyes stayed on its target, there was no way she will be avoiding our questions, not this time. I needed to get what I suspected, the truth, from her before that shiny lawyer gets back.

   "But, I think we should..."

   "Spit it!" I yelled, darting my look at him. I could see the fierce fire in my face reflecting from his glistened eyes. I sat on the edge of my seat, leaning over my pistol that still sat on the desk behind my arms. I circled it like a cove.
   Gripping the door, he said: "They found a body, a girl." With a thin voice that got higher as he spoke, after he was done, we both looked at Alice. She sat upright in her chair, her curved spine visible from her jacket.

   "Who?" She said curiously, her hands folded in front of her.

   Bill looked to me first for approval, before giving him the nod to go on, I looked to Alice. Her muscles were tight, her eyes locked onto Bill. She awaited his word like a puppet waiting for its strings to be pulled. This was what I was waiting for, the key to open the box and spew its remained onto the desk. Bill dropped his hand from the door, and closed it slowly until he heard the click. He then took a seat to my left and leaned into Alice, with a single breathe he said: "What did you say happened to Melony?"

   "Sh-she... She got lost in the blizzard." Alice said calmly stretching her hands out and leaning back into her chair in an attempt to hide her stiff reaction.

   Bill stayed silent, he simply surveyed her, her words, her actions. It was a light I have never experienced with him yet, who knew the bloke could actually do police work. He continued to lean on the desk with his elbows, and hands folded. He tapped his hands periodically with the other, a single beat with three of his fingers that got faster and faster.

   "Come on now, let us know the truth. It would be best for you to get ahead of this, we can use it to protect you." He said trying to reason with her.

   "I don't know what happened. That's the truth, when can I leave?" Alice said looking at her wrist for a watch.

   "Our team found her, throat slit open." He said, noticing her impulse reaction. Alice twitched at the news, quickly recovering her demeanor. "Its okay, she came at you first no?" He said looking over at me and nodding in acceptance, "Yeah, she attacked you first, and then you just defended yourself in self-defense. We've all been there. There is no harm in it. Survival of the fittest, ammirite?
   "No! I would never hurt Mel, what's wrong with --- "
   "Cut the shit. I read the journal you kept." I interrupted her.

   There are days where no matter what, you can deflect the loads of shit tossed your way; not that it requires a special skill or anything, simply because you don't give a damn. Since the alarm woke me this morning and I rolled up onto my bed. The blue morning was dry and frigid, my wife still tucked under her warm silky blanket, I knew I wouldn't be able to toss these petty issues aside. Maybe it was because this particular person landed on my door and threw everything under the bus. Why me though? Why couldn't you pull your crap out on someone else, and spare me your heinous atrocity.

   "Journal?" She asked, looking at me with crooked eyebrows, mirroring Bill.

   “Yeah," I said with a smile of victory on my face. "A little black book I found in your bag." I sat back in my chair with my arms crossed, this is over.

   "Oh that..." Alice retorted dismissing it naturally, "Thats not mine." She said waving her hand off in the air, her expression was believable, she almost did get me.

   "Uh-huh, convenient." I said my arms loosening a bit.

   The room was still, except for shifting eyes. Bill waited for me, and I for Alice. Every moment that passed, the room shrank as I grew bigger. It took until I completely overshadowed Alice, for a bead of sweat to run down her forehead.

   Victory.

   Her smile waned as her feet bounced again under the table repeatedly. Even Bill surprised me by keeping silent, he plainly stared at her. Piling the pressure, let her sink!

   I began to tap my pistol, beat after beat I increased the pace before slowing back to a regular interval. Maybe I did it because I was impatient, but I could tell you, it worked. I noticed every time I sped up, Alice would shift in her chair, and dart her eyes to and from my pistol. Everything was finally on my side of the court, until the door to the room flew open and slammed against the wall leaving an imprint. Grabbing our attention, it flushed the heat from the room like a vacuum. The chill raised the hairs on the back of my neck.

   The lawyer and his briefcase stood in the doorway, its curious that people still use those. "Deputy Jordan, may I remind you that you are in contempt of the law!" He yelled naturally disgusted.

   "How the hell did you get back here?" I said to him.
   "Sorry, he pushed passed me." Debra said peeking over his shoulder.

   Alice scrambled onto the table and grabbed my gun and moved to the corner of the room. She held the gun with both of her hands, pointing downwards, her eyes twitched around the room before getting back to the gun, flipping the safety off. I immediately leaped out of my chair, raising my hands in front of me, "Easy... Alice, what are you doing."

    Bill, backed out of his chair so quick it went flying into the back wall. Drawing his gun and aiming down sights faster than a cowboy at noon, side stepping from behind the table into clear view of her. I came around the table, approaching her from the opposite side. The lawyer and Debra ducked and disappeared from view.

   "Easy Alice, put the gun down." I said to her in the most calming and soothing voice I could, almost like if I were talking to one of my grandchildren.

   "No! Get back!" She yelled shifting the gun between me and Bill. Her finger rested on the trigger, her arms shook and her eyes looked tired.

   I tapped against my chest, "Look here." I told her, she listened. "Its over."

   As I muttered those hollow words I felt my stomach tighten. I knew I fucked up. A chill crawled up my arm with an almost ghoulish feel. Alice stared at me with tremulous eyes, her sobs reaching my ears as her face displayed a colorful perplex of emotion. The way she hug-ged the dull beige wall was almost fluid, pressing against it with her soft thin shoulders.

   Looking at the gun trembling in her hands, she said: "Don't blame her for what I did, let her g--"

  "What happened to Jake Alice?" I asked her with my hands still positioned in front of me. Alice waved her head back and forth as if shaking her head in disagreement. Bill and I took a step forward...

  
"Okay! Okay..." She said loosening her grip on the gun, "After I hurt Mel, Jake chased me, He was the one that wanted to hurt me! How is it my fault that he fell and hit his head?" She yelled in a hot flash, her breathing got aggressive and she pushed off the wall and stood with still hands pointed towards me. Bill managed to get a few steps closer to her, "Get back!" She bellowed, focusing the gun on him, he didn't move.

   "Alice that’s not what happened, we both know that." I said frustrated, "these are peoples’ lives we are talking abo-ut! Your friends’ lives. I’m just looking for the truth that’s all." I titled my head until I cracked that hinge in my neck that returned from two years ago. I was on duty for a case that happened north of the city; the floor was lathered with ice, as I was circling the property of a supposed domestic violence case. The perp barged out the door and shoved me back, thankfully for the ice, it made me slip backwards. I stared as the world turned on itself, the house sank into the ground as the sky fell into view. By the time I came to, my back and neck was sore.

   “Lives that no longer matter!" She cried, “and I am tell-ing you the truth."

   "I have the book Alice." I told her, "You said that you smashed his head with a rock."

   "Stop calling me that!" She cried out again.

    "What?" I said.

   "It’s not my book." She said finally turning the gun on herself, placing it firmly on her temple.

   "Easy! Okay okay." I said raising my hand higher and taking a few steps closer. "Fine, its not your book. Who's is it?"
   "It’s Alice's." She said.

   Bill's lowered hands, "Whut? She's gone bonkers. Missy, you are Alice." He said to her.

   “I. Said. Stop. Calling me that." She said firmly looking to the roof, the florescent light drummed with flowing of its ions beat after beat. "That's Alice's book. You can't blame her for what we did, she's innocent." She continued with a waterfall of tears streaming from the side of her eyes, "Don't worry babe, I will make this okay soon."

   Then it hit me like a bird flying into a pale glass window then having to take a few days to recover; "Honey, who are you referring to as we?" I asked, I was close enough to reach her right arm, I touched her hand she held out to prevent me from reaching the gun. Her cold fingers absorbed the warmth of my hands.

   "Me and Alice, who else?" She said looking with enlight-ened eyes. "Why can you guys not see?!" She continued; "I'm Alex…” She looked at me with eyes I've never seen before. The once bright blue transformed into a subtle teal shade.

   "I'm sorry I'll make it better now." She said closing her eyes, she squeezed the trigger sending a forty caliber bullet into her skull.

   Blood smeared onto the wall, as her lifeless body fell into my arms. I cradled her tiny body in my arms as easy as I could so she didn't fall onto the ground. A thin layer of blood coated my face, every single muscle in my blood were flexed as the ring from the bullet still traveled down my eardrum on an indefinite loop. As I held onto her, Bill was saying something that I couldn't hear, I could see his mouth moving. I felt a roughness on her arm, I looked under her sleeves, cuts lined up both of her arms. Pulling her sleeves down, I drew her closer to me and hugged her.

   "Sorry."

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