Through Thick & Thin

Chapter 1

Chapter 1: Derrick

 

Police Precinct: 8:23 p.m.

 “Damn, man. That’s fucked up.” Anthony said.

I nodded in agreement, looking through the glass window at the frightened young girl who was looking around the walls of the interrogation room. Her right eyebrow had a lengthy cut above it, from where she had been stabbed. I hated seeing things like this, but working in this field for two years, I’m somewhat used to it.

After being stitched up on site, she was asked to come tell in to give a statement. I almost feel bad for being the one to have to talk to her, because her brother was just murdered in front of her, but a job’s gotta get done.

“Alright, Simmons. You can be a little aggressive, so let me talk. She just lost her brother, man.” He looked at me almost offended, but shrugged and walked in first.

The young girl—I looked down at the police report to find her name—Tatyana. Tatyana was silently crying, wiping her chubby cheeks with the backs of her hands. I still had yet to see her eyes, and when she looked up at me, I was surprised to see they were a soft grey color. She was really a beautiful girl and I hated to see her cry.

“Hi, Tatyana, my name’s Derrick Ward, and this is Anthony Simmons. We want you to be as comfortable as possible. Could we get you a drink of water or something like that?” I asked, taking a seat adjacent to her, while Simmons retired to the back wall of the room, silently observing.

She only shook her head in the negative, tightening the oversized sweater around her body, given to her by Toni. Toni was my gorgeous fiancée. She also worked here in the reception area, helping out when she was needed.

“Okay, well, can you tell me how all this started?” I asked, folding my hands and placing them in front of me, on the steel table. Her sad eyes looked up at me and she adverted her gaze quickly back down to her lap, biting her full bottom lip. I couldn’t help but notice how her caramel brown skin tone was slightly red.

I knew getting her to talk was going take a while. Her brother just died, and she didn’t even get a chance to mourn peacefully, before she was dragged downtown to repeat the traumatic event to complete strangers.

I understand what she’s feeling, it happened to me when I was fourteen, except I watched my brother, who I followed around like a shadow and looked up to like a hero; take his life with an all black 9mm gun. All because of some drug business gone wrong, he feared his life, and before someone else took it, he decided to end it himself. Just like that, he was gone. That’s why I’m here today. I can prevent violence before it gets to that point—or at least I try my best to.

At twenty three, almost twenty four, this would be one of my biggest cases so to speak.

 “Tatyana, sweetie, I know it’s hard, but can you at least tell me who the men were?” Simmons asked from behind me. I was surprised by the sympathy in his voice. He usually was the ‘bad cop’, so to speak.

“I…store…ran…shot…fault…just…brother back.” Her sentence was destroyed by the way she broke down heaving and crying. Her shoulders moved up and down as she sobbed into the black sleeve of the sweater. I felt my heart go out to her. That was me ten years ago, when Brian died. Now I’m twenty three and I still have moments where I feel like breaking down, but I rarely get the chance, seeing as I live with Toni. It’s not a problem though, ‘cause a real man don’t cry all the time. That’s what Brian always taught me.

I stroked her trembling hand that sat across the table and she flinched.

“Pl-please,” She sniffled. “Five minutes, please.” She sniffed, rising from her seat, and walking towards the door.