My Kevlar Surrounded Heart

I Thought I Knew You

♥♥♥♥

     "Lyra No!" Ray screamed, his hand barely brushing against my wrist as I kept running. "Lyra, please! You're going to get killed."
I didn't listen, I should have listened but I didn't. I pounced on Blake, despite the knife he was holding and the fact that he was much larger than me.
I barely heard Raymond yell before I was shoved off of him, and pinned to the ground by a knee. Blake put the knife up to my neck, "Guess you'll be joining your brother now~" He purred out, a creepy smirk resting on his lips.
I felt blood starting to drip down my neck, but before any real damage was done, Blake was pulled off and the weight on my chest was gone, but the pain in my neck stayed. I don't know what happened after that, I was dazed; there was a part of me that wanted him to do it, to let me join my brother, but I couldn't leave Raymond.

Little did I know...

♥♥♥♥

     I squeezed my eyes shut as the memory replayed over and over in my head, I silently told myself not to cry, but I couldn't help it. Despite crying for so long out at the dock, I somehow had more tears left.
That memory wasn't like any of the others, it was so much more personal. I was so close to catching the psycho who murdered my brother during a mugging gone wrong. I got so close but I just wasn't strong enough, and I ended up on the floor alone and wishing for my wounds to kill me. I learned later that Ray and Dan chased after him, but he got away, just like he always does.
I sat down with my back against the door, the silence in the house driving me insane; Ray should be here. He should be here comforting me, keeping me safe.
He shouldn't be so far away, being labeled a liar.
That's not the Raymond I know.
I wasn't sure what I was doing, but I pulled my phone out, and before I could stop myself, my finger pressed the "call" button. I held the phone up to my ear, silently begging him to pick up, but I wasn't surprised when I ended up being met with a voicemail.

     "Thanks for calling Raymond's phone, sadly I'm unable to answer right now, but if you leave your name and number after the beep, I'll get back to you as soon as possible."

I hung up the phone and sat for a while in silence, I knew he wouldn't answer. I called him so many times after his "death", and he never answered, despite being alive, why would he answer now?
I decided after a bit to call Dan, I don't know what made me do it, but I did. It rang for a few moments before he picked up.
     "Hello?" I was glad to hear that it was him this time, and not Rico.
     "Hey, Dan..."
     "Oh no, something's wrong. What's up?"
     "Dan I..."
     "It's about Ray, isn't it?"
     "How could he have done this to us? How could Raymond, one of the best guys at the precinct, leave us like it was nothing?"
     "I don't know, Lyra" he let out a sigh, "God I wish I knew. One day we will, but for now, we need to focus on catching him and his father."
     "Yeah.. yeah" I curled my legs up to my chest.
     "We'll get him back, I promise. Then you two can go live your cute little love story" He laughed a little.
     "Oh my god, we do not like each other like that!" I rolled my eyes. I know he was trying to cheer me up, and it was somewhat working.
     "Lyra, you can't deny it anymore. You're crushing on Ray."
     "Dan, you're insane, and I'm hanging up now."
     "You know it's tru-" His voice cut off as I hung up, but I couldn't help but think about his words. I don't like Ray, not like that. We're just really close
And he makes me really happy
And I really miss him when we're not together
And he... holy crap. I like Raymond.
I put my head in my knees as the tears come again.
This guy...
This guy who I've known for so long, who faked his death, stole my heart.
I couldn't deal with taking a bath anymore, I just want to sleep today away. I pushed myself up using the countertop to stand up, my legs shaking under me, it felt like gravity had doubled, and now I'm being sucked down into the center of the earth. I slowly made my way back to my bedroom, I change into some PJs before flopping into my bed, and soon after, I drifted off to sleep.

♥♥♥♥

     "This doesn't make any sense," I said, staring at the test results
     "What doesn't make any sense?" Dan asked, sitting down next to me.
     "I ran some tests on Alex to see if his prints were on the body"
     "Ok, and?"
     "The results pinged in our system, he's connected to Ray."
     "How?"
     "Distantly. Like a cousin or uncle."
     "Why doesn't that make sense? Didn't Alex mention dad in the video?"
     I sighed, that never occurred to me, "Well, right, but the thing is, Ray told me he has no family other than his mom and brothers. His dad left when he was young, and his dad was an only child, and I find it hard to believe one of his mom's siblings is involved."
     "We already established that Ray lied about his family a lot."
     I sighed, 'right..."
     "I know it sucks, but... It's how it is now. And the best we can do is figure out why he did what he did."
     "Right... right"
     "You ok?"
     "Yeah, I'm fine." The fact of me liking Ray in a more than friend way was still stuck in my head, I was trying so hard to not let it get to me, but it's hard.
It's hard when you think you know someone, when you think you know the person you love, and they turn out to be living a double life right under your nose.
It's hard to know that you've been blaming yourself for your partner's death for years, just to find out they're alive.

It's hard...

♥♥♥♥

     "We found out more information." Rico walked into the room, a folder in hand, "Ericson Hart. He's a part of the kingsmond Gang, which is known for its crimes with drugs and attempted or successful murder." he set the folder down, "their biggest enemy, the Roselnn gang. And guess who's apart of that gang."
     "Who?" Dan asked, leaning on his desk with a coffee in his hand.
     "Allie Lamburg."
     "Our victim," Dan states.
     "Yup." Rico put up her picture on the board, "not only that. Ray has had issues with the Roselnn gang on multiple occasions. Causing the arrest of about 3 of their leaders, and 5 of the other members."
     "So Ray could have killed her in self-defense?" I asked, maybe it was a bit optimistic of me, but I don't care much about that anymore.
     "It's possible. He could have been attacked by the gang and killed Allie when trying to escape, but it's more plausible for Ray to have been ordered by Mr. Hart to kill her."
     "So how does this help us..."
     "We aren't sure yet."
     "I think we are," Anderson said, holding up a folder, "I noticed something similar in the financial records between Mr. Hart and Ms. Lamburg."
     "And that is?"
     "On the day Allie died, she took out 5 thousand dollars, and a couple of hours later, Mr. Hart deposited 5 thousand into his bank account. This was also after her time of death, meaning the meeting to trade the money was during her time of death."
     "What do you think she was paying for?"
     "Some debt, obviously. What we're not sure about is what. Could be ransom, could be to not kill someone, but considering Allie is still dead, either Mr. Hart got the money and killed her anyways, or something went seriously wrong during the exchange."
     "Any way to know which?"
     "Not currently. We're going to keep looking for any signs."
     "Good." I got up, "get moving guys. We're getting close, I can tell."