A Berry Good Knight

Knight Life (SEVEN)

"That's an understatement." I didn't bother attempting to refrain from crying, the tears rushing down my face within seconds. I wanted to curl into a ball, and pour my despair onto the sheet. "I want to see her. If you need to handcuff me, so be it, but if possible, I would like to go to Brooke. Please." I noticed the detective's hesitation. "What? Is she already in the morgue? Fine. Let's go there." Never before had I wanted to see anyone's body. I couldn't even stand it on those television reality crime shows where they might just show the victim's hand peeking from beneath a sheet. Yet, for some unexplainable reason, I yearned to see Brooke. Perhaps my heart needed irrefutable evidence that she was gone like that text message Morgan received stated.

"Um, Cooper, she isn't in the morgue."

"Still in her room? Intensive Care Unit?"

The detective looked supremely uncomfortable as she rubbed the nape of her neck while nodding. "You're no longer under arrest. I doubt that any charges including the B&E will be brought against you."

Although I should have been relieved to learn that, I just couldn't find it in me to care about my freedom at that moment. Using the sheet, I wiped my face, fresh tears shortly staining it. "Could you take me to Brooke?"

"I need to tell you something. Confess would actually be a more accurate word."

"You the police officer needs to confess something?"

"I lied."

As I wondered what she could have possibly lied about, it took me a few seconds to reply, "About?"

Pulling the cell from her pocket, the detective showed me its screen, although it was dark on account of her phone being off. "Some of the things we read can be misleading...like that text message." Because I failed to utilize my vocal box, she soon continued. "Berry is gone didn't refer to your Brooke. A co-worker of mine went on a late-night bakery run to this place that makes the best-- well, that doesn't matter. The point is 'berry is gone' could have been an all lower-cased message, as it referenced that the bakery was all out of blueberry muffins, which are my absolute favorite."

I blinked in slow motion as I digested the unexpected information. If there were a group of us playing charades, most everyone would have guessed that I was imitating a fish based on how my mouth moved sans sound. "A muffin?" I finally spoke. "You allowed me to believe that Brooke had left this world when that message was about a damn muffin?"

Phone returned to her pocket, Morgan nervously massaged one hand with its mate. "They're really moist, and the baker actually inserts real blue-- well, you don't care about th--"

"You're damn right I don't care about it!" Throwing the sheet back, I tried rising for a second and a half before realizing that my limbs weren't one-hundred percent ready to function. Instead of leaving, I glared at the seated detective. I never realized that it was possible to be overjoyed and pissed off concurrently. "You played with my emotions for what? What? To gauge how I would react? If I seemed relieved because then she couldn't awaken and admit that I shoved the pills down her throat? By the way, that's sarcasm, not a confession."

Detective Dunn nodded as she switched to massaging the other hand. "I picked up on that, yes." A brief pause and she quietly apologized for the deception.

Head cocked to the side, I studied her. "You did it on purpose, didn't you? You left your phone on the table so I would hopefully read that message."

"That's true. The person who sent me the text is innocent. She was merely telling me that the bakery was out of blueberry muffins. Giving it a second of thought, I decided to manipulate you with it."