Another case of murder

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Chapter 36

Ashley's POV

Its been three weeks since I moved back into my house, I had tried cleaning up the place the first and second week to keep my mind off things, anything to stay busy but that strategy obviously failed woefully cause now it looked exactly like I do, like shit.

The voices were getting louder, the nights longer, I couldn't tell my nightmares from reality any longer but one thing was persistent, the pills, they were always there, the blood was running into a pool with no end, it flowed into a tranquility of nothing, the faces came alive and haunted my mind, my thoughts, my sub conscious, the madness was catching up, my demons were catching up with me, I could swear that one of them had grabbed my arm yesterday night, the cold chills it left still lived in my spine and I couldn't help but be thankful that I didn't drag Harry into my mess.

I popped a few more pills as I tried to make a decent bun out of my overgrown afro, I grabbed a jacket and dashed out of the house, I was late again for the one hundredth time these past week, I always slept in due to the three hours of sleep I had been getting.

I mounted my bike as she roared to life and drove off to the precinct, my relationship with everyone was strained, I almost never spoke to harry except when it was totally necessary, Chloe and I still weren't clear if we were okay and Angie, let's just say were giving each other time to heal.

I was really late today, immediately I got into the precinct I tried to get down to business when harry tapped his pencil on my desk

"She wants to see you" he said

I could ignore the way my heart increased its pace, or the sudden warmth nor the longing seeping into my veins just from hearing smooth accent laced voice

I exhaled as I made a beeline to Chloe's office without a word to Harry, it was better this way I told myself, I tapped on her door before pulling the door open.

Chloe was seated on her recliner signing papers that were scattered all over her desk, tidiness had never been her thing, I sat quietly on the chair opposite hers, I couldn't ignore the feeling that consumed me, I felt like I was disappearing, like I no longer owned my body.

"Its the twelfth time this is happening" she said not sparing me a glance

"I know and am sorry, I pro........ "

"Promise" she said cutting me of

"Isn't that what you were going to say? Well that was what you said yesterday and the day before that, what am saying detective is that am tired of your shit, you wanna deal with your loss or whatever, how about you do it at home? "

"I..... I... Don't... "

"What am saying is that you are suspended until further notice, no pay, no allowances, no nothing during this period, are we clear or do you need further explanations "

I sat frozen as those tumbled out of her mouth, the funny thing was I didn't blame her, in fact  I was thankful that she held on this long for me, I couldn't love Chloe anymore than I did but all this pushed toward a cause, a cause that got me out of bed that morning, a cause that had been hanging above my head, like a dark cloud they say.

"Detective? "

"Crystal " I said
"That would be all" she said and went back to her work

As I stood and headed for the door I knew this was it..... But I had to tell her

"Cee? " I called softly

She heaved a sigh and slowly dragged her eyes away from her desk

"Thank you" I said

She nodded silently but the pained expression that she struggled to hide was clear as day, I took that as a cue and saw myself out, I walked to my desk feeling like a dead weight, I had to tie up all loose ends.

Harry sat at his chair, he kept taking glances at cee's office, I knew he was worried about me, I had caught him so many times trying to say a thing or two to me but always caught himself.

I was wicked, I  knew, I was selfish, I  knew, but was I ?  Wasn't all of this for him in the first place, everything that was happening to me was all his fault, he didn't know it of course, no one did.
The funny thing was that if I could go back, I  would never change the fact that I met harry, but I would probably mess with his timing.

I met his eyes as quickly he looked away, I wanted to talk to him, to thank him, but my pride couldn't let me, so I silently gathered my things but not without leaving him a note, for some reason I hoped he got it before it was too late.

As I got on my bike for the second time that day within a period of less than ten minutes, I looked back at the precinct I had spent more than half of the past five years of my life in and knew I didn't have any regrets, okay maybe just one............ Or TWO.

I let the roar coming from my exhaust drown it all, the voices, the pain I felt in my chest or how numb my heart felt, the fear I felt in my spine, they all would soon be a thing of the past anyway, as the precinct became a horizon on my side mirror, there was the demon that followed me to work this morning right on my tail.

Sorry for the cliffhanger, wait...... Is this a cliffhanger?  Its hard to tell these days anyway so I had an idea how about we play a game....... 😍🤗😁

Predict the next chapter correctly or anything close and get a surprise ‼️ giveaway

So who is down!!!!!!!!!???????