Jasper leaned forward from his perch on Detective Garcia's couch, elbows on knees, hands clasped in front of him. "I remember you now."
It had taken a while for the memories to bubble up. His brain didn't work like Goldie's had. His wanted to move in a forward, linear fashion, but her death had forced him to bring the past up for chopped up visits to the present. The only moments he had remaining with her were these visits—memories that seemed stolen from dreams.
The past was where Goldie belonged now, and it was also in the past was he'd met Garcia. "You were dancing with Goldie at a club. She invited me to come out with her and then ignored me the whole night, but you were there. You looked different. Happy."
"I let my hair down every now and then, if the right person wants to run her hands through it."
It had been dark in the club and Jasper was already a few drinks in by the time he'd arrived. When he realized Goldie was otherwise occupied, he'd flirted with the bartender and left with her as soon as her shift ended. He'd never given a second thought to the woman Goldie danced with, hadn't realized she'd become something special to his stepsister. By the time Goldie died, he'd forgotten all about that night. He couldn't even remember the bartender's name, much less the person he'd assumed was just a random woman grinding against Goldie out on the dance floor. "I don't have a memory for faces."
"It doesn't matter, Jasper. It made it easier—that you didn't remember me."
"Easier for you to lie to me, you mean." Detective Ryan sulked from his spot in the room's darkest corner. He refused to sit with them. Jasper supposed it would take more than an evening to smooth things over between him and his partner. In a way, it was a relief, the detectives' discord. He'd fucked up a lot but so had Maris. She'd been in a serious relationship with their murder victim and had fought and broken up with her within hours of her death. She'd failed to disclose any of that to Ryan, which seemed like a reason to strip her of her badge if ever there was one.
"Are you a suspect now?" Jasper asked her.
Tam slapped his knee. "Jasper!"
"Well? She argued with Goldie and may have been the last one to see her alive. Or the second to last depending on if she murdered Goldie or not."
"He brings up a good point," Ryan said. "Maybe the reason you were so hellbent on seeing Tam behind bars was because you were the one who belonged there."
Maris clucked her tongue. "You don't believe that."
He leaned against the wall as though he wished he could disappear into it. "The jury is still out."
"I don't believe it," Tam said. "I have more reason than anyone else in this room to resent you, Maris. And everyone here has a big reason to be mad at you. But I'm not angry. You may have had motive to kill her, and the means. And you were at the crime scene near the time of her death. And okay, that sounds really bad. But all those same things can be said about me, and I still believe in my heart her death had something to do with Lucre. She may have used me, but Wanton Cosmetics used her too. Any number of things could have occurred to piss them off. And one thing in my experience you really don't want to do is piss off an international drug ring."
"There's also Shay." Three pairs of eyes turned in Jasper's direction.
"Who's Shay?" asked Tam.
"GoldieGirl01. I forgot to tell you; she was wearing a nametag when I talked to her at the zoo. Her name is Shay, and she is definitely involved."
Ryan extracted himself from the corner, choosing a chair as far away in the room as he could get from Maris. "You claimed you'd already told me everything you could about this case."
"This is the last bit. To be fair, you already had a lot to absorb. Shay has been manipulating things from the start. She made a rather elaborate effort to persuade me into believing Tam was guilty, which involved her trespassing on my property. She's the one who set the internet on fire, turning everyone who even remotely liked Goldie into rabid cyberbullies. Every slur and death threat Tam received can be contributed to her provocation."
"Why didn't you tell us about this sooner?" Maris asked.
"We couldn't trust you," Jasper answered. "And for good reason. But there's more. Shay told me she has a source. She's working with someone who helped her orchestrate all of this."
"Who?" Ryan scribbled something in his notebook. "Was it Aiden? The people he works for?"
"Aiden... that's doubtful. He didn't strike me as the type who would bother with the scheme Shay's got going. The people he works for? That's anyone's guess. Could be someone we haven't even thought of yet."
"You said you met up with her at the zoo?"
"Yeah. She works there."
"Okay," Maris said. "I'll see if I can find more information on her. Ryan and I will go talk to her in the morning."
"Will we though?" Ryan shifted in his chair. "I'm pretty sure you'll be off of this case by the morning, and probably on suspension too."
"Zachary, come on. I need to see this through. We're so close!"
"Are you fucking kidding me, Maris?"
"Guys," Tam said. "Can you maybe argue about this after we leave? And can you also maybe not forget that there's a drug cartel who wants me dead? Like, I get that you're mad, Detective Ryan. And Maris, I understand that your heart is crushed, but you need to focus."
Jasper grabbed her hand and squeezed it. She leaned against him.
"All right," Maris said. "Along those lines, it's about time we arrest you."
"Why?" Tam's fingernails dug into the flesh of his palm. "Don't you believe I'm innocent?"
"What I mean is, we make it seem like you've been arrested. Bring you in. You'll be safer down at the station. Shay will assume she got what she wanted and so will whoever her source is. And the fentanyl cartel, they'll be pacified."
"No, they won't. They'll get even more nervous, assuming I'll talk to the cops and tell them everything I know to save my own ass. What if they have someone on the inside? They'll hang me in my cell and make it look like a suicide."
"God damnit, here we go again. The two of you comprehend nothing beyond what you've watched on TV. There's no one on the inside and this isn't a fucking cop show. Do I need to remind you that you swore Ryan was dirty less than an hour ago?"
Ryan frowned. "She did?"
"And is he?"
Tam cleared her throat. "Probably not."
"Probably?" Ryan's voice rose." I'm not Wanton Cosmetic's man on the inside. I can assure you of that."
"Well, someone else might be," she responded. "I've been inside a police station enough times to hold me over for the rest of my life. No. I'm not going."
"Tam," Maris said. "This is a good plan."
Jasper stood up, pulling Tam along with him. "If she doesn't want to go, she's not going. You two, do your jobs for once and get us answers."
"That stings, man," Ryan's frown deepened. This day wasn't going well for him. "I thought we were friends."
"We aren't friends. Have some professionalism. Jesus Christ. Tam and I know literally nothing about being detectives—as you've pointed out—yet we got farther on this case than you by a longshot."
"That's not really true."
"It really is true. Now, we're going to return to our undisclosed location and wait for you two to come up with something. We'll be in touch."
They left without letting the detectives say more. As soon as Jasper had slammed the front door closed, Tam pulled him to her and kissed him. "That was pretty sexy, the way you put them in their place."
"You liked that?" He grabbed her backside and squeezed. "I'll make sure to yell at cops more often then."
He leaned in for another kiss when a flash of movement at the edge of Maris' driveway caught his eye. The movement was brief. Whatever it was was quickly obscured behind a hedge. A person, he was sure of it. "Did you see that?"
"The only thing I can see is you."
Tam turned around, but whoever was there wasn't going to come out of hiding. The hair on the back of his neck stood on end. He felt electric, like he might shock anything that touched him.
"What is it, Jasper?"
"Someone's watching us." He grabbed her hand, half expecting her to pull away as bolts of energy shot through her. Instead, she grasped it hard. He swallowed. "We need to get the fuck out of here."
They made it the short distance to Jasper's car, Jasper never letting his gaze leave the perimeter of the yard. Someone might be ready to pounce. They might be aiming a gun. Any moment could find either of them in the crosshairs. He reeved up the car and put it in reverse. "Stay low," he told her.
She slumped as low as possible, her fingers flying over her phone as she texted Maris a warning for them to be on guard.
The car pulled out, passed the hedge, onto the street, his eyes darting in the direction the movement came from. This was when a barrage of bullets would riddle his car, or the perpetrator would use his own car to ram his, hitting the passenger side, bashing Tam's head in, and leaving him passed out and gravely injured.
He braced himself, but there were no bullets, no screech of metal slamming into metal. The walkway appeared quiet. The loudest sound on the meandering way he took back to the hotel, were Tam's sobs.
"Why?" she kept saying. "I never even wanted what they're willing to kill me for."
______
What do you think of the idea to fake arrest Tam? Is she safer if they go that route or is she better off hiding out with Jasper? Was someone waiting for them, or is Jasper just paranoid? If that's the case, I can't say I blame him!
Thanks for reading, voting, etc. You're the best!