(A/N) Another long chapter. Enjoy!
Brandon put his belt through the loop of his pants as he slid on his shoes. Today was beautiful, according to the weather forecast. The highest being 92 today. So he wore the lightest clothes he had. Not that it mattered anyways since he'd be inside the morgue all day. Today, he had to do an autopsy on a body which died under suspicious circumstances. A young healthy male, with no medical history, who died of a suspected heart attack.
He walked in front of his bathroom mirror, giving himself a quick check before sliding on his glasses neatly. Jonathan always liked to joke around that he looked very geeky, and Brandon wasn't sure if he should take him seriously or not.
But at the same time, Jonathan would also tell him that he looked adorable, which made him smile with glee.
Brandon picked up his car keys and suitcase and walked out of his apartment. He walked down the hall and took the elevator into the lobby. He began to count in his head how many steps it would take to get to his car.
Not even five steps later, he noticed a trail of blood leading to the side of the building. Brandon leaned over to look at it more clearly and pushed up his glasses. He followed the trail of blood which then led up to a dumpster. And next to it were a pair of feet sticking out from the side of it on the ground.
He raised his eyebrows in surprise and quickly rushed over to the body, noticing a single gunshot to the chest, right in the middle. Brandon recognized the body. It was Ashley Mindler, a girl who lived on his floor.
He pulled out his phone and dialed a number, bringing it up to his ear as he heard it ring a few times before the person on the other line picked up.
"Hey its me. We got another body."
-x-
"So," Sarah started off by saying as Walter kept his eyes on the road, "you got a crush on anyone?"
Walter was caught off guard and quickly glanced at her. "What?"
"I said—"
"I heard what you said." Walter gripped on tighter to the steering wheel. He never told anyone that he had a crush on agent Borres. Maybe the word "crush" seemed a little childish to him. "No, I don't have a crush on anyone."
Sarah folded her hands on her lap and looked out the window. "Alriiiiiight."
Walter rolled his eyes. Having a love interest was something he never talked about. Even as a kid he never really had much crushes on anyone. Just once when he was in fourth grade, he fell in love with Kayla Johnson and had the guts to ask her out, only to be rejected and have all the kids in his grade laughing at him. But whenever that memory came up, he always remembered how he lost his virginity to two girl at the same time on the same night before his high school graduation ceremony. And he walked that stage proudly with a big grin on his face as he took his diploma and smiled for his picture.
What a day.
"Thanks for dropping me off, Walt," Sarah said as she opened the car door and stepped out.
"No problem kid, I'll pick you up after school too."
Sarah nodded and waved goodbye at him before closing the door and walking towards the school building.
Just then, she noticed Mister Hunter walking past her as he tucked something into his pocket rather hastily. Sarah picked up the pace to match speeds with him.
"Hi, Mister Hunter!"
Ray looked over to his side to see the voice that startled him. He let out a sigh of relief and smiled back at Sarah. "Hello there, Sarah. How are you?"
"I'm great. I woke up this morning to the smell of my mom making breakfast. Some waffles and sausage with a muffin." She looked up at the sky, watching the fluffy looking white clouds slowly go across the vibrant blue sky. "Beautiful day, wouldn't you say?"
Ray looked up into the sky to observe what beauty Sarah was talking about. He noticed one of the clouds looked like an elephant, Emily's favorite animal.
"Yes, a very beautiful day."
Sarah looked back up at Ray. "Well, I'll see you soon, Mister Hunter. Bye!"
Ray didn't even look at Sarah as she walked off. He just kept staring at the elephant shaped cloud. It made him sad to look at it since Emily always said she wanted to ride an elephant in Africa. But she never got to before her untimely death. He felt someone touch him on the shoulder. He looked over and saw Avery. He had a slightly concerning look on his face.
"Everything ok?" He asked.
Ray pursed his lips and smiled. "Yea, of course."
Avery patted him on the back and walked with him into the school building. "You seemed a little upset when you left the bar last night."
"Oh it was nothing. I was just a little tired." Ray noticed that there was a question lingering on Avery's mind. "And don't worry, I made it home safely."
"Thats a relief," Avery replied. He grabbed Ray's hand, squeezing it tightly. Ray looked down at their hands and raised a brow, looking back up at Avery. He just smiled.
"Yea. Well anyways, I should get going. Classes are about to start. I'll see you later." Ray waited for Avery to let go of his hand, but he didn't. He gently tugged his hand away.
"O–oh yea, sorry. I'll see you soon." Avery chuckled nervously before rushing into the building. Ray watched him disappear into the crowd of teens gathering into the school. He pushed his hand into his pocket, feeling his flask was still in there. He closed his eyes for a moment to give him a sense of relief and peace before he walked into the building.
-x-
Walter rushed into the morgue, expressing through his face and body language that he was shocked.
"What the hell?"
Nancy raised a brow and looked over at him carefully. "What is it with you guys just walking in in the middle of an autopsy?"
The detective looked over to the person standing off to the side of the room. It was Jordan with a hand on her hip. Walter scratched the back of his head, slowly moving towards her.
"Hey, Borres."
Jordan turned her head towards Walter, giving him a grin. "Hey, Ottoson." She turned her head back to Nancy and continued to watch her do the autopsy. "What is this, victim number four?"
Walter frowned as he noticed a hint of mockery in Jordan's voice. "Are you... are you mocking me?"
Immediately, Jordan looked at Walter with a look of confusion. "What? No of course not! If I was mocking you, I'd be doing the same to myself. Walt, this is the same guy as ours. If anything, I should be mocking myself. I mean, I've been on this case for a few years now and I still haven't found the bastard."
Walter sighed and bit the inside of his bottom lip. "I'm sorry."
Jordan gently patted his shoulder, smiling at him. "Don't worry about it." Walter lifted his head and gave her a smile back. "Hey, where's your partner?"
Walter looked around the room, noticing that Seth wasn't in the morgue. He pulled out his phone, dialing Seth's number. But it went straight to voicemail. He closed his phone.
"He's not answering his phone."
"Well, you did only call once. What if he overslept?"
Walter scoffed. "A detective should never oversleep." He stared at Jordan who had her arms crossed. Finally, Walter rolled his eyes and dialed Seth's number again. And this time, he picked up.
"Hello?"
"Seth, where are you?"
"I overslept and just got out of the shower. Everything alright?"
"We got another body," Walter said. "Nancy is doing the autopsy right now and I'm just here with Jordan, waiting."
Seth sighed into the phone. "Alright. I'll be there soon. And I'll buy us some coffee."
Walter looked at Jordan before turning away and whispering into the phone. "Can you buy one for Jordan? Please?"
There was a moment of silence between the two men. Walter nervously bit his nail. Seth began to chuckle.
"I knew you had a crush on her!"
"I'll pay you back!" Walter said quickly. Nancy and Jordan both looked at Walter, eyeing him before going back to what they were doing. Jordan was looking in her notepad of information she gathered from others. Walter sighed and held on tightly to his phone. "I promise I'll pay you back."
"Deal," Seth said. And before Walter could say another word, Seth hung up.
"So, did he overslept?" Jordan asked as Walter tucked his phone into his pocket.
"Yea, what a bastard he is, huh?"
Jordan light heartedly chuckled. "He kinda reminds me of Jonathan. Just a little bit."
"The sleeping part, or being a bastard?"
"Both. I mean, Jonathan loves to sleep, and he's the biggest bastard I know." Jordan fiddled her thumbs together and stared at the floor. "But I still love him."
Walter caught his breath, staring straight ahead at the body on the autopsy table. He felt like there was a lump stuck in his throat, when in reality that was just him trying to swallow his pride.
"O–oh. So... you like him."
"Yea. Of course I do. He's got his flaws but he's still—" Jordan looked at Walter, quickly waving her hands back and forth in front of her. "No not like that. He's gay anyways."
Suddenly, Walter felt his pride climbing back up his throat. He smiled widely and regained his posture. "I see. That's good. Nothing wrong with that."
"Yea no, not at all. Um, speaking of which, I shouldn't be telling you this but..." Jordan leaned in closer to Walter, making his heart beat faster. Maybe it was from the cup of coffee he had earlier, and also the thought of getting another cup of pure black coffee. But he could smell her perfume from how close she was to him. It smelled so natural and pure. It was such a turn on for him "Jonathan likes you."
And now he had this feeling like his pride leaped to its death into his stomach acid. He leaned back and looked closely at Jordan. Usually he was very good at telling if someone was lying. But he couldn't tell. She seemed genuine. Which meant that she was possibly telling the truth.
"Oh." It was all he could say. What could he say? He wasn't gay. In fact, he was attracted to Jordan. Her stunning face and womanly curves was what he was attracted to. Not a... muscular, hairy man.
Jordan stood leaning against the wall with her arms crossed, nodding. "Yup. And, I heard from some unnamed sources that he's a total top. Which I could totally see with you two since you would be more of a bottom."
"Um, a top? A bottom?" Walter questioned. "What are those?"
"It's best you don't know," Jordan said. She tilted her head and pushed herself off the wall, taking a few steps forward. "Hey, how much longer is this gonna take?"
Nancy tightly held on to the surgical tongs in annoyance. She let out a frustrated sigh and looked over at Jordan. "I can get this done much faster if you guys would leave me alone."
Jordan made a two finger salute and winked at Walter before walking out of the morgue. Seth walked in with a cup holder tray, carrying three coffee's in it.
"Oh hey, agent Borres. Would you like a coffee?" Seth asked.
"No thanks. I just had one. But thank you for the offer." She smiled at Seth and walked passed him. Seth shrugged and kept on walking. He greeted Nancy who groaned loudly.
"Why can't I have just five minutes of peace!" She shouted.
Seth handed her a cup of coffee which was originally supposed to be Jordan's. Nancy looked down at her gloved hands which were covered in blood. Seth chuckled and put the cup down on the sink counter behind her. He then made his way to Walter who had his hands over his eyes, bowing his head.
"Peekaboo." Walter frowned and moved his hands away from his eyes to look at his partner. "What's the matter kiddo?"
"Its nothing," Walter replied softly.
"Someone is in love with Walt," Nancy said.
Seth smirked and gently poked Walter in the stomach. Walter kept pushing his hands away but Seth kept going. "Tell me who the girl is. Let me guess, its Jordan!"
"More like guy." Walter sighed. "It's a guy who likes me. And apparently, he's a top, and I'm a bottom!"
Seth tilted his head to the side. "What does that mean?"
"Fuck if I know!" Walter shouted. He grabbed the coffee that had a marking on it to let it be know that it was the only black coffee. He took a sip of it, making a face of disgust. "Ugh, tastes like shit."
"That's what black coffee is suppose to taste like," Seth commented.
"No, it usually tastes good. This one taste like shit." Walter sighed and shrugged, taking another sip. Seth grabbed the last coffee and took a sip of it, shrugging. "Tastes like... coffee."
"It's fine, don't worry. I'll drink it anyways. And, I'll pay you back later on."
Seth threw the cup holder tray away and stood next to Walter. He slid his hand into his pocket, feeling the coins. He sipped his coffee calmly, watching as Nancy finally took out the bullet.
-x-
Ricky is not a murderer. He's my brother. He would never hurt me like that.
The bell rang as everyone got into their seat and Ray quickly tucked the letter from Jack into his back bag. Raymond counted the students that were in his class. Everyone was present. He wrote down on his attendance and then moved his attention back to his class.
"Alright now everyone. Let's settle down and start class." He walked up to the chalkboard and picked up the chalk, writing down the word "horror". He turned to the class, letting a few seconds of silence pass by. "Can anyone tell me what this word means?"
A few students raised their hands. Sarah didn't, not because she didn't know the meaning, but because she just wanted to give someone a chance to answer the simple question and let them feel like they're smart.
Ray still didn't know the names of all of his students. Sitting right in front of him was a latino boy with glasses. He decided to pick him.
"What's your name?" Ray asked.
"M–Miguel."
"Alright, Miguel. Can you tell me the definition of 'horror'?"
Miguel pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose, clearing his throat. "Its an intense feeling of fear, shock, or disgust."
"Good," Ray said. He stood right in front of Miguel's desk and started down at him coldly. The teen stared back at him, furrowing his eyebrows. He felt a sense of fear from the way he was looking at him. After another second of silence, Ray finally spoke up. "Scared?" he asked.
"A little," Miguel replied.
Ray smirked and straightened himself up. "Good. Because that's the same feeling that Edgar Allen Poe's readers had. Except they weren't just a little scared. They were filled with horror." Ray walked over to his desk to pick up a book titled 'The Tell–Tale Heart'. "Has anyone read this book before?" Only a handful of students raised their hands. And Sarah was one of those students. She read several books instead of going out and making friends.
"Isn't that the book with the guy that's got the weird lookin' eye?" One of the students asked. "Like... you."
The class giggled at the comparison. Sarah didn't understand what was so funny though. Mister Hunter had a blind eye and so did the old man in The Tell–Tale Heart. Why was that so funny?
Ray cleared his throat to get the attention of the class back. The class fell silent as Ray just stared down at the book. When he was in high school, some kids would often look at him strangely and call him names just because of his blind eye. However, most of them never dared to speak to him because of how scary he was. Rumors had spread that he got in a fight with a gangster and that's how he got his eye like that. But that wasn't even true.
Ray turned to look at the student who insulted him and gave him a smile. "Yea, just like me."
"Sorry, Mister Hunter."
"It's fine. Now then, why don't we get on with the lesson for today?"
It can't be him. Ricky is not a murderer. He could never do that to me. Right?
-x-
"She didn't die from a gunshot to the heart," Nancy said as she threw her bloody gloves away.
"How do you know that?" Walter asked.
"Well, I'm a medical examiner and I just finished her autopsy. That's how I know." Walter rolled his eyes as Nancy chuckled lightly. "Anyways, she died from several blows to the head. It could have been caused by a blunt object like a bat or a hammer. Maybe even someones fists. The gunshot was done post mortem."
"So, she was shot after she died? But why?" Walter questioned.
Seth crossed his arms and stared down at Ashley's body, leaning over to examine her closely. "Rage," Seth said. He straightened himself back up and shifted his brown eyes over to Walter. "Whoever did this was overcome by extreme anger. So they beat her until she died. Then shot her in the center of the chest to make it look like one of the gunshot murders."
"But why do that? Why cover it up?"
"Because it's the second perp. He was the one who did this." Seth slid his hands into his pockets. "Now then, shall we contact Richard Hunter?"
-x-
Richard typed on his computer quickly. He seemed really invested in his work since he hadn't pulled his hands away from the keyboard for nearly half an hour. Yet, they weren't even aching.
"Ricky," his boss, Keith called out to him. Ricky stopped typing immediately. His hands were shaking from the non stop typing he had done for half an hour straight.
Ricky sighed and looked behind him at Keith. "Yes, sir—" he noticed the same two detectives standing next to his boss. They looked less intimidating. "Oh. Detectives. Hello."
"We need to talk, Ricky," Seth said in a low and serious voice, "in private."
Ricky nodded and followed the two detectives to an empty conference room. Walter closed the door after Ricky, standing behind him to try and intimidate him. But Ricky didn't flinch when he heard the door close loudly. He seemed very calm which seemed a little odd to Seth, even though he didn't know why. He sat down, his posture laid back like always.
"I told you, I had nothing to do with Emily's murder. I was at the strip club."
Walter felt like laughing at the thought of Ricky at a strip club. He remembered how whenever he went to a strip club during a case, he didn't often see guys like Ricky frequenting them. It was usually ballers or men bored with their lives.
"We know, we already checked in with the strip club. They remember seeing you there at the time of Emily's murder. So it couldn't have been you." The stoic man sat down across from Ricky who had his eyes staring directly at him. "But, we're not here to talk about Emily."
Ricky scoffed and raised a brow in surprise. "Oh really? So what is it that the NYPD wants with me?"
The last time Seth had to bring bad news to someone that their loved one died didn't go so well. He remembered how Ray punched him so hard that the pain lasted for two days. But this time he was ready. Especially because him and Walter both suspect that Ricky was the one that killed Ashley since the murder doesn't line up with the rest of the gunshot murders.
"When was the last time you saw Ashley Mindler?" Seth asked.
Ricky didn't even flinch at the sound of her name. Usually someone who commits their first few murders acts very suspicious, especially if they are known to be very good people. Sometimes they feel guilt and you can just tell. But Ricky didn't seem like that. He seemed just fine from what Walter could see.
"I saw her last night. We were just having dinner and talking. After that I left at around 10:30 pm."
Suspicious, Walter thought. Why did he feel the need to tell us what time he left? And why did he feel the need to tell us what he was doing with her?
"Did you guys get into an argument?" Walter asked.
Ricky looked at him oddly, wondering why he would ask that. "What? No, why would you even think that?"
Walter looked at Seth and nodded. He took in a deep breath and slowly exhaled. Ok, it's time to tell him.
"Richard, Ashley was found this morning right outside her apartment building," Seth whispered. "She was... shot."
For a moment, Ricky didn't believe him. Why should he? They accused him of killing Emily Hunter, so why should he even believe them? He scoffed at them and stood up.
"Nah, you guys are just lying," Ricky said as he got up close in Walter's face. The two of them were pretty much the same size, so Walter wasn't at all scared of Ricky. He stood still like a statue, staring deeply into Ricky's green eyes. He waited for one of the detectives to start laughing and say, "just kidding". But when that didn't happen, he started to think that they were telling the truth.
"We wouldn't lie about this," Walter said. Ricky bit his bottom lip and took a few steps away from Walter before he would punch him in the face.
"This can't be... y–you guys made a mistake!"
Seth frowned and walked towards Ricky slowly, gently placing his hand on the man's shoulder. "I'm sorry."
"Take me to her," Ricky whispered. "I need to see it with my own eyes."
The two detectives looked at each other and sighed.
-x-
Nancy was ready to move the blue sheet to reveal the body of Ashley Mindler. But Ricky wasn't. He was still trying to gather the courage to look at his girlfriend's dead body.
"Richard, if you need more time—"
"No I'm fine," Ricky interrupted Seth. "I just want to think for another second that she's still alive."
Walter averted his blue eyes to the side and twitched his lip. Ricky finally looked at Nancy and nodded. Slowly, she pulled down the blue sheet to reveal Ashley's face. Walter watched Ricky's reaction closely. He gasped in shock, reaching out to gently caress her pale skin. He was a sobbing mess. He seemed... genuine. He wasn't lying about his feelings.
"Why?" Ricky lifted his head to look at Walter. "Who did this?"
"That's what we're trying to figure out." Walter took out his notepad and pen, opening up to a clean page. "Do you know anyone that would have wanted to hurt Ashley?"
Ricky shook his head. "No."
"What about any ex–boyfriends?"
"Like I said, no one would want to hurt her. She was nice to everyone." Ricky pulled his green eyes away from the dead body and took a few steps to the side before he got sicker than he already was. "She's been sober for two years."
"Has she been going to any groups?" Seth asked.
"Um, yea. Its near her apartment, a few blocks away."
Walter thanked Ricky for the information and gently patted him on the back. He knew he wasn't lying. He was being genuine. And thus, was ruled out on his lists of suspects.
-x-
"That's awful," said a woman with red glasses. "Ashley was such a good girl. She was really trying to pull herself together, give herself a better life." The woman sighed and shook her head as she picked up a clipboard on the table.
Walter looked around the room. It felt welcoming. No one seemed suspicious.
"So anyone here take a particular interest in Ashley?" Seth asked.
The woman shook her head. "We share personal details about ourselves, so everyone knew that her and this guy named Ricky, I think, we're going out."
"And did she ever talk about him negatively?"
"Never. She only spoke good of him. She said that he was the only man who ever cared for her."
Walter wished he could have spoken with Ashley before she died so that she could say all those things she said about Ricky, just to tell if she was lying or not.
"Did you ever meet Ricky?" Walter asked.
"Just once when he came to pick her up. He seemed like such a great guy."
"And when was that?"
The woman shrugged and apologized for not knowing when. Seth reassured her that it was ok, then let her walk off.
"What do you think?" Seth asked his partner as they slowly walked towards the exit. Walter glanced at Seth and shrugged.
"Seems genuine," he said. Walter stopped and sighed, looking down at his shoes. Seth looked back at his partner and furrowed his eyebrows.
"What's the matter?"
Walter frowned, unsure of what to say. He felt like something just didn't seem right. Why was she beat to death, but then shot in the center of her chest? Was it a coverup? It just had to be. Everything that the midnight rose murderer does is planned. He doesn't do things by accident or spontaneously. He does every single little detail for a specific reason. So what was his reason for killing Ashley? The previous gunshot murders were people who were connected to the Hunter case. Nico LaBelle was related to Emily, Joe Robinson was the LaBelles' immigration lawyer, and Father Thomas was planning to get Emily's family out of New York as he believe something bad would happen to them. So how does Ashley fit into all of this? The only way she is related to this case is that she is the girlfriend of a man who is brothers with the husband of a murder victim. And now Walter needed to find the connection.
Walter cleared his throat and shook his head. "It's nothing."
-x-
After teaching students for several hours, Ray was back at the Yankee Bar again with Avery. The two men were just talking about their personal lives and what it was like for each of them. Ray didn't speak much about his life without Emily. Mainly because he was still extremely hurt and sensitive about the topic.
Avery kept reassuring him that it was all ok.
"Well, what about you?" Ray asked. "What's life like with your wife?"
Avery sighed through his nose and ran his thumb against his glass. "Well, we're in the process of getting a divorce."
"Sorry to hear that." Ray picked up his drink, taking a sip.
"Its alright. Its for the best anyways." Avery drummed his fingers against the bar. "I'm just upset that she's getting custody of our kids."
"How many?"
"Two sons. Still very young." Avery's voice suddenly became very hushed as he tried not to cry. "They're just trying to figure out why mommy and daddy don't love each other. And I don't know how to tell them that daddy caught mommy loving another man."
Hearing that made Ray's heart shatter. He gently rubbed Avery's back. How could someone cheat on the person they supposedly loved? It was disgusting.
"Its ok," Ray said. Avery looked at Ray, his eyes wandering over to his lips. Ray wondered why Avery suddenly looked so calm while he had tears in his eyes. He then started to wonder why Avery was beginning to lean in, and why Ray himself was also leaning in.
But the two men stopped and looked away from each other, trying to act like what was about to happen didn't just happen.
"Uh... school..." Ray said as he scratched the back of his head nervously.
"Yes! School!" Avery replied. "I shall see you in school tomorrow! Goodbye!"
Ray watched as Avery grabbed his briefcase and ran out of the bar. That's when the bartender came in, smirking just the slightest.
"You know Ray rhymes with gay, right?"
Snapping back into reality, Ray looked at the bartender in surprise as his face turned red. "What? I'm not gay."
"Sure you ain't. You like women. Just like every man in this bar." He subtly pointed to a buff man who looked like he could rip Ray into two. "See that guy over there? He likes women... and men. His friends don't know it, but I do."
"Ok, and that's what he likes... but I'm straight." Ray leaned in closer towards the bartender. "I'd prefer not to have a man stick his you–know–what into my you–know–where."
The bartender felt like laughing out loud, but he kept it in. "Maybe it would be the other way arou—"
"Alright, Elijah. I think that's enough."
Elijah chuckled and nodded, backing off. He went to go serve a man who had just walked into the bar, leaving Ray to think to himself. The only experience he had with anything gay was his best friend, Jackson, whose nickname was Frog. The only thing that happened was a kiss. It didn't happen by accident, or in a game of spin the bottle. The two boys were just curious and still figuring themselves out. He never regretted the kiss. He just regretted not being there enough for Frog before he committed suicide.
"Here you go sir," Elijah said to the man sitting a few seats away from Ray at the bar. Ray looked down at his drink. There was only a sip left. Maybe it was time to go already.
"Raymond Hunter?" A low voice said. Ray looked to the side, seeing a man sitting right next to him. It wasn't anyone he knew.
"Um, do I know you?"
The stranger sighed and seemed to struggle with getting the words out. "I–I heard what happened in the news. About your wife."
Ray felt like breaking down in tears again. The one time he wasn't thinking about his wife since her death, and someone brings her up.
"Yea." The fuck does this guy want, make me feel more like shit? "Um, not to be rude, but is there something that you want?"
"I'm sorry... this must be hard for you still." The stranger had tears in his eyes, but he tried to fight them back. He then took out his wallet and pulled out a photo of a young woman, possibly in her early 20's. Ray lifted a brow, noticing the similarities between her and Emily. "My fiancé was abducted several years ago. She hasn't been found since. The police never found her abductor and they pressured her to be dead."
Dead? Why would they think she was dead if they didn't find her body?
"I'm so sorry to hear that..." Ray whispered, genuinely feeling sorry for this man.
The man smiled and looked down at the photo in his hand, tears sliding down his cheeks. "She was my everything. We planned to get married, have kids. But then someone stole that away from me."
Where is this going?
Ray, who is a man that recently lost his wife, didn't know what to say to another man who had gone through the same thing. This man who he had never met before in his entire life just suddenly came up to him to tell him that his wife was kidnapped several years ago, what was Ray even supposed to say?
"My name is Zach Sorrentino."
It was the last name that Ray recognized, because that was the name of the insurance company he had been thinking of switching to for several months now. Ray suddenly straightened himself up, holding his hand out towards Zach. The man looked down at his hand and waited for a few seconds, like he was thinking if he should shake his hand. He seemed reluctant, but decided to shake it. He seemed uncomfortable.
"It's a pleasure to meet you, Mister Sorrentino," Ray said. "So, what brings you here?"
Zach lifted his glass and tipped it towards Ray. "The drinks. I... used to come here often. Back when my life went downhill." He cracked a smile and sipped his drink. It was strong and powerful, just the way he used to drink it.
Ray frowned and eyed Elijah who shrugged and walked off to the side, still in earshot of them. Ray looked back at Zach who was quietly sipping his drink for a few seconds. He seemed to be waiting for Ray to say something to him.
"Mister Sorrentino... I'm truly sorry that you had to go through that... but, what does this have to do with me?"
"Let me help you," Zach replied.
"H–help me?"
Zach smiled and gently placed his hand on Ray's shoulder. For some reason, he felt oddly relaxed and trusting towards him. His smile was very welcoming and warm. It made Ray feel... joy.
"Yes," Zach repeated, "I would like to help you. Whatever you need."
Ray noticed how Zach wasn't staring at his blind eye. He was looking at him as a whole. It was like he didn't notice or maybe even care about it. He was so used to people staring at the thing he was most insecure about. But for once, he felt normal.
His lips formed into a smile, a sad one, but a smile nonetheless.
"You don't need to do that."
"Oh please, I still haven't fully moved on. It's been about 26 years and I still have trouble coping with her gone." Zach bit his bottom lip, feeling a tear escape. He pulled Ray close into him, into a tight and warm hug. Ray's eyes widened. He was surprised that this stranger who he just met a few minutes ago was so trusting of him.
He gently patted him on the back. "It's ok, Mister Sorrentino," Ray whispered, "It's ok."
(A/N) Wow, like, 5 days after posting a chapter, I post another. I'm so proud of myself. There will be about four more chapters left and then I'll finally be over with this book and start planning my second book. I just finished writing chapter 39 so now all I gotta do is write chapter 40. Like I said before, I already wrote the final chapter, I just need to make a few adjustments and that'll be all! Hopefully I can make it before the 28th since that's when school starts...
As always, thank you for reading, please be sure to vote and comment, it helps me out a lot. Also, make sure to follow me to get frequent updates. :)