Ricky rolled out of bed and shielded his eyes from the bit of sunlight that was coming through the windows. The only reason why he even got out of bed was because someone was knocking on his apartment door for so long that he couldn't ignore it anymore. He grabbed his sweats from the floor and pulled them up his legs, walking to his door and opening it.
Ray stood in front of Ricky with a little smile on his lips.
"Mind if I come in?"
Ricky shrugged and walked away to his dining table. He grabbed a glass and the half empty bottle of alcohol, pouring himself a drink as he sat down. "Want some?" He mumbled. As tempting as it was, Ray refused it and Ricky just looked out the window.
"I'm... so sorry for what happened," Ray said quietly. Ricky wiped his eyes as he didn't want Ray seeing him cry.
"I want to be alone."
Ray placed his hand on his brothers shoulder who touched his hand and felt the emotiones getting too much to bare. He covered his mouth as he wept.
"Remember, I'm just a phone call away," Ray reminded him as he walked back to the door, closing it behind him. He took in a deep sigh and looked down the hall behind him. There was no one around.
No, it's not him.
-x-
Brandon finished washing his hands after finishing with Penelope Worth's autopsy who was found earlier this morning.
Jonathan came walking in with his hand in his pocket as the other was holding his flip phone. He seemed a bit upset about something, and Brandon could easily tell.
"You look very unhappy," Brandon said in a very monotone voice. Jonathan scoffed and threw his phone onto the counter.
"It's that noticeable?"
"By the way you just threw your phone, I would say yes, it is very noticeable," Brandon replied. Jonathan leaned against the wall and noticed how Brandon stared at him like he had no emotions. "I would very much appreciate it if you could explain what it is that troubles you."
Jonathan could tell that besides his monotone voice and his expressionless face, Brandon was very concerned. There wasn't anyone else in the room, so he thought he might as well.
"Its my dad. He says he found a guy I might be interested in."
Brandon lifted an eyebrow. "Oh."
"But, I don't want him. He's not my type," Jonathan said. Brandon didn't seem so convinced by it. He turned around and picked up the clipboard of Penelope's autopsy, filling in a few things. "I like other people." Jonathan stood behind Brandon, his hands moving onto his ass then waist. Brandon gasp and quickly spun around. He turned red like a tomato.
"A-agent Wallace! This is high inappropriate. T-this is just flat out sexual harassment!"
Jonathan laughed, clutching onto his stomach. "You're so cute when you fluster like that." He composed himself and looked around. "It's ok, no one's around anyways."
Brandon felt his hands shaking, nearly dropping the clipboard. He fixed his glasses and looked down at the floor. "I thought that we would keep our sexual relationship OUT of the work place." Brandon frowned. "I would rather keep it like that... please."
Jonathan sighed and nodded. "Right. You're not out yet."
"It's not my fault that my father said he would literally murder me if I was gay," Brandon said. "And I don't doubt that he would. After he caught me giving a kiss to a boy, he beat me till I was bleeding and had a concussion, then he threw me onto the street where a car was coming."
"Brandon, you work for the FBI, you really think he would kill you?"
A few seconds went by where Brandon seemed to think about it. He didn't even think of that factor. He then looked up at Jonathan, nodding.
"He's crazy," Brandon said.
Jonathan smiled and pulled him close to himself, giving him a passionate kiss. For a moment, Brandon didn't really do anything back. He was more concerned about someone walking in. But after some time, he just relaxed and kissed him back. Jonathan leaned Brandon against the autopsy table, pressing his hand against it. He felt a hand, which he assumed was Brandon's. He intertwined his fingers with it, before realizing that the hand was smaller than Brandon's. Jonathan opened his eyes, noticing he was holding onto Penelope's hand. Immediately, he pulled away and took a few steps back. Brandon opened his eyes, wondering why Jonathan just backed out so suddenly right as the kiss was getting more heated.
"What's the matter?" Brandon asked.
Jonathan scratched the back of his head. "I think kissing in front of a dead body is not a turn on."
Brandon looked back at Penelope. "Oh. Sorry about that." He pulled the blue sheet over her face then looked over at Jonathan. "I've finished the autopsy by the way."
"That's good. Let's just wait for—"
"I'm here!" Jordan announced as she entered the morgue. Brandon cleared his throat and quickly wiped his mouth with the back of his hand.
"Hello, agent Borres. May we get started?"
Jordan squinted her eyes between the two before nodding and walking over to the autopsy table. She suspected something happened, but that was none of her business. If anything, it just made everything more hilarious.
-x-
"You ok, Sarah?" Ray asked after the bell rang.
"Yea, can I just hang in here for my lunch period? Please?"
Ray was going to have lunch with Avery, but he was sure that Avery wouldn't mind that much. He nodded and sat back down in his seat. "What do you wanna talk about?"
"It's my dad," Sarah started off by saying, "he's not himself. He's more stressed and he's been obsessing over the case. I'm worried about him."
Ray let out a sigh as he knew that this would happen. Something that he couldn't control was changing another person's life. If it destroyed someone's family, then he couldn't forgive himself for that.
"Then tell him to stop working on the case," Ray said.
"Mister Hunter... that's not how it works." Sarah walked to the window, peeking out to the trees. "It's not like being assaulted or getting robbed. In those situations, you can decide whether or not you want to press charges. But in the case of someone being murdered..." Sarah frowned and turned to Ray who looked defeated. "You can't make that decision. Someone's life was taken. And I'm sure that they would want their killer to be found. To bring justice... and to prevent future victims."
Ray didn't think of it like that. Of course he wanted the killer to be found. He didn't want some lunatic on the loose. But at what cost would it take to bring him down?
"Sarah," Ray stood up and gave her a pleading look, "Please take good care of your father. It seems like right now he's unstable and can make rash decisions. And I don't want you to lose someone important in your life because of what happened to my wife." He suppressed the urge to cry in front of Sarah.
"Mister Hunter... can I get a hug?"
Ray seemed utterly surprised at what Sarah asked from him. "Sarah... I–I would love a hug. But that's not really allowed. Especially since I'm a teacher and you're—"
"A student," Sarah sighed. "It's ok. I get it."
Ray smiled sadly, apologizing to Sarah who just stared down at the floor. She looked deeply upset but she tried her best to shield her face from him.
-x-
"Have you been able to contact the family?" Sergeant Powell asked the two detectives.
"I tried to," Walter replied. He picked up his notepad and turned to Wanda, reading it off to her. "Her dad died a few years ago from a car crash and her mom hasn't been heard from since. Her last known address was in Queens."
"Ok. So get going there."
"We already did," Seth said. "The people who knew her said that she moved a little almost a year ago. She was really private and was always in and out of her house."
Wanda crossed her arms. "Does she have a record?"
Walter shook his head. "Nope. It's squeaky clean. Not even a parking ticket." He rubbed his chin as he tried to connect the dots in his head. She was a private woman, yet she was always in and out of her house. Perhaps she was dealing or using drugs, but her record is clean.
"You think she killed her husband?" Seth questioned as he looked at the two. Wanda seemed to not really believe it a whole lot.
"He died in a car accident, so how is that possible?" Wanda asked.
"People often stage car accidents to kill someone. So it's not very outlandish," Walter said.
Seth shrugged. "It's just a theory. Besides, this doesn't really help our case. Ashley Mindler doesn't have any other family that we can contact. Her dad is dead and her mom is seemingly off the grid."
"Have you spoken to any potential witnesses or people who knew her?" Wanda asked.
"We did. But none of them knew anything. She was in a rehab group and the woman who runs it said that her boyfriend, Richard, was a really good guy and seemed happy in the relationship. No problems." Walter crossed his arm and leaned back in his chair. "We spoke with him... and he seemed genuinely upset." He looked up at Wanda with disappointed eyes. "I really thought he was guilty. Not to mention he was at the strip club during Emily's murder. So there's no way he was in two places at once."
Seth agreed with Walter as the facts just pointed to Ricky not being responsible for Emily's murder.
"Alright, rule him out then," Wanda said. Walter looked at the list of suspects they first had. All the names on the list were crossed out except for Ricky. He seemed so right for the murder, yet the evidence proved to be false. The detective sighed and crossed out Ricky's name.
"Any new suspects?" The Sergeant asked. Seth and Walter looked at each other with frowns before they shook their heads.
"Richard was our last suspect," Seth replied.
Wanda's eyes fell to the floor as she thought they would have some sort of lead. She knew what she had to do now.
"Looks like I have no choice but to turn this case over to the FBI."
Seth's brown eyes widened as he jumped out of his seat, standing tall in front of his boss. "No! You can't do that. This... this is OUR case!"
Wanda leaned back and furrowed her eyebrows. "Actually detective, I can. And you will follow my orders or face the consequences. Understood?"
Though he was boiling with anger, he clenched his fists and nodded. "Yes Sergeant." He sat back down, ignoring Walter's concerning stare.
-x-
Sarah knocked on her dad's office door lightly, getting no response. She knocked again, and yet there was no response. She figured he was deeply upset about getting his case taken away from him.
"Dad... let's talk about this," Sarah said. She pressed her hands against his door, knocking several more times. "Please. This isn't the end of the world."
"Sarah, please go away," Seth whispered softly.
There was no other way to get him to speak with her. He was beating himself up over the fact that he couldn't solve this case quicker than he wanted to. As much as Sarah wanted to use a coin and unlock the door, she had to give him some privacy and time to himself so that he could get over it. He was too distraught. And there was nothing Sarah could do to help.
"Please take care of yourself," she mumbled. "Goodnight." Sarah pushed herself away from the door and walked to her room.
Seth was all alone now. He was stressed and tired, yet he still wanted to keep investigating the case. A family was missing it's mom, and he wasn't going to stop till he found the one who was responsible. He would continue to follow the case and get justice, no matter what.
-x-
Luna was standing on the side of the street, a street which was filled with other prostitutes and runaways. She kept waiting for someone to stop and pick her up. But all the other John's passed by her, making her think that she should just go home and call it a night.
A shiny car slowly came driving up to Luna. Her luck turned around and she smiled. But then she realized who the car belonged to and furrowed her eyebrows. She pulled up the collar of her leather jacket and slid her hands into the pocket of them, walking away from the car and into the darkness.
The John smiled, watching as another prostitute came walking up to the car, offering herself to him. He accepted and drove off with her.
-x-
Victoria looked up at Ray and gave him a tight hug. "Take care of yourself," she said. Ray smiled and gave her a tight hug back. He was going to miss not having her around and taking care of the kids. But she had to go back eventually. She had lots of work to do. But she promised him that soon, she would come and visit him again.
"Hey, and you're still going to get the kids a dog right?" Victoria asked with her eyebrow raised. Ray rolled his eyes and nodded.
"Yea of course I will. Soon."
Victoria smiled one last time before hugging him again. She held on tightly to her suitcase as she heard a taxi honking its horn. "Well, I gotta go." Victoria looked down at the floors and sighed. "Thank you... for the good times you gave my sister." Her voice cracked just slightly as she looked back up, meeting his eyes. "She really loved you."
Ray gently patted her shoulder and opened the door for Victoria who walked out to the taxi. He felt pain in his chest as he watched her get into the car and drive off, back to Massachusetts.
He closed the door and shut his eyes, trapping the tears. He needed to drink. Luckily for him, he had several beers in his fridge for whenever his cravings were unbearable.
The sound of someone knocking on his door startled Ray and made him snap his eyes open. He put his hand over his heart and let out a soft sigh, trying to calm himself down. He assumed that Victoria might have left something behind. Being unmindful, he opened the door, yet no one was there. All he could hear was the sound of tires screeching. He quickly ran out into the street, seeing a glimpse of a shiny car drive off into the darkness.
Ray assumed it might have been just some kids fooling around. But he turned around and saw that his mailbox had mail.
He walked over to get whatever it was. A letter. From Jack. He tore it open and pulled out the piece of paper.
To Raymond Hunter, The loneliest man in the world,
I was having a drink the other day and I poured some out for your wife. I was in a weird mood and for some reason I just did that.
Did you know that your wife's killers favorite drink is vodka? I didn't take him for a vodka kind of guy but hey, we're all full of surprises, right?
By the way, this letter isn't really a clue or anything, I've just lost my dear Luna. I cannot find her, so if you see her, please tell her that I'm missing her. If not, maybe I'll find her myself. I just don't want anything bad to happen to her like what happened to this one.
Yours truly, Jack
Ray pulled out the polaroid photos from the envelope, immediately dropping them on the ground as he gasped. He clutched onto the mailbox and put his hand over his mouth, trying to resist the urge to throw up in disgust.
Before the wind could blow the pictures away, he gathered them up and gave them one last look. Pictures of a poor woman who was stabbed to death and disfigured. He stuffed the pictures back into the envelope and walked inside his house, turning off the lights as the rain came pouring down.
(A/N) I said I would finish this book before school started and I did. (except for the last chapter i have to finish). All I have to do now is publish all the remaining chapters. Which is good because now I just need to focus on finishing chapter 40, and then I can focus on surviving—I mean finishing this year of high school...
I would have published all the chapters before school started, but I ended up going to Dominican Republic last minute because of a family emergency. And honestly, I wish I was back there because it just so relaxing. But now I'm back here in the US... yay.
Anyways, hope y'all enjoyed this chapter, please vote and comment, it helps me out a lot and make sure to follow me to get frequent updates on my page. :)