Chapter 9
Chapter Nine
Mark
“D id you hear we have another new guy starting next week?” Reid asked as he dropped a cup of coffee off at my desk.
“Yeah, DB mentioned it last night. I think there’s a possibility some of this week’s new guys are going to move to Palmerstown, but I don’t know for sure.”
I opened the file that was sitting on my desk and read through some results I’d been waiting for on a case and switched off to what was going on around me. There was just so much going on in my life that if I didn’t tune the world out, I’d miss something and mess up a case. People deserved better than that from me.
Another file hitting my desk had me lifting my head to see DB grinning widely.
“Heard you moved in with your wife last night. What’s it like living with the Townsends when they’re picturing stuffing your body and using it as a Halloween decoration?”
“I think we’re past that point. Now, they just want to pull my nails and toenails out and dip my fingers and toes in paint stripper.”
DB looked even more amused. “Ah, so progress then?”
“Looks like it.”
He pointed at the file he’d just dropped off. “Got some of the test results back on your house. Obviously we can’t involve you in the case while it’s ongoing, but I’ll keep you updated as much as possible. So far, most of the luminescent fluids haven’t reacted to Luminol, and the cadaver dog didn’t pick up on anything.”
“Wait,” Reid shouted, “cadaver dog? Since when is there a cadaver dog? You can’t just throw that out there and not expect us to get excited about it.”
Sitting his ass down on the corner of my desk, DB explained, “We now share one between ourselves and Palmerstown, but we’ll be lending her to a couple of others as well. She arrived on Friday and is still undergoing training with her handler, so last night was a test to make sure he can control her as required.”
“Why didn’t we get it? I’d have loved to have been the cadaver dog dude.”
“Because they have the crime scene techs, and it makes sense to keep them all together.” Seeing how disappointed Reid was, DB sighed. “Okay then, tell you what, once she’s settled, I’ll ask Judd if you can go and do some training with them to see her in action. How does that sound?”
“Like I got a tenth-rate prize when I came in second.”
I swung my chair around to see him. “What does that even mean?”
“Like when you go to a fair and see what great prizes you get for first and second place, but when it comes to them giving it to you, you get one that would have been better suited for tenth place.”
Fair enough.
Shaking his head, DB turned back to me. “Police closest to Mrs. Mitchell’s retirement place are going to visit her today and ask some questions. If necessary, we’ll be allowed to ask her some of our own, or even go there to do it.
“Depending on what tests they run, we should start getting the results back in the next week, and if everything’s okay, then you can get that cleaning crew in to sanitize the place.”
“Thanks, DB. Layla found out I’d bought her the dream house because of other people’s bodily fluids, so it wasn’t the way I’d planned.”
“Obviously,” he pointed out dryly. “Nothing says romance like orgy stains in her dream house.”
“Yeah, so hopefully now that she knows, she can start planning how she wants it to look.”
He tilted his head to the side and said carefully, “And y’all are at that point where you can make choices like that?”
“Fuck, no,” I snorted. “But I’m hoping that if she thinks about how it should look, it’ll help us move the conversation around so we can talk about us. There’s just so much that isn’t being said and so much miscommunication every time we try.”
“Ah, you’re hoping it’ll be an icebreaker.”
“Exactly.”
“Plus,” Reid added, “you can spend time together picking stuff for the house. There’s paint, paint brushes, rollers, curtains, rugs, furniture, and shit for the kitchen. You’re definitely going to want new tiles and fittings in the bathrooms—”
I zoned out on what he was saying because, although I knew all of this, hearing someone else list it made it seem impossible to achieve.
“Don’t worry, man, we’ll help when the time comes,” DB said quietly. “If someone makes a mistake or comes into work late, I’ll write their names down on a schedule for the house. We’ll have it done in no time.”
I burst out laughing at the prospect of seeing the guys having to paint the walls, strip the floors, or knock the tiles off in the bathrooms.
That laugh was quickly cut off when Raoul came in with a concerned look on his face.
“Yo, did you know your woman’s making grilled cheese with her forehead? Were we meant to sponsor her for charity or something?”
I don’t know what I expected to find, but her lying face down on her desk, the cheese acting like a cushion for her forehead, definitely wasn’t it.
Crouching down next to her, I kept my voice soft in case she had a headache. “Layla?”
“I hit it again.”
“Actually,” a voice said from the door, “I hit it accidentally when I opened the door. I feel awful, but she won’t let me swap out the cheese for ice.”
“S’too hard,” she mumbled, sliding her head to the side, not losing contact with the cheese, to look at both of us with one eye open. “Mark, meet Rockie. Rockie, this is Mark.”
“Uh, yeah, sweetness, we’ve met,” Rockie pointed out.
Glancing over my shoulder, I grinned at the guy who looked like he’d beaten up a puppy. He was still holding a baggie of melting ice in his hand.
“Baby, that ice is mostly water now, which will be cold and still soft. Why don’t we swap it out for the cheese?” Looking down at the mangled block, I saw what Raoul was talking about. It’d begun to squish, and chunks were breaking away from it thanks to her body heat. “We can put the cheese back in the fridge until it’s cold again.”
“What if people eat my head cheese?”
“Gross,” Rockie shuddered. “That just sounds wrong, girl.”
I didn’t disagree with him, but in the interest of getting her head sorted out as a priority, I was willing to ignore it. “Then we’ll get you more cheese if that’s what’s helping you most.”
There was a dramatic sigh, followed by, “Aww, that’s so sweet!” from Rockie.
“Okay, but I have to be quick. I’ve got a client in twenty minutes, so I need to give my ass a shake and get over it already.”
This was Layla in a nutshell. I knew the Townsends well, and they may come across as a fun, joy, and laughter family who took nothing seriously, but once you scratched the surface, you’d find out differently.
Given what they’d gone through, they were tough and resilient, but they preferred to face challenges while retaining their senses of humor because it made it more tolerable. Every person was different, but I couldn’t say their approach was wrong.
They also all had their own sad stories and tales of woe—who didn’t—but they managed to get through life without their pasts taking over their present.
But Layla, well, if I had to describe her personality, she was soft, then tough, then sweet, then soft, then tough again. Her head had to be killing her, but she was willing to wallow in it for all of twenty more minutes before she kicked her ass into getting over it and moved on with her day.
She had to be exhausted already after catching up with Monday’s missed patients yesterday, but I knew for a fact she hadn’t done it for the money. No, she’d always wanted to help people in any way she could, even going so far as to set up a charity at the age of thirteen to help kids who’d lost their parents. That’s why Raoul had asked if we were meant to be sponsoring her today.
I remember her running a marathon—even though she hated running—when she was sixteen. She’d trained for months with her brothers, just so she could complete the 5K run. It wasn’t about the timing, it was about completing it, and when she got home, she’d had to study for her exams the next day. Layla had been exhausted for them, but it’d been important to her not to let the kids down.
“Oh, wait, you’re Mark ,” Rockie said as he helped her swap out the iced water for the cheese.
“I’m fairly sure we’ve spoken before,” I pointed out dryly. “I helped you carry your stuff to your car last week, and you were telling me about a show you were doing in Vegas over the weekend and asked my opinion on what songs you should sing.”
He winked at me. “Thanks for the help. They loved the choices, by the way.”
“Any time.”
“Anyway, what I meant was, I heard a cool story about you.” I tensed. There were quite a few ‘cool stories’ about me that he could have heard. It just depended on how bad-cool they were. “Something to do with a snake.”
“He doesn’t like to be reminded of that,” Layla mumbled. “I wouldn’t either. From what I saw when they showed me the photos, it was the biggest rattlesnake in the history of snakes.”
That probably wasn’t true, but it wasn’t a small one, that’s for sure. During the issues the Townsends—and my family—had gone through, someone had put an enormous rattlesnake in a car I’d been about to drive. Fortunately, I’d encountered it before I’d driven it, otherwise, I likely would have crashed. Unfortunately, the way I’d discovered it had been by it biting me on the ass.
I was that guy—the one who was rushed into the ER with a snake bite, who then had to pull his pants down and show the world his ass where the damned thing had bitten him.
Rockie made a sympathetic noise.
“I wouldn’t either, man. That’s not why I brought it up, though. My grandaddy got bitten on the ass by one, too. We were all out hunting, and he pulled his pants down to take a pee, not seeing the rattler on the rock behind him until it struck him.
“ I don’t even know if he realized he’d been bitten until the rattling noise registered and my brother yelled at him that he had a bleeding bite on his butt.” He pursed his lips as he leaned against the wall. “Mind you, he’d likely have realized once the burning started.”
I had so much to unpack in that story, but what I went with first was, “How did he not see the snake?”
“It’d been a late one the night before. When we go hunting, we celebrate the night before with some bourbon.”
Hurst’s lecture on guns and alcohol not mixing came to my mind.
“Do you enjoy hunting?” It was a genuine question.
I had quite a few friends who took part in it with their families out of tradition or obligation, and they hated every second of it. Some felt bad for the animals, and some hated having to stay still. Others hated how seriously people took it, covering themselves in the scent of deer piss and shit. It was a personal thing, one that I just couldn’t ever see myself doing.
“Eh, I can take it or leave it. It’s nice to spend time with my family, but I prefer the comforts of home or a hotel room. Sleeping on the ground doesn’t do my joints any good.”
“I hate camping,” Layla sighed. “With four brothers and a shit ton of male cousins, I just had to put up with it.” She lifted her head and frowned at Rockie. “Hey, how do you shoot with your nails that long? Don’t they get in the way?”
I looked down at his nails and blinked, trying to picture the long talons being able to shoot a rifle, let alone a gun.
“Practice. Everything is doable if you practice at it.”
“You go hunting with your nails that long? Dude, I’m impressed.”
Rockie smiled at me. “These aren’t fake, they’re all mine, so unless I want to go through the inconvenience of growing them out again, I hunt with them like this. But I paint them camo, I’m not a complete idiot.”
I burst out laughing at the same time as Layla.
“Tony once did camouflage makeup on our faces with that eyeshadow that doesn’t come off. Some of it had a shimmer to it, but I reckon we tested its endurance to the max. That was the same night he got shot in the ass,” she told him. “No way does that compare to camo nails, though.”
“I hate that stuff. I made the mistake of getting some when I heard all the hype and figured it’d be great with hot lights on stage or for photoshoots until I had to do a quick makeup change when I swapped outfits, and the fucking stuff wouldn’t come off. Now, I go with the mantra that, so long as my foundation doesn’t melt off and my mascara doesn’t make me a raccoon, I’m good.”
Before I could say anything to Rockie’s makeup tricks—not that I had much to say, given that I didn’t wear the stuff—my radio went off, and Reid appeared in the doorway.
“We gotta go. RTA on the road into town.”
Carefully, I angled Layla’s head to see the bump on it. “I’ll pick up some Arnica cream and ice packs on my way home, pretty girl. You take it easy, and if you need anything, shoot me a text.”
She smiled softly at me and ignored the sigh coming from Rockie. “Okay. Stay safe.”
As I said goodbye to the rest of the salon and Rockie and jogged out to the Charger, I saved a reminder in my phone to pick up those two crucial things.
“Hey,” Reid said as we drove toward the scene. “What exactly is going on between y’all? One minute she won’t even look at you, and the next, you’re telling her family you got married years ago, and they’re trying to kill you. Then you arrest her brother, and she’s forgiven you? That’s some complicated shit.”
“She hasn’t forgiven me.” I wished that were true, but she definitely hadn’t. “I think she’s taking a different approach to thinking about what happened four years ago and is working her way through it. We still have a lot to discuss and to make peace with for her to have forgiven me.”
“And have you forgiven her?”
That was a great question. “I got over my anger years ago, but it’s mainly hurt that I still feel. Once we’ve discussed it, I’m sure it’ll get easier with time.”
He was silent as he maneuvered around cars that were too dumb to move out of the way when they heard the siren. “But you bought that big house. What if it doesn’t work out between you guys?”
I’d thought about this at the time, but there was only one answer. “Us not working things out is never going to happen. I’ve spent most of my life being in love with Layla. Her going away helped me grow up and find myself, but that doesn’t mean that the version of who I am today doesn’t include her.”
Reid hummed. “I hate to put this out there, but do you think maybe it’s a case of you being ‘used’ to her? Like, you’re so used to telling yourself you’re in love with her that you can’t move on?”
I didn’t resent him asking the question. I’d spent a lot of time talking to my brothers and friends over the last four years about our relationship, and this question had cropped up quite a few times.
Misreading my silence, he sighed loudly. “Sorry, man, that was probably a shitty question.”
“No, no, that’s not it. I’ve asked myself the same thing, and I’ve spent four years figuring out why I still feel the way I do about her and if it is a case of me just being used to telling myself I’m in love with her. It’s a good question and one that helped me make the decisions I did.”
“Thank fuck for that.”
His response made me smile.
“The answer is an honest and firm no. Our relationship didn’t just happen on a whim and a childhood crush. It grew over time and came about because of genuine and deep feelings, as well as history and the fact we’re similar in the right ways.” I paused, thinking how best to describe it. “Okay, you know the cheesy romance fate thing?”
I saw him nod out of the corner of my eye.
“Well, I didn’t believe in it until I analyzed my feelings for her. Where a lot of girlfriends would have issues with their boyfriends having hobbies or likes that were so different from hers, Layla let me have the time to do shit but was genuinely interested and wanted to understand it when I told her about them. I was the same with her. It never bothered me if she spent a weekend with her friends or went out with them, but I enjoyed hearing the stories she told me afterward.”
“That’s how it should be.”
“Yeah, but not every relationship has that, so when you find someone who’s capable of doing that, you have something to build on. Layla also never got jealous or insecure if girls hit on me, she just took it in her stride. Granted, neither of us liked it when it happened, but it didn’t cause arguments or tension. I think, in a way, it made us feel more secure because we knew the other one would never cheat.”
He pulled up next to an ambulance. “I’ve never understood jealousy. Like, what does it achieve?”
I opened the door to get out but said over my shoulder, “It’s a natural human reaction. Some people just don’t have the required security in a relationship to be able to switch it off if someone else finds their partner attractive. That’s not a weakness, it’s an area they can work on to strengthen the relationship if they put the necessary work into it, that is.”
Reid got out from behind the wheel and leaned on the roof of the car. “It just seems silly to me unless there are cheaters in the relationship. In that case, I get it. But in normal situations, it doesn’t make sense—a bit like holding someone’s past against them. Listen, everyone has a past, man. You go into a relationship knowing that, so why let it ruin what you’ve got together?”
I wasn’t ashamed of what I was about to tell him. “Not me, at least, outside of making out with someone in high school. It’s only ever been Layla for me.”
His eyes widened almost comically. Looking around us to see if anyone was paying attention to the conversation, he leaned farther over the car and hissed, “Shut the fuck up. No way.”
“Hand to God. Just her, only ever her.”
A bang from where they were working on the car involved in the crash got our attention for a moment, but we knew we were mainly here to ensure no other cars tried to drive past. You’d be amazed at the stupid shit people did, and that was one of the most common things that happened, even though a crew from the fire department were trying to get an injured person out of a vehicle and pass them to the paramedics to work on.
“And you don’t think you need to experience other women to make your mind up?” he asked, bringing my attention back to the conversation.
“Nope. I kept my mind open after she left, but no other woman even seemed remotely appealing.” I exhaled loudly and said seriously, “Reid, I’ve dreamt of her every night for the last four years. Staying away from her was painful and like a form of torture, but I knew she needed the time to heal and become her own person away from her family. When she came back, it felt like I could breathe again. Finally.”
Instead of looking at me like I was nuts, he nodded understandingly, shocking me. “Got a situation like that of my own, Mark, so I get it. I’ve also got good examples of how it turns out all around me, so I know it can happen.”
“All going well, we’ll be able to join the example group, hey?”
“Inshallah,” he murmured, making me smile.
“You get that notification on your phone this morning for the word of the day, too?”
Pointing at where we needed to stand to monitor what was going on and make sure the recovery was undisturbed, he shook his head and tapped the inside of his forearm, where there was a tattoo of the word.
“Nah, I got this when I was nineteen, and I realized I had a dream that I wanted to come true. I looked up online words that revolved around hope and faith because I wanted something different. One link sent me to the word ‘inshallah,’ and the meaning just resonated with me.”
“Best reason to get a tattoo,” I murmured, looking down at my arms. I’d had a couple of tattoos when Layla and I were married, but over the years, I’d gotten more—all revolving around her.
“The irony is, she has the same word tattooed on the inside of her wrist.”
“See this one?” I pointed at a piece of music on my forearm. “That’s the opening notes to Eric Clapton’s Layla .”
“How did I guess that song would be involved somehow,” he chuckled. “Is it her favorite?”
“Nope. I’ve got her favorite song as her ringtone on my phone.”
When I didn’t tell him what it was, he growled. “That’s a shitty thing to do. You don’t say something like that and not finish with what it is.”
Leaning against one of our Cruisers, one that’d been driven by Alex and Raoul, who were assisting the fire department, I smiled smugly.
“Her favorite singer’s Roy Orbison. She swears she can’t decide which song she prefers, though: I Drove All Night or You Got It. The thing is, when I Drove All Night plays, she instantly relaxes and can’t hold back a smile.”
“Both are great songs. I wouldn’t be able to choose between them, either.”
Tapping my ribs on the left side of my vest, I told him, “I’ve got five lines from the sheet music for I Drove All Night on this side because it’s the song that makes me feel closest to her.”
He looked confused by this information. “But she can’t decide between the two songs?”
“Your favorite song brings out the biggest emotional response. If you smile and look the most relaxed anyone’s ever seen you, then out of the two, that’s the one.”
Reid’s eyebrows shot up, but then he jiggled his head. “I guess you’re right on that one.”
“Coming through!” someone yelled, and we both turned to see them carrying someone on a backboard to the ambulance.
Judging by the mangled wreck of their vehicle, the fact they still had a heartbeat was a miracle.
“Holy shit. How the hell do you survive something like that?” Reid breathed, voicing my thoughts exactly.
“The jury’s still out on if they’ll survive it,” Alex said as he walked up next to us. “Also a shame the teenage guy in the passenger seat didn’t make it.”
I glanced at Reid to see that his face was now blank of emotions or thoughts. It wasn’t any wonder that he’d shut down at hearing this after what’d happened to his best friend when he was younger. It was also the reason why he’d lost his dream until she’d come back to help look after her dad while he battled cancer.
Wincing, Alex ran his fingers through his hair, his discomfort obvious. “Shit, I’m sorry, man. I didn’t mean to—”
Reid held his hand up. “You can’t police what you say in this job.” No one responded to the pun. “I just don’t know how to hold back the emotions and memories, and I shut down so they don’t impact my ability to do the job.”
Slapping him on the shoulder, Alex took a moment to watch the ambulance as it pulled away. Once it was far enough away, he waved his hand in front of his face to clear the dust and exhaust fumes before he spoke.
“That might be the case, but we all have triggers and have to be more aware of what we’re saying. I’ve never known you to have issues with RTAs, so it’s not impacting your ability to deal with them. That doesn’t mean I shouldn’t have been a bit more sensitive or tactful.”
Seeing that my friend was uncomfortable, I decided to lighten the mood. “Hey, do you guys want to see a funny photo of Tom Townsend when he was a kid?”
No one, not one living person, would ever be able to turn down something like that, so we all crowded around my phone while I showed them the photo of him at Disney. Of course, once the fire department and other officers from the town next to us heard of the awesomeness that I had, they all came to see it for themselves.
Yeah, it wasn’t a good idea to piss off her brothers, especially after two of them had come to see me this morning to apologize for their behavior and give me their approval, but sometimes you had to do what you had to do.