Chapter Sixteen
Wade Cooper
We get back to the house, and DJ is already asleep. Ava doesn’t head straight to her room, but instead she moves towards the living room, and I follow behind her.
The police are packing up already to leave and I bid them farewell before heading back inside the house. Ava is sitting on a chair as she holds the cello in front of her. A soft smile is on her lips as she plays with the strings.
“Play something for me.” I settle down on the couch and take off my jacket.
“Gladly.” Ava begins to move her slender fingers along the strings and a beautiful melody springs out. It is the classic version of Canon of Bells. I know this because my mother is a huge fan of operas and classical musicals.
“That was great.” I clapped after she was done playing. “I never knew you had such great talent.”
“Well, I am a woman of surprises, am I not?” She holds her dress and bows. “Now, it’s time for us to dance.”
“Dance? Oh, no, I don’t dance.” I refused immediately and she turned glaring eyes on me.
“You’ll not refuse my request? We’re not doing anything strenuous. I just don’t want this night to end so soon.” She heads towards her turntable and takes out an old record. The song comes on and she skips towards me.
“Will you have this dance with me, my Lord?” She stretches her hand out, and I shake my head.
“I am one of the toughest policemen out there. I can’t be seen dancing.” I scoff.
“Come on, we’re all alone here, and it’s almost midnight. Trust me, I will take this secret with me to my grave.” She winks at me before taking my hand.
We moved to the center of the room, and I placed my hand on her waist while she rests hers on my shoulder. We sway to the slow song gently, and Ava sighs under her breath before raising her head to look at me.
I move a strand of her hair and tuck it behind her ear. She is too precious to be a victim of a callous individual who has no regard for lives.
I still can’t wrap my head around who would want to harm her. I’ve gone through the profiles of everyone she had interacted with six months prior to Lynn Watt’s murder, and no one in particular stood out as having a murderous intent towards Ava. To say it was purely out of passion would be broadening the case which is highly unlikely. For one, the culprit was too determined to get to his goal, seeing as he has killed several and is still intent on getting what he wanted. And with the data he’d collected on not just Ava but on her son and everyone who had ever interacted with her. He needed detailed and thorough information on her before he was able to pull all his stunts.
Or he might be a hired killer. Someone who couldn’t do the job themselves hiring an assassin. A little far-fetched but still a possibility.
I kissed her forehead before wrapping my arms around her, enveloping her in my warmth. “I want what is between us to go beyond where we are right now, and for that, I need to catch the murderer so I can be free from my duty. That’s the only way we can be confident in our relationship.”
“Is it because of your ex? The one who betrayed you?” Ava pulls away and looks up at me.
“Yes, I have already been warned by my senior to not repeat the same mistake. I will be taken off this case if I am ever seen romantically with you. The fake boyfriend stunt we pulled was barely accepted due to my record.” I caress her cheek. “I will do everything I can to get him in time, so I can be with you.”
Ava stands on her toes to kiss me softly before she buries herself in my arms again. We stay like that for a while, listening to the music and swaying slowly.
After dancing our hearts out, I escorted Ava to her bedroom. Her eyes linger on me, and I have to do all I can not to break my resolve. I turn back to head to my room, throwing the burning desire I have for her into the back of my mind.
* * * *
“Kick it, DJ. Come on, kick it here!” Ava cheers her son on passionately.
“Goal!!!” I yell and pick DJ up. He laughs as I throw him in the air to celebrate his win.
“Good job, pumpkin.” Ava nuzzles her face into his stomach and whisks him away from me.
She puts him down and he kicks the ball into the tiny goal post I had set in the living room. “Goal!!” She screams with her hand in the air.
“DJ is going to grow up to be a world champion. Trust me.” I tell her and she giggles.
“Of course, my son is so talented that every school and scholarship opportunity is going to be knocking at his door! Isn’t that right, my love?” She gushes at him and DJ wraps his arms around her neck.
I smile at the beautiful sight. I never got to have such simple but special moments with my parents so seeing DJ with his mother touches my heart every time.
He has such a passionate, kind, and amazing mother who would do anything in the world just to spend time with her son. Ava is fully engaged in DJ’s growth, and I admire that about her .
My mother had left the nannies and maids to deal with me while she left her overburdening expectations and demands on my shoulders. Then, she asks me why I don’t want to return to that house.
It was never a home to me. It felt more like when I was training in the army. Only, I felt fulfilled in the military while being in that house only made me depressed which is why as soon as I was done with my degree at the university, I left home and never went back.
I only go there once every two years, and even then, my father’s attitude makes me want to leave right away. I’m definitely not happy that I have such a tense relationship with my parents but it’s hardly my fault. Their actions and decisions in my life made me this way towards them. I wish there was another way to do this, but sadly, there isn’t. It was either I go back there and fully succumb to their wishes or I stay away from them and live the life I want to live.
I will always choose the latter.
Their behavior also taught me one thing and that was how to treat my child if I ever have one. I wouldn’t treat them like objects who had no feelings or voices, nor would I make them feel that I only cared about myself and no one else.
I want to make them feel loved, cared for, and nurtured in such a way that they would be confident anywhere to say I am their father. I would want them to have a childhood the complete opposite of the way I was brought up.
“I was thinking DJ should return to school now. It’s been nearly two weeks, and I don’t want him to remain cooped up here.” Ava says as she watches him play on his own .
“Do you think that’s what’s best now?” I ask.
“We can increase the guards in his school. Won’t that be safer? He can even stay for just half a day, I can talk to the principal about that, she will understand.” She sounds hopeful and I don’t want to refuse her request.
“It’s just that I saw him staring out the window yesterday, and he kept on calling out to me. I couldn’t give him an answer as to why he hasn’t received direct sunlight for the past weeks.” Ava sighs with frustration.
“I will talk to the captain about taking him back to school with an increase of personnel as well.”
“Thank you.” She smiles widely. “Are there no updates yet about the culprit?”
I ran my hand through my hair at her question. I hated the answer I had to give her every single time she asked about the case. I don’t know how one is able to stay so hidden that the police are still unable to find something on him even after investigating for months.
Not a single slip on his part. Even the warehouse where we found those monitors was abandoned. The owner had passed away years ago, and there were no working CCTV cameras around that area.
Whoever he was, he was a truly thorough bastard.
“I see…” Ava says nothing else, already understanding from my body language that there was still no lead. She returns her gaze to DJ, and I walk out of the living room .
I’m about to dial Marcus’s number when I get a call from someone I haven’t spoken to in a very long time. With my eyebrows furrowed, I pick the call and place the phone to my ear.
“Wadey boy.” He calls me playfully with his deep voice the way he used to do years ago.
“Arden. I thought I would never hear from you again.” I say into the phone.
“Oh, Cooper, don’t hold grudges now. Yes, you disappointed me when you lost your head over that chick but that doesn’t mean I’m still not your guy.” Arden, my former handler from the military, says.
I narrowed my eyes, a little skeptical as to why he reached out to me again after so many years. “Of course not.” I say blandly.
“What’d you say? How about we catch up over lunch and talk about the old times in the drill, huh?”
“I would really love the offer but sadly, I’m currently on a duty and I can’t leave my job.” I found the politest way to refuse.
“Oh, don’t be like that, Coop. I’m not going to take you away from Ava forever. I just want to talk to you.”
I unconsciously grit my teeth at the way he said her name so casually. He must have seen the news article where I was revealed to be her boyfriend.
“I can’t leave here, Arden. Maybe when I’m done with this, we can talk over a drink, okay? ”
“Even when it means you can get your post back in the army? Are you still not going to come out, Coop?”
My heart skips a beat at his words.