We didn’t have many laws that protected animals in our jurisdiction. Calling the station proved to be a tremendous waste of time. Senior officer Chip Lowrey answered the phone, then advised me to try the local humane society instead because they weren’t the “Pet Detectives” and had actual cases to solve. If I wouldn’t lose my job, I’d go in and kick his ass.
Chip Lowrey’s response pissed me off so much. I wanted to punch him in his ugly fucking face. I considered calling Sergeant, Davidson, but I knew he had a lot on his plate right now.
I couldn’t dare tell my girl how many animal cruelty reports we ignored because of other violent cases. Rarely did officers get assigned to them. They just got documented and stashed away, never to be seen again. Her cats’ deaths deserved to be properly investigated. So I called the one person who I knew without a doubt would help look into the matter. My partner, Chris Bailey.
He worked today too and had to be annoyed by all my calls. Anyone else at the station would’ve ignored me and gave insincere promises that they would look into everything. In reality, they wouldn’t do jack shit. Not the senior officers, at least. They were too high and mighty for that. Damn pretentious jackasses.
The freckle-face arrived shortly after I call him. A knock sounded from the front door while I brewed some coffee. Lord knew I needed something a helluva lot stronger. Everly got up to open it for Chris as I stepped back into the living room, carrying two mugs of steaming coffee.
“I saw them out there in the tubs,” Chris said to Everly, hugging her. “I’m so sorry.”
The windchill reddened his cheeks. Chris removed his snow-covered boots and took a seat on the recliner. He pulled out that silly little notebook of his. He always carried one on him. The colors changed sometimes. I imagined he had a whole collection of them at his house, stowed away somewhere.
“Can you help us find out who did this?” Everly asked.
“I’m gonna try my best to, okay?” Chris told her. “Just tell me everything you know so far.”
We couldn’t give him much information, but at least we had the video surveillance. Chris agreed that the woman was probably the witch James mentioned to us, but that left more questions unanswered. Who was she and why did she want to hurt Everly?
“We need to catch her in the action somehow,” I told him.
“You think she’ll come back?” Chris asked. “That would be chancy for her. She’s been careful so far.”
I took a seat beside Everly, sipping on my coffee before saying, “Criminals always slip up. It’s just a matter of when she will.”
Chris rubbed his hands together, shivering. “Want me to go snoop around the Nelson’s place?”
“Yeah, I think that would be a good idea,” I said. “Just in case she reaches out to the kid again, or maybe even the mother.”
“Care if I tag along?” Everly asked.
Detective Bailey turned to me, as if looking for my permission. I just shrugged. “You feeling okay?”
“I took all my medications already. So I should be fine.” Everly rose from the couch. Determination sparked in her beautiful green eyes. “Let me get dressed and we’ll head over there.”
Everly walked off to the bedroom. Her long blonde hair cascaded over her shoulders. She wouldn’t stop until we found this bitch. She was too stubborn to stay home and rest. She needed to be in the action. At least she’d be in the safety of our police car. She wouldn’t strain herself either.
“You sure it’s fine for her to come with us?” Chris asked. “Shouldn’t she be resting?”
“I’ll make sure she brings something to eat and drink. It’s been a little over a week since the surgery, so I think it’s okay for her to get out,” I replied. “If she starts feeling bad, we can come back home. The Nelson’s are just down the road. I’d rather her come with us instead of trying to go out and investigate on her own.”
Detective Bailey replied, “I understand.”
Somehow I got sandwiched in the police cruiser’s backseat where we stuck criminals. Everly made herself comfortable in the passenger seat, nibbling on a granola bar. It went against all standard procedures for her to sit up front, but we wouldn’t tell anybody. I used to let her do it all the time, actually, before Detective Bailey got assigned as my partner. It’d be our little secret.
The shotgun house came into view as Detective Bailey pulled onto the street. What a surprise that Mrs. Nelson came outside and climbed into her old four-door Honda Accord. Checking the time on my cell phone, I realized her son was probably already at school.
“Let’s follow her,” I suggested. “I know it’s possible she won’t lead us anywhere, but it’s worth checking into.”
“Yeah, I agree,” Everly said.
Detective Bailey hesitated before tailing Mrs. Nelson’s car. I advised him to pull back when he got too close to her. We didn’t want to scare the woman. She might detour from her planned destination if she thought a cop was watching her.
Turns out Mrs. Nelson had some grocery shopping to do. We waited outside the supermarket for roughly fifteen minutes before she came out, carrying her groceries. Chris considered taking us back home after the next pit-stop at the post office. Good thing Everly convinced him not to though because Mrs. Nelson needed to buy more than groceries.
She led us down into Hell’s Hollow. We passed by several old houses that needed to be torn down. Dirty snow covered the streets and nasty graffiti painted abandoned buildings. Someone ought to tell those self-proclaimed artists that their work was shit. Maybe they’d stop spreading their hateful messages with it and weird gang tags.
Mrs. Nelson pulled up into the parking lot of the Wallflower diner and circled around back. I had no doubt in my mind that she was heading in there for her fix. But I couldn’t let my partner realize I already knew that. I promised Everly that I’d keep her secret safe. Even if that meant slightly deceiving my own colleague.
“What the heck is she doing?” Detective Bailey asked.
“She’s buying drugs here from my brother,” Everly replied, shocking me. She actually admitted that? Maybe she’d finally decided to trust my partner. He’d never go against our backs and rat her out for dealing drugs with Emmett.
Chris frowned. “Huh? How do you know that?”
“Emmett makes his clients park in the back and come through the old emergency exit. The alarm’s been shut off,” she explained to him. “They keep their supply down in the basement. The owner of this place helps him deal. It’s part of the contract he signed with Emmett.”
“Contract?” I questioned, pretending to be foolish.
“Emmett helped the owner when she went bankrupt,” Everly replied. “In return, she had to agree to let my brother sell his drugs there. The owner gets a smidgen of the sales too. That’s how Emmett’s drug business is so big. He’s extended it all over New Syracuse, to businesses that almost had to close forever. He does business with almost all of Hell’s Hollow.”
I had no idea Emmett’s drug business extended that much through our town. Holy shit. Considering everything about the tweaked out asshole, it made sense. That was how his drug business flourished and how he had so many drug stash houses. He knew the right people to pick too, those who were desperate enough to do almost anything to keep their business running.
“That’s insane,” Chris murmured.
“We should go confront her,” I suggested.
“No, I don’t think that’s a good idea,” Everly said. “It’ll spook her and Emmett. She won’t open up to any of us about what she might know, and my brother will never let me around if I lead cops in there. He’d probably ban me from ever coming around.”
“What do you reckon we do then?” I asked.
“We wait because I have a plan.” Everly turned back to me, grinning.
Lord knew I couldn’t argue with that mischievous grin of hers. When Everly set her mind to something, she didn’t stop until she got what she wanted. I just worried about her well-being and how she’d cope being around those addicts again. Part of me wished I’d come up with another plan, but it was too late.
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