Chris drove us down the familiar bumpy road into Viper Valley. It hadn’t always been home to the Black Vipers gang. Everyone called the unnamed area that because of the famous LGBTQ nightclub, The Viper Lounge. I remember it riled up a lot of people in New Syracuse when they announced the opening of the joint three years ago.
Nobody wanted that gay stuff in their neighborhood. They kept police officers posted at the place for the first few months to keep protesters from getting too violent. I got put on watch there a couple times. It was a wild place, with drag queen shows and weird underwear contests. Men walked around in the most tightest fitting, colorful undies I’d ever seen and wished I could unsee.
The windshield wipers screeched against the smeary glass as we cruised passed graffiti-covered buildings that went out of business. Some of the designs were kinda cool. Like the Alice in Wonderland one. It looked so realistic. Others needed to be washed off. Like the cop hanging by a noose with his head dangling to the side and blood oozing down his neck.
“Look at that. They couldn’t even paint our uniform right.” I snickered. “Dumbasses.”
“Doesn’t it scare you?” Chris asked. “We’re supposed to protect our community, not make them hate us.”
“Can’t please everyone.” I shrugged. “A lot of the hate has to do with those damn gangs and the sympathizers. Don’t tell anyone I said this, but there’s a few bad apples on our force too. They don’t mind helping the gangs out,” I explained. “Then people get pissed off when we arrest them for possession or whatever other crimes they committed. Once, I had a grown ass drug dealer’s Momma spray me with the damn water hose so he could escape. She knew what he’d been doing, but didn’t care. I’ve handled other cases similar to it.”
“I want to make our town a better place to live. I’m not an idiot, I know it’ll never be perfect, but things need to change. I want to get most of the drugs off the street, lock up the dealers, and disband the gangs. I want to see more street artists show their work, but not like that awful piece back there.”
I sighed. “Me too. I want my kids to grow up here. I don’t wanna worry about them getting drugs from their friends in school or wonder if they’ve been jumped by gang members when they don’t come home on time.”
If we could even have kids. I hated how my mind jumped to the worst case scenario, but I couldn’t help it. Everly almost bled to death in that parking lot. I wasn’t sure if her body could handle pregnancy again. While she slept, I asked the doctor about it and she seemed hopeful, but there were no guarantees.
I focused on the road ahead of us as Chris drove, blocking out those horrible thoughts. We passed a Subway and medical clinic. A homeless man pushed a shopping cart across the road, holding up a cardboard sign that read: Need food and money. He had a dirty puppy in his cart, likely to garner sympathy from people. Viper Valley had a problem with bums. They were clever too. I had a couple of them fool me. They used the money for their drugs. Not all of them did that, but quite a few did.
Chris made a right at the traffic light. The aquarium came into view, with yellow crime scene tape covering the entrance and exit. They didn’t bother keeping an officer posted at the place. That, or they never showed up. Nobody liked keeping watch over crime scenes. My partner parked across the street near the curb away from traffic and we climbed out.
Cold wind nipped at my face as I pulled my hood over my head, protecting my ears. I folded my arms across my chest as if it would fend off the cold rain.
“You sure you wanna do this?” Chris asked.
“Positive.” I stuffed my shaky hands in my pocket.
The crime scene tape violently shook, like it would tear right off. Chris climbed over it first, and I walked right behind him. It was weird not seeing any cars parked in the lot of the aquarium. After what happened to Everly, they decided to close for the next three days.
When I saw the blood stains in the pavement, I got a bit woozy. Memories from that night came rushing back. My girl’s desperate cries filled my ears, and I couldn’t shake them away. I closed my eyes and took a couple deep breaths before looking down at the congealing blood again.
Chris touched my shoulder. “You good?”
“Yeah, why wouldn’t I be?” I brushed him off.
“So, what are we looking for?”
“I don’t know,” I admitted.
“That’s not very helpful,” Chris said.
“It was nighttime and the fucker had those dark-tinted windows,” I told him. “I couldn’t even tell you what kind of car it was or give you a partial license plate. I just know it was a black car.”
“Doesn’t the aquarium have video surveillance?” he asked.
“Yeah, but it doesn’t reach out this far. The video only shows the entryway to the aquarium. Last night I got a hold of our sergeant and he updated me on the case,” I explained. “Most of their footage is on the inside.”
“Well, shit.”
Lionel the lizard popped his head out from Chris’s pocket. If only the creepy thing would fall out and run away.
“Now that you mention video footage, I think I have an idea,” I told him. “Come on.”
We got back in the police cruiser, letting the warm heat embrace us. The wind howled outside and the rain fell harder.
“Where are we going now?”
“Turn around and go straight,” I said. “That’s the direction the car took off last night. I’m hoping the gas station up here caught something. The bastard had to pass it.”
Chris pulled up to the Common Cents gas station and parked. I braced myself for the ruthless wind and rain before yanking the door open. It slammed behind me as I hurried up to the entrance. A nice old man held the door open for us. There weren’t many people inside. Only two waiting in line at the register and some teen girls giggling by the soda fountain machine.
“I’ll let you take the lead since you’re in uniform.” I patted Chris on the back.
It took a while for the cashier to fetch her manager, who brought us around back to see the footage from last night. Watching security footage had to be one of the most boring things ever, but at least I could narrow down the time the car would’ve passed. We didn’t need to watch it for hours on end.
“There.” I reached out to pause the video. “That’s the car. Can we make the image any bigger?”
The manager shook her head. “Sorry, sweetie. That’s the best we got here.”
“There’s no way to make out the driver or a license plate,” Chris said. “But look at his headlights. One of them is out.”
“You’re right.” I scratched my chin. “It’s a two door car too. I didn’t pay close enough attention to that last night. But that still doesn’t narrow it down too much. People’s headlights go out all the time too.”
“It’s better than nothing,” Chris replied.
“Point taken.”
“Oh, your lizard is so cool!” The manager gushed as Lionel peeked out.
“Thanks.” Chris grinned. “His name’s Lionel, you wanna hold him?”
“I’ll give you twenty bucks to keep it,” I told her, pulling out my wallet.
“He doesn’t mean that.” Chris chuckled.
“Yes, I do.”
The manager let the scaly creature crawl all over her arm. I shivered just watching her. I’d never allow that thing anywhere near me. She turned my offer to take the damn lizard down, unfortunately.
As we left the manager’s officer, Chris said, “What the heck? You tried to get rid of Lionel!”
“He could’ve had a good home,” I said.
“He has a good home. With me.”
I sighed. “Sure, whatever you say.”
We climbed back in the police cruiser. The dashboard clock read: 12:05PM.
“Want me to drop you off at the hospital?” Chris asked.
“Nah, just take me home. I still gotta get all Everly’ stuff together,” I replied.
We didn’t learn a lot from our investigating, but we had more to go on. Finding that car would be next to impossible, but I had a hunch it would be back around soon. It wasn’t a random drive-by shooting. Someone wanted her dead, and I wouldn’t stop until I learned who it was.
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