MS - Rav's newest story

[Ravynlee]

ballin mum!! as far as his personality I sent you a PM tellin you what he was like. he says hi. well... thats the gist of what he was saying before he ran off to get drunk.

Tellin me he's a smartass/teddybear doesn't give me much of an actual description does it? No matter I'm sure it will come to me eventually. As for the drinkin, tell him to go easy. Or to give me some. Yeah. Hi back. And thankies

[Pheonix791989]

lol well asshole and teddy bear are the best way I can describe him other then lazy and laid back. check out my myspace for a picture of the two of us together. myspace.com/phoenix791989. its my profile picture. haha. but yeah as far as indepth description goes... stubborn, funny, tough, tends to act stupid, computer genious, laid back, lazy, pacrastinator, but when alone he's sweet and romantic. haha.

[andrea]

There too much in too little time! Haha.

 

Andrea' date=' what do you want to be called? Name it and be forever immortalized as that haha. I have no preference, what would you relate to easier? Let me know okay? And thanks for reviewing too. As for your character I'm getting to you, slowly I know but you'll serve more purpose if you are somewhat of a surprise. Wait and see what I mean [/quote']

You know what, you can call me either Rashell or Andrea. Since you keep with the small hint the my character is something really different then I'm expecting I say go with Andrea, easier to drawer the line of differences, you know, if not then Rashell. You pick, haha.

 

First update, love it. You're actually making up for me not being caught up on my soaps at the most, haha.

Second update, that wedding band Mike has on doesn't mean anything my character does it? Just had to ask even thought I know you want say, haha. And holy shit, what an update. Think I might have some nightmares tonight, lol.

[crazy robster]

Good Lord... Sis this is getting wild and really gory!! They cut Joe's finger?? OMG *gets nausea* This is certainly heavy stuff! I'm getting shivers!! Haha so considering you have or used to have a special or relative liking for 3 members of the band I guess you are about to kill the other 3? First Phoenix now they are planning to kill Joe and then...Brad maybe? Just curious about what's next...o_0 <3

[Friðbjörn]

wow...

is this MS, or has this turned into Saw 4? haha

 

good stuff

[woodyloveslinkin]

give me examples, all I know of the man is his name! besides, dunno whether or not you noticed but its not particularly that kind of story... maybe, but we'll see what develops. Might send you nuts after a while in this company you're keeping in the story Yay for misunderstood Mikey.

 

And yuh Foxxy, you be Chas's gurl in this one. His life support to the real world outside. Aww. I was going for evil bitch like you said but I had to legitimize your so-called evilness. Even bad people have good moments, see? haha @ your spazzin. Cute. Thats the actions of a woman in lurve... probably. haha

 

Woody; maybe not. We'll see.

 

As for the rest, more

 

coming. Gimmie a tic and thanks for reading/reviewing. Much appreciated as always!

 

 

 

Blrghen. People don't understand the qualities of being a commie in today's society. (Remember; Marxism is a German philosophy and not communism, so you could put Marxism in there).

 

Oh well. Maybe I could becomes the first Australian dictator (as if!lol!) People say that I'm a danger to myself....

 

Can't wait for more!

[Ravynlee]

Haha Saw 4? I WISH! Hahaha

As for killing off Joe Hahn? That too will make sense very shortly. I actually didn't want to do that, his comedic gifts maybe have been useful at some future juncture in time. Maybe the guys will fumble the job and Joe gets away, minus one digit. Maybe it's all speculatory at this point, damn, who knows? haha.

 

Andrea, you're answers are finally here *insert evil laughter* I can put you out of your misery now, you don't have to guess anymore. As for too much in too little time? Maybe. I work, come home, write, sleep and go back to work thinking about what to write next. Right now it's a vicious cycle. I need to keep it flowing, as a writer you know how hard that is;) Hope it's worth it in the long run.

 

Mel, okay, will look into it, thanks. That gave me a new idea to insert in a future update. Thankies!

 

Thanks again guys. Here's more.

(Disclaimer - usual crap. Yadi-yada. Sue me. Whatever. )

 

---

 

Raising her wine glass to her lips Ravyn sighed. The picture in her hands summoned a smile but it didn’t stay long. Taking another sip she set the picture down and picked up another, one of many that littered the coffee table like autumn’s fallen leaves. A sombre Jeff Buckley lamented from the speakers as she sunk back into the cushions of her sofa her eyes dismal and reflective. Things had been so different then. Why did they have to change? Life had been happy… well, as happy as things could be with the editorial gift of hindsight. It felt like a completely different lifetime ago. It almost had been. With a rueful pout Ravyn lay the picture down to return to the cushions again, holding only her glass and a head full of memories and an aching heart with her eyes closed. She was thinking of her friend again and it hurt, the time that had elapsed since their acrimonious split hadn’t healed any old wounds between them but her pain was still raw for the wounds that would never heal, for the answers she would never get, for the closure she was robbed of, leaving nothing in their wake but the cold harsh reality that she would never ever lay eyes on her old friend again. Ravyn’s eyes watered but she blinked the tears away, tired of crying, knowing they were of little use now and knowing selfishly that the tears she had shed had been as much for her own benefit as they were genuine grief. She didn’t want to wallow in self-pity anymore, what was done was done, but still the nagging doubt persisted because the questions persisted - this compulsion of hers to know everything all the time felt like it was slowly driving her mad. Granted it kept her awake and frustrated everyone else around her but it did make her one hell of an observant writer and no one could dispute that. Still, try as hard as she might Ravyn couldn’t shake the burden of guilt that crushed her shoulders and chest over not being able to prevent the preventable and not being able to do anything about it now that the worst was arguably over.

Anger surged through her and alcohol did not dilute its sting.

Wrenching herself up from the pillows she sat staring at the pictures again as she drained the last of her glass. Outside the window the city slept in darkness. It was close to eleven a.m. but sleep eluded her. Peace eluded her. Every time she closed her eyes she saw Jammer as she had been in that autopsy photograph, lifeless, frozen, a photocopy of her former self with that hollow little blue-black hole in her forehead staring back hauntingly. Tears ebbed but Ravyn battled them away. She hadn’t even cried when she had missed Jammer’s funeral, too busy chasing leads she had told herself, trying to justify her inability to say goodbye to a friend she had lost on all fronts so long ago before hand. Why then did her murder nag at Ravyn’s conscience so? It’s not like she had been the one who had pulled the trigger.

No, but you do know who did.

Even thinking Mike Shinoda’s name gave her a headache that couldn’t be rubbed away or assuaged by pills or slept off with a head full of alcohol. She couldn’t sleep because she knew he was out there and he was responsible and no one seemed to give a shit about what he had done but her.

Shaking her head Ravyn stood up and strode into her kitchen to pour herself another glass. The refrigerator door closed with a hushed thump. She sighed. The clock was ticking by seconds so loud from the living room it seemed to dominate all other sound. Staring around at her modest décor Ravyn snorted disparagingly to herself. A picture of her sister smiling back from a frame on the wall summoned a smile. Thoughts turned now from Jammer to Joanna. Glimpsing at her wristwatch Ravyn chewed her lip considerately.

“Hello?” a sleepy voice asked from the speaker of her cell phone a few moments later. Ravyn smiled guilty.

“I’m sorry, did I wake you?”

“What? No my beloved, I was just… lying here,” Joanna yawned into her ear.

Ravyn s******ed.

“Hey, I know it’s late but… would you mind if I-?”

“Of course you can come over, don’t be silly. You know you don’t have to ask. Rob’s not here anyway. He called in late, as usual. If you pick some up on the way we can sit here and eat ice cream and bitch about all things male behind his back while he’s gone.”

“Cool, sounds like my kind of thing. See you soon.”

“Okay my sweet. Love you.”

“Love you too. Bye.”

Three quarters of an hour minutes later and with a carton of chocolate ice cream under her arm, Ravyn met her sister with a kiss and a hug before she was ushered into the living room of her sister and ex-husband come brother-in-law’s home.

[Ravynlee]

“Hmm, someone’s been drinking.”

“I didn’t drive. It’s not like I have a license anyway. So you don’t have to tell Rob and he doesn’t have to arrest me.”

“Huh, like I would anyway,” Joanna retorted back with equal sarcasm. She finished filling her bowl and rose to put the rest of the container in the freezer. “He needs to come home first to do that. I’m starting to forget what he looks like.”

“Still out playing super cop trying to save the world huh?”

“I don’t know sis,” Joanna sighed, sinking into her seat with her shoulders slumped. She pushed the ice cream around her bowl a moment before she let out another sigh that was more burdensome than the first. “You know, sometimes I think you got the best of him,” she uttered. She looked at her sister trying to smile congenially.

Ravyn shrugged.

“No. He was always like this sis. Always out, doing his own thing. Always too busy doing everything else. Sometimes I wonder why we even got married in the first place… we just… grew apart I guess. He did his thing and I did mine. It was cool at first but soon we were like ships passing in the night. Got to the point we weren’t even passing nightly anymore but every second night then maybe a few times a week if we were lucky. Woke up one morning and I knew then that it was over. I think he knew long before I did. But it’s not anyone’s fault, it happens. Besides, he’s with you now.”

Staring off into space Ravyn smiled eventually and resumed eating with renewed life.

“You make that sound like it’s a positive thing,” Joanna muttered dejectedly. She was avoiding Ravyn’s eyes as much as she was seeking comfort and validation that she already secretly had.

“Seriously, you don’t have anything to worry about sis. Things are different with you guys. He loves you, I know he does. You just know how he gets sometimes, gets so caught up when he’s working cases and stuff. When things calm down again you’ll be all right... And when the baby comes along, you’ll see him more then.”

Joanna scoffed dubiously, eating delicately like her appetite had suddenly abandoned her. “Sometimes I think he doesn’t care about that either.”

“You don’t mean that.”

“I do,” Joanna confessed. She spooned another mouthful of ice cream in before she grimaced and spat it out again. “I’m sorry, lately I’ve just been feeling- oh- I have to be sick-”

Scampering up out of her chair Joanna raced down the hall as Ravyn sat staring after her bemusedly. She waited. Lured by the sound of her sister throwing up Ravyn pushed her food aside and followed, internalising a scoff. Catching sight of the assortment of frames on her way she felt the same old grief set upon her again. Guilt. Responsibility. Loss. Despair.

Stop it, she heard her inner critic berate, your sister needs you now, get your head out of the past.

Lingering in the doorway to the bathroom she watched as Joanna wrenched herself up from the floor to splash her face with cool water. It was hard to tell at first but the sound of her jerky breaths betrayed her as Joanna shrugged off her sister’s concerns to tell her she was all right now. A moment later they were in each other’s arms with Joanna miserably confessing she was anything but right.

“I feel so scared sometimes, so lonely,” Joanna confided, wiping her eyes on a fistful of tissues beneath Ravyn’s studious gaze. “And when he’s not here I-… I guess I just need to catch up on sleep or something. I’m sure you’re right, maybe when he’s sorted himself out at work he’ll come home and be with me then.” She took a deep breath to steady herself. Then she said, “I don’t mean to be silly I just… I don’t know what’s wrong with me. Things have been a bit crazy this past week, especially since after what happened to Phoenix and Lindsay and all… guess I’m just worried.”

“You’ve got nothing to worry about,” Ravyn intoned, taking her sister by the shoulders to peer into her waterlogged eyes with as much sincerity as determination. “You’re gonna be fine. Come on, why don’t you go lay down and I’ll stay up a while and wait with you until you fall asleep, think that will help?”

Looking like a lost little child in the semblance of a fully-grown woman Joanna nodded with gratitude. On their way to the bedroom Joanna repeatedly confessed her love and praise for her sister’s love and level-headedness that she claimed she didn’t possess to her sister’s reprimanding scoffs.

“I don’t know what I’d do without you,” she said meekly as she lay between her sheets with Ravyn beside her on top of them, squeezing her hand in comfort.

“You don’t have to worry about it,” Ravyn told her, her voice quiet and venerable was that of a mother cooing her frightened offspring. “I’ve got no intentions of going anywhere without you.”

Less than fifteen minutes later Joanna was dozing peacefully against the warm bedcovers.

Peeling herself up Ravyn lingered in the doorway, casting a despondent gaze over her sister and the bed she lay in amid the room that smelled so strongly of another and drew the door to a close behind her.

Silence prevailed.

In the outer suburbs here the silence was almost deafening away from the screaming of sirens and traffic and the endless ticking of pedestrian crossings, everything that went along with a hundred times more people cramped into a hundred times less living quarters. Ravyn pouted to herself pensively feeling the stillness and the atmosphere of the place settle all around her. She had always felt out of place here as often as she had visited and as welcoming as her sister and her sister’s husband to a notably lesser degree tried to be. Having long since given up the hope that her happy existence with Rob was never going to happen nothing could completely extinguish the eternal doubt that maybe on some alternate universe she was walking through the house that should have rightfully been hers. After rinsing the bowls in the sink and standing alone with her thoughts in the silence a few minutes compulsion struck her. Treading lightly through rooms she knew well enough to traverse in the dark she switched off all the lights and emerged at the end of the hall with a quiet and careful step. Snaking an arm inside she switched on the light and slid inside. She quickly and quietly closed the door shut behind her.

Rob’s office sat waiting in perfect order as it always was before her. Ravyn smirked. Trust him in his perfectionism to not want to make things too easy for her, she mused to herself cynically. Creeping over to the desk she pulled open the drawers one by one. Just what she was looking for she didn’t know but if she couldn’t find out any information on Jammer’s murder using her own channels maybe she would be lucky enough to find a few new ones using his. Cops and their methods, she snorted. Finding nothing of use in the drawers and keeping a keen eye to the window above her Ravyn took a brazen step and switched on his computer.

[Ravynlee]

Whether or not he had it firewalled, whether or not he trusted his wife more implicitly than he ever entrusted her, Ravyn settled down before the LCD screen with her heart in her throat expectantly. Battling her nerves she began searching his documents with a scrutinized eye. Thankfully they weren’t locked. For a cop he was either naively trusting or was so full of himself he hadn’t considered security. Maybe he really was an idiot. Figured. Pushing her journalistic cynicism aside for the moment Ravyn tried opening folders to see what would happen. Files of dates spread out before her but not knowing what she was looking for Ravyn took a gamble and clicked one open. Nothing. Another. Nothing. Realising she was wasting precious time she didn’t have Ravyn did a brazen act and opening the search window typed in the name ‘Shinoda.’

She waited.

Outside a car had entered the street. Ravyn’s heart almost leapt out her throat and choked her. Ducking down amid the shadows she raced over and snapped the light off. Bathed in darkness she waited. The car passed with an apathetic hum. Ravyn hissed out a heavy sigh of relief. She turned her attentions back to the screen. What the hell was that?

Craning closer she saw a shortcut for an address in front of her. It wasn’t the infamous club the man was reputedly known for. No, this was here in the outskirts of the city. This was even closer. Who the hell lived there? And who the hell was Jay Shinoda?

Hearing another car turn a corner she looked up in time to see the brilliant slash of headlights turning into the drive. Ravyn physically recoiled. Oh Jesus, he was home already!

Knowing she didn’t have time to cover her tracks Ravyn closed the window and opened another before pulling the cord from the wall with a grunt. With a whir the computer fell suddenly silent. Plugging it back in with her fingers fumbling Ravyn scurried to her feet and raced out to the hallway. Delicately she opened the bedroom door and slipped inside. She waited in the dark hearing heavy footsteps enter the house, hear keys clatter against the coffee table, hear his joints creak and groan as he stretched and yawned walking casually towards her. She huffed out a steadying breath and reached for the door handle. The door creaked open in her face and Rob balked as she did.

“Jesus Ch- what are you doing here?” he snapped. His voice was hushed and quickly losing its defensiveness as Ravyn fisted her eyes and yawned and motioned backwards towards her sister stirring restlessly amid the covers.

“Oh- well don’t sneak around like that. You wanna like get yourself shot?” he muttered.

It was as much in warning as relief, for what exactly Ravyn wasn’t in the right frame of mind to speculate. He looked tired and irritated, even despite the fact he was cast in ominous shadow from the hallway light at his back. Ravyn snorted out a sound dismissing his imposition as she sidestepped her way past him. Their bodies brushed and an old familiar spark was rekindled deep within Ravyn’s nether regions. It was gone in a heartbeat the moment he grunted like he would never be happy with his dark eyes narrowing.

“Don’t you have somewhere else to be?”

“Funny, I could ask you the same thing.”

“Don’t start, Ravyn. I’m not in the mood.”

“You only have one mood, Rob, get your head out of your ass.”

Now on opposing sides of the bedroom door, she with her back to the light and he in her shadow (for the most part) Rob looked down at the short portly woman like he wanted to slap her. Despite his physical ire Ravyn couldn’t help but feel a pang of regret as she silenced him. Wordlessly she directed over his shoulder towards Joanna who was waking with a murmur behind him.

“She’s not feeling well so I stayed with her til she fell asleep. Now you’re here I guess I’ll… go again.”

“Thanks,” Rob told the floor, rubbing the back of his neck wearily. He sighed and attempted some weak gesture of restitution.

“I can call you a cab or… like… drive you… if you want.”

“I’ll be fine. Thanks.”

“If you’re sure. Like, at least, let me pay for it.”

“I don’t need your money alright, Rob-”

“I was just being-”

“Alright - thanks,” Ravyn agreed guiltily.

She watched him dig into his back pocket before she stopped him. Her need to get out at that moment was so strong she made up some excuse about seeing a handful of change on the kitchen counter and would gladly use that if he agreed to it. Whether or not Rob believed her or was just as eager to have his castle back to it’s usual state, he nodded her off with a plastic smile excusing himself to the bathroom to shower and change out of his uniform for bed. Hurrying to the kitchen Ravyn slapped up a notepad she saw nearby and quickly scribbled the address she had memorised from Rob’s computer upon it. Ignoring the change she left and biding him a parting farewell she slipped out the front door with the big man slowly following her out dutifully. With his uniform open and his white tee hugging his chest beneath Ravyn dipped her eyes to the ground with a telling smile. Looking both imposing and tired Rob framed the doorway blocking both entry and exit. Nervousness made her insides quiver but excitement spurned her on as she waved back and hurried up the drive pressing numbers in her cell phone under the pretense of calling a cab to go home.

“Night.”

“Alright… like… Bye.”

“Bye.”

When the cab rolled up soon after she slipped in, the front light of her sister’s house snapping off behind her.

“Take me to this address please,” she said, handing the driver the note she had scribbled in Rob’s kitchen. Sinking back into her seat as the cab started forward Ravyn sat with her chin on her fist watching the neighbourhood slip by with her head suddenly spinning seemingly out of her control.

[Ravynlee]

---

 

“Yes?”

The pretty blonde stood hesitantly behind the drawn door as Ravyn stepped closer, silently assessing the stranger with the bloodshot eyes and nervous smile with one of her own.

“Can I help you?”

“I dunno,” Ravyn confessed awkwardly. Of all the scenarios she had played out in her mind watching dawn arise with a painful brilliance she had apparently lost them the moment the door had creaked open. She didn’t quite know what she had expected but she knew she hadn’t anticipated anything like this.

“Are you… Jay by any chance?”

The other woman frowned and looked momentarily confused.

Great, another dead end lead and several hours sleep you just lost for nothing. Tell her you’re sorry, tell her you have the wrong house and go home Rave, it’s hopeless.

“No,” the woman said with a tentative frown, her fingers dancing delicately against the neck of her blouse. “There’s no Jay here. He hasn’t lived here for years. He… passed away last year.”

Ravyn’s brows rose in surprise.

“I’m sorry, were you a friend of his or-”

“Actually no. I was… well I was wondering if I could speak to him. I guess maybe you might know. Tell me, did you ever know a woman by the name of Jammer Redfern? She was this tall, about five seven, brown skin, dark hair, dark eyes-”

The woman shook her head.

“No. Sorry. I wish I could help you.”

She stepped back and was pushing the door closed before her. Reaching out Ravyn slapped a hand against the cold hard wood. She tried smiling to appease the woman’s alarm and found herself giggling in embarrassment.

“Look, I know you don’t know me. I’m actually a reporter. I work for the New York Times back in the city. I just- I was following the case of this woman that was murdered last week, you may have read about it, she was that woman found in the park-”

“The prostitute.”

“Yeah,” Ravyn flinched. Her shoes scuffed against the porch boards in an awkward motion. “She- she was my friend.”

“I’m sorry to hear that.”

“Thanks. Thing is- there’s a man the police think might be a suspect in it but they don’t have much of a lead-”

“And you think Jay might have had something to do with it?”

“No. No,” Ravyn chuckled, battling her apprehension with her expression drawn peakily. “Actually, I was… there’s this name of another man just like his. They think he might be involved. His name’s Mike. Do you know anyone with a name like that?”

The pretty blonde woman smiled at her and shook her head.

“Know anyone by the name of Mike? Of course,” she snorted, reclining her temple against the door’s unrelenting surface.

“You know Mike?” Ravyn asked, her pulse, her heart suddenly racing. “Mike Shinoda, you know him?”

“I should do,” the woman said, a small smile slowly infecting her pretty face. “I’m married to him. My name’s Rashell. I’m Mike’s wife.”

 

---

 

 

 

:o

 

(Andrea, will make sense shortly )

 

And Hi Foxxy - saw you were in here as I was updating (waves)

[andrea]

I'm loving it. Haha. He's wife, huh? Yeah! Haha. Wonder how there relationship is.

[crazy robster]

Awww I see my recent confessions have helped you with your writing my sweet! Haha and me crying and looking for sisterly support that was so sweet <3 Reminded me of our days here together my beloved *quivering lip* This update was a nice break from the killing I really appreciated it!!

[Friðbjörn]

reminds me of Eminem's line, "intertwining with gangsters" lol

 

but yeah...beautiful sisterly relationship

seems like they two would be so much better off without rob hehe

[Greyfoxx]

And Hi Foxxy - saw you were in here as I was updating (waves)

hahahha hi mum! Can't wait for the next one!

[Pheonix791989]

yeah you better update soon. *continues to poke you with a stick*

[Ravynlee]

I know it's been a few days guys but been busy with work, y'all know how it is. So now I have a HUGE update for you all. Equates to nearly 20 word doc pages so yeah, may take a bit and cause some eye strain but it's an update none the less. Hope y'all enjoy. Also hope it makes sense. Am up to my eyeballs on pain med for a toothache, driving me bonkers. So if you see grammatical errors and the like you know why. Will try and keep them to a minimum for the sake of continuity

 

AND welcome Woody and Allie to the stage plus a few more external characters. Woot!

 

(Disclaimer: As in usual chapters, language, violence, etc etc... You know the drill by now)

 

---

 

 

“So what are you thinking?”

“Me? That I should be home, cuddled up next to my wife, sleeping.”

Frib smirked amusedly as he watched his partner shift a piece of burnt timber with the toe of his boot. Shielding his eyes from the midmorning sun he stifled a yawn behind his palm. The street around them was quiet but busy, the houses that lined both sides looking like facsimiles with their windows drawn and doors shut, ignorant of their existence let alone the crime that had so recently taken place upon one of their own.

“Think we should start door knocking for witnesses?” the young officer wondered.

Rob pursed his lips and joined in surveying the street with his brooding frown. He snorted.

“What’s the point? No one ever sees anything in this neighborhood. They may as well have lit up a neon sign in the middle if the street for what it’s worth.”

“Maybe we might get lucky?”

“Yeah,” Rob grunted as he strode away. “Right.”

Looking back to the burnt out shell of the house the young Rookie studied the crime scene intently. He was wondering what was wrong with his partner to sound so jaded with his job. It could have been exhaustion, it could have been personal, hell, even after a few days with Rob Frib still didn’t really know the man he entrusted his life with any more than he had upon meeting. It wasn’t unlike cops to put up a brave front, it came with the job and he was well versed on that from his dealings in the academy, but still he worried. It was like his new partner had built up some wall around himself and was deliberately shielding himself from any attempts at communicating. Frib hoped with an awry smile he wasn’t the cause of it, wanting more than anything this chance to prove himself with one of his fellow officers if not the rest of the city at large. Reasoning that it had to be grief over losing his last partner, the young officer watched Rob stroll away to the squad car as he wandered off for a closer look at the crime scene.

The charred mount of remains sat like a rotted tooth amid the suburban landscape. Smoke still clung to the air; the wooden trusses and blackened furnishings at the bottom of the heap smoldered still, giving off an acrid stench of physical loss along with a sentimental one. It was hard to picture anyone used to live here, nothing remained of it now but scraps of hollowed out furniture and half burnt memorabilia of a life that once was. Watching the forensics team pick through the leftovers Frib eventually strolled over to the squad car to join his partner with a weary sigh.

“So now what?”

“I dunno. Wait for the arson squad to get a few leads I guess.”

“You think it was deliberate?”

“I think I need a coffee. Want one?”

“Sure... I think,” Frib yawned around a weary smile. “Who’s buying?”

 

 

 

The little cafeteria they sat in half hour later was quiet and devoid of much human life despite the hospitable conditions. Staring out the window at the cars and human traffic roaming past Frib sipped at his coffee before he set it down silently. The wind was picking up. The sky was overcast. Rain was coming far behind the high-rises that dominated the landscape. Ironically he thought to himself about the house they had come from and how it might have been saved had Mother Nature been more cooperative. Looking ahead at his partner studying his coffee cup in front of him the young man cleared his throat as if making ready to say something.

“So… what happens now? I guess we start canvassing the streets for the bad guys huh?”

“No.”

“What, you think whoever lived there started it and left town or something? Insurance scam? I can’t imagine half the people there even know what insurance is.”

Ignoring Frib’s half-hearted attempt at humour Rob sat forward in his seat to command his partner’s full attentions, still wearing that same brooding frown of earlier. He thought a long time before he spoke as the two men sat in silence watching the world go by with divided interest.

“This is the third fire in this area in as many nights. That place where that man and that girl got whacked, that was torched night before last too.”

“Think they’re connected?”

“I dunno. Too early to tell,” Rob sighed. He sat deep in thought a moment before he wondered aloud, “Have you ever seen fire throw furniture across rooms like that? Remember the bed frame, it was on it’s side remember, same as the sofa, the table. This wasn’t for insurance. This was something else-”

“What like breaking and entering?”

“But nothing was stolen so far as we can tell.”

“Isn’t that a bit… speculation? I mean the place was gutted. Well at least the garage was, the rest of it, well…”

“He’s sending a message, that’s what this is.”

“He?”

“He - whoever did this.”

“You think you might know who it is?”

Hovering expectantly Rob looked like he wanted to speak but drowned it down with his coffee and sunk back into his seat with a forced smile again. He shook his head.

“Who?” Frib prompted.

“The guy who lived there. His name was Joe Hahn.”

“How do you know? You knew him?”

“Knew of him. Was like a freelancer or something, what do they call it, like a deejay or whatever. Used to work down at that club, Fort Minor.”

“You mean, MS’s club?” Frib leant forward in his seat with his interests peaked. “But I thought that was just some sleazy strip joint or whatever.” He paused remembering the intimate glimpse of the club’s interior he had seen just days before hand as Rob shook his head and sipped at his coffee.

“So what about him?”

[Ravynlee]

“Joe used to hang out with Chester Bennington and his crew before the bust went down. They were friends, Joe and Chester. Joe is very… animated let’s say. Bennington was under the radar before that. No one suspected him of drug involvement much at all. There was talk but… no proof. So Joe was working Mike’s club and hanging with Chester and his crew. Wild bunch always in and out for lock up for one thing or another, petty shit, nothing major. So like, after the shit went down, Chester gets carted off to the state Penn and Joe’s left to do his own thing. Word around was he and Mike had a falling out. I know he’s not working the club anymore, that much I do know.”

“Maybe Joe thought Mike had something to do with it? The bust I mean.”

Rob shrugged nonchalantly. “Certainly didn’t stop him like cashing in on the media circus that followed.”

“So what, you think Joe’s right? You think he had something to do with this? Mike I mean. Why didn’t he go down with the ship too if he was in on it?”

“He wasn’t.”

“You sound sure about that.”

Rob shook his head again with his attentions distracted out the window watching the people pass without actually appearing to see them.

“No.”

“Why not? Everyone’s saying he’s like the next Godfather of organised crime or something.”

“Please. He didn’t invent crime. It was around before him it and it’ll be here like long after he’s gone. He’s just a man who runs a club that’s all-”

“But the papers have been saying-”

Rob let out an irritated sound that made his partner quickly fall silent.

“Doesn’t matter what the papers say! People always talk. They’re like puppets of the media and you know as well as I do they’ll say anything to sell a story. Doesn’t even have to be like factual.”

Something about his tone stung with betrayal, and cut off any rebuttal the younger man had been formulating upon his lips. Shifting tact he wondered, “What, are you saying they got it wrong last year with what happened with you and the drug bust?”

Rob met his eyes with his impassioned stare and appeared to think about it a moment. One moment became two.

“That was one of the biggest stories this city has ever seen, are you telling me it didn’t happen the way they said it did? What happened that night?”

“Nothing,” Rob grunted. He was looking away again and looking both uncomfortable and unyielding behind his stern faced façade.

“Come on, they practically made you out to be a hero. Are you telling me they got it wrong? You should be famous-”

“Do I look like a hero to you?” Rob snapped under his breath. A bitter smirk lashed he face, appearing more pained than even sardonic as he swallowed his coffee with a disparaging snort. “I’m still like a- a beat cop, just like you. Look where it got me. Make me famous? Yeah. Right. Be sure to tell my wife that when I can’t pay for our kid’s medical bills.”

Frib pouted at the table top, internally berating himself for his impulsivities. Then blinked up curiously.

“You have a kid? The captain didn’t tell me that.”

“No, not yet” Rob muttered. “Not long found out. Only a couple of months, got a while to go yet.” The smile the young officer was giving him was slowly melting the ice on his stony expression.

“Is this your first?”

“Yeah… No.”

“You have another one somewhere?”

“No… Yes. I had one. Once.”

“What, a boy or girl?”

“What is this, an interrogation?”

“No I’m just-”

Rob sighed and shook his head, glaring at his younger counterpart with a look of dire warning. “Can we just stick to the case please?”

Frib looked down at his coffee mug guiltily.

“Sorry. I just get- I think aloud sometimes, I didn’t mean to…”

Whether it was the sullen sound of the young rookie’s voice or the tension that had suddenly settled over the corner booth, Rob sunk back in his seat rubbing his face with his hands with a grumble ignoring the wary stares he was seeing in his peripheral vision from the café staff startled from their manual labour.

“So, this Joe Hahn-” Frib began as stoically as he could manage. “Do you think one of Chester’s old crew might have-?”

“A boy,” Rob intercepted.

Frib looked at the older man confusedly.

“Sorry?”

“I had a son,” Rob explained, nursing the coffee mug with two hands and a strangely vacant expression. Even his tone was flat, devoid of emotion even more so than was practically normal for the tall man.

“He passed away just over a year ago, a few months actually before the big Bennington case went down. Should have been the highlight of my career right? Hadn’t been on the force long. Got a call and went out… thought I’d see him again when I came home but I didn’t. He… passed away while I was out here… doing my job, doing what I do best… apparently.”

“I’m sorry, I didn’t-”

“Most people don’t.

“How did it- I mean, you don’t have to-?”

“Accident.”

To the younger man it almost seemed as if his partner was talking about a television show rather than his life story. It unnerved him, made worse by the way Rob was suddenly smiling back as if the gesture was not comfortable positioned upon his face as it currently sat.

“He was only little, just starting to walk. I was like at work, his mom… my ex wife was busy, in the next room, like writing or whatever, doing her own thing. Next thing she hears the noise in the bedroom. Gets up and goes in and finds him on the floor. He’d somehow managed to open the wardrobe and found my gun… accidentally blew his brains out. He was like barely eighteen months old.”

Frib stared back with his mouth slowly opening in surprise. The steady even look Rob was giving him kept Frib silent, both shocked and wary, unsure on some level whether Rob in his eternally abrasive way was having a lend of him or not.

“His name was Nicky.”

“Jesus Christ man, I’m so sorry, I shouldn’t have-”

“Makes two of us.” Rob admitted in his usual lifeless tone. “The rest you know, with the… like the bust and everything… Sometimes I think that night we got Chester, that was the only thing that kept me here. Everything had fallen apart, marriage and… things. Then I got with Jo. Here I am… You have a wife Frib? A girlfriend? Anyone like significant in your life?”

“No,” Frib murmured, pondering his watery reflection inside his mug sadly.

[Ravynlee]

Rob made a sound that was neither goading nor approving. He exhaled loudly as he downed more of his coffee and smiled back in his untouchable way, looking too much like a parent or an older brother at best, imparting wisdom with the benefit of hindsight, regardless how painful or however recent said lessons had been.

“No? Then you’re probably lucky. This job… it takes it out of you. You join up thinking you’ll make a difference and it’s the same shit every day. Nothing ever changes, you just get… caught up… before you know it you can’t tell what’s right and what’s wrong anymore. This city, it kills you. Kills everything else but you, you it takes a little bit at a time. You wake up one day and realise you’ve sold your soul to the devil and there’s no going back… Trust me, you’re better off on your own. You don’t owe anyone anything then, it’s just you you have to worry about, no one else…”

“Is that what happened to your partner, you think?”

“Let me tell you something, Dave was a good cop, probably the best. Better than me, better than you, he didn’t deserve what he got, that’s for sure… All the good ones get taken away before they’re supposed to…”

Frib frowned watching his partner ponder his mug but not appear to be seeing any of it. He opened his mouth to speak. In just a few short days his perception had changed dramatically, he was seeing Rob Bourdon in a new light away from the pages that he had read at the academy, and it selfishly did alarm him to see human flaws in the robot he had mentally idealised of him. Still struggling to get his head around this confession Frib sat silently slumped in his booth seat with his shoulders hanging low. Despite his candid admission Rob’s tone was still as it had been the moment they had sat down for coffee. If there was anything but reflection in his tone Frib was not yet familiar with it to recognise it. It, along with everything else about Rob Bourdon confused and concerned him. Thinking it was still a culmination of grief and anger most recently offset again by the sudden loss of his partner more than anything Frib attempted a sympathetic smile hoping the gesture didn’t offend or make him look weak in the eyes of his colleague and confidante.

“Can we drop it now and get back to work or do you want to keep drilling me some more in the hopes that I snap?”

Frib shook his head, knowing a command when he heard one.

“If you’re here to rat me out to the captain to get your merit badge I have bad news for you, newbie. I told the internal affairs squad and I’m telling you, I don’t know anything about anything, okay? What happened to Dave and… just drop it, really… drop it.”

Rob rolled his eyes out the window with an icy glare.

The terse silence that followed was quickly drowned out by the static coming from the two-way. Something about a reported arson attempt on another building in a nearby neighbourhood caught their attentions. Rob quickly scanned the street beyond the window with his unwaveringly apathetic stare as Frib sat poised with tentatively renewed vigour.

“Think it’s the same people?”

“That torched the Hahn’s place? No. It’s a big city Frib. Too big for one crew to run, I don’t care what the papers say.”

“So what, should we follow that? See if we get a lead anyway?”

“No,” Rob repeated stealing a quick glimpse at his wristwatch. “Let the detectives handle it, Frib. That’s their job, not ours. We catch them, they prove it, then it’s the courts problem to lock them up or set them free so they can do it all over again. That’s the way the system works. You gotta know your place in it. Let’s wait and see what forensics can dig up from what’s left of Hahn’s car. If they’re lucky they’ll catch a break. Maybe they’ll find out something, like someone has to eventually.”

His demeanour had shifted from apathetic to cynical to focussed again as he attempted to make light of the conversation with a reticent smile. Rather than ask, and feeling out of place now after the slight confrontation he had just had with his partner, Frib nodded and smiled back. He was drinking the last of his coffee as Rob dug into his back pocket and slapped a few notes on the table and stood waiting for Frib to follow his lead.

“What, so where are we headed?” the rookie asked, scuttling out of his booth seat beneath his partner’s tight-lipped silence.

Together they walked outside standing on the sidewalk beneath the bighting breeze and the darkening sky as the city buzzed with life around them. Rob looked up at the sky a moment and Frib did the same. There was nothing to look at drawing a perplexing gaze to the young officer’s face. Rob tried to smile at him. For what it contained it was as good as a brick wall to the rookie.

“What?”

“The wind’s picking up, you feel that?”

“Yeah, so?” Frib shrugged.

Rob looked around a moment longer before he looked back over his shoulder at his partner and sighed. It wasn’t brimming with sarcasm still it barely formulated much of a sound at all.

“Funny thing about the weather is you can stand there and fight it or you’ll just let it do what it has to do and hope it passes right over you… Do you get what I’m saying at all?”

Frib frowned and eventually shrugged with a dubious pout. He wondered if Phoenix has ever understood his partner then found himself facing a whole can of worms he wasn’t sure he wanted to deal with yet, especially not out aloud to his grief-stricken partner. Besides, Rob’s old partner, for all his pristine service record and exemplary character references had been as dirty as they came, it was almost expected that Rob would be a little off-kilter given everything he had to get his head around especially this past year in both his public and private life. A death, divorce, career highlight bust, a marriage, a new child on the way and now the death of his long time partner all in the space of a year and a half was more than enough reason to mess with anyone’s head. Frib’s life paled in comparison, it was something he could comprehend but never completely understand. Clearing his throat he watched Rob stride ahead towards the white squad car and open the driver’s side door wrestling with his conscience and the words he wanted to say but couldn’t.

[Ravynlee]

“Listen, about what I said back there-”

“Forget it. It’s in the past,” Rob dismissed still smiling back in his plagiarized way. “Besides, like, we’ve got bigger issues to deal with right now.”

“You mean like finding out why someone wants this Joe Hahn dead?”

“What makes you think he’s still alive?”

“I didn’t see a body back there, did you?”

“No,” Rob conceded with a heavy sigh.

It was a poignant as a full stop at the end of a sentence. The conversation was over; the buck had been passed along the chain of command. Frib threw his eyes to the ground in disappointment. His first real case was over before it had even developed. It wasn’t at all like they made it seem on the movies. Snorting to himself he glanced up at the sky again just as Rob could be heard shutting the car door to an abrupt close at the kerbside. He blew the horn. Conceding with a doleful step the young rookie strode over and slipped inside before the car pulled away into traffic without so much as another word passing between them.

 

 

---

 

Mel sat in the darkness of the car’s interior watching the scene unfold in front of her like some life-sized television saga. The sounds of the man bellowing for mercy beneath the vicious kicks and blows of his assailants were muffled behind the glass, but just barely. She gnawed her lip pensively.

“I swear, I don’t know anything! I didn’t- fuck- ahh- stop man, please-!”

Stirring restlessly in her seat she let out a heavy nasal sigh.

“Think he’s telling the truth?” she asked quietly.

Beside her Ribisi stared over the steering wheel and said nothing, his gaunt face a mask of impassivity amidst the shadows.

“Doesn’t matter,” he said at last in his slow gritty drawl and looked out the window in the opposite direction of her. “The boss said to shake him so we shake him, simple as.”

The sound of footsteps hurriedly clattering towards the car made Mel sit upright again in her moulded seat. The vehicle rocked as three bodies clambered in. Doors slammed and the engine roared into life. The smell of sweat and breath and blood flooded the car’s interior as the crew on the back seat panicked and relived the highlights of their latest attack with raised voices, sinister laughter and wild dilated eyes. With a screech of tires they were pulling away, leaving the battered man on the ground, misshapen and barely moving, a red lump in their rear-view mirror that was all-too-quickly reclaimed by the darkness of the night and forgotten.

 

---

 

Sarah heard the clatter of the gurney wheels striking the tarmac before the code had even been issued. She blinked up from the chart in her hands just in time to see the flashing lights stain the interior of the trauma ward before the first hurried voices infiltrated her quiet night.

“Male, late twenties, multiple lacerations to his chest and face…”

In a flurry of footsteps half dozen people descended upon the patient with a driven purpose. The Paramedics barked over the nurses in a chaotic frenzy of words as hands shifted the young man from the gurney to another with a thump. Machines whirred and beeped to life. Alarms sounded. After snapping a neck brace on to the man Sarah stood nursing his battered face in her hands. She shone a pen light into his eyes. They were dull and irresponsive.

“What’s his name?”

“Sisto, Jeremy,” The Paramedic read from the wallet in his gloved hands. Handing it over to a nurse Sarah stooped low into the man’s face and called his name loudly.

“Jeremy, can you hear me? Jeremy, if you can hear me I need you to respond to my voice okay?”

Nothing.

“Jesus Christ,” Sarah grumbled. With a loud rip his shirt was rent in two. Blood stained his chest along with multiple bruises and angry red contusions. “Quiet!” she barked. The theatre became instantaneously still for a brief second as she lay her head down to listen to his heartbeat. She grimaced.

“Sucking chest wound… bullet?” another nurse said.

Sarah shook her head and pressed two fingers against the man’s rib cage.

“Broken ribs. This man was someone’s soccer ball. We’ve got a punctured lung here,” she cried.

After intubating and prepping the man’s chest she drove a valve deep into his skin. He immediately started to hack up blood. The panicked machines began to regulate to a steady incessant beat. With the chaos behind her Sarah assessed the man again and noticed with a sinking chest the plastic tag clipped to the hem of his torn and bloodied shirt. She blinked down at her own and shook her head with her eyes stinging.

“He’s a doctor?” she asked, wiping her hands with her jaw set tight.

The paramedics nodded with doleful eyes. Sarah shook her head again bitterly and stared away a moment. It was hard enough to have to deal with every kind of disaster she could think of in this godforsaken city but to see it done to one of their own made her blood boil exponentially.

“Jesus Christ.”

“Intern. Sacred Heart out near the turnpike.”

“Jersey? What the hell’s he doing in here?”

“Beats me,” the paramedic shrugged. Sarah nodded them off with silent thanks as two more people made their way into the room. She huffed out her breaths to make herself sound more professional than she was really feeling at this hour of night.

[Ravynlee]

“Evening officers. You the ones that found him?”

“Yeah,” the younger one said. He approached and held out his hand cordially. Sarah raised her brows in amusement eying off his name badge with a tiny smile. Friðbjörn it read. How the hell was she supposed to pronounce that?Raising her hand and wiggling her fingers to gesture she still wore bloodied gloves, she began snapping them off as the taller one approached in his lazy swagger and assessed the patient with a stern frown.

“Officer Bourdon. Long time no see in these parts,” Sarah said. “How’s that wife of yours doing? Still penning her usual venom in the papers I see.”

Frib raised a brow at his partner curiously as Rob s******ed.

“Ex wife now. And she’s fine, I guess.”

“So you’re back on the market again?”

Rob blushed with an awry smirk as the doctor echoed it, her tone residually authoritarian as she peeled the gloves from her fingers with loud snaps.

“Me? No, number two now.”

“Really?” Sarah grunted. “Some people have all the luck. So this your new partner?”

Turning her back to drop her gloves in the trash and wash her hands at the sink she hid her smile with a bowed face as the officer acknowledged her with a cordial nod. He was cute in a strange boyscout kind of way, not too tall, average build, with cool eyes and a pale face she assessed, studying his reflection in the mirror along side the senior officer with her unwaveringly stern stare. She wondered if this new officer was married but without the absence of a ring on his finger she could only snort again to herself and assess he probably was. Pity, but then again, in this city who wasn’t these days? Snorting at her thoughts the young medic straightened herself as she turned her attentions back to them, and wiping her hands on a paper towel handed the wallet retrieved from the paramedics to Rob. The shorter one with the strange name was lingering over the patient now with vested concern.

“Is he going to be okay?” the officer said.

Sarah nodded. “He took one hell of a beating by the looks. I can’t tell you any more than that at this moment. We’ll run some tests, see what long term damage there might be. Too early to tell right now. So long as we keep him stable for the next few hours he should be able to make a statement in a few days.”

“So he’s not ready to make one now?” Rob muttered from the innards of the man’s wallet.

Sarah scoffed as he blinked up, meeting her eyes. You should know better, she said silently. Whether it was the heat to her face or the way she was suddenly walking away from him Rob smirked back coyly. Frib frowned before the look on Rob’s face made him drop it to the ground. It was par for the course for women to fall in love with the uniform, he told himself dourly, but he suddenly didn’t feel too appealing compared to his taller counterpart with his classic textbook looks. He silently slipped into the background, studying the trauma ward with a child’s awe as Sarah and Rob converged on either side of the patient that was being prepped for transport for further tests elsewhere in the hospital.

“One of his ribs went straight through his lungs. He’s lucky he’s even alive. When he’s able to talk I’ll let you know.”

“Anything else I should know?” Rob asked, his tone low and droning sounding too much like a bored murmur out of place in this chaotic unit.

“Aside from the fact he was one of our own, no,” she said.

Rob nodded dutifully. There was something poignant about an act of violence being perpetrated upon anyone in the service of helping others, making the rawness fester and the urgency to solve it that much more dire.

“This is the eighth beating I’ve seen of this magnitude tonight, and I’ve only been on for a few hours. I could end up with another half dozen more, who knows. Thank god it’s not a full moon or we’d really be in for it. That’s when all the crazies come out,” she shrugged musing without the conviction such a statement was due. “But I couldn’t tell you who’s responsible even if I wanted. It could have been another mugging. They see the uniform and they think he’s got drugs, it happens. Could have been any number of things. We won’t know anymore til he stabilizes.”

Together they watched as he was wheeled out and strolled casually towards the entry doors with a silent burdensome stare.

“I can tell you one thing though. This kind of attack, it’s on the rise, guys. It used to be more prevalent on lower to middle class, the poor and the homeless and the addicts and such, but now... Now I don’t know what’s going on out there anymore. It’s like the whole city has gone crazy or something... crazier perhaps. This is the big rotten apple after all...”

[Ravynlee]

---

 

Nodding the doctor off the two uniformed officers stood outside the hospital watching the people trickle in and out in an endless sea of chaos and carnage. Rob frowned as his partner watched him, frowning back with curiosity.

“So I take it you know her?”

“Who Doctor Woods? Like professionally, yeah.” Rob sighed. He was distractedly staring upwards again and drew Frib’s attentions with a gradually cautious stare.

Frib nodded at the ground making a noise with his throat that was part apology and part awkwardness for touching on such a delicate subject again so soon. Just when he was about to speak again he looked up and saw Rob was looking over his shoulder, his frown lethal. Frib snapped his head back to scan the incoming crowd milled along the building’s worn facade with a worried glance. He scanned but didn’t know what he was looking for. Whether it was residual unease after what he had seen with that doctor in there or what his partner had divulged to him earlier about his past, Frib found himself struggling to get abreast of the anxious feelings churning away in his chest and stomach. Life out here on the force was not at all as he had anticipated it would have been back there in the sheltered structure of the academy. He was probably just being paranoid, it had been a long day after all he reasoned. He uttered his partner’s name to ground himself and to reassure his partner he was alert enough to share his concerns if the look on Rob’s face was anything to go by.

“Rob... what is it? What’s wrong? What did you-?”

“Nothing.”

“Is it that doctor in there, the one we just brought in? You’ve seen him before? When you were looking through his wallet you-”

“Yeah,” Rob admitted with his jaw tight and his dark eyes scanning the faces milling past with terse suspicion. “Yeah, I know him. Know of him. He was... he was Nicky’s doctor, one of them, that night...”

“Shit man, I’m-”

“I have to make a call.”

“No, sure, go ahead. I’ll uh... I’ll be over here if you... need me...” Frib offered but the words petered out unfinished at Rob’s back as he watched his partner silently skulking away.

Wandering back towards the triage entrance Frib lingered, peering inside through the automatic glass doors with his attentions fixed on the doctor tending the other patients inside. He smiled a little where the will wasn’t forthcoming, hoping to be the face of sanity amid the chaos that dictated the emergency ward in a city as large and as out of control as this. Inside Doctor Woods remained ambivalent to his presence but he smiled on regardless, admiring her tenacity against such insurmountable suffering as she was faced with every night.

The sound of people erupting behind him drew the young officer away.

“Hey. Hey!”

Separating two homeless men over a scrap of sandwich Frib dictated reason until the trouble was settled and the warring parties sent empty handed on their way. Shaking his head Frib smiled sadly. His pockets were empty but still his conscience nagged at him for watching the bums leave with less in their possession than he had. He pouted. Turning his back he scanned the crowd for his partner. Mild panic set in when he couldn’t see the tall brooding officer anywhere in the hospital’s brilliantly lit courtyard. Retracing his steps Frib began to reach for his two-way and stopped. Rob was ahead of him, maybe twenty feet, talking on his cell phone with his eyes low to the ground. Something didn’t seem right with his demeanor but Frib couldn’t tell what it was. Rob looked up and Frib followed it, surveying the crowd of patients inside the glass doors with his frown increasing. He happened to catch sight of a portly man of some Asian descent sat hunched over in his plastic chair. He didn’t stand out amid the sick and dying with his ashen complexion nursing a bloodied cloth wrapped around his hand, but his dark eyes darting around opposed to the listless gaze of his peers sent alarm bells off in the young officer’s head. That innate feeling of unease was steadily growing stronger. He must have been a criminal, or worse, was about to become one. Reaching back to tap his holster reassuringly Frib motioned to Rob to get his attentions. Then he stopped dead in his tracks. Not twenty feet in the opposite direction leaning against a parked car and half obscured by shadow saw another man with his capped head bowed low and his hand up to his ear. He too must have been talking on his cell phone. The idiosyncrasy of that didn’t alarm him in a city as big as New York, but the sound of the man’s voice, low, clean, articulate made the fine hairs on the back of the young officer’s neck stand to attention immediately. It couldn’t be, surely-

As if suddenly sensing the officer’s gaze the man looked up and smiled. Even beneath the black brim of the cap Frib recognized the face as one he had seen before. With his dark eyes bearing straight ahead into the officer’s face Mike smirked and winked. Unsure whether or not he believed what he was seeing let alone why the so-called crime kingpin was out here in front of the hospital of all places staring back at him like that, Frib swung his eyes away for a brief second to see if his partner had noticed it too. The sight of Rob studying the crowd again with the phone still to his ear made the young rookie’s chest drop. When he turned back to verify that it had been Mike and not some figment of his over wound imagination Mike, or whomever it had been there, was predictably gone.

Shaking his head as he stood scanning the car park and the brick fortress in front of him Frib began to question himself with his heart thumping expectantly. Looking to his partner Frib’s step, and his self-berating mindset, halted along with it. Lowering his cell Rob snapped it shut with an agitated click before shoving it into his back pocket. When the two men locked eyes again the guilt Frib saw there was clearer than the specter he had just seen, or thought he had seen, and imperceptibly far more poignant. Somehow, some way, Frib began to feel real the first real seeds of doubt formulate over this man he was supposed to entrust his life to.

Surely his new partner, this token officer and esteemed cop wasn’t dirty. No, that had been his previous partner, Dave ‘Phoenix’ Farrell, remember? There had to be a logical explanation for this, right? He was just tired, he was just stressed, he was just new to all of this, there was still much for him to learn, to absorb, to get his head around, that made more sense surely, rather than the alternative, right?

Right?

So why did he still feel uneasy?

 

---

[Ravynlee]

---

 

“So the long arm of the law finally caught up with him huh?”

“What’s the deal with the missing thumb? Think he cut it off himself?”

“Guess his deejay days are over.”

“You know in the old days, Capo’s would take your thumbs if you owed them something and couldn’t pay.”

“No shit?”

“Yeah. I saw it on a movie once. It’s like what you get if you show disrespect to the mob bosses. They’d take your thumbs then your head. Pretty tough those mobsters.”

“What, like sleeping with the fishes shit? Hahn here probably caught a break getting away with a missing fucking finger. One toe in that river and the pollution would have done the job for him…”

“Beats a shot to the back of the head.”

“I’d rather take the bullet. Faster and less painful.”

“Yeah, but you know, no one does the Godfather quite like Brando. This MS shit-”

“Yeah who the fuck does he think he is, head of the New York Yakuza or something?”

“I tell you Corleone, he wouldn’t have tolerated this new aged shit. Too many chiefs and not enough Indians, that’s the problem nowadays. Remember the good old days, there was one top brass and an army beneath them. Nowadays it’s every thief and pusher and junkie for themselves.”

“Making it harder for us to get at you know.”

“Man looked scared out of his mind though-”

“Do you blame him?”

“Hey! That’s enough!”

Like a bull storming through a china shop Captain Goren strode up to the two officers and barreled them collectively and silently into a corner.

“This isn’t a beauty parlor where you get to stand around all day and act pretty. Watch your mouths. There’s still an ongoing investigation in the works as we speak and I don’t need to remind you gentlemen about a certain code of conduct, do I? Not unless you want to checking parking tickets for the remainder or your careers, am I making myself clear?”

Snorting his breaths and looking all too ready to barrel his intimidating bulk and girth down on anyone, he continued staring an uncomfortable minute before he turned and continued on his way. The two officers meandering around the holding cells watched him manoeuvre the rows of desks with dispassionate smirks and waited until he was out of earshot before they spoke up again.

“Wonder what’s up his ass?”

“Who knows?”

“Bourdon, newbie, in my office, now,” Goren commanded.

Looking up from their posts around their desks both men exchanged doleful glances before standing up and following the giant into his office. The door closed along with the blinds a moment later.

“Sit.”

The captain was closing the blinds along the windows with a clatter as Rob and Frib reluctantly settled into two seats in front of the desk. Stealing a peek between the blinds Goren huffed out a sound or agitation before he sunk down into his seat a groan. The chair echoed the sound in protest.

“Someone care to explain to me just what the fuck is going on?” he snapped. “This man, this Joe Hahn, the same man we’ve been looking for for three fucking days, just happens to be in the waiting room at the same hospital you two patrolled last night and what, I’m supposed to think this is a nice big fat coincidence? This man is gold. The evidence he can give us over this Mike Shinoda is priceless and somehow you two accidentally manage to track him down where no one else could. Accidents… seem to have an uncanny knack of happening around you don’t they Bourdon?”

“Me sir?”

“Veritable laundry list,” Goren mused quietly over his interlocked fingers. “You’re either one hell of a klutz or one hell of a cop, sometimes I’m not even sure which one to tell you the truth.”

Rolling his eyes aside Frib looked at his partner with his jaw locked tightly. Rob was ignoring him, the way he continued to stare ahead and not appear to see anything agitated Frib as much as it did unnerved him. The urge to speak up was overpowering. The fact he didn’t even properly understand his thoughts let alone trust them after what he had seen in the hours gone in front of the hospital only unsettled him further.

“You, rookie,” Goren said, as if he had been reading the younger man’s face. “You got anything you want to say to me or are you just gonna plead the fifth like your partner here?”

Feeling the captains dark eyes and soon after Rob’s impassioned stare upon him Frib snorted and threw his eyes down at his lap. In his peripheral vision he saw half of the gold badge appliquéd on his sleeve.

Courtesy. Professionalism. Respect, it read. He internalised a scoff as he drew in a deep breath to gather his thoughts.

“Did you come across any intel to the whereabouts of Hahn or was it dumb luck like officer Bourdon here reported?”

Fribby licked his lips that were dry and summoned his eyes up to look into Rob’s evenly.

Mike called you didn’t he? He wanted to ask. Somehow, some way, Mike Shinoda, grand crook, schemer, and businessman extraordinaire has you in his back pocket and no one else even knows, Frib thought scathingly then stopped. Maybe this is a test; maybe everyone else was in on it too?

Glimpsing at his captain the young officer attempted a weak smile and shook his head.

“What that’s it? That’s all you have to say on the matter?” Goren grunted sunk against the backrest of his chair that was obscured behind his broad hulking shoulders. Snatching up a pen from his desk the captain began tapping his finger with it agitatedly. He waited, staring across the desktop at the two junior officers. If he was waiting for one of them to break he was clearly doing it to a set time limit.

“Alright, get out of here. You know what you two make a great team. Both as talkative as each other,” he jibed watching the two men stand and make to leave through the glass door. He s******ed and then he halted.

“Bourdon. A minute.”

Exchanging a quick glance to his partner Rob watched Frib go before he closed the door as he was instructed.

[Ravynlee]

“Sit down a minute. There’s something I wanted to talk to you about.”

“Captain?”

“Listen, I know things have been a bit… hectic lately, what with this MS case hanging over our heads and all-”

Rob shook his head signifying he wasn’t perturbed as the older man continued.

“How- how are things? With you I mean? Since officer Farrell? Any problems I should know about? Any… issues at home maybe?” Goren attempted a smile that came off almost leering with his arms folded stately across his desk. He gave out a small chuckle that bespoke more nervousness than humour as he shifted backwards in his seat again, stirring beneath the young officer’s gaze as he was at the conversation at large. “You know I hate asking you, but it’s protocol. You know how it is.”

“It’s all good,” Rob said matter-of-factly.

He was the very face of calm inside that office where the sounds of keys tapping and phones ringing and people bellowing was a cacophony of normality at his back behind a pane of glass. He shrugged. Goren was frowning back cautiously.

“I hear you’ve got a daughter on the way. Congratulations.”

“Thanks.”

“Yeah. You know, having children in itself can be something of a stressful environment. I mean, it’s not like I know or anything, you know,” Goren s******ed in a brief attempt at actual humour that still came off suspiciously sarcastic. “But given your history I thought maybe-?”

“I’m fine. Can I go now?”

“You don’t… feel you need to see a shrink or something? Maybe talk things through or- I dunno. How are you coping with your new partner? Is he any good or should I be worried?”

Rob frowned back seriously. Leaning into the corner of his seat as he had been doing since arriving the young officer only shrugged again with his hands clasped considerately in his lap, his face and his body language, not unlike his words, not giving anything away. Goren sighed. Digging into a drawer into his desk he withdrew a manila folder and slid it across the desktop for his underling to peruse at leisure.

“What is this?” Rob asked. It was the first real trace of trepidation to enter his tone since he entered his captain’s office. Picking it up he peeled it open and studied the contents with a heavy frown.

“It’s information.”

“This is the Bennington case. What are you giving it to me for?”

“Because it’s your new assignment. If you want it.”

“But we busted that. He’s in jail remember? It’s over. That’s just reworking old ground.”

“It’s not over Bourdon. Not by a long shot. The head cheese is in jail but his posse aren’t. I heard through the grapevine that Bennington’s hooked himself up with new council. This Allie King. She’s one of the best.”

“But… he’s already been sentenced. Life, that’s what he’s supposed to be serving,” Rob muttered confusedly.

The black and white images of a man with the flame tattoos covering both wrists and nerdy black frames over his beady eyes made Rob’s frown pinch even heavier. He blinked up at his captain still wearing that severe countenance. Goren was smiling back in his somberly serious kind of way.

“It’s what you know Rob. This case was yours before it was anyone else’s. We need you to help round up the troupes before a war starts. If and when Bennington gets out, or god forbid he gets what’s coming to him behind bars, his people are gonna go looking for revenge, and we know where they’re going to start.”

“Us?”

“Shinoda,” Goren said seriously. “Hahn is the key. He’ll get you in to where you need to be. A task force has already been in operation for the last six months but they’re not making as much headway as we would have hoped. The mayor’s nervous and frankly he’s not the only one. If you want to prove your mettle you’ll take it.”

“But- I’m just like a beat cop. I’m not a narc-”

“You are now. You and the rookie, if you think he has the stomach for it. I know there’s more stress but it might just be the thing you need to get your head off the Farrell thing for a while… What do you say?”

 

---

[Ravynlee]

---

 

 

“A promotion?”

Blinking back with her face a mask of shock and caution Joanna studied her husband’s face gravely.

“Are you serious?”

“Yeah.”

“Well… it’s a long time coming, I guess. I just… what do they want you to do? Is it dangerous? It is isn’t it?”

Blinking aside at her Rob shrugged without conviction, keeping his locked arms and his down turned face in tact. Returning the small pink jumpsuit to the rack amidst the others Joanna stepped back to stand directly in front of him.

“Rob, please, no. We discussed this. You said maybe after the baby was born you might take-”

“Come on, Jo, you know what I do. You knew what I did before you even got with me. Don’t start with this like innocent victim stuff, this is crazy.”

Keeping his arms up and locked across his chest Rob strode ahead as Joanna shuffled the bag in her arms before she hurried along to catch up with him. Passing row upon row of baby items that kept stealing her attentions out of the corner of her eye she reached out and clasped her hand around his bicep, eventually pulling him to a stop just inside the glass sliding door.

“Look, baby I’m sorry, I just-” Joanna winced wrestling for the right words to come with a strangely torn expression on her face. She smiled as she stepped into him, hoping he would physically relent and let the sadness drift into her eyes when he didn’t. Running her hand across his shirt she patted his chest and the MATIX logo emblazoned across it with a hopeful pout. The plastic bags crinkled loudly between them.

“I know, and I’m sorry. I just worry about you, you know. You’ve been so… shut off lately-”

“Well I’ve had like a lot to think about lately.”

“I know,” she cooed.

As much as she tried she could feel herself grimace like a chastising parent at his stubborn child-like front. She dispelled it with a small light-hearted chuckle and cupped the side of his face with her palm. His jaw was scruffy with stubble making him look more degenerate than he commanded in uniform but she didn’t mind it in the least. Meeting his eyes and his blank expression she stroked his hollowed cheek with her thumb before she inclined up to peck his lips with a soft kiss.

“I’m happy for you,” she said when they parted.

Rob was frowning down over her like he didn’t believe her but sorely wanted to. Together they strode over to the counter to pay for their purchases. Ambivalent to the lazy stare of the teller Joanna fished out her credit card and held it up to her husband to authorize. He shrugged still with his folded arms and unwavering frown and realising he was not interested in their planned baby-shop expedition she huffed out a sigh of her own and quickly set to finalising the bill. A few minutes later they were strolling outside along the sidewalk side-by-side and silent like distant strangers.

“So are you going to take it? What does your new partner think? I haven’t met him yet… are you at least going to invite him and his wife over for dinner some night so I might get a chance to put a face to the name?”

Rob shrugged apathetically still staring at the sidewalk with every step.

“I dunno. I’ll think about it. And he doesn’t have a wife either.”

“Oh. Well that’s a shame. Maybe you should invite him over tonight and I can call my sister and-”

“Forget it. I have enough on my plate already, thanks,” Rob uttered.

When he summoned his eyes up he was focussed ahead and not aside on Joanna with his frown still festering there. Joanna sighed and shook her head.

“What is your problem? I was just thinking-”

“Well don’t think. I don’t want to hear what you think. In fact I don’t want to think another thought at all, especially about your sister. Give a man a break would you, I mean like, seriously Joanna, can’t you see that- You know what forget it.”

Blinking back at him with her own expression mimicking his Joanna huffed out a sound through her nose and hefted the bags from his hands, ignoring his vocal protest.

“Forget it? I wish I could. Let me know when me and our baby stops being an inconvenience to you, okay?” she said under her breath and wrestling the shopping bags in her hands began to walk on ahead of him with a quick and angry step. “Honestly, I feel like I’m married to a damned stranger sometimes.”

Coming to a stop Rob rolled his head back and covered his face and his crumpled brow behind his palms. He groaned in frustration.

“Damned,” he muttered lowly and scoffed. How right she was.

 

---

 

 

 

More later

[Friðbjörn]

wow...a lot to take in, in those updates

 

the thought of Allie as a criminal stands a bit out though haha