Ugh, another couple of bad days. I got about 500 words written yesterday, but I was so tired that I started writing sentences that literally didn’t make any sense, so I gave up for the night. Tonight I picked up where I’d left off, only erasing a bit of the gibberish, and then plunged ahead.
I’m actually pretty happy where I took things this time around, I just wish I’d been able to get a bit more caught up. I’m still down by about 1200 words.
As for the story itself, I figured it was about time to bring a few players back, namely Nick’s mother, Alyson, and Emmett. I like Emmett, but I’ve decided that he’s the type of character that’s best used in small doses to shake things up from time to time. I think it worked pretty well this time.
For Idle Hands (working title) - Part 18
Derrick sulked all the way back to the office. That was fine, he had to learn that that cocky attitude of his could get him into serious trouble some day. It was a bitter lesson to learn, but the sooner he got it the better. I wasn’t going to feel bad about helping him along, some day he’d look back and thank me. Besides, I had more important things to think about.
So Charlie Dyer confirmed what Dante told me, that Yadira was supplying him. I still didn’t believe it, but I couldn’t figure why Dyer would put himself in the line of fire like that if it wasn’t true. he could just as easily have lied to get rid of me. He also knew about Yadira’s past, something I know she’d never discussed with anyone here, though I suppose a tech savvy person like Derrick could come up with that kind of information easily enough.
If I assumed for a moment that Dyer was lying, what did that mean? What did he have to gain by that? He could be trying to lead me down the wrong path, but then who was I? I was just some guy asking after an iced cop, I didn’t actually have any power or influence around here. Could this all be some kind of effort to discredit Yadira? Maybe, but again, why bother? Where was the profit in that?
Assuming for a moment that Dyer was telling the truth, that raised questions as well. The biggest being, why had Yadira started supplying him junk to sell? She was clean, and she’d gone through hell to get to that point. She was also becoming part of her daughter’s life for the first time. In other words, she had a lot to lose.
Maybe Dyer was right, people don’t change. Maybe I had just been deluding myself. It wouldn’t be the first time.
I needed to regroup, get my bearings before I could figure out my next move. I needed my mom.
The scattered clouds that had been hanging around all day, dotting the sky with patches of cottony white, were just starting to clear away as I knocked on my mother’s door. It was a bright and crisp fall afternoon. Why couldn’t it be raining? At least then the weather would have matched my mood.
My mother answered the door and ushered us inside. She looked better than she had this morning, at least she didn’t look like she’d been crying recently. She might have even gotten in a little sleep, judging by the relatively modest bags under her eyes.
“Good afternoon Mrs. Shamus,” Derrick said as we were lead inside.
“Please, Derrick, I’ve told you before to just call me Martha. I’m not big on formalities.”
Even without looking, I could feel Derrick’s eyes on me. Well, that part of me had to come from somewhere I guess.
“Um, yes ma’am. Of course.”
She squinted more closely at me.
“How are you handling things, Nick? Are you OK?”
“No,” I said. “Is Alyson here?”
“She’s in her room. With everything that’s happened, it didn’t seem right to make her go to school today. Missing a few days won’t hurt her any, and if the school has a problem with it then we’ll simply have words.”
“How did she handle the news?”
She smiled. It was the smile that had made this place home again, even after all the years and all the distance that had once come between us.
“Go see her yourself.”
“I don’t think this would be the best time…”
“She’s always glad to see you. Now go on, don’t make me make you.”
I shrugged my coat off and tossed it to Derrick before heading down the hall. That short walk reminded me of every time I’d ever been called to the principal’s office in school. You were sure that something bad was waiting for you, but you weren’t sure how bad, or which thing you’d done they’d finally nailed you for. It was the unknown that made it so bad, and every step echoed in my head.
I knocked on the closed door, gently, half hoping she wouldn’t answer so I could leave without doing this.
“Come in,” she said in her small, high voice. Darn.
I opened the door slowly and peered inside. She was sitting on her bed, cross legged, flipping through a book. Her long blond hair fell loose, obscuring most of her face, but when she looked up at me I could tell she’d been crying. She smiled when she saw me. She looked so much like Yadira it just about killed me.
“Nick,” she said, and held her arms up towards me for a hug. I entered the room and crossed straight to her. She rocked up onto her knees and threw her arms around my neck. I wrapped my arms around her tiny form and held her there for a long moment as she cried gently into my chest. I didn’t know what else to do. I was never cut out for this stuff, I wasn’t father material.
After a minute she let go and I lowered her back to the bed. She wiped her nose with her sleeve and smiled up at me sheepishly. She was the picture of innocence, she didn’t deserve any of this. I crouched down next to the bed.
“You look good kid,” I said, “how are you holding up?”
She shrugged, pouting in the way children did when they were trying not to cry again. I glanced towards the book she had been reading, desperate to find something more to say. It wasn’t a book at all, but a photo album. It was open to several pictures of Alyson and Yadira picnicking at Fort Williams Park in Cape Elizabeth. Yadira had taken it herself by holding the camera out at arms length and holding Alyson close to be sure she was in the shot too. It looked to have been taken some time this past summer, on one of those crystal clear days on the coast when you could see out for miles and miles. Portland Headlight behind them stood as stoic and pristine as ever behind them, an iconic light house seen on countless post cards, mugs, t-shirts, and whatever else they could think of to sell to tourists. It was slightly cut off in this picture, and the whole thing was crooked and over exposed. It didn’t matter, next to the beaming smiles of Alyson and her birth mother none of that mattered. Alyson followed my gaze.
“I know that Yadira had been in trouble when I was born, that she couldn’t take care of me because she was in so much trouble herself. But that’s how I remember her, happy and silly and…” she trailed off, smiling through fresh tears.
“That’s good. You’re right, she was in a lot of trouble when we came here. She didn’t want to give you up, but she had to take care of herself first. I know it was the hardest decision she’d ever made, but she did what she thought was best for you. She stayed away for so long because she was afraid she would hurt you if she didn’t. She loved you, even if she wasn’t always there. Don’t ever forget that, and don’t let anyone tell you otherwise.”
“I won’t.” She bit her bottom lip, thinking. “You helped her before, didn’t you Nick? You helped her clean herself up?”
I nodded.
“Can you help her now? Can you find out who killed her?”
Now it was my turn to pout against the tears. “I’m trying, Alyson, I really am. I’ll find out who did this, and I’ll make sure they don’t get away with it, no matter what it takes.”
She traced the gash on my forehead with her index finger.
“Don’t get yourself killed too, Nick. She wouldn’t want that, not ever.” She looked at me with her mother’s eyes. “Promise me you’ll take care of yourself, and watch your back Nick?”
“Of course,” I croaked out. “I’ll be careful.”
She hugged me again, this time holding on for several minutes until I started to lose feeling in my arms. I left her to flip through her photos some more, and headed back out to the living room.
More than ever, I knew I had to figure this out, and make someone pay dearly for what they’d done.
As we left, my mother looked deeply into my eyes, then hugged me hard.
“Watch your back out there Nick. I’ve been listening to the police band all day, I know some of what’s going on, I don’t think I want to know the rest. It’s not worth killing yourself for revenge. Yadira wouldn’t want that.”
I nodded, then left.
We took the long way across town, skirting Idle Village to avoid the cordoned off area the police were working. The sight of my ill advised pursuit earlier in the day.
When Derrick and I arrived back at the office, the door was unlocked. Again. This was becoming an annoying and alarming trend today.
I waved Derrick back, putting my finger to my lips to hopefully keep him quiet. Under normal circumstances, after all that had happened, I would have called the cops and left it to them. I had been shot at a couple times today, after all. Unfortunately, it’s likely I wasn’t on the Idle PD’s good side at the moment, so that option was out. Heck, for all I knew they were waiting inside to arrest me.
I crouched down and swung the door open slowly, scanning the dark room and cursing myself for insisting on keeping the blinds closed at all times. I couldn’t see anything, so I took one tentative step into the room.
“Come on Nick,” a voice called from the darkness, “stop wanking off and just come in.”
I knew that voice, the high english accent was unmistakable.
“Emmett,” I said, standing. A moment later I found the light switch and turned it on. Emmett was sitting in my chair with his feet up on my desk. He was done up in full regalia, a long woven cloak in multiple bright colors, various colored ribbons in his hair, and enough fake gold jewelry to make a society bitty jealous.
“Not that I really have to ask, but how did you get in here, Emmett?”
“The door was unlocked.”
“No. It wasn’t. I always lock the door.”
He held up his hands and shrugged, grinning ear to ear. Emmett had a poker face like no one I’d ever met, so the smile was intentional. He wanted me to know he’d broken in, and was daring me to call him on it.
“Fine, do you have something for me?”
“Indeed I do, Nick,” he held up a plain brown envelope, ” though I don’t suppose you’ll much like it.”
“Nick!” Derrick called from the hall, “everything OK in there?”
“Yeah,” I called back, “just hang tight for a few minutes, I’m dealing with something.”
I closed the door then walked over to my desk where Emmett had placed the envelope. I picked it up then shoved his feet off my desk. He made a motion to protest.
“Don’t, Emmett,” I impaled him with my eyes. “Not today, I don’t have the patience for it.”
He nodded, then backed down.
I opened the envelope. Inside were half a dozen photos printed at 8 by 10 inches. I pulled them out and nearly fell over from the shock.
They were telephotos, from the flattened perspective, of Yadira. And Wally McCollin. They were… Well… Being intimate. Either the photographer, or more likely whoever had printed these for Emmett, had tastefully cropped the photo to protect their modesty, but the act being committed was unmistakable.
“I told you,” Emmett said, “that you wouldn’t like them.”
“Where did you get these? Was Yadira being watched? Was someone blackmailing her?”
“No no, nothing like that. It was Wally they were following. These were taken by a colleague of yours from Portland. The parents of one of the girls who accused Wally of raping them - the one whose parents didn’t hire you - hired him to follow Wally and try to catch him doing something incriminating. Instead he was seen sleeping with a police officer.”
I couldn’t believe this. Yadira and Wally? It just didn’t add up.
“I assume you won’t tell me which ‘colleague’ of mine you are referring to?”
“Not a chance, that’s part of the deal Nick, you know that.”
“Then tell me this, is he trustworthy?”
“No. Bu what you mean is, would he have faked those photos, and the answer is no. I figure the reason he got those shots and you didn’t, even though you were working him at the same time, is that you have standards of a sort. He’s a scum bag, but I don’t think he’d be capable of pulling off a forgery that good, if they are fake. I hear your kid out there is quite the computer whiz, he should be able to check them out, give them the seal of authenticity.
“But trust me, they’re legit. Wally and your dear Yadira were copulating, coupling, mating, having relations, having congress…”
“That’s enough!”
“Sex, Nick. Let’s not beat around the bush, so to speak, Yadira was having sex with Wally McCollin. I’m afraid you might never quite accept it without having it put very simply.”
“Get out of my office, Emmett.”
“Fine, but you owe me now Shamus. There are some other pictures in there that I thought you might find interesting. You’re welcome.”
He got up and went to the door. He opened it and nearly ran into Derrick, who had apparently been waiting right on the other side.
“Hey man,” Emmet yelled, slipping effortlessly back into his fake Jamaican accent, “back off me now before I back you off myself.”
Derrick threw his hands up in surrender and stepped aside. Emmett walked past and out into the parking lot.
“You take care Emmett,” he called after him. Emmett was just wheeling around as Derrick slammed the door shut.
“You know,” I said weakly, “that was really stupid. He’s going to think I told you about him now. He’s a good contact, if I lose him I’m going to be very upset about it.”
“Just tell him the truth, that I’m so brilliant his oh so clever ruse didn’t fool me. That and his house is held in his real name.”
He sat down at his desk. I still stood at mine, flipping through the rest of the pictures, which were largely the same, just on different days and at different times, but always in Yadira’s bedroom.
“So, what’s with the pictures? That what Emmett was dropping off?”
I stopped as I came to a picture of Wally, mercifully fully clothed, talking to someone dressed all in black and wearing a black motorcycle helmet. A helmet with a small light mounted on either side. Behind them, out of focus but clear enough if you were looking, was a black four-wheeler.
When I didn’t answer Derrick padded over and glanced over my shoulder.
“Hey,” he said, “Lili has a bike helmet like that.”
“Lili? From the Sienna?”
“Yeah, the one who was practically throwing herself at you, even if you were too blind or stubborn to see it.”
“She has a helmet like this? I mean, exactly like this?”
“Yeah, I saw it behind the counter when I was getting my drink earlier. If the guy in the picture wasn’t so obviously a dude, I’d say that could be her.”
I pinched the bridge of my nose and shut my eyes so hard I saw purple blotched in the darkness.
“I think I need to start writing this stuff down, I’m getting too old to do this all in my head any more. And put on some coffee, would you Derrick? We’re going to need it.”
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