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For the last couple of hours, Amelia has consumed my every thought. I’m thinking of everything I want to say to her. All the promises I'll make. All the apologies she deserves.
It’s dangerous in my line of work to care for someone like this, but I’ve given up fighting it.
I had thought it would be easy to walk away, but there’s more of my devoted mother in me than I realized.
She’d kick my butt for treating a woman like that.
I already tried to push Amelia away, and it only hurt her more.
What could happen if I gave us a real shot? If my mom were here, she would tell me to give her a chance. She gave chances out in abundance. But I cut people off at the first sign of trouble.
So, a chance it is. As soon as this is over, I’ll ask Amelia on a real date. I only hope I haven’t pushed her away too many times already.
“This is Justin’s former coworker?” Cruz asks, bringing me back to the moment.
We are in a nondescript Suburban across the street from where this man, Matthias, is currently restocking shelves at his DVD store. There are outdated posters covering every inch of the building, like it started falling apart and he tried to fix it with paper. I didn’t know DVD places still existed, which makes it automatically suspicious. And I have yet to see more than two customers walk through those doors. I wonder what I’ll find if I search the store.
“Want to explain more?” Cruz asks.
I shut off the vehicle and grab an umbrella. “Not yet.”
“I guess I could arrest him just for the mullet. Can’t we outlaw those things already?”
“Let me guess, ex-boyfriend?”
“Yup. And he deserved the punch to the face I gave him when I left.”
“Remind me not to get on your bad side.” I hop out of the car and straighten my holster.
“You wouldn’t know until I knocked you out,” Cruz says, slamming her car door.
“You talk a big game, Cruz,” I taunt her over the sound of the pouring rain hitting our umbrellas.
I pull open the door to the store and the ding chimes through the dim room.
“Think he’s going to run?” Cruz asks, shaking out her umbrella.
Matthias glances up, his beady eyes darting between the two of us.
“Yup.”
And then he’s off. Straight out the back door.
“I’ll go around,” Cruz calls as I take off after him, through the back door and down the alley.
He’s quick. The way he dodges stray trash bags and leaps over pipes leads me to believe he’s done this before.
“I just want to talk,” I yell, vaulting over the small fence.
“I’ve heard that lie before.” He jumps over a trash can.
“I need to ask you about your former coworker.”
He slips on the slick pavement as he lands, but only curses and speeds up.
“Justin’s dead.”
At this he comes to a complete stop, so abruptly I barely have time to register. I nearly plow into his frozen body in the middle of the alleyway.