Page 125 of Pure Silence

The driver’s side door opened, and Alvarez got in. He sighed, turning to glance back at Goldie and Day. When he saw Day was sleeping, he lowered his voice to say, “Swallow any horseshoes lately?”

“What?”

“Eat a bunch of four-leaf clovers?”

Goldie snorted, waiting for Alvarez to get to the point.

“Well, you must have done something, because you two are the luckiest assholes on the planet.” Alvarez scoffed. “Just got off the phone with the district attorney’s office. No charges. Not even obstruction for tampering with evidence by donating it all to some dog pound.”

Goldie bit his tongue, resisting the urge to correct him.

“As long as the autopsy on Day’s father comes back with natural causes, which I’m just going to assume that it will, there’s nothing except Mr. Hanley here is getting smacked with a misdemeanor for failure to disclose his father’s death.”

“That’s… it?”

“Yeah, it’s a damn fine.” Alvarez turned around to take the wheel. “You guys got some sort of guardian angel watching over you, that’s for damn sure.”

“Yeah. I guess so.” Goldie petted Day’s curly hair, and he smiled.

Guardian angel, spirit of Day’s dead father.

Potayto, potahto.

“Some of it is political, you know,” Alvarez said. “The mayor doesn’t want everybody hearing about your little friend there slaughtering a whole house of people, even if they all were career assholes. Might send the wrong impression, encourage vigilantes, all that. Like with that teacher they found all cut up.”

“Over at the grocery store?” Goldie frowned.

“Oh yeah. That’s him.”

“I thought it was just a random attack?”

“With all the nasty crap they found on his computer, probably not so random,” Alvarez replied. “They started interviewing parents of the kids at the school he taught at.”

“Looking for victims?”

“Suspects.”

Goldie frowned. “That doesn’t feel right. Shouldn’t it be more important to figure out who he hurt? Try to get them help?”

“Justice still must be carried out, Mr. Nash. A man was murdered.” Alvarez didn’t sound like he meant it. He sounded tired. “We can’t run around killing people we think are bad. That kinda thinking undermines the entire justice system. No, it’s not perfect. Yes, it’s a fucking mess at times. But without it, we’d just have more chaos.”

“Who are you trying to convince over there, Detective?” Goldie smirked wryly. “Me or you?”

“To be honest, I don’t even know anymore.” Alvarez sighed. “Guess it’s all up to God in the end, right? Or something like that.”

“Something like that,” Goldie agreed.

The remainder of the ride to Goldie’s apartment was quiet, and Goldie was glad for it. He didn’t feel like talking much. He was eager to get home and make sure the cats were all right.

Alvarez had assured him and Day that the officers who were sent over to investigate Goldie’s apartment—no doubt looking for evidence to corroborate their kidnapping story—had eyes on both cats before they left. They’d locked up too using the landlord’s copy of the key, and they would leave it on top of the doorframe so Goldie and Day could get inside.

Goldie would have carried Day inside if he could have, but those days were years behind him now. He settled for wrapping his arm around Day’s shoulders, keeping him close while they waited for the elevator. He didn’t think either of them were in the mood to mess with the stairs. The elevator finally came, they went up, and Goldie frowned at the yellow crime scene tape that had been left plastered over the front of his door.

“Really?” he scoffed.

Day shrugged, and he tore it off.

“God, I hope none of the neighbors saw this,” Goldie mumbled. He reached up to grab the key hidden on top of the doorframe. It was right there like Alvarez said it would be, and he opened the door so he and Day could hurry inside.