Chronicles of a Pessimist 43

“Hey, was that Candace?” Toya caught the girl leaving as she came up the stairs to his apartment.

“Yeah, you know her?”

“She’s classmates with my brother. I even thought there was something between them for a bit, but nothing really came off from it.”

“Happens,” he nodded. “She just brought a sketch of the guy who tried to roofie her at the club.”

“In our city?!!!” Toya looked concerned.

“Yes, just the other day.”

“Unbelievable,” she shook her head in disapproval. “If I could get my hands on him…”

“Well, maybe we will! But for now, let’s eat. I have a hunger headache coming on and I’m a grouch when that happens.”

“Oh, no need to be a grouch,” she smiled. “Do you need some help with the dinner?”

“No, I’ve got it.”

“Great!” she kissed him. “I do love watching you cook.”

As Wyatt prepared the meal, Toya asked him for the rundown of the day’s events.

“I’ve heard there was a ruckus at the station today and you were involved,” she told him.

“Remember that crazy chick who stole jewelry from the movie set?”

“The one who cause that fight between her current guy and her ex?”

“The very same. She attacked her ex at the store. Threw heavy water bottles at him, made a huge scene.”

“Goodness!” Toya shook her head. “Reminds me of that woman I’ve read about, who set her ex’s house on fire. And the other one, who doxxed her ex’s wife at work. What is happening with people these days? ”

“Ah, probably the same thing that’s been happening with them for ages,” Wyatt gave a tired sigh. “It’s just easier to find out about such misbehavior because everything ends up online.”

“True…” Toya nodded. “You’d think, with the chance of internet infamy everywhere, people would be a bit wiser about these things. And yet…”

“To be careful, one needs to have common sense. Which is seriously lacking in these individuals.”

“Fair enough. I take it, that outburst was registered on cameras?”

“Oh, yeah.”

“Good.”

As Wyatt continued cooking, Toya kept on watching him, thinking deeply about something. Finally she voiced a concern.

“You know, security cameras wouldn’t be such a bad idea for the police station.”

“We already have them,” he gave her a funny look.

“Yes, in the visitor area. And where we keep the arrestees. For obvious reasons.”

“Where would you put them?” he asked.

“Where we keep the reports docket. And in the evidence room. At the very least.”

“Perhaps we should put one in the chief’s office as well,” he offered, half-joking.

“This isn’t funny,” she tensed up. “I’m not just saying this for no reason. Remember, when I was working with Tony, I was able to get rid of police evidence for months, without anyone noticing.”

“Is this what this is about?” he asked.

“Yes. I’m no longer messing around with the evidence,” she told him. “But I have a feeling someone else is.”

“What makes you think so?” he asked. “And do you suspect anyone?“

“Not anyone in particular, not yet,” she admitted. “But I had trouble finding some of the police reports filed earlier in the week. It was like they have never existed. And they were pretty serious, too.”

“Serious as in-”

“One was from a witness who was pretty sure they saw a big drug deal go down. Then there was another report from a person who wanted to report threatening behavior they witnessed outside their building. I kind of disregarded that one at first, because it was from one of those nice old ladies who seem to think even the wind blowing is something scary and criminal, but now I’m not so sure. And I know those reports were made, because I took them.”

“Have you talked to anyone about it?” he asked, starting to worry. Come to think of it, he had noticed a few of his own papers missing as well.

“I’ve asked Dupre and Hastings if they had a problem misplacing things around the station. I didn’t really want to ask them anything serious outright, you know,” she admitted. “And also…”

“You think someone at the station might be involved.”

“I was. Who’s to say they’re all as innocent as they look?”

“You think I’m overreacting to all this, aren’t you?” she asked.

“No, on the contrary. You may be on to something,” he told her.

“I wonder for how long this has been going on,” she continued. “I know I wasn’t thinking too clearly when I started helping Tony with his scheme. And it’s possible that, when I was too involved in it, I failed to see other things happening nearby.”

“Please stop blaming yourself. What’s done is done. Besides, no one was seriously hurt back then, thank goodness. If anyone, Tony was more likely to get his ass kicked by someone packing a real weapon,” he chuckled.

“Yeah, but the fact remains – I broke the law. Even though it’s my job to uphold it. My reasons may have been good, but they still weren’t an excuse. And the thing is, another person’s reasons might not be so good.”

“I see your concern. We can talk to the chief on Monday, if it would make you feel better. I mean, this is something he should know.”

“Let’s do that,” she agreed. “I just want something to be done, you know.”

“What if we do catch someone behaving in a questionable manner?” Wyatt asked as they sat down in the living room.

“Then we’ll know,” Toya reasoned. “And we’ll have to decide how to proceed.”

“I’d hate that.” Wyatt hated the idea of knowing one of his coworkers got themselves involved in something illegal. Despite Toya’s concerns, he really hoped the missing police reports were simply misplaced somewhere.

After all, human error was excusable in most cases.

“I know,” Toya nodded. “So do I. We’ve worked with these people for years. I can’t even imagine someone getting tangled up in crap like that. Then again, it happens.”

“I suppose you’re right,” he released a tired sigh. “Want to take a look at Candace’s sketch with me? That’s one problem we can start working on now.”

“Yes, let’s do it.”

Neither of them expected that they would already know the person depicted in Candace’s sketch. But when Wyatt pulled the piece of paper out, Toya emitted an audible gasp of shock. Wyatt, in turn, felt his insides curdle up.

“Dupre,” he whispered.

“Your friend, does she have a good memory for faces?” Toya asked without much hope for the answer she wanted to hear.

“Pretty good, yeah,” Wyatt nodded.

He didn’t doubt for a second that Candace sketched her wrongdoer correctly.

“You were working late last night,” he ventured. “Do you know if…”

“…If he was at work until a certain time? He was. He left early,” Toya confirmed. “Early enough to get to wherever the incident took place.”

“Indeed…” Wyatt breathed in sharply.

This was disturbing on so many levels. Their coworker, someone they have known for years and someone who spent years in the police force, was the sort of person who would attempt to drug an unsuspecting person at a nightclub.

And was that the only thing they didn’t know about him? Maybe there were others as well?

What else were the people at their police station hiding?

“Wyatt? You ok?” Toya asked. “Do you need an Advil?”

“I don’t need an Advil. I need to get to the bottom of this.”

“It’s not looking good, for sure,” Toya reasoned. “And it certainly sucks that Dupre is trash, for which I, for one, fully intend to hold him responsible. But this is good – think about it, she brought the sketch of the criminal to the best possible people to identify him!”

“Yeah, that is true,” Wyatt agreed. “I just have a bad feeling about this. Like this isn’t the only thing that’s wrong with him. And maybe with someone else as well. Someone at the station.”

“Why?”

“When I came back from Starlight Shores, the Feds were supposed to send someone here, to continue working on our case. I thought they were taking their sweet time about it, because their agent was supposed to contact the local police force. But it seems like their person is already here and never made contact with the station. Now I wonder if they have solid reasons for keeping us in the dark.”

“What sort of reasons would be that serious?”

“That’s exactly what I’m thinking.”

“Hmm. Are you going to tell all this to Candace?” she asked.

“I don’t know. I’ll probably have to, but I need to think about how to do it without putting her in danger.”

---

At a different apartment in the city, two roommates were having a very different kind of day.

Rachel had one of her rare days off and she was taking self-care and relaxation to the max, by spending her time chilling, consuming the media she loves, and cooking up some cabs.

Delia also had a day off… but it didn’t go quite how it was supposed to. First she had to witness some adults behaving like idiots, then she spent close to an hour getting chewed out by her now-ex, who was happy to waste her time by listing off all the things she was doing wrong with her life.

And now, the elevator doors nearly murdered her, so that was “fun”.

All in all, she just wanted to go to sleep and hope that tomorrow would be better.

Coming inside, her sense of smell was met with the delightful reminder that mac and cheese existed in this world and the day looked a little brighter for it.

“Please, have some,” Rachel smiled at her through a mouthful. “It came out pretty good.”

“Don’t mind if I do,” Delia gave a tired smile as she joined her friend. “How was your day?”

“Very chill.”

“That’s good.”

“Yours? You look like you’ve seen things today.”

“The day started off weird and ended downright shitty,” Delia grumbled.

“He’s still bothering you?” Rachel sympathized.

“Is the sky blue? Seriously, what is it with men and their egos?”

“Don’t know. Maybe mommy didn’t hug him enough when he was little?” Rachel shrugged. “Or maybe too much. And now he thinks the rest of the world owe him the same.”

“Huh…” From what she knew of Aaron, he did come from a very well-off home. She didn’t know much about his relationship with his mother, but she wouldn’t be surprised if Rachel was right. “Wish you could spot these things without getting involved with someone.”

“You and me both.”

“Your Ritchie was a piece of work,” Delia agreed. “Leaving you and dropping that loan on you like a mofo.”

“Yeah, I should’ve known he was trash. But then again, I suppose the money was a small price to pay for having him out of my life,” Rachel shrugged.

“I still can’t believe the bank wouldn’t give you an out of the whole thing. Did he fake your signature on the loan documents or something?” Delia asked.

“Uh, no, it wasn’t a bank loan. It was from Harvey. He borrowed from Harvey and split and then Harvey showed up asking for him,” Rachel filled her in.

“Wait, Harvey? Our Harvey, the owner of Velour?” Delia frowned. She moved in with Rachel when her previous roommate moved out and Rachel needed someone else to help cover the rent. Therefore, Delia didn’t know the whole story of how Rachel ended up working at the club.

“Yeah, him, who else? He was pretty upset when he found out our mutual acquaintance left town with his very sizeable sum.”

“I’ll bet. But it wasn’t your responsibility to pay off Ritchie’s loan,” Delia maintained.

“I suppose not. But I was alone in an unfamiliar town and the job I had before that whole mess made me redundant. When Harvey demanded his money back and made it clear he’ll pursue legal action if I didn’t pay it back, I really had no way to fight back. And when he said I could have a job at the club and pay him back at the same time, it just sounded like something that could work out.”

“Did he mention it was a stripping job?” Delia asked.

“No, that came up later. In any case, I needed the money,” Rachel shrugged and got up to wash the dishes.

“Listen, I know this thing’s been going on for a while now, but it doesn’t sit right with me,” Delia told Rachel her take on the loan situation. “It doesn’t matter if Ritchie screwed Harvey over on the money. You weren’t a part of the original agreement in the slightest. The fact that he asked you to repay him the amount just gives me skeevy vibes.”

“The guy’s a business owner, he was just looking out for his own financial interests,” Rachel didn’t think much of it.

“Yeah?! It’s not legal! That’s not how contracts work, Rach. That’s why we have centuries worth of contract law guiding financial agreements. If you’ve never even signed a thing, Harvey had no leg to stand on if he wanted to take you to court.”

“Maybe you’re right,” Rachel shrugged. “In any case, it’s kind of pointless to talk about it now, when I’m almost done repaying everything.”

“It’s not too late. I could put you in contact with a good lawyer. You could get your money back. Seriously, I knew Harvey was weird, not that he would pull such a scummy move. Not cool.”

“Please, we’ve all known Harvey isn’t cool. What sort of a person spends hours in that room, with all those posters?”

“Oh yeah! All those UFO posters. What’s the deal with that, anyways? I’ve always wondered about that. Is he some sort of a hardcore sci-fi fan?” Delia laughed when she thought of their boss’s office.

“Maybe he’s a wannabe Capt. Kirk?” Rachel laughed.

“Oooh, I’ll bet he’d like to hook up with a green chick,” Delia snorted.

“Please, like one would have him. Green ladies have higher standards,” Rachel snickered.

“Who knows, maybe he’d love to get abducted like those guys in Can’t Hardly Wait,” Delia pondered. “Somehow, I don’t think he gets much action, despite owning a strip club.”

“Yeah, me too. I guess money can’t buy someone charm.”

“True that. But in any case, if you change your mind about the whole loan thing, I’m giving you my lawyer’s number. You never know when you’ll need it,” Delia decided to bring the topic back to what was important.

“I doubt I’ll do anything about it, but thanks.”

After Rachel went to bed, Delia pulled out her phone and called a number she had saved under an inconspicuous name. The call went to voicemail, but she realized she had a message from the number – she had a meeting tomorrow.

“Damn it,” she cursed under her breath. “Another meeting?”

These people were good at uselessly wasting time, she was forced to admit. Work as a stripped had much fewer pointless meetings.

But she wanted to talk to someone about this recent development, preferably without Aaron butting in with his additions. This could be a good opportunity.

Chronicles of a Pessimist 42

An hour after their grocery trip, they were gathered at the Byrd house and Candace was clarifying the recipe with Ashton, who was at work.

“So I bake it at 425F for 50 minutes…”

“No! You warm the oven up to 425F and bake it at that for 15-20 minutes. Then you lower it to 350 and continue baking for another 35 minutes,” Ashton gave a worried sigh. “And please don’t confuse the numbers. It’s only 425, not 825.”

“Geez, I’m not that dumb,” she groaned. “How would someone even make that mistake?”

“You’d be surprised,” her brother chuckled. “But for real, my phone’s near me. If you have any more questions, call.”

“I will.”

“What’s that noise in the background? Sounds like a lot of people.”

“Yeah, I have a couple of friends over. Figured we can make this more fun. And I’ll need someone to try the pie afterwards.”

“Well, take care.”

After she invited over Marty, it made sense for Candace to invite Rodrigo over as well. He was her classmate, after all.

And now he was being filled in on Josie’s antics.

“She legit threw something heavy at you in the middle of a busy store? That’s insane! Have you gone to the doc?” Rodrigo asked.

“I don’t need to, man. I’ve hit my head plenty of times before, worse than that too, and it was never anything serious,” Marty reassured him.

Candace and Kevin actually did tell him to go to the doc, explaining that any medical evaluation would be a good idea in case it did come to a legal case against Josie, but Marty really didn’t feel like dealing with that.

Rodrigo wasn’t really a fan of Marty’s calm attitude about all this, but he was an adult and made his own decisions.

“Suit yourself,” he shrugged. “I’m just curious, how old is she?”

“She’s 28, why?” Marty asked.

“I figured people behaved with more maturity by this age,” the guy shook his head. “I haven’t seen anyone throw tantrums like these since kindergarten.”

“Alright, y’all. I’m going to make the crust, but I’ll need some help with getting the pulp out of the pumpkin,” Candace announced, as she gathered the ingredients and started cooking. “Who’s going to help me gut this thing?”

“I’ll do it,” Marty offered.

“Do you know how to?” Rodrigo asked carefully.

“Yeah, I’ve done that before,” the guy chuckled. “My cousins had a pumpkin carving thing going on when we were younger. I even won a few times.”

“That sounds pretty fun,” Kevin admitted.

“It was. Now everyone lives far apart, so it’s not really happening anymore.”

“Life,” Candace nodded. “I’m glad my bro, at least, lives here. I’d hate to be away from family.”

“Aren’t your parents out of state, though?” Rodrigo asked.

“Yeah, and I get why they wanted to move. They’ve been wanting to go somewhere warmer for years. But yeah, I wish they were closer.”

As the pie was sent to bake, the group chatted more.

“What about you?” Rodrigo asked Kevin. “You’re Anna’s brother, right? You two aren’t from around here, though.”

“No, we’re from Twinbrook,” Kevin confirmed. “Haven’t been there for a while now, though.”

“Any plans to go?”

“Nope. Not anytime soon.” Kevin had zero plans to get into any more arguments with his old man.

“You two really should rethink this whole approach of not contacting your father,” Candace told him, suddenly, all the while checking on the pie. “I get that things weren’t left on a good not for you two, but you never know. Something might be happening back home, something big, and you wouldn’t even know.”

“We could check in, sure, but where’s the guarantee he’ll actually tell us if something is happening?” Kevin frowned.

“I see your concern,” she admitted. “I don’t know, I’d still worry if I didn’t hear from our folks for such a long time.”

“I kind of get it,” Rodrigo said, to Kevin’s surprise. “Family can be a lot sometimes. My brothers and I have code words between us, for when Mom’s being on our case for any reason.”

“What do you do when that happens?” Marty asked.

“One of us would run ‘intervention’ with Mom, usually taking her someplace entertaining, while the person who needs a break gets it. Of course, the downside is, then her focus shifts to the person running intervention.”

“Alright, the pie’s ready!” Candace announced with relief. “Looks like you won’t have to perform any firefighting duties today, after all!”

“Ah, so that was always a possibility?” he asked jokingly, while rock-paper-scissoring Rodrigo for who got the most clean-up duties.

“Well, the chance is always there,” she joked back. “Let’s let it cool a bit.”

While waiting for the pie to cool, they turned on the TV, where a popular camping show was on.

“Man, that brings back memories,” Rodrigo sighed. “We would always go camping in the summers when I was little.”

“Where did you go?” Kevin asked.

“Sometimes, to the national parks. Other times, just roughing it. Pops would look up all these places that had good fishing spots and we would spend days out catching fresh fish and then cooking it over the fire.”

“Oh, yum,” Candace smiled. “I’m remembering a bit of that too.”

“You went fishing?” Kevin and Marty both turned to look at her in surprise.

“Yeah, when I was younger and when our parents lived here. Why the surprise? It’s the nails, isn’t it?” she chuckled.

“Well…” Kevin tried not to sound like he stereotyped her.

“I’m just messing with you,” she laughed. “But yeah, we used to do a lot of outdoorsy stuff in the past. Now, there never seems to be much time…”

“Who says you need a lot of time?” Rodrigo asked. “You don’t have to go far to have a good time out in nature. There’s a park not far outside of town.”

“Wait, is that the one with the lake? And where they have that cute little camping area?” Candace lit up. “I’ve heard of it!”

“That’s the one! We can all go. I think it can be a good idea. No offense, but you all look really stressed out these days.”

“None taken,” Candace agreed. “We are kind of stressed. And some fresh air sounds really amazing. What do you think, Kev?”

“I can go,” he agreed. “I haven’t done anything properly outdoorsy in a while.”

“Make that never for me,” Marty admitted. “But the way you describe it, it does sound nice.”

“So, it’s a plan? We can all go tomorrow?” Rodrigo asked. “We’ll just have to get some supplies and drive out extra early.”

“Sounds good. I’ll just have something done first now, if we leave tomorrow,” Candace realized.

After eating the pumpkin pie, which turned out fairly decent for Candy’s first time making one, she sat down with her sketchpad and got to working on that picture she promised Wyatt.

Despite being excited to get some nice fresh air and camping fun, she was still determined to put a certain degenerate behind bars.

---

Despite having the day off, Wyatt ended up spending hours at the station, trying to file a proper incident report about a still yelling and complaining Josie, who was making the life of everyone at the station that much worse.

By the time he got home, he was completely juiced out, with a slight headache throbbing at his temples.

Despite that, he and Toya were planning to have a good time together tonight and he wasn’t going to let an immature asshole rob him of his date night.

Coming inside, he found Kaya sound asleep in the bedroom armchair. Seeing her so cozy made him, for probably the thousandth time in his life, wish he was also a cat, just able to curl up somewhere, without a care in the world.

“Sweet dreams, kitto.”

Now, he was going to take a shower and change into something not covered in Miss Henning’s far too strong perfume.

Feeling fresher, he filled the cat’s bowl with some food and set to getting a meal done for himself and his date.

He was only able to get the ingredients washed and prepped when the doorbell rang.

“Candace! Come in, come in,” Wyatt greeted her. “Would you like some dinner? I’m making some stew.”

“Thanks, Wyatt, I’m good, though. I’m going to be out of town tomorrow, but I’ve gone home and made the sketch of that guy. It’s in here.”

“Oh! That’s great. I’m going to bring it to work on Monday and compare it against our database, if you don’t mind. Who knows? Maybe this creep already appeared somewhere and there are prior cases against him? It’s not unlikely, you know.”

“It wouldn’t surprise me,” Candace nodded. “So, once it’s in the system, what do I do?”

“I’ll see what the results are when I start the search. If we already know the suspect and can get our hands on him, we can make a case. If not, we can make a case against him once we find him – and in the meantime we can get his picture out to local establishments, in the scenario that he attempts something like that again.”

“Oh, that’s a great idea! But wouldn’t it alert him?” Candace worried.

“It might, but it also increases our chance of catching him.”

“In that case, fire ahead with all shots,” Candace smiled. “I’ll see you soon.”

Chronicles of a Pessimist 41

Note: The supermarket lot is made by @galadrielhs-simblr.

The morning after that disastrous nightclub outing, Candace, Kevin, and Ashton ended up having breakfast together.

“So, how was last night?” Ashton asked.

“It was fine, but nothing special,” Candace answered, lightly stepping on Kevin’s foot under the table to prevent him from telling her brother anything juicy. “We danced a bit, ate a bit, drank a bit.”

“Sounds fun,” Ashton shrugged. “What are you doing today?”

“I’m off today,” Kevin told them.

“I don’t have that many assignments,” Candace said. “I was thinking, we could make some desserts. Like pumpkin pie, maybe.”

“That sounds tasty,” Kevin smiled.

“Will you help us get it right?” Candace asked her brother.

“Sure, I can give you directions. Unless you want me to make it?”

“I want to try making it,” she told him. “We just need to stop by the store for a few things. Want to check out that store in the hills?”

“I have to check on things at the shop first,” Ashton told her.

“I’ll go with you,” Kevin offered.

“Neat place,” Kevin whistled when they went into the market. “I bet the prices are sky high here.”

“They’re decent, surprisingly,” Candace shook her head. “I wanted to stop by here because they have a good wine selection.”

“Sounds like my kind of store,” he chuckled. “So, you really don’t want Ashton to know about the creep?”

“Nope. He’s got enough worries in life. Besides, he feels responsible for me. I don’t want him to get super overprotective because of this,” she gave a tired sigh. “It was bad enough after I ended up in the hospital.”

“He just cares about you.”

“I know and I appreciate it. But I’m safe now.” She grimaced. “If I’m honest, I can’t believe it took Marty alerting me for me to realize what was happening. I’ve read so many freaking stories about this and I didn’t pay better attention? I’m losing my edge.”

“You’re not to blame here, that jerk is. Wish I could see him and punch him,” Kevin growled.

“Well, get in line, because if I ever see him again, he’s not walking away on his own two feet,” Candace told him.

“Wouldn’t want to cross you,” Kevin laughed. “So, what do we need?”

“Alright we’ve got butter and flour for the pie crust already and I think there’s plenty of sugar at home. We’re short on eggs, cinnamon and condensed milk, though. And I want to get some other stuff – some raisins, powdered sugar, cocoa powder, and juice to put in the fridge.”

“You guys are low on milk and bread,” he informed her.

“Good call, yeah, we need that.” Candace started noting down where everything was, crossing off things from her list. “Hey, wouldn’t it be weird?”

“What?”

“If that guy showed up here.”

“Are you scared of him?” Kevin asked carefully.

“No. I am angry, though. Both on my own behalf and on behalf of others. But seriously, what would be the chance that I’d randomly meet him somewhere?”

“I don’t know,” Kevin thought about it. “What were the chances that Marty would beat me up right outside my estranged sister’s apartment building?”

“See? That’s what I mean!”

“It’s weird, isn’t it?” Candace continued. “How life can work out, seemingly playing up the minute chances of something happening.”

“Yeah, but that’s not bad, right?”

“No, but it sure is chaotic. Almost like some higher power is doing things with us for shits and giggles.”

“Kind of like when neighbors who live next door and travel separately, without making any plans, somehow meet up in a different country?” Kevin asked, referring to a story he once read. (#1)

“Exactly. I wonder what the point of all this is, you know. Random meetings, weird circumstances… what does it all lead to?” she continued.

“Maybe we meet the people we need to meet so that our lives can go in a particular direction,” he offered. “But really, I’d love to know the answer for all this as well.”

It seemed like Candace’s question was answered just as they rounded the corner to the wine section. Wyatt, the exact person she wanted to see today, was there, perusing the selection.

“Wyatt!” she greeted him excitedly. “Thank goodness you’re here.”

“Hi Candace! What’s up?” Wyatt asked.

“I have an issue that needs legal involvement,” she told him. “But I’m not sure how to go about it.”

“What is it?”

“A potential date-rapist that needs to be reported,” she told him.

“What?!”

“Chill, I’m ok. But someone tried to drug my drink and I want to alert the authorities, somehow.”

“Good, you should report it,” Wyatt frowned.

“But I’m not sure what the person’s name is. I’m pretty sure the one given to me was fake.”

“But you can describe him? Create a facial sketch?”

“Yes, definitely. And not just me. Two others can as well,” she reassured him.

“You’ve had dealings with such situations?” Kevin asked.

“Yeah, unfortunately,” Wyatt nodded. “It’s a frequent occurrence, these days.”

“I can imagine,” Candace nodded. “Say, do you need me to come to the station to make a police sketch? Because I can make one myself, really.”

“Could you?” Wyatt asked. “That would be really good.”

“I’ll make it,” she promised. “How does the whole process work?”

“It’s going to be…”

Wyatt couldn’t finish what he was saying because, at that moment, their attention was diverted to the angry yelling match happening in the other part of the store.

“Do you have any fucking idea what sort of a mess you’ve put me in?! Any idea?” Josie yelled at Marty, who she ran into at the store by chance.

“I put you into a mess? Seriously?” He frowned. “Woman, I’m still doing community service after the stunt you’ve pulled!”

“Oh please! This is just like you,” Josie continued. “I didn’t make you attack anyone.”

“No, fair enough, you didn’t directly make me do anything. I did do all of that willingly and I take responsibility,” Marty agreed.

“And now you’re ruining my reputation!” she yelled at him.

“I fail to follow…”

“You and your… fling! What sort of perverted attempt at getting back at me is that?!” she continued yelling, getting more irate.

“Excuse you?! He laughed. “You think my relationship is an attempt at getting back at you????!!!!!”

“How am I supposed to behave when my girlfriends tell me they see my husband out with another man?!” she continued, in an absolutely affronted manner. “My own reputation is under fire!”

“Ex-husband, firstly,” he corrected her, becoming more irate himself. “We’ve argued enough over that signature but those divorce papers are signed, filed, and registered. We are not married. Fuck, I could sleep with the whole city if I wanted to, it no longer concerns you!”

“Yes it does! People will say I turned you gay!” she yelled at him.

“What the hell? I told you I was attracted to both genders way back when we’ve met! Did you seriously not listen?” he was confused. For all his faults, Marty never hid his orientation from her or from anyone.

“I thought you were just saying it to sound more interesting,” she grimaced.

“Why in the world would I do that?”

He knew the answer even as he asked the question. This was totally the sort of thing Josie would do herself, so naturally, she would assume the same of others.

Delia just wanted a nice cup of coffee from a good cafe. Just a nice, quiet cup of coffee.

So much for that plan… But if anything, her opinion that relationships were messy was only further solidified by observing this scene.

Putting the coffee down, Delia stood up and decided to intervene before things got way out of hand. She’s been around irate people enough to see the signs of things heating up.

Kevin, Candace, and Wyatt also ran over to see what was happening and became first raw audience for the fight.

“Just because you can’t live without stirring up needless drama everywhere you go, doesn’t mean every other person is like that. Goodness!” Marty exclaimed. “The fact that you’re trying to dictate to me how to live my life now that we are legally divorced means you are more delusional than even I knew you to be.”

“Oh please! Don’t pretend you didn’t enjoy it,” Josie spat at him. “You used to say I was your feisty princess! It turned you on!”

“Yeah, it did! And now that I look back on it, the whole thing was toxic as fuck. Just like the majority of our relationship,” Marty told her. “You know what I regret the most about this whole thing? Injuring your ex and that poor girl. They didn’t deserve to get dragged into our mess. But at least, because of that whole mess, I finally saw how much your company was poisoning my life.”

“Oh, you!!!”

“What? Don’t like hearing it?” he asked. “Then, maybe you should take a good look in the mirror and start changing. Otherwise, any other man you end up with will eventually come to the same conclusion as mine: that the moment you finally leave their life is time to rejoice!”

“You bastard!” Josie looked like she was going to have a heart attack. No one talked to her that way!

If the other shoppers expected a skinny young woman to have the upper body strength to do something like that, they probably would’ve restrained her earlier. But an angry Josie was quite capable of tossing heavy objects at the targets making her mad.

As Marty unfortunately found out.

The impact of the 4 half-gallon bottles was enough to make him stagger and land on his rear on the ground, winded.

“Miss! Drop it right there!” Wyatt quickly reacted to what just happened, approaching Josie with a pissed off expression on his face. It wasn’t even his work day, and still he had to deal with citizens misbehaving.

“What? I didn’t do anything wrong!” Josie instantly became belligerent. “It was an accident.”

“Was it? Was it really? See those security cameras? Those customers and cashiers? Will they also say it was an accident?” he blew up at her.

“I…” She totally forgot about the security cameras.

“Why don’t we take a trip down to the station, Ms. Henning.”

“Call my lawyer!” she told him.

“I will, but I doubt he’ll have much to say to solid video evidence of assault.” Turning to the others, he added, “Let’s talk about our earlier topic in a couple of hours, ok? I need to deal with her now. And Marty, if you want to press charges, you’ll have plenty of legal backup.”

“Hey, man, are you ok?” Kevin asked observing him.

“Those bottles look heavy,” Candace frowned. “How many of me do you see?”

“I’m fine, y’all,” Marty sighed. “Learn from my example, folks. Don’t marry someone like that. I should’ve invested in a good psychic back when I met her.”

“Doesn’t take a psychic to know that the average divorce rate is close to 50%. I’m sure it’s higher for people with certain personality traits,” Delia tsked, glancing in the direction in which Wyatt led Josie away. “Where did you even meet that one?”

“We used to club together,” he shrugged. “She was fun.”

“That’s one way to put it,” Kevin grimaced.

“Have some water,” Wendy offered, having observed the whole thing. As a medic, she felt it was her responsibility to provide assistance. “Are you feeling nauseated or like you’re about to pass out?”

“No, I’m just achy, but it’s fine.” Suddenly, he started laughing. “You know, what I said to her must’ve really hit a nerve. I don’t think she had ever reacted this badly to anything.”

“You mean she had other bad reactions in the past?” Candace asked.

“Well, she always has strong reactions. That’s Josie for you.”

Kevin recalled a few instances during their short time dating when Josie really flipped a switch with people. Usually, her anger was directed at people other than him – servers, movie techs who made her job “more difficult”, her next door neighbors who did something to offend her…

Once she was really pissed at him for, according to her, intentionally putting the wrong cheese in her salad. At no point before did she tell him she didn’t like feta, but somehow, he was supposed to psychically know it anyways. He later found a crack on his tablet, which he assumed came from him hitting it on something in his backpack. Now, he wasn’t so sure. After all, that woman always did complain about him playing games on it too much…

“Penny for your thoughts,” Delia told him. “Did you have history with her too?”

“You could say that, yeah,” Kevin nodded. “I’m Kevin, by the way and this is Candace.”

“Hi!” Candace smiled.

“I’m Marty,” the man introduced himself. “Sorry for that scene. I had no idea she was going to make one.”

“Happens to the best of us. I’m Delia,” she smiled. “Just out of curiosity, are you planning to press charges against her?”

“I don’t know, it’s a bit much.”

“She attacked you in broad daylight with a store full of witnesses,” Candace gave him a serious look. “Who knows what she’d do if she catches you someplace private? Just saying.”

“Oh, I haven’t thought of that,” Marty admitted.

“I suggest you at least get a restraining order taken out,” Delia advised. “It won’t be too difficult, with all the evidence from this shop. Here, let me give you my number and the number of a friend of mine who deals with such situations – he’s a lawyer.”

After Delia left, Candace insisted on all three of them grabbing some Chili at the deli.

“I figured we could all use something tasty right now. And Marty, last night, did you get a good look at that guy?”

“Yeah, he looked pretty weaselly. Why?”

“I’m going to make a sketch of him and take it to Wyatt. If necessary, would you be able to backup what you saw him do at the bar?”

“Oh, totally! Rodrigo can too. He actually said the guy looked kind of familiar, but he’s not sure how. Did he ever tell you his name?” Marty asked.

“Yeah, but we think it’s fake,” Kevin nodded.

“Figures.” Marty frowned, realizing something. “It’s probably not his first time doing something like that.”

“That’s what I was thinking,” Candace nodded.

She gave Kevin a look. It was true that they both had issues with Marty in the past, but after recent events, neither felt much animosity towards him. If anything, they kind of sympathized with him.

“We’re planing to make pumpkin pie at home. Want to come with us?” she asked.

“Pumpkin pie? Sounds cool, but I’m not much of a baker,” he admitted. “Or much of a cook, in general. I’m not too good around the house, to be fully honest.”

“Neither are we,” Kevin laughed. “So it might turn out to be a total disaster. But it’ll be fun.”

Chronicles of a Pessimist 40

Note: Attempted Date Rape/Roofie TW.

Candace was supposed to meet up with Kevin outside The Brightmore at 7, but because of an emergency at work, he was going to be late.

Oh well, at least the girls were inside and waiting for her.

This was just like high school, when the three of them used to hang out and sneak into clubs to dance.

Except, now they were actually old enough to get into places without fake IDs, so that was cool. Although, the element of adventure was a fun bonus when they had to sneak in.

And even though they were legal to get alcohol now, she was kind of more interested in the food now.

Actually, it has been a while since she ate…

“I’ll be at the bar,” she told the girls.

“Oh, this looks good,” Edith joined her. “I’ll have some too.”

“Health foods could never,” Candace joked.

“Nope, the grease is where it’s at!” Edith agreed.

“Want to get drinks with me?” Candace asked.

“Sure, in a bit,” Edith told her. “I’ll be right back, nature calls.”

“See you. Hi, miss,” she addressed the bartender. “Can I get the orange martini?”

“Sure thing,” the bartender started making it.

“Are the drinks here any good?” the guy next to her asked quietly.

“Oh yeah, they’re pretty nice. I usually get their mojito, but it’s nice to change things up,” she told him.

“I’ll try it then. Miss, can I get one mojito?”

“Here you go,” the bartender gave Candace and later her seatmate their drinks.

“Oh, it is good,” he said trying a bit of his drink.

“Told you,” she smiled. “I’m Candace, by the way. You?”

“Jake. Nice to meet you.”

Meanwhile, another couple at the club was all danced out.

“Man, I haven’t moved this much since Josie dragged me on one of those tropical retreats,” Marty plopped down on the lounge.

“Was there a lot of dancing involved?” Rodrigo asked.

“There was a club. And she would not let us go home until the place’s last call. My legs get stiff just remembering that crap.”

“Your ex sounds like she’s really high-maintenance.”

“You could say she is.” Marty glanced over to the bar. “Man, that girl in blue seems kind of familiar.”

“Her? That’s Candace, my classmate. You’ve probably seen her when you came over the other time.”

“Have I? I haven’t really noticed anyone back then. But if you say so. Is the dude her boyfriend?”

“Nah, she’s dating this guy Kevin. My other classmate’s brother.”

“Wait, Kevin? Does he have brown hair, piercings, and tats?”

“Yeah, you know him?”

“Uh… remember how I ended up in community service? That guy I beat up?” Marty sounded uncomfortable.

“Shit! That’s him? Wow, small world. Well, he seems kind of annoying.”

“He’s not that bad, actually. It’s a long story. Josie kind of screwed us both over when it happened. Wait…” Marty looked at Candace again. Suddenly, he remembered why she looked familiar.

Never one to feel lonely, Candace ended up chatting with Jake while waiting for Kevin to arrive.

Whatever the emergency was, it sure kept him away.

She already listened to Jake’s sob story about his girlfriend who left him alone and moved to another city. It was very interesting, sure, but she and Kevin made plans.

She understood that firefighters had an important job, but it sucked that the job took him away from her.

Maybe she was being spoiled.

“So, how come you’re here alone?” Jake asked.

“I’m with friends,” she nodded at Edith and Alayna, who were behind them on the dance floor. “And my boyfriend’s supposed to get here soon. He’s just late.”

“It’s not cool to leave a pretty girl waiting,” the guy gave her a smile. He was very charming, but not really her type, even if Kevin hadn’t been in the picture.

“He’s got an important job,” she smiled. “I can respect that.”

“Still…”

Her phone rang with a text and, rushing to answer it, she dropped it.

“Oh, bother,” she bent over to pick up the device.

As it happened, the bartender was busy with other patrons and wasn’t paying attention to Candace and her seatmate.

But two other people were.

“Oh, hell nah!” Marty growled when he saw Jake move towards Candace’s glass while her attention was diverted. “Is he doing what I think he’s doing?”

“He sure is. Ugh.” Rodrigo could relate to having trouble connecting with romantic partners, but there were always better ways to deal with that. “Do you think it’s something like…?”

“I’m sure.” Marty had a younger cousin who lived in Starlight Shores and who had a similar situation happen to her. Luckily, her best friends were with her when the substance kicked in and kept her safe. But it still made his blood boil to think of what could’ve happened if they weren’t there. “Let’s go. Follow my lead.”

“He’s on the way, but it’s taking him a while to get here. Figures. The one time we’ve decided to go clubbing, he got held up,” Candace groaned.

“Time to look for a new boyfriend?” Jake half-joked.

“I would if he was habitually late. But it’s a one-time offense,” she gave him a look. “Cheers?”

“Cheers,” the guy smiled.

Before Candace could take another sip of her drink, she heard the voices she least expected to hear.

“Hi! Candace, right?” Marty greeted her in a cheerful voice. “I know this is awkward and all, but how wild is it that we meet here of all the places?”

“Hi, I was just talking about you to Marty – he could really use someone with your artistic eye for things,” Rodrigo addressed her in the same sing-song tone.

“Uh, hi?” she gave them a strange look. Why was Marty behaving like he knew her? And why did Rodrigo have this strange smile on his face? “What’s up?”

“We thought you could help Marty here get a new look. When you have time, of course,” Rodrigo continued smiling.

“And what about you, man?” Marty looked straight at Jake. “What’s your name? Are you a stylist too?”

“Not really,” Jake got flustered. “I’m in business. Oh, hey, I think I’m needed elsewhere.”

He made a show of looking at his phone and quickly walked towards the exit.

Rodrigo followed the guy as soon as he realized what was happening. He wanted to see where he was going to go, just in case.

That left Marty alone with Candace.

“Well, that was weird,” she shook her head and made the move to take a sip from her glass, but Marty hurried to stop her.

“Girl, don’t drink that. He put something in your drink when you turned away.”

“What.”

“I don’t know what it was, but I doubt either of us want to find out. I can get you a new clean drink if you’d like. Consider it a half-assed apology for putting you in the hospital the other time.”

“There’s a drug here,” she finally understood.

“Most likely, yeah. Sorry about that.”

“Thank you for warning me,” she put down the drink like it was infected.

Rodrigo tried to follow Jake as quickly as possible, but he only caught the sight of him disappearing into the subway station when he exited the club.

Heh, that guy sure got scared when he and Marty showed up.

Fucking coward.

There was something familiar about him, though. He was sure he had seen him somewhere and recently.

This would have to be a mystery for another day.

“Sorry I’m late,” Kevin yelled, running in. “Hey, what’s going on?”

The sight of his girlfriend sitting there looking upset with Marty nearby couldn’t mean anything good.

“Sorry, I lost him – he went into the metro,” Rodrigo returned. “Everyone ok?”

“Just great,” Candace nodded.

“I told her what happened,” Marty informed him.

“What happened here?” Kevin looked between them.

“Some loser drugged her drink, but don’t worry, we stopped her from drinking any of it,” Rodrigo filled him in.

“Oh my god…” He pulled her into a hug. “Are you ok?”

“Just spooked, mostly. But yeah, I’m fine.”

“I’m just glad you’re safe,” he told her.

“Me too. I had some surprise rescuers.”

“Thanks for looking out for her,” Kevin turned to the guys. “I mean it.”

“It was the least we could do,” Marty told him. “Besides, I owe you both. How come you never filed a police report against me? I put you both in the hospital, after all.”

“Oh yeah, we didn’t,” Candace realized. “I don’t know, there was just a lot of other stuff going on. At the end of the day, I guess neither of us felt like dealing with paperwork.” Besides, they were both pretty pissed at Josie and had a feeling she did her best to mess with both men back then. And also, ending up in the hospital together did get things started for her and Kevin.

“That explains why I only got community service. I’m glad I did, though,” he smiled, glancing at Rodrigo, who started blushing.

“We should go now,” he told him. “You two be safe.”

Candace seemed much more tired when they got back to her house.

“Are you sure you’re alright?” Kevin asked carefully.

“Yeah, I didn’t drink any of it, don’t worry. It’s just sinking in how close I was to becoming that moron’s victim,” she admitted. “If Marty and Rodrigo weren’t there, no one would’ve noticed anything. Which is wild all in itself.”

“Who knew he’d be the one to come to your rescue?” Kevin agreed. “I’m glad he was there, though.”

“Yeah, me too. I just feel terrible, you know,” she went on. “I got lucky. Someone looked out for me. But that guy’s still out there. Who knows how many more women will become his victims?”

“But you saw him, didn’t you? We can go to the police and file a report tomorrow,” he offered. “Would that make you feel better?”

“I don’t know. Sure I could describe him and I have his name, but would they listen? Technically, I didn’t drink anything, so the crime didn’t happen, right? Would they have enough legal ground to pursue this? Also, I’m not even sure if ‘Jake’ is his real name. Come to think of it, only an idiot would introduce himself with his real name if he’s planning something like this.”

“That’s true,” Kevin thought over her words. “We can still try. We can talk to Jasper’s cop friend. He might be able to help.”

“I suppose it won’t hurt. But tomorrow. Now I just want something nice and sweet to cheer me up.”

There are few things that cupcakes and a comedy can’t make better.

At the end of the day, despite the scare, Kevin made sure Candace went to sleep feeling safe and taken care of.

Chronicles of a Pessimist 39

Keeping to her word, Anna found herself at another therapy session with Peijing two days later. Even though she was worried about how the process will happen, talking with the young counselor about her life proved to be rather easy.

While talking about Rudy’s passing was tough, as usual, Anna felt like she could talk about it safely here.

One thing that Peijing noticed and pointed out was the fact that Anna was letting his death overshadow the man’s memories and all the good things that she had associated with him.

This made Anna pause, mostly because the counselor was 100% right. She was really doing that. And she didn’t want to, not anymore.

“It’s not unusual,” Peijing told her. “When painful events happen, it’s easy to let them overshadow the good ones. But they don’t invalidate the good things. The good memories are still there.”

“They really are,” Anna agreed, remembering a crazy day at an amusement park that she and her ex shared. They rode so many roller coasters that she could barely walk afterwards from the dizziness, but it was one of the funnest times she had. “I should try harder to think of the good things.”

“You can use the journal for that, by the way. In fact, why don’t you write about three good memories you two have made together.”

It was Peijing’s last session of the day, so she walked outside with Anna.

“I want to tell you, you’re doing quite well. It’s only our second session, but I believe you’re going to get better sooner than you think,” the young woman told her.

“That’s comforting to hear,” Anna smiled. “Say, do you think it’s a good idea for me to use my art to work through these feelings? Because an acquaintance gave me an interesting idea the other day.”

“Oh yes! You know, art therapy is actually one of the types we use to help people deal with grief. I think, if this is something you’re comfortable doing, you could get a lot of benefit from it.”

“And kill two birds with one stone,” Anna chuckled. “I have a big art class project coming up and it’s been weighing on me.”

“I can relate to that,” Peijing understood all too well. There have been plenty of times when studies left her confused on which topics to research and it was always a relief to figure it out. “Best of luck on your project.”

“Thanks. I guess I’ll hit the library and see if I can find out anything interesting to make it better.”

“You might want to go there quickly, it’s going to rain soon.”

Peijing turned out to be right about the weather – by the time Anna made it to the library, there was a full-blown rainstorm outside. Which was fine with her, since she didn’t know how long her research was going to take.

In any case, the library was fully stocked with books on different topics and there was a huge section on mythology, plus the online databases with all sorts of scholarly articles which were free to access from the library’s computers.

“Now, let’s see. Myths, customs, folk tales, and beliefs surrounding death,” she muttered to herself.

After all, it was true that death was a fact of life. And if she was going to get over her trauma around it, she might as well get scholarly with it. And hopefully get a good grade while she was at it.

Luckily, both the books and the databases were chock-full of fascinating information and Anna got further with her research and project prep than she had in months.

Returning from the library, satisfied with the amount of work she got done, Anna decided to stop by the local consignment store. Even though many shopped at these places to get used furniture and clothes, she had frequently found art supplies at such places, still in good condition. At this place in particular, she had previously found a great set of brushes and an almost new easel. She felt like today she might find something interesting as well.

And she did.

“Kade?” she stopped dead in her tracks when she saw him. By all accounts, the guy was asleep and, while the upper part of his body was under the awning and safely out of the rain (but not out of the cold!), his legs were right there, getting pelted by the rain.

Oh boy, this was not a good way to sleep.

“Kade, buddy, wake up,” she approached him and gently prodded him.

He didn’t look too good, she realized, noticing the dark bags under his eyes. He must’ve been exhausted to fall asleep out here like this.

“Kade!” she tried a bit more, louder.

This seemed to do the trick and he started muttering something, still sleepy. At least, he was waking up. How did the rain not wake him up, anyways?

“Anna!” he woke up and seemed completely taken aback to see her. “What are you doing here?!”

“Trying to figure out why you’re sleeping out here in the rain. You’re going to get drenched. You already are,” she told him, pointing out his wet jeans.

“Oh… Oh!!!” he noticed and pulled his legs inward. “Thanks, I guess.”

“You ok there?” she asked, continuing to observe him.

“Yeah, just tired,” he mumbled. “Sorry, it’s been crazy at work.”

“Yeah, I can imagine.” Honestly, he looked like he hasn’t slept in days.

Suddenly, another idea hit her. She kept getting nightmares after meeting him because he was a constant reminder of their loss.

Their loss. Their.

Was it possible he was going through the same thing?

“Kade, I want to ask you something and don’t take it the wrong way, cool?” she started voicing it out loud. “But have you been feeling worse about Rudy and what happened to him when you see me?”

“What kind of a question is that?” he asked, looking embarrassed.

“A reasonable one,” she told him. 

“Why would it be reasonable?” he asked in confusion.

“Because I’ve been experiencing this,” she ended up admitting the truth.

“You’ve been feeling worse when you see me,” he repeated looking down.

“Don’t take it personally,” she told him. “It’s PTSD, apparently. I’ve been getting nightmares about him every time I’ve ran into you. Although, not after the last time, so I guess it’s working.”

“What’s working?”

“Therapy. A friend recommended I try going to a grief counselor since it’s been messing with me pretty badly. Apparently, it’s complicated grief and PTSD in my case. The nightmares, the anxiety, the avoidance of reminders…”

“Wow, that stuff’s real?” he asked. “Like, there’s a medical term for it?”

“Yeah. And I’m no specialist, but it doesn’t look like you’re doing too well,” she told him. “I mean, one doesn’t fall asleep in the cold and rain when everything’s going well.”

He gave a sad smile. “Thanks for your concern. And for telling me this.”

“Sorry if I made things worse,” she bit her tongue.

“No, you didn’t,” he leaned back. “It’s true. I really haven’t been dealing well. Although, I don’t think your presence has been triggering me, if this is what worries you.”

“You should consider it,” she told him. “Therapy.”

“I don’t know about that.”

“I was hesitant too,” she admitted. “It’s not scary, though. Well, not as scary as dealing with it on your own, at least.”

“What’s it like?” he asked, somewhat curious.

“You just talk about what happened, there are some exercises, they teach you some techniques to feel the effects less, sort of. You’ll probably write in a journal about your experiences. Oh, and they have group therapy on weekends, and it’s free.”

“Sitting in a room and telling my whole life to random strangers sounds fun,” he tried to make a joke.

“It does sound daunting. I admit, I haven’t tried it yet. But I feel like it’s probably healthier than spending two years circling around the country because you’re too messed up to process things properly.”

“Hmm… is there only one counselor?” he asked. “It would be weird if we end up talking to the same person.”

“I guess. But they’re professionals. And I think there are other counselors there.”

“…Ok. Do you have their contact number?”

“Right here.”

“You should really go home and change into something dry and warm now,” she told him, standing up. “That’s a good way to catch pneumonia.”

“I know, I’m going to,” he reassured her.

“And hey, you have my number. If you want to talk about things – you’re not alone,” she told him.

“Thank you,” he told her. “Thanks for checking on me, even though…”

“That’s not normal,” she told him. “And I know it’s not fair to you. Or to anyone, really. And it’s not your fault. It’s just a reaction to what happened and you’re still dealing with it too. We’re kind of fumbling our way through this, but I think Rudy wouldn’t have wanted us to feel like this.”

“No,” Kade got choked up. “I don’t think he would’ve wanted that at all.”

“Hey,” she pulled him into a hug. “It’s going to be ok. There’s no other option, you hear me? Now, go get warmed up.”

Chronicles of a Pessimist 38

Note: Lots of discussions of crime and illnesses.

Two hours later, they could finally leave the autoshop and head on over to Carson’s house. At this point, neither of them felt like actually going, but they knew Carson and his wife Wendy were waiting for them and, at this point, it would have been rude to say they weren’t coming.

After Jasper made a call to Wyatt, he and a police crew showed up within minutes to analyze the scene. Even before proper testing was done, the specialists confirmed that the strange stains were, indeed, blood. The two hours were spent on the police contacting the client who brought the car in and trying to dig up further information on it.

Jasper didn’t want to throw his client under the bus, but at the same time, he couldn’t just not notify the police after that sort of a discovery. Still, he felt awful about the whole situation. And they still didn’t even know where the blood came from. Of course, they wouldn’t have to wait long.

While in the old days, testing the DNA would’ve taken weeks, today the detectives could know results within a few hours, which was useful in fast-paced investigations.

Both Jasper and Anna hoped the results weren’t too unsettling, considering that they were making out in that car minutes before the discovery.

They tried to put their game faces on before coming into the Wong household. Neither wanted to bring random negativity into their host’s day, especially since the guy was already in poor health. At the same time, Jasper knew from experience that Carson will see right through them.

“Hello!” the man greeted them, smiling as they entered the house. “You must be Anna? Lovely to meet you. But come in, come in! Wendy’s cooking up a storm. Isobel’s already here, we’ve been waiting for you. Have either of you heard from Wyatt? He texted me to say he’ll be late.”

“He’s busy with work,” Jasper tried to keep it neutral. “I’m sure he’ll be here soon.”

Now, in addition to the worries about the crime scene at his business, he couldn’t help but notice how much weight his friend lost. He knew it was something that happened when someone was ill, but seeing Carson like this somehow made it more real.

And he hated every bit of it.

“It’s really great to meet you,” Anna forced a smile. Despite everything, that wasn’t a lie. Carson really did seem like a cool person. He kind of reminded her of one of her old teachers in high school. “Jasper’s been telling me a lot about you.”

“All good things, I hope?” Carson smiled.

“For sure!”

“Of course,” Carson nodded. “So, what’s got you two in such a mood? I hope those sour faces aren’t only on my account?”

“Oh… I’m sorry,” Anna felt awkward under his sharp gaze. “It’s just been a stressful month. In multiple ways.”

That much wasn’t a lie.

“You can say that again,” Jasper agreed. “Although, worrying about a friend is never a bad thing, as far as I’m concerned.”

“Not a bad thing, but too much worry is not good for your health,” Carson reminded them. “And as for mine own, I’m sick, not blind. And you two look like you’ve seen a ghost today.”

They might have tried to talk their way out of it, but at that moment Wyatt arrived, wearing the same fake smile that Carson saw through in seconds.

“Ok, you three. Wendy’s made her lovely carbonara upstairs. Come on up and spill the beans. I’m all ears.”

Coming upstairs, they were greeted by Isobel, who was helping Wendy in the kitchen (and no doubt, gossiping with her about all sorts of things the men weren’t privy to hearing).

As everyone dug into their food, the three gave their account of the events at the autoshop to Carson, Wendy, and Isobel.

“I had no choice,” concluded Jasper. “I had to call in law enforcement. I can’t imagine this client being involved in anything illegal, though.”

“He isn’t,” Isobel reassured him. “If he had any idea about the blood in the car, he never would’ve brought it in to be serviced. You guys need to find out where he got it.”

“This seems to be the case. We’ve already talked to him,” Wyatt agreed. “He was absolutely unaware. He saw some guys at a gas station with this car, and since it was one he had always dreamed of having, he offered them a lot of money for it. In cash…”

“Sounds like he literally bought himself a lot of trouble,” Wendy huffed. “All that money and no common sense. What happened to checking the product beforehand?”

“That’s what happens when people start thinking with their bank accounts instead of their brains,” Carson laughed. “It seems that poor rich guy helped whoever he bought this car from get rid of the disposal vehicle.”

“Disposal vehicle?” Anna asked, confused. “What’s that?”

“The vehicle used to dispose of a body. Mob stuff, really,” Carson explained.

“That may be, actually,” Wyatt nodded along. “They are still checking everything, but it seems the DNA matched a cold case in the database. Remember, I’ve mentioned that guy they found swimming with the fishes? The DNA matches him. It’s highly likely he was in that car at some point.”

“In that trunk, to be specific,” Anna clarified.

“That’s right,” Carson nodded along. “We had a case like that in this city a long time ago. I think it was before any of you were born, actually. There was a mob and they would kill someone and then sink the body in a junker car. This way, there wouldn’t be evidence for anyone to discover and people would simply think the killed person went missing.”

“Clearly, someone found out, though,” Jasper pointed out.

“Oh, yes! Someone did a shoddy job of it and one of the bodies came to surface,” Carson nodded. “It was a huge scandal when it was discovered. Because once they discovered one victim, they found four or five others.”

“Did they ever catch the people responsible?” Anna asked.

“Not officially. But one of the most notorious businessmen in the city was later shot in his own swimming pool. I use the term ‘businessman’ loosely here – everyone knew his dealings weren’t all that clean, but there wasn’t enough evidence to tie him to anything. But after his death, a lot of the sketchy things happening in the city stopped. Everyone assumed he was offed by one of the victims’ fathers.”

“I never knew this city had such a violent history,” Jasper was taken aback. “And I’ve lived here for most of my life.”

“It was a darker time,” Carson smiled sadly. “People prefer to let such memories stay in the past and focus on the future. Of course, if you have mob murders happening in the city again…”

“We’re trying to find who’s at it,” Wyatt told him.

“Good. And you do have a lot more technology at your disposal for it these days. That should help.”

“Hopefully, not just the technology,” Wyatt let slip.

“Extra help?” Carson asked.

“Technically, I’m not supposed to talk about it. But all things considered, there is something strange going on in the city. And it’s been happening across state lines. So the Feds are now involved too. That’s why I was sent back from Starlight Shores. Because they’re supposed to send someone in.”

“Do you know who it is yet?” Jasper asked.

“Not really. I was told the person will contact me when they find necessary. I kind of got the feeling they didn’t want to involve local police too much in whatever is going on,” Wyatt admitted.

“Why? Do the suspect you guys of something?” Anna frowned.

“Not necessarily. I think it may be a territorial thing. The Feds don’t like to involve the local police precincts and vice versa. Everyone wants to be responsible for their own thing and so on. Honestly, I hope they send their person sooner rather than later.”

“How do you know they haven’t already?” Carson asked.

“That’s what I’d do,” Jasper admitted. “Send in an investigator ASAP and hope they find everything out.”

“I think everyone wants to,” Wyatt nodded.

“But the bureaucracy and red tape get in the way every time, don’t they?” Isobel asked. “Sounds familiar.”

“You are nailing it on the head,” Wyatt agreed. “You’d be amazed how much can slip through the cracks because there isn’t a legal way to get evidence.”

“Enough to make sleeping at night that much scarier,” Carson and Wendy both nodded in agreement.

“This all sounds kind of awful,” Jasper grew somber at their words. “The idea that a lot of crime can just slip under the radar and continue unhampered is really disconcerting.”

“It’s never nice to hear what may be lurking right under our noses,” Carson smiled knowingly. “But look at the bright side of it: you’ve lived all this time without it touching you. Not that I approve of criminals, but many of those who run illicit activities function similarly to spiders – they don’t want to bother with you any more than you want to bother with them. Because once you know what they’re up to, it’s likely so does law enforcement.”

“So, I’m just supposed to wish them well and let them be?” Jasper chuckled.

“I think it depends on what they do,” Anna pointed out. “I think we can all agree that the Prohibition in the 1920s was stupid and a waste of everyone’s time and energy. People have always liked alcohol and will continue to like it despite what the law tried to enforce. So, the bootleggers were simply providing the supply to meet the demand. And regardless of my opinion on drugs, criminalizing their possession makes it that much more difficult for those in need of help to get it. But then there are more harmful types of criminal activity, like trafficking, cyber-crime, smuggling…”

“That’s a very sharp assessment,” Carson approved. “The trouble is knowing which sorts of people you’re dealing with if you do run into someone in organized crime.”

“Have you ever? Dealt with them, that is?” she asked.

“Once or twice. Mostly racketeers demanding ‘protection money’ from my parents business when I was younger and a couple of buffoons who were running a pyramid scheme at my first place of employment. The later were a bigger pain in the neck because they didn’t know when to stop harassing you to join them. Their scheme didn’t last very long, though, once they ended up recruiting undercover cops. Because of course, even crime is business in a way, and that requires some brains.”

“The kind of brains that put people in trunks of cars,” Jasper tried to make a joke. Somehow, it didn’t feel very fun. “I’ll be right back.”

Jasper knew it was a bit ridiculous to get so worked up over things, but it seemed the combined facts of his friend’s illness and the crime happening right under his nose were enough to make him a little mental. On the one hand, he knew Carson had a point in his assessment of the situation, but Carson was always the logical, think before you act type.

Jasper was the type to spring to action, even if it wasn’t so wise at times.

And all of this was making him want to smoke more.

“Penny for your thoughts.” He heard Anna’s voice as he took another big drag.

Quietly, she joined him and looked out on the street before them. It was peaceful and quiet, unlike the city they drove out of recently.

“He’s a sharp one,” she told him. “Kind of reminds me of my Mom.”

“He is. Sharper than most people would be comfortable with. I can’t believe this sort of stuff’s been happening in the city for years, though. And that he’s so nonchalant about it.”

“I can,” Anna admitted. “He’s got enough other worries on his mind that local criminals are not at the top of the list. Besides…”

“Yeah?”

“Old crimes are in the past and there’s nothing we can do about them. And at this point, we don’t have enough information on the current ones to really do anything about them. The police department, with all of their fancy tech, are still working on figuring out the specifics of what happened. And I’m not about to pretend that I’m more knowledgeable in these matters than they are.”

“So, we should just sit tight and wait to hear more information?” he followed her reasoning.

“What else can we do at this point?” she asked. “Honestly, it’s kind of wild that this car even ended up in your shop.”

“Mind if I join you?” Carson asked, coming outside.

“Not at all,” Jasper told him. “Wait, let me put this thing out.”

He hurried to extinguish the cigarette.

“Don’t worry on my account,” Carson chuckled. “I’ve smoked plenty of those in my day.”

“You have?” Jasper and Anna were taken aback. They were both under impression that he was a health nut.

“Oh, yeah. It was quite bad at one point, close to a pack a day. That’s how I ended up divorced, you know. My ex told me that if I didn’t quit smoking by the end of the month, she was done with the marriage.”

“And she kept her word,” Anna was amazed.

“Oh, that she did!” he laughed. “It was really for the best, of course. That relationship was on the rocks and cigarettes were just the last straw. But if she and I didn’t break up, I wouldn’t have met Wendy. So, life really works out in ways you don’t expect it to.”

While the others were outside, Isobel took the time to chat with Wendy. It was strange, being here like this, she thought. Usually, Carson was the life of a party. Now, she felt like they were all walking on eggshells around him because they were worried about him. At the same time, he didn’t really behave like she expected someone to behave in his situation.

Bringing it up to Wendy, she was met with a chuckle from the woman.

“Well, that’s Carson for you. He always handles things.”

“Even his own health,” Isobel understood.

“Even this.”

“How are you, though? It’s probably stupid to ask this,” Isobel quickly realized.

“I’m handling it too, somehow. You never realize what you’ll handle until you have no other choice,” Wendy shrugged. “Thanks for asking, though. And I know you’re worried too. All of you.”

She looked knowingly at Wyatt, who was observing Carson outside with Anna and Jasper.

“I think that’s why he didn’t want to tell us, isn’t it?” Wyatt asked.

“Seems that way. I’m glad you’ve found out, though,” Wendy admitted. “It didn’t feel right to me that he was hiding it.”

“How are the boys taking it?” Isobel asked.

“Very mature for their age, it seems. They’ve been driving down from college every week ever since we’ve found out. And Michael is even more doubled down on his getting into med school plan now.”

“That does sound mature,” Isobel smiled.

“What about you?” Wendy asked. “You’ve been seeing someone new lately, right? I saw you two on Facebook. He’s cute.”

“Yeah, that’s Marcus. He’s really great. Would you believe I used to work with his ex? Small world, huh?” Isobel laughed.

“It is. But you two look really good together. Planning anything serious? Maybe some little ones of your own?” Wendy asked.

“Ha, ha,” Isobel laughed a bit awkwardly. “We’ll see. It’s all pretty new and honestly, I haven’t really been thinking of that yet.”

“Well, you never know when it can happen. I’ve been dating Carson for less than two months when I got pregnant with Aaron,” Wendy recalled.

“That is kind of fast,” Isobel cringed a bit imagining herself and Demarcus in that situation. She liked him, sure, possibly even more. And he was probably the most compatible person she had ever met. But would he be able to handle something like that?

Not like it would happen. She was always careful about these things.

Behind her, she could hear Wyatt quietly giggling and she knew why he had that reaction. This wasn’t the first time Wendy brought up the kids topic with her. And it probably wasn’t going to be the last. For Wendy, fur babies didn’t seem to count.

“You never know,” Wendy repeated. “Life tends to happen when you least expect it to.”

Just as Jasper finished his cigarette, Wyatt called him inside for a moment. This left Anna outside with Carson. She wondered if he was going to join the others, but he didn’t.

“You know,” he told her, “I was worried for a while for him. He seemed to be set on staying alone after… well, you know what happened with…”

“Rosalind?” she asked.

“You know, then,” he smiled. “But I’m glad he let someone else in. And you seem to be a good influence on him.”

“How so?” Anna was surprised.

“I’m sure you’ve noticed our friend Jasper there has a tendency to be a bit impulsive.”

Her snorting at his words made him raise an eyebrow.

“I’m sorry,” she apologized. “But yes, I have noticed that about him. And on that note, I hope you didn’t feel forced to invite us all over tonight.”

“On the contrary, I was pretty happy to see you all. Especially when such interesting news tidbits end up reaching me,” Carson reassured her.

“Oh yes! Talk of criminal misbehavior is always fascinating,” Anna agreed.

“Indeed. I hope our valiant knight doesn’t take it upon himself to investigate,” Carson glanced indoors with a bit of concern. “Could you keep an eye on him in that aspect?”

“I could try,” Anna promised. “No guarantees, though. I’ve heard he tends to act first quite frequently.”

“That he does.”

“See you guys,” Isobel passed them on her way out. “It’s been great seeing you. I’ll keep in touch, ok?”

“Have a good evening, dear,” Carson smiled. Once she was out of earshot, he chuckled. “Wendy must’ve gotten to her again with the baby talk.”

“Again?” Anna asked.

“Oh yes. Wendy is convinced everyone secretly wants a full house of small children at all times. If not for her difficult second pregnancy, I’m sure she would’ve talked me into more than our two. Mind you, the boys were enough of a handful to dissuade anyone from the idea that parenthood is easy,” he gave her a knowing look. “I love the boys to bits, but I won’t lie – they really made me understand why some parents drink daily.”

“Being a parent is complicated,” she understood, thinking about her own parents.

“It is. Highly rewarding, but complicated. And anyone who says otherwise must be out of their mind.”

“Do you think that’s why sometimes parents make serious mistakes?” she found herself asking him. “Like, if a parent hides from the child that the other parent is seriously ill until it’s too late.”

“Sounds like a trying situation for all parties involved,” Carson assessed. “I won’t lie. When I found out about my diagnosis, I didn’t have the choice not to tell anyone – Aaron was with me at the doctor’s office, so he knew almost immediately, and if he knew, Michael was going to know one way or another. But in my case, also, we knew from day one that things were serious. But I can see someone not telling their kids if they didn’t think that was the case. I’ve known of cases where doctors believed their patient’s case was less serious than it really was and vice versa.”

“I haven’t really considered that,” Anna admitted. “ And I’m sorry if you don’t want to talk about this.”

“Oh, I’m actually ok to talk about it. I had a feeling my health wasn’t great before I even went to the doctor. In my case, it wasn’t much of a surprise. It runs in the family, so I always knew it was a possibility. But some people are really shaken when they get the bad news. But that’s the thing – every life ends at some point. And in a way, that’s a blessing. Can you imagine being immortal and stuck here for good?”

“Like a vampire,” she smiled.

“Oh yes. Vampires,” he chuckled. “I swear, the existence of the vampire genre shows one thing: we are afraid of aging, to the point we are willing to give up so much just to stay in eternally young, sexy bodies. And for what? Aging is a sign of having lived a rich, experience-filled life. I think, if more people understood that, they would be much happier.”

“You know what? That’s a great way to look at this,” Anna found herself agreeing.

And suddenly, an idea for her art assignment materialized in her head. Oh yes, she could see it now, all coming together.

“Thank you!” she told him.

“For what?” he looked surprised.

“You’ve just helped me figure out what I want to focus on for my major assignment for art school.”

“Oh! Glad to be of assistance. And I’d love to see it once it is completed!”

“What are they still talking about?” Jasper wondered, as he observed his girlfriend and old friend talk and talk and talk outside.

“Probably you,” Wendy joked. “I’m sure Carson’s filling her in on all your crazy escapades.”

“Hey!” he tried to sound offended, but failed.

“He won’t be wrong,” Wyatt laughed. “You do crazy things sometimes.”

“Et tu, Brute?” Jasper asked.

“Just stating the facts, buddy.”

Eventually, the evening drew to a close and the three of them also left the Wong household. 

Jasper was fairly quiet as they drove home, which worried Anna.

“What is is?” she finally asked him.

“Just thinking,” he sighed.

“About Carson?”

“Among other things,” he nodded.

“Understandable.” There was no beating around the bush – his friend was sick. But also, there wasn’t much he could do about it. Looking out the window, she saw a familiar place. “Is that the park we came to on our first date?”

“It is. Want to stay here a bit?”

There was a chill in the air, but the park was just as pretty as the first time they came here. She hoped it could make him feel better.

“I know why you’re upset,” she told him.

“Of course, I am,” he frowned. “It’s not fair that he’s sick.”

“No. It never is. And it really isn’t fair that there’s nothing we can do about it. But that’s the fact of the matter. Unfortunately.”

“Hmm…”

“Carson seems to be convinced you’re likely to do something reactionary to the recent events,” Anna told him.

“What makes him think so? It’s not like I can discover a cure for cancer in a short period of time.”

“I think he meant the other events,” she told him. “The ones at the shop.”

“There isn’t much I can do about that either,” he told her. “We don’t even know what’s going on.”

“Exactly. And to be honest, I’m glad we don’t. Not much good can come from knowing these things.”

“Anna?”

“I’m serious, Jas. What sorts of people transport dead bodies in car trunks? Not the nice sort. They’re the sort to keep a big distance from.”

“You’re worried. About me.”

“Of course, I am,” she tried to keep her voice neutral. “You’re the guy who paid a near stranger’s school bills without asking. The guy who went after the person who attacked my brother, barely knowing anything about the situation. You have a tendency to fix things, even if it can backfire on you. Of course I’m worried about you. Can you blame me?”

“Anna, I’m not going to do anything stupid. I have no intention to get into any sort of police investigations,” he tried to reassure her.

“Even if your curiosity gets the best of you?” she asked.

“Honestly, at this point all I want is for that darned car to be removed from my premises and not face any potential legal action in regards to whatever may have happened in it,” he assured her. “I mean, the whole shop now has fingerprints on it.”

“Myself included,” Anna realized.

“Sorry about that,” he apologized.

“Don’t be, you had no way of knowing.”

She stood up and he took her hands in his. “I can’t promise you where our lives will go or even what tomorrow will bring,” he started. “But I love you and I don’t want to do anything to jeopardize our future together. Not intentionally.”

“I love you too,” she told him. “And there’s not a day that goes by that I don’t fear that something terrible will take you away from me. I’m not sure I’d be able to handle it.”

“I fully understand. And I feel the same way,” he told her. “Exactly the same. Rest assured, I won’t do anything that purposely endangers either one of us.”