Page 38 of Love Undecided
Chapter 16
Brad
I get back to the station and join Ethan and the guys on the clean-up and restocking of the rig.
“How’d it go, bro?” Ethan asks.
“Which part?
“I thought you went to help Kat with the case?”
“I did,” I say. “But then Stacy called and said her class was scared and so I went to talk to them.”
“Oh,” Ethan says flatly.
“Exactly. Dude, she introduced me to the kids as her boyfriend, or her someone special, or some shit like that. And she kissed me in front of them. Then she followed me out to the truck and grabbed my dick. She’s a fucking nut job.”
“Crazier in the head makes ‘em better in the bed!” Ethan says.
I laugh at him.
“Seriously though, bro, I’ve got three words for you. Break. It. Off,” he says.
“I know, E. I need to. And I’ve tried. But, when I’ve brought it up before, she gets all upset and starts crying then next thing I know we’re fucking.”
“I get it. You’re like a victim in all this. You have no control over the situation,” Ethan says.
“Fuck off, dude,” I say with a chuckle. Even though I hate when he calls me on my shit, I need it. It’s why he’s my best friend.
My phone buzzes with a call, I grab it from my belt clip and see it’s Kat calling.
“Be right back, E.”
“Hi,” I say into the phone.
“Hi,” she says, sounding a little tentative.
“Everything okay?” I ask.
“Oh, yeah, totally. I just... I talked to Detective Benson, the lead on the Sofia Carter case, and he said you were the first responder when she was abducted, and then he gave me your card in case I had any questions. Which I found funny since you’re like the only person whose phone number I know by heart.” She laughs, so I do too.
After a slight pause, she continues, “But I wasn’t sure if you maybe had anything you could add to what you helped us with this morning. That thing about all the houses having twelve-year-old girls was brilliant. And despite what Bauer says, I think we need all the help we can get with this case.”
“I’m always happy to help you in any way that I can. But I’m not sure I have anything more than what I saw you guys had in the file. I can bring you my report if you want to verify. Do you have any gaps in the information you’re trying to fill? Maybe I can help with that,” I tell her, hoping that she’ll say we should go over the report together.
“Well, we thought we had something a little bit ago, but it turned out to be nothing.”
“What was that?”
“We were trying to make the connection between the kidnapping and The Shower Stealer, but Sofia Carter’s house wasn’t visited by The Shower Stealer.”
“Don’t you find that name to be just a little bit humorous?” I ask her.
“Ohmigod! Yes! Like they couldn’t come up with anything better than the literal description of the crime? And then, is it really a crime? I mean, I know it’s breaking and entering, but it’s not like he removed anything from the home. So they’d be hard-pressed to prove criminal activity since he wasn’t caught in the act.”
“You would know better than anyone,” I tell her.
“You’re right, I would,” she says, laughing. “Ah, that’s funny.”
