Dawson's Daughter | {BOOK 1}

40|The Detective's Partner

We were in the detective's car, her driving with Sam in the passenger seat and me in the back. She was just finishing up a call on her cellphone.

"Alright. Thanks," she said, hanging up.

"What is it?" Sam asked her.

"Pete just left the precinct. With Dean."

"What?!" I exclaimed.

"He said the prisoner had to be transferred," she continued, "and he just took him. Dispatch has been calling, but he won't answer his radio."

"Son of a bitch," I swore under my breath.

"Radio?" Sam furrowed his brow. "He took a county vehicle?"

"Yeah," the detective nodded.

"Well, then they should have a lo-jack. You just have to get it turned on."

⁘

When we got to the van, Pete had Dean on his knees in front of him, pointing a gun at his head. Sam had to restrain me while the detective went to confront Pete herself.

"Pete! Put the gun down," she told him.

"Diana? How'd you find me?" he asked.

"I know about Claire."

"I don't know what you're talking about."

"Put the gun down!" she repeated.

"Oh, I don't think so," he shook his head. "You're fast. I'm pretty sure I'm faster."

I was struggling in Sam's grip, fighting to get to Dean, but even with the cast on his arm, I was no match for him.

"Why are you doing this?" Diana questioned Pete.

"I didn't do anything, Diana."

"It's a little late for that."

"It wasn't my fault," Pete insisted. "Claire was trying to turn me in, I had no choice."

"And Tony? Karen?"

"Same thing! Tony scrubbed the money, he got skittish, and then he wanted to come clean. I'm sure he told Karen everything."

Dean glanced back at Sam and I. I had stopped struggling as bad, just staring back at him wondering how we were going to get out of this one. He shook his head, and my lip trembled while Sam grit his teeth.

"It was a mess; I had to clean it up," Pete continued. "I just panicked."

"How many more people are going to die over this, Pete?" Diana demanded.

"There's a way out. This Dean kid's a friggin' gift. We could pin the whole thing on him. Right? No trial, nothing. Just, just one more dead scumbag."

"Hey!" Dean cried angrily.

Pete raised his gun to point at him once more and Dean backed off. I whimpered in Sam's arms, watching with wide eyes.

"No one will question it," Pete looked at Diana. "Diana, please. I still love you."

Diana began to lower her gun.

"Thank you. Thank you," Pete told her.

As he turned back to Dean, Diana brought her gun back up and fired, hitting Pete in the stomach. He went down, and Dean rolled out of the way.

"Then why don't you buy me another necklace, you ass?" Diana spat.

Pete tackled her legs, knocking her down. She lost her gun and I lunged for it, having got out of Sam's grip, but Pete beat me to it.

"Don't do it! Don't do it!" he yelled.

Diana stared passed Pete, who turned to see Claire's ghost behind him, staring through her bloody hair. She smiled, and a gunshot went off. I panicked for a moment, and then realized Diana had gotten ahold of one of the guns and had shot Pete in the back, taking him down more permanently that time.

⁘

Diana had taken off Dean's chains, and the three of us stood off to the side while she knelt over the body of her dead partner. I had subtly latched onto Dean's hand, intertwining our fingers. Instead of pulling away, he had given my hand a squeeze and left them like that. After a few moments, she stood up, walking over to us.

"You doin' alright?" Sam asked her.

"Not really," she admitted. "The death omen, Claire. What happens to her now?"

"Should be over," I informed her. "She should be at rest."

"So, uh. What now, officer?" Dean questioned.

"Pete did confess to me. He screwed up both your cases royally. I'd say there's a good chance we could get your cases dismissed."

"You'd take care of that for us?" Sam asked hopefully.

"I hope so," Diana nodded. "But the St. Louis murder charges? That's another story. I can't help you. Unless... I just happened to turn my back, and you walked away. I could just tell them that the suspects escaped."

"Wait, are you sure?"

"Yeah, she's sure, Sam," I glared over at him.

"No, it's just," Sam shifted his weight from one foot to the other, "I mean, you could lose your job over something like that."

"Look, I just want you guys out there doing what you do best. Trust me, I'll sleep better at night."

She turned to go, continuing.

"Listen, you need to watch your back. They're gonna be looking for all of you right now. Get out of here. I gotta radio this in."

"Yeah, uh, Ellie, where's my car?" Dean asked me.

"It's at the impound yard down on Robertson," Diana spoke for me.

Dean gave me a look.

"I'm sorry. You were getting arrested and I panicked," I defended lamely.

He got a calculated look on his face.

"Don't... even think about it," Diana told him.

"It's okay, it's alright, don't worry," Sam addressed her. "We'll, uh, we'll just improvise. I mean, we're pretty good at that."

"Yeah. I've noticed," Diana smirked.

We left then, walking down the road. I got a sudden sense of de ja vu from the last time the three of us were forced to hike along the highway.

"Nice lady," Sam said as we walked.

"Yeah, for a cop," Dean scoffed. "Did she look familiar to you?"

"No, why?" Sam shoved Dean playfully.

"I don't know. Anyway, you hungry?"

"No," Sam shook his head.

"For some reason I could really go for some pea soup," Dean shrugged.

Sam rolled his eyes and I shook my head. Dean smirked down at me, neither of us saying anything about the fact that we were still hand in hand as we trudged down the highway.