The Dark Alley on Brooklyn Avenue

Detective Lily Arenello Part 2 - Unedited

I hurry out of the building, the wind blowing my hair in my face. I take a few bobby pins and pin it up, a few strands falling and framing my face.

I don't care, though. I need to get home, to Sammy and Jose. How... How could she tell all of that about me and Sammy in just a few letters? I wonder, too flustered to use proper grammar.

All that it was were 4 Ls, 1 I, 1 Y, 1 A, 1 R, 2 Es, 1 N, and 1 O. Lily Arenello.

I pick up my pace and walk to my apartment on Brooklyn Avenue. I was the first to get to the scene because my apartment is the scene. Or at least right next to it.

A man tries to stop me from getting into my apartment. I flash my badge, irritated, and tell him that this is my apartment building. He lets me through.

I run up the stairs, to my brother and sister. "Sammy! Jose! Open up!" I yell, pounding on the door. "Is this the NYPD?" A young, accented male voice jokes. Jose opens the door for me. "I'm going to the grocery store, bye!" He says cheerfully.

I smile at him, but say, "Where's Sammy?" He points to the small kitchen and dining room, where Sammy is sitting at our table. Jose leaves.

"Sammy?" I say. I don't even know why I had to see my big sister. Maybe just to remind myself that the past is in the past.

She turns in her chair. "Hi, Lily," She says. Then her eyebrow furrows. "Are you okay?"

"Yes." I say. "My new boss had an odd test, to show us how much you can tell from a small thing. Even just the way you write your own name." Sammy is confused. "What?"

"I'll start from the beginning. So, I walked to my first day of work. I met three other people, 2 detectives and my boss.

My boss is Commander Salerno. She introduced me to the other detectives, Conor Hansen and Landon Johnson.

Hansen prefers to be called by his last name, Landon by his first. So do I. Another new detective shows up. She seems nice enough.

Her name is Bianca Jane Rousseau. She prefers, like Hansen, to be called by her last name. Salerno introduces us to a medical examiner, Annamaria Berg.

We go to the precinct, which is near the morgue. Salerno tells us to look up the victim's name. It's an alias. Hansen finds the vic's real name. Salerno calls the vic's father.

After that, she tells us to write our names on paper, because she wants to see whose writing is both neat and quick.

We do, and I'm the first to turn it in. The others do, as well, Hansen after me, Rousseau after him, and Rory last.

She starts saying things about us from the way we write. She could tell that I was taught how to write by a graffiti artist in a different country, but not with a pencil, pen, or a hand. She knew you taught me how to write with spray paint."

Sammy looks slightly troubled. "And...? Does that mean anything?" She asks. "Yes!" I say. "She'd never even read our background reports! How much could she tell if she had read them?"

"Lily!" Sammy says, standing up and putting her hands on my shoulders. "Think sensibly! What is there to find?" Her voice is rising in volume, and she is obviously trying not to speak in Spanish, like she does when she is irritated. But she's right.

"You're right, Sammy." I say, forcing myself to breathe evenly. "There's nothing for her to find."

Then Jose comes back. Sammy and I give each other don't tell Jose looks. He luckily doesn't see it. Our cheerful little brother cooks us dinner.