Forgiven

Chapter Seven - A Good Morning - Ronan

I stood outside of the closed apartment door for a minute, the cold nights wind tousling my hair. I left eighteen ninety three Golden Coast Apartment Drive. Leaving a sliver of happiness and whatever I'd started with Kate, behind. The walk to my apartment was cold, I didn't have enough cash on me to call a taxi, so I was stuck walking. Since it was around eleven p.m. most of the traffic had died down. The city was almost completely quiet.
The second I walked through the door to my apartment, I went to my bedroom, face planting into my bed. Almost immediately, I dozed off into a peaceful sleep, my last thoughts were of Kate, of how Kate thanked me. The way Kate giggled at me, the shade of pink her cheeks turned when I made her blush, the way she carelessly laughed with Lilly. That night, out of many restless nights, I slept good. I never changed into sleeping clothes, or bothered to even get under the covers, I was just happy I'd apologized, even if Kate never accepts it.
I slept in for hours, when I woke up, I felt so rested. I sat on the edge of my bed for a second, I heard two voices coming from my living room. Can't I just have a peaceful morning? Very begrudgingly, I stood and made my way to my living room. My eyes were still partly shut, sleep still in the corner of my eyes. Adam and Nial sat on the couch, they were whispering to each other, then, "Hey Ronan, good morning." Adam sounded oddly chipper, he must have been laid, or he's got something to tell me I won't like, "How are you feeling?"
"Adam?" He sing songed a hum, "Your face says some things happened that I'm not going to like. What happened?" His chipper smile faded into a more worried one.
"Did you watch the news when you got home." I just stared at him.
"What the hell are you talking about?"
Nial piped up, "They've been broadcasting all night about it."
I cut in, "Broadcasting what all night?" My voice was still rough from just waking up.
Nial continued, " Your father's body showed up unexpectedly. They started doing DNA tests on his hair immediately."
Remembering the creepy girl from last night, she'd mentioned a body had been found, and it could have been related to me. I was starting to get annoyed with him beating around the bush, "Nial. You're messing with waffle time. Do not mess with me and waffle time. So what? They found the body, most of my victims bodies have been found."
Nial continued to explain, "His DNA was in the system. They've been poking and prodding questions at your mom all night. She called this morning."
I didn't know what to say. I stayed quiet for a few minutes, standing in the same spot thinking. How could he be in the system, he's never done blood drives, or a blood transfusion, if he ever ended up sick he didn't ever go to the doctor, or if he broke or tore something, he never went to the hospital. Then again I left home at an early age, he didn't have anything to be careful about anymore. Even though he wasn't a good father, he did try to cover his tracks so he could at least be home for dinner every night. Finally I asked a question, "So did the police find out he has a son? Or did my mom rat me out?"
"Well, the good news is your mom didn't rat you out." Nial paused, "Bad news is your mom just called, the police are on their way to come talk to you. Of course Adam and I have already agreed to be your alibi." I nodded my head, depending on the traffic the time could range from thirty minutes to an hour and a half. Since I slept in, the times probably even shorter.
"Just try to act normal, go eat if you're hungry, watch TV, shower for all I care." Nial already knew the procedure, mainly I said this for Adam. Adam simply sat forward, picked up the TV remote sitting on the coffee table; he leaned back against the couch, put one arm behind his head, kicked his feet up onto the table, and switched on the TV. My eyes were wide, just watching him, he looked completely normal. Even with my natural, I've also tried to improve, profiling skills, I couldn't pick up any distress, or nervous ticks.
"Ok then, Adam just keep doing what you're doing." Adam waved his hand at me in response.
"You're standing in the way dude." Adam sounded as calm as possible, as if he were oblivious to what we did, or that police are on their way to my apartment. I moved out of the way of the TV, my stomach growled at me. My cue to go eat toaster waffles. My entire apartment was carpeted, except the kitchen and bathroom, the second my foot touched the tiled floor my body temperature dropped a few degrees; at least it felt like it did. My body felt empty. I've been through this routine a few times, but they can only ask me questions and see my face so many times before they start getting suspicious.
The police didn't show up for another hour, Nial had been so bored he was attempting to make a slinky out of paper, Adam was now laying on the couch watching a scary movie, and I was browsing through music on my laptop. When the knock sounded on my door followed by a, "Police, open up." Lazily I stood, they started banging on my door again. I opened the door to two male officers and one female officer. One guy had a medium brown hair color, with brown eyes, and a very average face. He wasn't very tall either, the woman was even shorter than he was, she had strawberry-blonde hair, brown eyes also, and looked kind of like a man. The other male police officer I knew very well, he'd been with every other pair of police officers who'd ever asked me questions, he was in his early thirties, his name was Jason Hugh. He was an inch shorter than me, less toned, and he had dark red hair.
"Officers, what do I owe the pleasure to?" The officer I knew well gave me a once over, a smile cracked across his face.
"Ronan, How've you been?" Jason asked.
"Couldn't be happier to see your handsome face." I stepped out of the doorway, inviting them in, the two officers beside him looked confused at our banter.
The officers stepped in, the male officer who I didn't know, his name tag read Rick, asked, "Where were you the night of your father's disappearance?"
"My mom's place of work."
Rick continued while scribbling on his notepad, "Do you have any alibi's?"
I pointed to Adam and Nial, "Them, the female receptionist at my moms work. Her name was," I took a second to think, "Tonya, Tammy. No it's Toni. Do you want the spelling too?"
"No. Did you see your mom, Ms. Grey, that night?" His tone was not pleased, this pleased me.
"Yeah." The more simple I kept it, the better. The more complicated a story, the easier it is to screw it up later down the line. The questions persisted for an hour or a little longer. After they left I'd asked the guys if they wanted to go out. They agreed. "Off to Nancy's Place then."