Shocking Memories

Chapter 14

Emile sat at his desk, the light outside had already fallen, allowing only strands of moonlight to come through the windows of the pigpen. That was what they called the room that contained the collection of desks each detective owned. Spread out on the top of his desk were numerous case files. Among them were prominent events, involving the helicopter, the cars, the harbor, the Governor. He leaned back in his chair, forcing a loud squeak to issue forth from the tortured piece of furniture. Tomblin, who had the desk in front of Emile's, stood up from his desk, and threw his coat over his shoulder. "I'm headed out." He said, switching his desk light off. "You coming?"

Emile shook his head and let out a long whistle of air. "Nah, I'm gonna keep plucking away at this."

Tomblin, the only one between the two capable of expressing emotion on his face, continued to refuse doing so, despite being upset. "Really? We don't have answers, and you're not going to get any staring at those papers."

"Somethings not right here."

Tomblin allowed himself a small laugh. It was sardonic, not a gesture of goodwill. "You've been saying that about the Governor's case for some time now. Let it go, go home, get some rest. We'll keep looking for Liv tomorrow."

"I can't rest." Emile replied. "All the things I put behind me always return to haunt me. There has to be something here."

Tomblin shrugged. "You know, maybe you're trying to solve a puzzle before having all of the pieces. Don't even know what the picture is supposed to look like yet."

"I know it involves Liv."

"And we don't know what part she plays. You and I know what she's capable of, to some degree, but those folks in the helicopter weren't up to any good either."

"Uh huh, we know nothin." Emile, still leaning back, tilted his head to look at Tomblin. "Are you suggesting I wait for more bad things to happen?"

"No!" Tomblin replied, letting out a nervous chuckle. "Not at all! However, sometimes that's just the way it is, we need to wait for the bad guys to make a move before we can react. Like what happened in Blanko."

Emile blinked at Tomblin a couple of times before leaning forward, allowing his chair to return to a ninety degree angle. "What happened in Blanko?"

Tomblin chuckled again, as though Emile had said a joke, this time there was a light heartedness to it. When Emile didn't join in on the laugher, Tomblin concluded he was being serious. "Some of the thieves from the harbor got into a little territory war, wound up dead. Now we have some leads."

"Wound up dead?" Emile quoted back. "How did they die?"

Tomblin shrugged. "Don't know, not my case, but I heard it had something to do with a dumpster. I also know they don't have any leads. Cameras around the crime scene went on the fritz, couldn't capture anything."

"You're thinking what I'm thinking right?"

"Yeah, Liv."

Quiet fell over the station as the two shared a stare. "Why would she run out to Blanko?"

"Hunt down the people who hurt her?"

"Or is she the one being hunted?"

Tomblin, realizing he was losing his partner to the case more and more, panicked. "Come on buddy, don't worry about that right now, why don't we go get some drinks?"

Emile was already drawn back to his desk, looking down on the pieces, excited to have a new part to the puzzle. "I'll see you tomorrow."

Tomblin scoffed, then walked out of the pigpen. He'd be heading back home to his family, happy to be away from the stressors of work. Emile didn't have a family to return to, he was alone. He wore a wedding ring on his finger, but there wasn't anyone to wear the matching half. It was just him, and his puzzles. An aging solver, in a world full of growing problems.