25 Nights Of 2009

Chapter 1

Jan. 1, 2016

My job is never easy. And it's not what it looks like in the shows. My occupation is a detective. I didn't get into it for the excitement. I got into it because I wanted to help people. Sure, every once in awhile, I get a hard, gritty case, and a little more often than that, my name will appear on the paper, but that meant nothing to me. All those cases were never my favorite, though. To be honest, I never had a favorite case. Well, until the case. The case was the most intriguing and emotionally draining case of my life.

Admittedly, it was the best cases of my life.

It all started at the beginning of the year 2009, January 10, actually. Almost exactly seven years ago today, I was late for work. I had overslept because there was a power outage in my neighborhood, so my alarm clock wasn't working. Neither was my water heater... or heat. It was a long morning, but I managed to get through it well enough. I didn't make a huge show as I got to the department, I didn't want to. I knew what was waiting for me. I slipped into my chair and pulled out my work. I was currently working on a missing person's case. Then, I heard the undoubtedly polished, heavy set, shoes on the carpet. If one never thought the bare sound of footsteps has obviously never heard my boss's footsteps.

"Walters..." That gravelly, taunt warning voice drawled behind me. I resisted a large sigh and turned around to face my boss. He was a large man with a shiny head, a thick black walrus mustache hiding his leering mouth. "Yes, Mr. Durran?" I asked, swallowing everything I had not to say that in a sarcastic voice.

"You're late, Walters. I got an update on that assignment, but when I found out you weren't here, I almost turned the assignment over to Tony!" His gravelly annoyance turned to a barking laughter. I counted to ten in my head. "Lay off the kid. You know as well as I do, he's got talent," I said.

"And you know as well as I do he's a good idiot, and a great grunt," Durran said. "He's more than a grunt. The kid solved a case for crap's sake!" I retaliated. Durran waved me off. "Whatever. Do you want the update or what?" he asked. I nodded, choking down my temper. That's one thing you should know now, I've got a temper. His lip curled under his beard and handed me a file. "Thank you," I said firmly before turning my chair around and setting the file down. I heard his footsteps die out behind me. I calmed myself down. Just as I was opening the file, I heard a different set of steps approach. "Morning, Tony," I muttered as the kid took a seat next to me. "Mornin', Chris," He said, setting down a cup in front of me. "Cocoa?" I said absentmindedly before taking a sip. "With mint," he replied.

This was our routine. Tony got me hot chocolate from the small bakery down the street, knowing full well how much I hated drinking coffee on a case. I glanced at him as he pulled out his own folder. Tony was a 19-year-old Oklahoman kid. He was a good guy. I could always recognize him by his overgrown red hair. It wasn't incredibly long, it was just longer than the average male.

As usual, he wore a nice button-up shirt and slacks, not to mention a red band around his right wrist. He only wore this at work. Normally, he was a casual guy. He wanted to be a casual guy, but the long three gashes along the right side of his face, only covered by an eyepatch.

Okay, let's go back a bit. He was a prodigy in tracking. He was my apprentice, the best I'd ever have. He was a good kid and had a future for him in crime investigating, a nice girlfriend. You'd think he'd be happy, but the truth was, he wasn't.

He'd never say, but his childhood haunted him. He was adopted, and his foster dad was extremely abusive, and he wasn't the brightest in school. So, he was a runaway. He found his real parents, and lived with them. The tragic part of that was that his parents died three months later in a car crash. This was probably why he was so flustered and shy around his girlfriend, Natalie, whenever she showed affection; he never had anyone.