The Detectives' Story

V

November 7, 2016

1914 Hours

James knew Dan was crying. It didn't matter how hard he tried to hide it, James always knew. It was always the way he drove and the absence of silence that really tipped it off. He would usually drive as straight as a line, but when he cried, he swayed and swerved a tad bit. Not enough for it to be dangerous, but enough for James to notice. The absence of silence was due to the fact that Dan didn't want to open his mouth, in fear of something coming out he couldn't control.

Dan turned on the high beams as it slowly got darker. The motel was about an hour out of town. It was the cheapest one the brothers could afford in a two mile radius of the town they were investigating in. The town being Hemingway, Texas.

James wanted to talk to Dan about this case, but he didn't know if now was the best time or not. Dan was crying and being emotional for God knows what reason, yet this case needed to be discussed. They drove in silence for a few more minutes before James had the courage to speak up.

"Hey, we need to talk." James stated. Dan gripped the wheel, turning his knuckles white.

"Yeah, I guess," Dan said hesitantly.

"Look, I know you don't care about it, but I do." James stated. Dan couldn't believe what he just heard. His brain made a quick conclusion to the kind of "talk" James was going to have with him. Opening with that statement made Dan furious.

"I don't CARE about it?" Dan yelled. James jumped a little at the sudden outburst of anger Dan was exhibiting. "YOU DON'T THINK I CARE!"

"Dude! Stop yelling!" James exclaimed. Dan was breathing heavily, and James considered taking the wheel. Then decided against it in retrospect to Dan's seemingly uncotroballbe rage. "It's just a case, and you were behaving like it didn't really matter to you." Dan's heavy breathing slowed significantly, and his driving got less reckless.

"You were talking about the case?" Dan asked, almost breathless from his short burst of anger. His voice was also occupied with regret, so James knew he was sorry.

"Yeah... yeah, I was. I'm assuming you weren't... What's going on?" James asked, concern in his voice for his brother. Dan closed his eyes for four seconds, and took deep breaths. During this time, James tried to quickly think of what was bothering him. Nothing came to mind.

"I saw Chelsea again," He said, gripping the wheel hard for the second time in the past ten minutes. James sighed silently and bit his lip. Chelsea was always a sore subject with Dan, and James didn't know how to talk about it to him. It's been a couple of years, so saying "I'm sorry" won't cut it, and saying "Everything is going to be alright" isn't going to do it either. Because every time someone says that, it doesn't get alright. In fact, it gets worse.

James found it odd though that Dan saw Chelsea again. It's been a year since the last sighting of his haunting daughter, and that was during the case where a little kid paid them three bucks to spy on a girl he liked. James thought it was cute, and he made Dan come with him. Once they got to the park, they saw the little girl matching the boy's description. Turns out, she looked just like Chelsea. Dan started going mental, and was escorted by nearby police officers. Luckily they weren't charged of stalking a minor.

The first time this happened (to James' knowledge) was two weeks after Chelsea's funeral. James walked in on Dan in some motel, and found Dan screaming on the ground. James went to go up to him to help him, but Dan kicked James out of the way. He flew into the corner of a wooden table and ended up with a big piece of wood in his back, just to the right of his spine. They ended up paying for damages to the room, and giving a little extra for the noise at 3 am in the morning. More money ended up going down the drain fixing up James' back. A scar now inhibits that area, part of it being surgical, the other part just from the sheer penetration of the wooden corner.