Finally

Chapter 9

Chapter 9

Ryder

I hadn't been able to sleep at all last night. Every time I closed my eyes, I saw Mag again, her face, her staggering steps back as my bullet hit her.

After leaving Chloe last night, I had checked into a hotel a few blocks away. I paid with cash and wore a hat low over my face in an attempt to disguise myself. With any luck, no cop would find me for a few days.

I was lying in bed, slipping in and out of sleep, when the phone rang. It took me a few rings to remember to answer. Thanks sleep deprivation.

"Hello?" I said.

"Hey, it's Chloe. Did I wake you up?"

"It's ok," I said, yawning.

We ended up arranging to meet at the morgue in an hour so I could see the body. I dialed in the number for our ME, Claire.

"Ryder, is it true?" She asked first thing.

"Is what true?" I asked, even thought was pretty sure I knew what she meant.

"They're saying you shot Mag. Please, Ryder, tell me it's not true."

I sighed. "I'm sorry Claire, but it's true." My voice was shaking.

She inhaled quickly. "I shouldn't be talking to you. I'm hanging up, and you'll be pretty damn lucky if I don't tell Rook."

"Claire! Claire, wait! I'm calling because I need your help. I'm begging you."

"You need my help? Your joking, right? You think I'm actually going to help you after you killed Mag?" Claire laughs humorlessly.

"Please, Claire, just listen to me for a second. Do you remember that last case me and Mag worked on together?"

"Yeah."

"Okay, well I found some evidence we missed the first time around. And...the thing is, the evidence pointed to Mag."

"So you shot her?" Claire was getting angry again.

"No. I went to her apartment. I asked her about it, and she got super defensive. She was talking about how she couldn't believe that after all these years I could still not trust her. I was falling for it, letting my guard down, and I didn't notice her reaching under the table. She kept a gun down there. When I realized what she was doing, I pulled my gun and looked under the table. As I suspected, she held the gun under there, pointing it at me. I barely thought about it and fired. I didn't want to kill her. It was the last thing I wanted. Please, Claire, you gotta believe me."

She was silent for a while. "I believe you. Don't get me wrong, I'm still pissed at you for killing her, but I believe you. What do you need me to do?"

"The death that was called I last night, the one Strauss ruled a suicide, I need you to take a look at the body. I'll be there in an hour with the vic's fiancée. If there's any way it's not a suicide, you have to let me know."

"Okay," Claire said and hung up.

* * *

About thirty minutes later, I walked into the autopsy room in the morgue.

"Hey, Claire, so you got any idea if his guy was," I stopped talking when I saw that not Claire, but Rook stood in front of me.

"Aw shit," I said. "Claire ratted me out?"

Rook nodded. "Pretty much."

I eyes the door, trying to judge if I could reach it before Rook caught me.

"She also told me what happened," Rook continued. "Why didn't you tell me she tried to kill you?"

"That might've been smart, huh?"

"You think so?" Rook asked. "Anyways, Claire told me everything and even though you're not my favorite person at the moment, I've decided to help you."

"Help me with what?"

"Help you find the killer in that case Claire said you took on. I figured you're gonna need warrants and stuff, and you obviously can't get them since you're a wanted man. So I'll do that crap for you."

"Thanks man," I said.

At that moment, Chloe walked into the room.

"Sorry," she said. "I know I'm early. If you're not ready for me, I can wait."

"No, it's okay," I said. "This is Rook, he'll be helping us on the case. And, Rook, this is Chloe."

"Hey, great to meet you," Rook said, shaking Chloe's hand.

"Great to meet you too," she replied.

"You know where Claire is?" I asked Rook.

"She's right here," Claire said as she walked into the room. She walked over to Chloe and held out her hand. "I'm Claire, the ME. And you are?"

"Chloe, the fiancée," Chloe said.

"Well, great to meet you Chloe." Claire turned to me. "Strauss was wrong. There's no way our vic committed suicide." She turned back to Chloe. "Sorry to ask you this but what was his name?"

"Jace," Chloe said. "Jace Martin."

"Ok. So there's almost no way that Jace committed suicide," Claire continued. "For a start, his x-rays showed that most of the fall damage was to the upper back and neck. It seemed like he almost did a somersault in the air. Second, the building he fell off of was only, what, three stories tall? Four? Way too short for a suicide jump. It would be a nasty fall, sure, but if he hadn't landed on his head, chances are he would have lived. Lastly, I noticed that he has a small scrape on his shin. It's not healed yet, so I'm guessing that he was scraped near the time of his death. He most likely hit his shin on the edge of the roof as he fell. I can't be completely certain until I check out the roof, though."

"Well, then what are we waiting for?" Chloe asked.

* * *

It had been an hour and Chloe and I were still on the roof, waiting for Claire and Rook to finish searching. I walked over to the edge of the roof and looked down.

"Damn," I said. "That's a pretty far drop."

I looked back at Chloe and saw that she was staring at her feet, determined not to look off the roof.

"Fear of heights?" I asked.

"No, well I mean they never used to bother me, but now..." She shuddered.

I nodded and walked back over to her.

"So you basically know my whole life story, but I don't know anything about you." Chloe said. "Tell me something. Anything. Tell me what you did yesterday."

I stiffened. What was I supposed to tell her? Was I supposed to tell her that I had killed someone? Was I supposed to tell her that I could be arrested at any minute?

"I, uhh, I solved a murder." I stuttered. It was a half-truth at least. I had discovered that Mag had killed someone.

I was saved from having to answer any more questions by Claire, who chose that moment to walk over.

"I found blood," she said. "I took a swab, but I'm pretty sure it's Jace's, which probably means he tripped and scraped his shin before he fell. I won't know for sure until I get back to the lab though."

"Okay," I said. "Give me an update on what you find.

Chloe pulled out her phone and checks the time. "Oh crap!" She exclaimed. "Sorry, you guys, but I gotta go. I promised my friend we could get drinks tonight. See you tomorrow?"

"Yeah," I said. "I'll call you in the morning."

Chloe hurried off the roof.

"Thanks, guys," I said to Rook and Claire. "I owe you one."

"She deserves the help," Rook said. "I wonder what's up with Strauss though. He doesn't seem like he'd ever write off a case that quickly."

"I don't know," I sighed. "I don't know."