A Way to You

Chapter 7

January 2011

 “Good morning officer Dean.” I roll my eyes to the accented voice behind me as I pour coffee into paper cup. It’s Balthazar, which first of all what kind of name is that? And second of all, this guy rubs me the wrong way for some unexplained reason. Maybe it’s because he’s cocky and arrogant but then again he’s also smart and good with the victims which I guess is why they keep him around.  He’s a pretty good guy I suppose and we did go to high school together he was a two years ahead of us but he was okay, I mean Cas liked him, as in had a huge crush on him when we were in school together. That could be the root of why I don’t like him but who knows it could be the fact that he cheats on his wife with just about anything that walks by him or it could be that he’s kinda been hitting on me since I got here and has yet to take a hint.

 “Good morning, how are you this morning detective?” I say as I take a sip of coffee and turn around to face him.

 “A little worse for wear I suppose, the long hours are killer ya know?” to his credit he had been working on a murdered child case. They are always the hardest to deal with, I think. It’s because you have to deal with not only how fucked up it is but also you have to deal with parents and you’re never sure how they will act. Some get violent or angry others try and help only to get in the way and more often than not they just break down and cry.

 “Yeah, how is your case going by the way?” As much as I dislike him I feel for the guy he’s had the case for a month with no leads and nothing to go on. You would think that living in a smaller town would mean security but I guess that’s not the case.

“Well, we finally found some footage close to where she was abducted,” he sighed. ”It’s not much but it appears to be a woman leading her away.”

 “Poor girl, the woman probably told her she was a friend of her mom’s,” another sip of my coffee. ”How did you find the footage anyway?”  Balthazar turned to face me, now with his own cup of coffee in his hands.

 “Ah that was the tricky part because the convenient store that the little girl was waiting at had cameras but the footage had already been taped over but there was an ATM on the lot that luckily enough, she was standing in view of.” He relayed while tasting his coffee before adding more sugar.

 “Wow. That is lucky, so did you get a good enough image for a profile pic?” I asked over the top of my cup.

 “No, but from what we could tell she’s probably about five-three and no more than a hundred and twenty pounds.” He imparted.

 “Sounds like half of the women in the town,” I remarked lamely. ”That’s hardly a lead.”

 “True, but it’s better than the nothing we had before.” he exhaled defeated.

 “Well maybe something better will turn up.” I offer with a smile and a pat on his shoulder that he looks down at and stops by trapping my hand under his.

 “You know, I would feel much better after a nice meal,” and here we go again. ”Would you perhaps like to join me?” 

“No thank you,” I grimace while pulling my hand out from under his. ”I’ve got some work that should keep me here all night but why not take Attie, she is your wife after all.” It’s an obvious jab but really, I could care less. He’s wife is a perfectly nice person her real name is Atropos, but everyone calls her Attie. It’s a lot less weird but maybe that means they belong together. Either way she works over at the hospital as a nurse like most women who stay here.

 “Well if you ever change your mind let me know.” strutted out of the break room but not before pausing at the door to give an over animated wink. Jody decided to enter just as he was leaving and noticed making her comment.