Lost and Found

Chapter Twenty-Three

Trubel's POV

I could only compare watching my own funeral with the feeling of getting stabbed in the heart hundreds of times without the relief of death. The people gathered around my headstone were my family, and I felt beyond horrible for the pain I caused them.

The hardest part was watching everyone leave, one at a time, leaving Nick alone. He stayed at my grave longer than anyone else. I watched him stand, staring at my headstone. Eventually, he sank down to the ground and put his head in his hands. I felt like doing the same thing.

I wanted to yell to him or tell him everything was okay, but I couldn't.

He sat by himself for a long time until a phone call brought him back to earth. "Renard? Thank you. I will be... I'll be right there..." Nick picked himself off the ground and walked into the distance. His back was hunched, his head hung low, and his walk was sluggish.

He was a broken man, and it was my fault.

Nick's POV

Renard called me to his office after Trubel's funeral ended. It was horrible timing, but I needed a distraction before I completely self-destructed.

I was tired of losing people. I wouldn't be able to keep myself together if this kept happening.

I pulled my car into the precinct's parking lot. Adalind knew I needed some alone time, so she got a ride from Hank at the end of the funeral.

I sat in my car, looking at my pale and empty face in the mirror before taking a steadying breath so I could have the strength to get out of my car. I made my way to the captain's office, trying to think of why he would want me here; it was easier to think about than... Than... I couldn't do it.

When I opened the captain's door, I saw him looking at his computer. He shifted his glance to me quickly.

"What is it?" I asked curiously, though my voice still sounded emotionless.

"You're going to want to wait for Hank and Wu on this one," he said.

"They're coming?" I asked. I thought they had gone home...

"I have a case for you, and I think you'll want to work with them for this," he answered.

Hank and Wu came in that point and shut the door behind them. They looked as confused as I was.

"This is security footage from a convenience store robbery last night," Renard said, pointing the computer in our direction. I saw four figures with bandanas on their faces. From the angle of the camera, I could only see the back of the clerk's head.

"Pay special attention to this figure, here," Renard said, pointing to one of the robbers holding up a gun and pointing it at the clerk. Somehow, their shape looked familiar.

Renard rewinded the video and played it from the beginning. I saw four people with bandanas on their faces enter the store. One of the robbers pulled out a gun and pointed it at the clerk. The clerk, I could see, woged into a Yaguaraté, or that's what he looked like from behind; it was hard to tell because the camera was blurry. The video didn't have sound, but I could tell that the robbers and the clerk were talking to each other. The clerk began unloading money that two of the figures in the back stepped forward to grab and stuff in a backpack. The figure that seemed to be the leader handed the gun to one of the others. The person raised the gun and pointed it at the clerk, but lowered the gun a minute later; that was unusual behavior. The leader took the gun away, and the one that had previously held it stood in between the leader and the clerk. The figures that had grabbed the money dragged the person standing in the way back toward the aisles. During the struggle, the figure's bandana fell off.