In Cold Blood

The Car Ride

Officer Adam's P.O.V.

Harper hadn't flinched when he mentioned any of the things that had happened to her. In fact she seemed like she could stomach anything you threw her way.

As the forensic scientist zoomed in on the fractured ribcage, it seemed obvious and stupid that we had missed the folded, yellowing, slip of paper wedged in between the 4th and 5th right ribs.

Suddenly Detective Lawrence turned on her heel to stare me in the eye. I quietly gasped and felt my hands getting sweaty.

Her hazel eyes stared into mine blankly.

Soon she got impatient.

"Well!?" She exclaimed throwing her arms in the air.

I snapped back to reality and remembered that I was burdened with the duty to escort her to the hotel she was staying at. As she came from L.A. and had traveled here to Columbia last minute for this mind-boggling case.

"Oh! Y-yes sorry ma'am! Right this way." I exclaimed, mentally face-palming myself.

Once I had finished loading her suitcases into the back of my car, I started of on the short trip to the nearby four star hotel.

"So, uh, did you grow up in L.A.?" I asked trying to start up a conversation.

"No, not at all. I grew up in Oklahoma City with my parents and my sister and brother. Everything was going fine until I was around sixteen. My brother was eighteen and my sister was fourteen. One late night in June my father came home extremely drunk like always. We didn't sense anything wrong with that, as he would usually go to the bar and have multiple shots of the strongest whiskey they had. So we continued our nightly routine.

"Then, once everyone except my parents were in bed, we all heard screaming. My sister, Delia, and my brother, Michael, and I ran out to the living room and huddled in the corner. Mikey and I had pushed De to the back since it was our responsibility to protect her; We assumed that meant physically, emotionally, and mentally, so we covered her eyes as we watched terrified as the father we looked up to for so long, murdered our mother.

"Next, he came for Mikey... Then De..." She stopped talking momentarily as she remembered the details.

"Then?" I asked in horror.

"Then, he turned to me and said in a slurred drunken voice 'I hope you know you were always my least favorite, and I hope this memory haunts you forever.'" She paused. "Then he killed himself. I had witnessed a triple homicide murder within my own family." I looked at her out of the side of my eyes and noticed her glossy eyes.

I reached over taking one hand off the steering wheel and put it on her hand. "Hey, it's okay to be sad, just let it all out, I don't mind." I said glancing over at her making sure not to wreck the car. At first she flinched away from my touch, but after a while she relaxed.

Soon, we had pulled up to the hotel and I was helping her bring the suitcases up to her room.

"There we are, all nice and settled in" I said brushing my hands together to get rid of the non-existent dirt. "Here is my phone number, you can call me if yo need help with anything el-" she cut me off, placing her lips on mine gently, but it wasn't very long before she pulled away.

"Well, uh, thank you for all your help officer Adams, it was nice meeting you," she said shaking my hand pretending that the previous event never happened. "Well, you really should be heading back to work, thanks again for all the help." With that, she pushed me out and slammed the door in my face.

I stood there in the hallway, confused, happy, and probably tomato red. I smirked and skipped back to the police car.