Book 3: Saving Scars {BoyxBoy}

Chapter 4

"I want you to stay here and watch everyone while I run these notes to the chief," Xavier said to Jacob as he slid a file into his messenger bag, "Can you do that?"

Jacob rolled his eyes, "Oh yee of little faith. Just leave it to me, alright? I can't fail at just standing here."

Xavier rolled his eyes as he stood straighter, turning, "Uh-huh. I'll be back later."

Jacob waved a hand casually at his partner as he left the room before leaning up against the wall, folding his arms over his chest as he looked over the faces in the room. It was early in the morning, and most of the people who had come to wait for Chris were asleep in the chairs of the waiting room. As far as Jacob knew, the surgery was still in progress, and had been for several hours. Waiting must have been hell for his friends and family, but it wasn't like Jacob could help them.

His job was to question them, then sit back and wait. Which is what he was now stuck doing. He was getting kind of bored though, so after looking back and forth to make sure Xavier wasn't watching him from a distance, he pushed off of the wall and left the waiting room, heading for the cafeteria. He was hungry anyway.

He stuffed his hands into his pockets as he walked, thinking through the current case, his thoughts landing on Steven Ackley, and the question he had asked. Why did you become cops? The question had been out of the blue and unexpected, and had pushed Jacob into thinking about his past, which was not something he ever wanted to do.

Why had he become a cop? He couldn't recall all that much in terms of his childhood, as the trauma of his past had become so much that he had locked away all of his memories, too afraid to deal with them in a healthy manner, but one thing he remembered, one thing he had always remembered and most likely always would, the one person, was his best friend, Marcus Walker. In fact, that boy was the only thing he remembered. Ah, that's right, that's why he became a cop. When he was still quite young, Marcus, as well as his entire family, had disappeared completely, without a trace or a note, or anything to suggest where they had gone.

For years Jacob had been devastated, fearing that Marcus' mother had finally gotten so drunk that she had hurt him to the point of killing him, but he refused to believe that theory. That's why he had become a cop. Not because he cared about the law, or the illegal shit that people do, but because he was desperate. He wanted to find his friend, he needed to find him, and becoming a cop gave him access to things he wouldn't have been able to reach had he been something else, like a teacher.

His search had been for nothing, though. Even with the database he had access to as a cop, as well as clearance to check mortuary lists, he hadn't found even the slightest trace of the boy who took up his memories. So then, why was he still a cop? There was no way, after all this time, he would just magically find Marcus again, so why bother? Because he had to know. No matter how long it took, he had to know. He had to be sure.

A sigh left his lips as he picked up a tray of food and walked over to an empty table in the cafeteria, picking at his food as he frowned deeply, his elbow against the table and his chin in his hand. Looking down at the food, all he could think of was Marcus. They had been inseparable as children, and long into middle school, up until he had disappeared. Jacob had practically been part of his family, always showing up and helping with the younger children while their mother was off getting drugged up and fucked by some stranger.

Having to raise three young toddlers on his own took its toll on Marcus. Even as a young boy, he was much more mature than he should have been, holding several jobs as well as school, where he somehow managed to maintain flawless grades. He rarely slept, rarely ate, and it would worry Jacob near to panic seeing him always so pale. Whenever he used to bring it up to Marcus, the boy would merely wave it off with a smile, saying as long as his brother's were healthy and safe, he didn't care about himself.