Lazarus knocks on an apartment door. Taylor Morley opens it.
"Hello?"
"Taylor Morley?"
"Do I know you?"
"You shouldn't, I'm..."
"A detective."
"Yes."
"Aren't you that detective who almost died? The one from the news?"
"That's me."
"What can I do for you?"
"I'm here about your sister."
A beat passes.
"Okay, would you like to come in?"
Lazarus limps his way into Taylor's apartment with his cane.
"I just have some follow up questions." says Lazarus as Taylor closes his door behind them.
"Really? I'm surprised, I haven't heard from anyone about the case in years." responds Taylor.
"I'm sorry, I imagine that was difficult."
Taylor fidgets uncomfortably, "I was really depressed for a long time. It took me a few years and some therapy to get over it."
"Really? I didn't see anything about that in the file."
That makes Taylor look curiously at him, "Why would it be?"
"Well we like to check in with the victim's family from time to time, in case of any strange developments."
"Strange developments?" asks Taylor.
"Sometimes in cases like this, new evidence shows up years later, or they have an encounter." suggests Lazarus.
"An encounter?" questions Taylor.
"Believe it or not, the whole 'criminals return to the scene of a crime' is sometimes true. Particularly in cases where they get away with it."
This gets Taylor's attention, "You think he got away with it?"
"Well... at least so far." says Lazarus.
"Right... you said you had questions?"
"Yes... do you mind if I sit down?" Lazarus asks, indicating his cane.
"Oh, sure, please..." insists Taylor, suggesting the nearby couch.
Lazarus makes his way over to the couch and Taylor sits opposite in a nearby chair with a table between them.
"What do you want to know?" wonders Taylor.
"Well as I said, we like to check in with family every so often. Maybe we should start with, how are you?"
Taylor watches Lazarus for a moment with suspicion, "Fine, I guess. As fine as anyone can be with a dead family member."
"I thought you said you worked through it." responds Lazarus.
"I did." insists Taylor, "Why? You don't believe me?"
"It's just... when I talk to most family of victims, they don't generally talk about their loved ones that way." Lazarus explains.
"What way?"
"So matter of factually. There's usually a little more... emotion." adds Lazarus.
"Maybe I'm just a matter of fact type of person." declares Taylor.
"Well, speaking of facts..." Lazarus says before pulling out his phone, "I wanted to ask you about something."
"What's that?"
"One of the things the original detective was looking into was the movements of you and your sister during the time leading up to her murder." begins Lazarus.
"As I told the original detective, I was at work the whole time." insists Taylor.
"I read that, but I spoke to your boss and he says you left early that day." questions Lazarus.
"Well it has been 7 years. Maybe he isn't remembering it right." responds Taylor.
"That's what I figured, which is why I had him pull the login and logout records from back then. It's a good thing I did too, apparently 7 years is the cut off for when records like that get destroyed. There were some discrepancies in the records." explains Lazarus."What kind of discrepancies?"
"The kind that brought me here today." Lazarus says, somewhat tongue in cheek, "I checked the subway usage records and you left work with plenty of time to make it home before your sister's time of death."
"What are you accusing me of?" Taylor responds, clearly angry now.
"I'm not accusing you of anything... why? Do you feel like I'm accusing you of something?" asks Lazarus, strangely calm.
"It sounds like you're accusing me of killing my sister." declares Taylor, getting much more defensive.
There's a long silence between them in the room before Lazarus breaks it, "Did you?"
That has Taylor jumping up from his seat, "What the hell kind of question is that?"
"A yes or no question?"
Taylor grabs a nearby bar bell and holds it out at Lazarus like he's about to use it to hit him, "Get out!"
Lazarus pulls himself up to a standing position, going for his cane.
"Don't you dare..."
They stand there, in a stand-off, unsure of what to do next.
"You did it, didn't you?"
YOU ARE READING
Lazarus
Mystery / ThrillerA near death experience changes a detective's life forever.