Healing the Past

Meeting the Parents

Chapter 18

The next day after shift my phone started blaring Carrie Underwood’s Twisted:

It's twisted, messed up

 And the more I think about it

 It's crazy, but so what

 I may never understand it

 I'm caught up and I'm hanging on

 I'm gonna love you even if it's wrong

“Hey Spike. Out already?”

“Yeah. Finally got out an hour ago. My mom wanted to know if you can come over for dinner.”

“Give me a time and an address.” He gave the info. Then I remembered my conversation with Greg last night. “And when I get there we gotta talk.”

“Ok sure. About what?” He asked.

“Tell you when I get there.” I hung up and went home to change.

Half an hour later I was at Spike’s. I knocked on the door which was answered by a short dark-haired woman.

“Mrs. Scarlatti.” I guessed.

“You must be Thunder. Come in please.”

“Thank you.”

As I stepped through the door I was assaulted by the smells of food. Mmmm. Lasagna. There are few foods I love more than lasagna.

“Hey T. You guys get any hot calls?”

“Nope, we just spent all day doing tactical training. How you feeling?”

“Pretty good.”

“She shouldn’t have to ask that.” A man broke in. I looked up and saw Spike’s father.

“Hi Mr. Scarlatti. Nice to meet you.”

“Nice to meet you to.” Then he left. I glanced at Spike.

“He’s not big on the cop thing.”

“I do believe you mentioned that.”

Mrs. Scarlatti broke in, “Food’s almost done.”

“Ok Ma.” Spike replied. Then to me, “Let’s go.”

We all sat around the table. My first bite was heaven. I have got to learn how to cook. My main expertise was microwaving frozen meals.

Mrs. S tried to start on conversation on me. “What did you do before you joined the SRU, Thunder?”

“I worked for the FBI’s Behavioral Analysis Unit in Quantico, Virginia.”

Mr. S took somewhat of an interest. “What did you do there?”

Careful. You might not like what you hear. “I was a profiler. I studied human behavior.”

“Sounds safe enough.” He said glancing pointedly at Spike, who rolled his eyes.

“Umm, not really. We majored in serial killers, but we handle the whole spectrum of psychos.”

“Why would anyone want to do that?” Mrs. S sounded horrified. Great. Five minutes down and they already don’t like me.

“Someone needs to chase the monsters. Yeah it’s sad and terrible and horrifying, but it’s rewarding too. My main thing was getting answers. From crime scenes, from puzzles, from the victims, and especially the killers.”