Dark Secrets

Chapter 4

"Steve! Hey, Steve!"

The voice of one of his colleagues, Patrick Smith, woke Steve Mendoza up with a start. His head jerked up and for a moment, he had no idea where he was. Then he saw the wood under his crossed arms and knew he was lying on his desk in his office at the LAPD headquarters. A short glance on the clock over the door told him it was 10:12pm.

"Dude, that surely doesn't look comfortable," Patrick continued, pointing to Mendoza's forearms, where the deep outlines of the desk's wooden texture were showing. "Chief wants to see you."

Steve stood up, checked his reflection in the mirror and made his way to Chief Pascelli's office. As soon as he stepped inside, he knew something was off. In front of the chief's desk sat a tall, muscular man with a short, military haircut and a dark suit.

FBI, he thought. Shit.

"Detective Mendoza, please sit. This is Special Agent Forbes, FBI. Special Agent, this is one of my best men and Detective Stratton's partner, Steve Mendoza." The two man shook hands with a firm grip and Steve knew that something must have happened. He sat opposite of his Chief and next to Forbes, then waited for the Agent to begin.

"Detective Mendoza, as you might have guessed, the FBI is investigating the murder of your former partner, Jason Stratton." Forbes' voice was firm, and it sounded as if he had memorized a speech for this special occasion. Steve already hated his guts.

"Apparently, the way he was killed wasn't a coincidence. I just talked to Chief Pascelli, and he told me Detective Stratton had quit his job on the force three months ago?"

"Yes."

"Does anyone know why?"

"No, unfortunately not."

"Detective, we have reasons to believe that your former partner got into something bad after he quit. Actually, we think that the reason why he quit is what got him into the trouble he's facing right now."

Steve stared at the Agent with growing suspicion. It confused him that his opponent talked about Jason as if he was still alive."What's that supposed to mean? Jason was a good cop, and hell knows why he chose to quit, but it sure as hell was nothing illegal. He was an honest man."

Forbes kept staring at Mendoza with impervious eyes. He grabbed a manila folder from the Chief's desk and held it in his hands. The silence in the room drove Steve nuts, and he looked over to Pascelli for consolation, silently asking his boss to give him any hint of what was going on. But in the eyes of his chief, he only saw the same impervious look as in Agent Forbes'.

"Sir, what is going on?" he asked Pascelli with a hint of desperation in his voice.

"Steve..."

Forbes took over. He opened the Manila folder, pulled out a picture and held it up so Mendoza could see it. "Detective, is that the man you found last week, shot inside his head and with multiple shot wounds all over his upper body?"

Steve took a short glance at the picture in Forbes' hand, then swallowed hard and stared at his own hands. He wasn't able to form any words. The pain of being the one to find Jason, his partner, his best friend, dead, was still a shaking memory in his head, and he doubted he'd ever get the picture of his lifeless body out of his head. He slowly nodded.

"Yes. That's Jason." Then, just as he raised his head, he noticed Forbes exchanging a quick glance with Chief Pascelli, and again, a feeling as if something was wrong seemed to fly through the room and right through him. But before he could say anthing, Forbes spoke again. And what he said made the blood in Steve's veins freeze.

"I am sorry, Detective Mendoza, but I have to inform you that this man here is not Jason Stratton. We have reasons to believe that former Detective Stratton is very much alive and responsible for what has happened to the man you see in that picture."