“Why does Jeremy have two home addresses?” I asked Dickson, pulling the pages from the different files.
“What do you mean? Two addresses?”
“Have a look,” I told him as he snatched the papers from my fingers.
“Something isn’t adding up,” Dickson commented and pulled his phone from his pocket, bouncing to his feet and starting to pace while I kept reading.
Dickson had done an amazing job. I was pretty sure I knew more about Jeremy than he even did and a lot I’m sure he was wishing he could forget.
He wasn’t a great guy. He had a record but it was all for petty stuff. Traffic violations and common assault charges. He’d had two stints in a rehab facility but from the photo clipped to the front of the file, I wasn’t sure that he hadn’t fallen off the wagon again.
Behind me, I could hear Dickson rattling off instructions but I wasn’t paying enough attention to know what he was on about. When I went to pick up the next file, Dickson held his hand up, indicating I should wait.
As quick as he could, he got off the phone and came back to sit beside me, pushing the forgotten pizza aside and picking up the unopened file.
“What?” I asked.
“Are you sure you want to go down this rabbit hole?”
“Give it to me,” I practically growled, reaching for the file.
The problem was though, when your mate was a cop, when he was your partner, he knew you. Maybe too well. He wasn’t intimidated by me being an asshole at all. If anything, it just made him smile.
“This is Cassidy’s file,” he offered, handing it over as my heart sank.
Taking a deep breath, I flicked open the file to find a photo of her I never wanted to see. A photo I never should’ve had to see. A photo that shouldn’t have existed. But there it was. In full color. Wearing a pair of jeans, her favorite black boots, a white woolen sweater, and a scarf around her neck. Her lips were dark but this time, it wasn’t because of the burgundy lipstick she liked to wear.
Vaulting out of the chair, I raced through my apartment before shoving my head in the toilet bowl and vomiting until there was nothing left to come up.
When I thought I was done, I slumped on the floor, leaning against the tiles panting pathetically. Wiping my mouth with the back of my hand, I squeezed my eyes closed wishing I could unsee it.
I’d seen a million things no one should ever have to. I’d been the first on the scene in horrific car accidents, walked into the middle of domestic violence situations and hauled a prostitute out of a dumpster where she was overdosing, the dirty needle still dangling from her arm. None of it prepared me for this though. It was different when it was someone you recognized. Someone you loved. It was indescribable and inescapable.
The door creaked and I looked up and found a worried looking Dickson standing there, a bottle of water in his outstretched hand.
“How’d you...?”
“Turns out a buddy of mine from high school is now a cop in Atlanta.” He shrugged.
“A buddy…” My mind was a mess.
“Yeah. We played high school football together before we went our separate ways. He went into the army and did a couple of tours before joining the force. Now he’s a cop down there.”
“And he’s helping you?”
“Yeah. I reached out to him and explained you were my partner and we needed to know.”
“He didn’t question it?”
“Nah. He’s a good guy like that. He understood.”
Taking a few small sips of the cool water, it felt like heaven sliding down my throat. Feeling like shit, I handed him back the bottle and stood up on wobbly legs.
“Give me a minute and I’ll be out. I want to know everything,” I told him adamantly.
“You sure you’re okay?” Dickson looked worried, a look I didn’t see on him very often.
“I’ll be fine,” I assured him, waiting until he was out of the way before nudging the door shut.
