FUCK ME! I was so invested in the mission to rescue her that I completely forgot about the little shit. Somehow he connected the dots and figured out my connection to Cas… Sarah. The cause was never a thing for him; this is not business, this is cold-ass revenge because I murdered his father with my own hands.
Imagine the most arrogant, elitist, piece-of-shit, lousy-at-his-job man you can ever meet, and you will get a pretty good image of Detective ‘dick-for-brains’ MacArthur. Clearly, he ain’t making my ‘most respected and loved detectives of all times’ list, that’s for sure. He’s now looking at me from afar and is either wobbling his head or trying to signal me to come closer. I decide it’s the latter, but my body does not want to move. Sarah’s sitting beside me, holding the same glass of water I poured for her. Not a sip has been taken from it. He keeps gesturing me to come over, maybe because Sarah is here with me. I really don’t give a shit; if he wants to talk to me, he can walk the distance.
He finally does it.
“Capitan D’Amico… Can we have a word… alone, please?” He asks in his distinctive and annoying tone, which on this particular occasion also sounds nervous.
Even though he’s a complete moron, he knows that we can’t talk about the shit that just went down here in front of her. So I stand up, only to get my arm grabbed. “Stay…” It’s all she says while looking down.
“Are you sure you wanna take part in this conversation?” I ask her gently.
She looks up straight into my eyes and without a word from her mouth, I understand her screaming eyes.
“Let’s do it right here,” I say to the detective while standing in front of him.
“Alright. What are you doing here, D’Amico?” His voice still sounds nervous.
“I came to play bridge. What do you fucking think?” I realize this is not the time to get this idiot aggro, so I sigh and say, “She came to my place last night to talk things through. We had dinner and right after that she got a call from her mother.”
“Okay, go on.”
“Then her mother told her that an old friend was waiting for her back here. That made me suspicious and I decided to give her a ride instead of calling a cab.” He gulps loudly. He’s even more upset than a moment ago, I can see small drops of sweat sliding down his neck and staining his shirt. His fake-tanned face is in shock because now he knows that I’m involved and I won’t stop until I find the assailant, which means more bodies will be found, and that equals more work for him.
“What about the agents? What do you know about them?” He asks without thinking, an old habit I reckon.
“Dead, all of them.”
“Do you have any leads on who might have done this?” Yeah, like I will give a lead to a stupid ass detective like yourself.
“Nope.” He knows I’m withholding information, but he can’t prove shit.
“Are you sure?”
“Positive, one hundred percent.” Asad is mine and I don’t need the police in my way or line of fire when I find the fucker. “What do you think so far?”
“Not entirely sure what to make of it… Yet, the forensic experts at the scene tell me that every angle is covered.”
“So, you got plenty of leads.”
“On the contrary, every shred of evidence you’re supposed to find in a murd— case like this is missing or, to be more precise, the entire place has been wiped out completely. So, no leads. This is the work of a pro.”Of course, he’s a pro, he learned everything he knows from me.
“Did any of the other survivors experience an attack as well?” He moves his head sideways to try and look behind and get a read on Sarah’s body language. I take a side step like an idiot to block his line of sight and he notices it.
“She can’t stay here anymore. I won’t let her. She will stay at my place, which is a lot safer. So, you better get me some top-shelf security detail to work on the perimeter twenty-four seven.”
“Uhm… We still have tons of legal paperwork to do and then there’s Sotelo’s approval… I don’t think that idea is appropriate—”
I interrupt him. “Appropriate? Look around, you idiot, ‘appropriate’ and ‘by the book’ got us where we are right now. Listen, this is not up to debate, you don’t have to say it was my idea, just go back to HQ, tell Sotelo about it and make this shit happen, yesterday.” He can’t believe I’m actually saying this, and he also can’t believe that he already decided it is a good fucking idea from a security viewpoint. He might also think that I fuck elephants in my basement, but I really don’t give a fuck what he thinks. The only important thing here is for Sarah to be safe. “Done deal. We’re out of here. Let me know when everything is in place.” I turn around and say, “Let’s go, Sarah.”
He grabs my arm. “Wait, I need to ask her myself. It’s protocol. You can’t make decisions for her, you know that.” The nerve in this one. I have to focus on not breaking his nose with my forehead, so I take a deep breath and just break my arm free from him.
“Sarah, he needs to ask you a few questions,” I say while looking back at her.
“Miss Fitcher, I’m so sorry for your loss. I want you to know we will do everything in our power to find the one responsible.” She doesn’t say anything to that statement. He only gets a stare from her, which makes him even more uncomfortable. He turns to look at me trying to get a tip on how to get her to talk. Of course, I cross my arms and look away. He’s not getting advice from me today. Yeah, I know, I’m a mean son of a bitch. “Capitan D’Amico offered to shelter you until all this is over. If you accept, we will need you to sign some papers for it to happen.”
After a couple of seconds that feel like years, he gets an answer from her. “Yes, that’s fine. Where do I sign?” Her voice sounds muffled. It reopens the void in my chest and I hate that— it’s twice its size now.
“I’ve got the papers in my car. I’ll be right back,” MacArthur says and disappears.
