Chapter 1

In this chapter, Caroline wonders about Devon's fate after the raid on Howell Park when she receives some distressing news.

Chapter 1

The day began like any other: wake up, check phone for a message from Devon, call him, leave angry message, roll out of bed, and work out. Usually the last part was easy, she was already annoyed at Devon and her routine provided a nice release. Only this time the message was less expletive ridden and work out seemed a little harder. It had been over three weeks since the raid on Howel Park and she still hadn’t heard from him. Early on she expected to find him sleeping on her couch so she could chew him out in person. She always felt that a face-to-face scolding was more successful, or, at the very least, more cathartic. As the days wore on the less sure she was.

Caroline picked up her phone and saw that, once again, Devon hadn’t sent her a message. She called him and a robotic female voice told her that the line had been disconnected because the user hadn’t paid their bill.

That was new, but not unusual, Devon rarely paid his bills on time. He said it was because he didn’t like paying corporations on time, something about it being a form of protest, but Caroline new it was just because he was lazy. Back when he had his own place Devon often had the power or water shut off. It made it a huge pain in the a*s to get ready in the morning.

She thought back to that night, should she try to find this Oliver Devon mentioned? No, it was too early to assume that something happened to Devon. A few more days, then she will consider the possibility that Devon is not coming back.

Then there was that kiss. Devon and Caroline broke-up years ago, it was mutual, but Caroline always thought that Devon wanted it more than she did. Caroline got out of bed and held her breath slightly as she walked into her living room.

No Devon.

Caroline idly browsed her Facebook and Twitter as her coffee brewed; partly to see if Devon did anything with the info they stole, but mostly to pass the time. She knew Devon would not just dump it somewhere on the web; he was much too distrustful of something like that.

If he were going to expose Mills, he would do it himself, in person, if only for the theatrics of it.

Just as she thought, not a word on social media.

The morning progressed as normal, except while on her morning jog Caroline could not help feeling that she was being watched. She dismissed it as paranoia that happens when you spend time with Devon. All of his insane conspiracies kept him at such a high anxiety that it seemed to ooze out of him and infect anyone nearby. Caroline always thought he was crazy, but he was right about Howell Park so maybe he was justified.

Work seemed different too, Caroline was use to people customers staring at her. She worked at Valentino’s, a sub shop near her apartment, and people were naturally curious who was handling their food. Every so often though, when she turned to give someone their order, she felt that the person was there for more than just lunch. It was the little things, staring at her a little too long, the sideways glances. The rapid mood change from stoic silence to almost saintly sweetness. It felt wrong, too normal.

Then she remembered something, well, half-remembered something. Devon kept babbling about this thing back before he swayed Caroline. Something about operatives that wander the parks in disguise, but that was just for security reasons. They did that to maintain park safety without breaking the illusion of wholesome family-friendly fun. The idea that a company which deals exclusively with kids movies would have a paramilitary group was just absurd, even for Devon’s standards. Besides, how would they know who she is, she never got out of the van and Devon always made sure she was on the sidelines when he had to do things in person. She always hated that, his stupid chivalry was holding them back. The raid could have had much less gun fire if she was more than just the getaway driver, she thought.

As the day wore on the feeling began to fade. Maybe they were just there to tell her that they know. Man, now she was actually starting to think like Devon.

As she pulled into the lot next to her apartment, Caroline caught what looked like Devon’s van driving past in her rearview mirror, just for a second. It wasn’t him, she thought to herself. If it was he’d still be here sitting on the stairs outside the door to her building waiting for her with a burger saying something cliché like “there’s more work to do,” or “those b******s are gonna pay.”

He wasn’t very clever, but he was smart, in his own crazy way.

Caroline did what she normally did when she got home first she dropped her keys in the bowl by her door, if she didn’t she’d forget them the next morning and lock herself out of the apartment. That would mean a call to her Super, which was always an adventure in being creeped out. He always tried to hit on her, normally Caroline could ignore it from any other guy, but he had that special “I’m going to murder you vibe” with everything he said that really upped the creep factor. Still, she thought it was good practice for her real career as a detective. She was taking night classes which made it easier to work and pay for schooling, but it wreaked havoc on her social life. The last time she got out and did something was the Howel Park Raid. Not that she had many friends, just Devon. So, you could say that she was as socially active as she could be considering her company.

From there she would drop her purse and everything on her tiny kitchen counter--it wasn’t a counter so much as it was a square cut out in the wall that divided her kitchenette from the rest of her apartment--and in one fluid motion switch on the TV. She wasn’t strictly interested in what was on, she watched everything through online streaming services like everyone else, she more wanted the noise to fill the emptiness a silent room would normally provide. After that, shower.

The problem with working at a popular deli is that everyone tells you how good you smell afterwards. Caroline always hated that and the smell too. Every time she would get a whiff of herself, it would always smell like scum and grease. Not that the smell was indicative of the food, more the store it was made in. Caroline often wondered how in the hell store stayed open for how dirty it was, what did the health inspector think when they saw it?

The shower was by far her favorite part of the day. She would hold her head under the shower and crank the heat up as hot as she could stand it. She could feel the stress and hell of the day melt off of her slink down the drain becoming somebody else’s problem. As Caroline went through her detox ritual, she could vaguely hear the sound of the TV. It wasn’t much, just some muffled voices. The voices were going back and forth with what sounded like very little intonation. She was going to nail it as a detective she thought. Caroline decided that she must have turned on the news when she walked in.

Then her phone began to ring.

“Oh, my god,” she groaned, “not now!”

That seemed to do the trick and the phone went to voicemail.

A few moments later her phone was at it again.

“Holy s**t!” complained Caroline as she angrily turned off the water, got out of the shower and wrapped a towel around herself. “What could be so important that I can’t have one hour to myself?” Caroline grabbed her phone ready to give whoever was on the other end an ear full, until she realized that it could be Devon finally getting back to her and changed her mind.

Then she remembered how pissed she was that he left her waiting this long and went back to her original plan.

“What?” She barked. She didn’t wait for an answer. “Why the hell did you make me wait this long you jackass, don’t you know I was"“

The voice on the other end interrupted her, it wasn’t Devon.

“Excuse me, is this Caroline Baker?” The voice was even toned, rational, and level-headed, basically everything Devon wasn’t. “This is Detective Clawser, from the Voss County Police Department.”

Caroline didn’t recognize the name, not that she should recognize any detective’s name, this was only her first year and she had only been to the department once for orientation. Most of the classes were held at the police academy or at the community college near the academy. She didn’t know what to say, but Devon’s skepticism rubbed off on her.

“What’s your badge number?” she blurted out.

Whatever she should have said, just “yes” probably, it wasn’t that.

“Excuse me?” responded Detective Clawser, sounding more confused than offended.

Caroline decided she was too far in to back down now. “You heard me,” she said with a bit more conviction, “what’s your badge number, it’s my right to know that.”

“Uh, ok,” he said “let me check.” Then there was the sound of someone ruffling through a jacket pocket. “0-0-0-7-1-0-6-1-3.”

Caroline didn’t know what she would do with that information and decided to push past the rather odd start to the call and get to the heart of the matter.

“Yes, I’m Caroline Baker, officer in training at the Voss County PD. What can I do for you, Detective?”

Caroline wished she hadn't added that "officer in training" bit. The detective seemed to ignore Caroline's repeated attempts to put her foot in her mouth, or he was such a professional that he decided not to bring up the "training" thing. “Do you know a Devon Rozen?”

“Y-yeah.” This is never a good sign, Caroline thought. What could the cops want? What did Devon do? Could he have been caught? Then the irrational half of Caroline’s brain, the part that Devon called home, offered its opinion; maybe this is a trick, maybe Mills’ goons captured him and one of them were calling posing as a detective to get a trace on where she lived to come and take her too. Then her logical half offered its two-cents. Maybe a company that just had its private data stolen called the cops who investigated the crime. They could have caught him that way and he’s sitting in a cell right now being stupidly stubborn as usual. “What’s this concerning?”

The “detective” cleared his throat, “You’re his emergency contact, right?”

She did not know that, but it makes sense. Devon’s parents had been dead for years and his, quarks, made him a bit of a pariah to the rest of his family. To her knowledge, she was the only person she knew Devon spoke to, other than that Oliver person Devon mentioned. “I didn’t know that, but sure, go on.”

“I hate to be the one to tell you this, but, he’s dead.”

Caroline didn’t know how to take the news, it couldn’t be true. She reflexively turned and faced the opposite direction as if she could turn away from what the detective said. Then the TV caught her eye and pulled her out of the call.

She was right before, the news was on and it was disturbingly relevant to her call. They were in the middle of the report, but Caroline instantly recognized Devon’s van, or what was left of it.

“It’s a grizzly scene out here tonight,” said a reporter who was on the scene. “The police say that one person was in the car at the time of the accident. They haven’t released the name of the individual as they are still trying to contact next of kin.”

Caroline watched the report with detached horror, as if the event was happening to some other version of Caroline and she was just floating behind her experiending it second-hand.

The reporter was right, it was a grizzly sight. The fire department had just put out the fire and Caroline could see the mangled, charred remains of Devon’s van. The hood was popped up, and crumpled into the windshield and the backend of the van was split open like a flower made of twisted metal.

“Police aren’t sure what exactly caused the explosion,” continued the reporter, “but reports seem to suggest that it was drug related.”

Drug related? Caroline knew that was bullshit. Devon never did drugs, none that would explode like that anyway.

“Miss Baker? Are you still there?” Asked Detective Clawser from her hip. The phone drifted down to her side while she watched the report.

“Uh, yeah, yes! I’m still here.” Caroline ran her hand through her still dripping hair, “uhm…how, how do we proceed?”

“Well, the body"“

“Devon.” Caroline corrected.

“Apologies, Devon is heading to the coroner’s at the moment. Once we conclude the investigation, we will release the body to you. In the meantime, I suggest you start making funeral arrangements.”

“Are there any leads?” she asked, “I’ve known Devon for years, what they’re saying on the news, it can’t be true. Drug related. He’s not like that.”

“I’m sorry ma’am, I’m not at liberty to share details of an ongoing investigation.” He answered plainly.

“Bullshit!”

“Look,” said Detective Clawser without changing his tone “I’m sorry for your loss, I really am, but I can’t tell you anything, it’s against the law. Besides, I never said it was drug related, that came from over my head. In my opinion, it’s too early to tell. Good luck and we’ll contact you if we need anything else.” With that, he hung up. 

Caroline was alone. She shut off the TV; it wasn’t helping anyone right now. She flopped down onto her couch and stared at nothing. She was still wet from the shower and it was beginning to soak into the couch. Caroline didn’t care, she just sat there silently and let the news wash over her. Soon the tears began to flow and continued to for what felt to her like forever. As the inconsolable sadness soaked in, the irrational part of her brain, Devon, started to speak up.

This was related, it said, there’s no way it couldn’t be. Mills found him and killed him. All over what, some security footage? What could have been on there that required such drastic retaliation? Devon never shared what exactly he broke into his old office to get, some nonsense about it being for her protection. She hated that about him, he always tried to be a hero. It sounds like a cliché, but look what it got him. Caroline thought he might have actually liked going out the way it did. That made her chuckle a little. The giant idiot went out in the name of justice after all, she thought.

Where to go from here?

Devon’s gone, the drive is gone. No one besides her and Archie Mills know what happened and to her knowledge, no one knew she was involved. What’s the point in continuing? Then Devon’s voice began to bounce around in her head again. “You know it’s the right thing to do, Caroline,” it said, “You can’t let Archie get away with this, you can’t let my death mean nothing. You want to be a detective? Then take my case.”

It wasn’t a good reason to continue, but it was a start. Now she needed to figure out where to begin her investigation. The last thing Devon told her was to find someone named Oliver Wolcott. Devon never mentioned him until that day. She assumed he must have known other people. Caroline got up with renewed determination and went to change into her ratty Coldplay concert t-shirt and checkered pajama pants.

When she got back she sat back down on her couch, grabbed her laptop off her cheap Ikea coffee table, and began her search. She couldn’t muster up the courage to go back to the park, not yet, besides the park was closed now, all the employees were probably gone by now. Caroline started by looking up Detective Clawson. She found a host of articles about the major cases he had a hand in closing, he was a stand up detective in all respects. Caroline couldn’t help but feel a little disappointed. If she couldn’t find anything then maybe it was all some conspiracy and Devon was still alive. Looks like that wasn’t in the cards.

She moved on to this Oliver guy. She couldn’t find any social media accounts for him, but If he was Devon’s friend he would at least be a little crazy. The only thing she could find was an old Facebook post from a woman. It was a picture of her with her arm wrapped around a guy. She was kissing him on the cheek and he had a happy embarrassed smile on his face. Below it was the caption: “First day at the new job!!!!! Celebrating with the best guy in the world!!!!!!!!! Love you Ollie :-)” The picture tagged the park. It wasn’t much, the picture was old, but it was enough of a start.

Unfortunately, this meant that she couldn’t contact him directly and she couldn’t be sure that him and the girl were still together either. The only option left was to go back to Howell Park.

 

 

Author's Note

Like always, I would love general opinions on the writing, story, and characters. Basically, any feedback is appreciated.