Collins walks up to me with a stoic face.
“What?”
“I was just about to call you.”
“What happened?”
He nods towards the parking lot, and I follow him out, checking to make sure no one’s out here. “Someone jumped Z last night.”
“What?”
“Yeah, they found him in the bathroom unconscious a few hours ago, and rushed him to the hospital. He’s there now.”
“They have something to do with it?” I nod inside.
“Man, I dunno for sure. You know I’m not in their clique, but it sure fucking seems like it.”
I stop, looking at him for a moment. “Why are you telling me this?”
“I know you’d want to know.”
I don’t know how to ask him what I need to do next; I just stare at him.
He sighs. “Man, I joined the force to help. I wanted to be a good guy, and now I just feel like I’m fucking surrounded by corruption. If I wanted corruption, there’s other, more profitable ways I could have done that.”
“There’s no such thing as good guys.”
“What?” he asks me, confused.
“Good’s relative. Depends on who’s telling the story. We’re all bad guys from someone’s perspective.”
He looks at me before nodding his head.
“Cover for me?”
“Yeah.” He nods again before I’m moving across the parking lot, still in uniform, and to a cruiser.
Walking into the hospital, I move over to the reception area.
“I’m trying to find the room for the inmate who was brought in last night.”
The nurse looks up at me, questioning for a moment.
“It’s fine, Lynette, I got it.” I hear a familiar voice say. “Elias.”
“Wait, you’re Elias?” the nurse gasps as she looks up at me.
“Yes…”
“She’s very protective of their kids. Loved Caroline.”
“I did too.” I tell her.
“I’ve heard a lot about you.” She smiles. “You’re a cop now?”
“It appears that way, right?”
Slowly, she nods her head as I say it, as if she completely understands. As if she’s the only one who sees through every inch of this facade.
