Page 64 of Widow Mayker

“Everyone pause!” I commanded. “Don’t touch a single thing, and I want everyone off the property. Now!” Standing, I slipped my phone from my back pocket and dialed Lewis.

“This better be good,” he answered, sounding asleep. “I’m nestled underneath my woman.”

“You’re in Alabama?”

“I just got here a few hours ago.”

“I’m about to send you an address. Get here now. We have a big fuckin’ problem.”

“Bet. I’m on the way.”

While I waited for Lewis, I paced the floor and recalled every crime scene of the only killer to truly ever escape me. Five murders spanning six years. Six murders if I counted this latest murder that Lewis was currently working. This could possibly make seven. Seven that we knew about. Many prolific killers had a name, but this one didn’t. Giving him a name would have made this shit real. I paced so long that I triggered a headache whose pain only triggered in my brain at Lewis’s arrival.

The second his eyes fell on Jemell, he had the same reaction.

“You can’t be serious,” he stated and stooped next to the body.

I gave him a minute to process what was before him, then asked, “So, what do you think?”

He stood and sighed frustratingly. “You think he followed you to Pensacola?”

“Had to. How else do I explain this shit?” I hissed.

“You don’t. You gotta play this cool. If the media finds out this is related to cases back in Atlanta, it’s gon’ be a shit storm.”

Lewis was right. So far, the Feds hadn’t been involved. For our own reasons, we wanted this suspect to ourselves. If the Feds took over, we’d never see this through the way we wanted to. Our egos wouldn’t let us lose this suspect. By any means necessary, I wasn’t losing this case.

I dreaded the sun rising like a toothache. With it came a media storm that swept through every hood in the city. None of that amounted to the firestorm that Jemell’s family caused. Even now as I sat at my desk, I listened to another message from a local news station wanting an exclusive on my involvement with the murder of Jemell. Between these phone calls and Jerell blasting my name all over social media, shit was out of hand.

“Gunner,” Lieutenant Johnson called as he entered my office dressed in plain clothes. Normally, he wore slacks and a button-down. “Congratulations.”

“On what?”

He tossed something at me. I caught the gold badge emblazoned with City of Pensacola Police arched across the top and lieutenant arched along the bottom.

“Wait,” I started, “I never gave you an answer.”

He guffawed. “Are you seriously declining the position?”

“Nah…” Maja and I hadn’t put anything in concrete. Although she wanted me to chase my dreams, I still had her to consider.

“Alright, then. Start packing your office. It’s time for an upgrade. Your swearing in ceremony will take place tomorrow. Be ready.”

“Wait.” I stopped him. “I’m keeping the Franklin case.”

“You’re the lieutenant now. It’s your call.” He exited my office like he hadn’t just doused me with the biggest announcement of my career.

Before doing anything, I called Maja.

“Hey, baby!” she answered cheerily.

“Hey, love.” I swiped my hand down my face and chuckled nervously. “Listen… About that lieutenant position.”

“You better take it, Von. No second-guessing. Just go for it.”

I chuckled nervously again. “Yeah, Johnson made up my mind for me.”

She shrieked. “Congratulations, baby!”