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Darkling:…I might be persuaded to help you.
EnemySquare:What’s the cost?
Darkling:If I tell you there is no cost, you won’t believe me. I’ll tell you that it’s minimal, something you’ll certainly be able to afford and then some. I’ll help you, you help me. One hand washes the other. I believe I have a solution to your problem that can be mutually beneficial if you’re willing to aid me, you know?
EnemySquare:Explain.
For the longest moment, I stare at the screen, everything inside of me poised and tense. What is Darkling trying to say? I lean closer without knowing I’ve even moved, my fingers poised and ready to strike out a response across the keyboard.
Darkling:It will be better if we meet in person.
In person? Are they out of their mind?
EnemySquare:You could be in another country for all I know.
Darkling:Stop playing games, Detective Bishop. Meet me at the Galleria tomorrow at noon. I’ll explain everything to you then.
Everything inside of me goes cold when my name pops up on the screen. Not my screen name.
“What the fuck?” I blurt out.
Naomi swivels, timidly. “Do I dare ask?”
Darkling:Well?
It’s a huge risk. It’s a chance I might have to take and go armed. This person clearly knows me, has figured out my identity despite my alias. I might very well be walking into a trap.
EnemySquare:How do I know you’re going to give me what I need and not waste my time? Or kill me.
Darkling:You’re going to have to take a chance. I promise you, if I wanted you dead, you already would be. Which means you’re more help to me alive.
I’ve always been a risk-taker at every point in my life. Kimmy used to joke that it was all the fire signs in my astrological chart. It made me impulsive and gave me a lack of control. I had no idea how to say no. But she was wrong. She was wrong, and she was living her best life without me. Proposing hadn’t even been the biggest risk I took. Breaking the engagement, now, that was hard. Setting her free when I knew she could do better and I knew equally well I’d drop into a darker, deeper hole of depression.
Jumping in front of a bullet hurt worse than the look on Kimmy’s face when I told her I didn’t want to marry her anymore. Moreover, I wanted to break up, and it was a better idea for her to move back in with her folks than stay with me.
Meeting a stranger from the dark web who knows my name?
Stupid as fuck.
“I didn’t want to disturb you since you looked tranced out, but how was your little conversation? You dig up anything interesting?” Naomi asks. “Seems like you’re all worked up now.”
I glance up at her, blinking the blur away from my eyes, and see her staring at me with a full-color photograph of our first corpse clasped in her fingers. After a deep breath, I force a small grin. “I think I’ve got a lead. It’s too early to say, but I’m going out tomorrow to investigate.” I hold up a hand to stop her before she can automatically say she’ll go with me. “Alone. I don’t want to spook our source. They want to meet with me alone, and at this point, if they catch a look at anyone else, they might bolt. You understand.”
She nods gravely. “I don’t like it, but I do understand. Will you at least take your gun with you? And keep me posted this time.”
I set her with a look. “Come on. Seriously?”
“What? I can’t worry about my partner. Things aren’t going to be the same if you get yourself shot out there.”
“Shot again,” I correct.
“Exactly. See?”
I tap my fingers on the laptop lid, wondering when I'd gone from resenting her to respecting her. The way I should have from the start.
“I've been a horrible partner, haven’t I?”
Naomi is quiet for a moment, staring out into the empty room. Finally, she sighs. “No, you haven’t. Not always. But you have been a douchebag sometimes and left me floundering behind you and struggling to catch up. Which is okay. I get it. Your past trauma does a lot of the talking for you.” She follows the very astute and correct observation with a small yet warm smile. “From where I’m sitting, you’re a good cop who’s run into some tough times and has an issue trusting people. That’s all.”
