Love Lies Bleeding by Remmy Duchene (carter reed txt) 📕

watching me closely—making sure I'm eating and at least pretending to sleep."

"I used to have a friend like that."

"Oh yeah? What happened?"

"He was your father."

Anderson hung his head then. It seemed he and the detective had something in common. "I will let you get back to your work."

"You never bother me, Anderson," Leo explained. "If you need anything, all you have to do is call."

"Or drop by."

Leo laughed softly. "Or drop by."

"Thanks." Anderson smiled tightly. "Do you know when they'll release my father's body?"

"I'll ask the coroner and let you know. The autopsy is finished, so it's just the formalities now."

"Thank you."

* * * *

It took Anderson a while to get through the hellish New York traffic. When he finally got onto a side street and sped towards a shortcut back home, he decided to stop off and pick up some groceries. Byung would have his ass if he didn't get some food to at least pretend he was eating right. When he finally found a parking spot and hopped from his car, he glanced up at the sky. It looked like rain.

He grabbed a cart from outside of the store and hurried inside. Uselessly, he stood where he entered. Everything felt new to him. Thinking of the impending rain, he willed his legs to move and began packing healthy food into the cart. By the time he was at the front of the store again, he had gotten over three hundred dollars' worth of food. He ate more calories than regular people because of his workout regimen. But even so, he had the sinking feeling most of it would spoil because of what was happening around him. He paid for the groceries, got back into his car, and sped off towards his house.

Anderson was almost home when the rain began falling—lightly at first. But when he pulled up into his parking lot, the heavens really opened up. Water drenched everything unmercifully. He sat in the car long after he turned the engine off, hoping it would be one of those rains that would pour for a couple of minutes then taper off. That wasn't happening and the longer he sat there, the more it began to seep into him the rain wasn't about to stop. Reluctantly he pushed from the vehicle, snapped open the trunk, and rummaged through his bags. He found the ones with meats, milk, and ice-cream—things that needed to be refrigerated. Braving the rain, he walked up to his front door. He juggled the bags slightly, hunched over to shove the key into the lock but when he braced slightly on the door, it pushed open.

That caught his attention instantly because he knew he hadn't left that door open. He had gotten especially paranoid about leaving doors open after his father's death. Anderson straightened his body then used the toe of his boot to push the door wider. The bags he held slid from his hand, crashing onto the ground, and Anderson stood in the rain staring into his home. He had paid so much money to have it decorated perfectly—now everything was a mess. From where he stood, there were markings on the wall, clothes on the floor, and broken cups. He stepped in slowly, glancing around him. He swallowed the angry lump in his throat and moved through the house. The kitchen was completely destroyed. The china his mother had left him in her will was all broken to pieces on the ground. Every glass, plate, saucer, and mug was shattered. Kicking a pot, it flipped to reveal a hole in the bottom. The food he had left in the fridge before was now sitting in the sink and the fridge stood open.

"Fucking hell," Anderson yelled out in anger.

He made his way up the stairs and peered into all four rooms. With each room his anger rose higher and higher. Each room was in a sorrier state than the last. Someone had taken a knife to the beds, the furniture, and his mother's chair that sat in the far corner of the blue room. That was her favorite room in his house. Anderson felt as though he was losing her all over again. When he entered his bedroom, he felt a tear slid down his cheek for there, on the ground, broken in tiny pieces was the frame that held the last picture his parents took before his mother died.

Turning on his heels, Anderson ran out the door. He pulled the detective's card from his pocket and dialed the number.

Chapter Four

Leo was already on his feet and taking a final bite of his sandwich. He'd gotten a chance to sit down and eat something before the call came through. Sure he could have sent a uniform but they would just screw up his crime scene and make him angry.

He didn't have time to call Daniel and he wasn't sure he wanted his partner to go with him because of his personal stake in the case. The two were close but if any blame came down over how he was handling things, he really didn't want Daniel losing his badge because of it. He knew if something happened, his partner would cover for him and he didn't want to put his friend in that position. He all but dove into the front seat of his unmarked cruiser, flipped the siren on, and peeled from the diner parking lot. He checked traffic quickly and pulled to the left hand to drive down the emergency lane then cut across traffic going south.

A few cars were slow getting out of his way, so he simply honked at them and went around. He wasn't sure why there seemed to be so much traffic when he was in a rush. He had to drive in the wrong lane a few times but his heart and adrenaline would not let him slow down. He'd loss Jazmon, the only father he'd ever known. He wasn't about to let anything