You Can't Run by Hope Davis (pdf e book reader .TXT) 📕

“Because he’s a nutjob?” Atlas raised his eyebrow at her, a confused look on his face.

“Definitely, but I was thinking, it was done so completely, what if he also had a reason to? Like a use for the blood?” She closed the tab she was in and went back to the search results. “I mean it could be for something like a cult ritual, or science experiments or something. I don’t know, that’s what I’m searching now, possible reasons he might need that much blood.”

“That’s what you typed in?”

Naya chuckled. “No, but you get my point, right? I want to see if this goes anywhere.”

“You’re right.” He conceded as he opened his own internet browsing window. “The removal was so clean. Manner of death was blood loss, do you think she was awake for it? And if she was, why didn’t she struggle and how did he not get any on her? You may be on to something here Largusa.”

They fell into a concentrated silence as they clicked through internet windows, the only sounds the clacking of keys between sips of coffee. What felt like moments later, she looked up at the clock and it was after nine. “Shit, I gotta head home, but I’ll do some more before bed.”

“Hot date?” Atlas joked.

Naya tried to paste on a smile. She hadn’t told Atlas about her brother yet, but she knew she wouldn’t be able to keep it from him much longer with these hours.

“Kinda, but I better not keep him waiting either way.”

“So it is a him then? There was a rumor going around you batted for the other team.” He teased.

Naya laughed and blushed. “You never can tell, can you?” And with a wink she turned and headed for the door.

She unlocked the door and let herself in, she was surprised to find Kevin in the hallway in front of her. “Everything okay?” She asked, glancing at her phone wondering if something had happened and she had missed a call from Vance.

“Everything is fine, Vance, uh, wasn’t feeling well, so he had Derek help him to bed hours ago. I was planning to stay only a few minutes but I must’ve fallen asleep on the couch. Your keys in the lock woke me up.”

Naya had zoned out after hearing that Vance wasn’t feeling well. “Did he say what was bothering him?”

“His stomach, I think.” Kevin said as he followed her into the kitchen. Naya opened the fridge surveying the contents. The food she had made for Vance had been eaten, just like every other day Derek had been there this week.

“He ate at least.”

“Yeah.” Kevin confirmed.

They stood in silence for what seemed like forever but was probably only a few minutes. “Listen,” he finally spoke, his voice cracking a bit. “Vance, well, he hasn’t told me how bad it is, but I know it’s bad, and well, since he’s my best friend and all, do you think I could have your number? You know, for emergencies.”

Naya surprised herself by giggling in response, to which she was immediately embarrassed by and slapped her hand over her mouth before apologizing. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to laugh. I just got the mental image of you using that line to pick up a girl.”

A smile broke out across Kevin’s face. “I mean, it is a pretty good line, right? I’ve been rehearsing it all night.”

With that they both broke out in laughter. They tried to stifle it as not to wake Vance, which of course made them both only laugh harder. Pretty soon they were sitting on the floor next to each other, in front of the refrigerator, trying to breathe  deeply between giggles as they attempted to calm themselves down.

“Well, ridiculous line or not, you can have my number.” Naya held out her phone in his direction with a new contact page pulled up.

“Yes! Success!” He hissed which only made them both laugh again. Once they had calmed down for the second time, he looked at her, “But really,” he said somberly, as he handed her phone back and kept her hand in his. “Me and the guys, we know it’s bad, and we want to be there for Vance any way we can. None of us have much extra money, but we’re all in construction and fairly handy. So if you need help around the house or something, please let us know.”

She nodded and stood up from the floor, reaching a hand out to help Kevin up, but he shooed her offer away and stood up on his own facing her with a small grin. “Well, since I have your number now. Do you think I could, you know, text you just for me sometimes?”

Naya raised an eyebrow but felt a smile spread across her face. “And just why would you want to text me for yourself?”

“Because I think you’re kinda cute.” He quipped, and then he turned and headed out the door, leaving her alone in the kitchen. Naya stood there for a moment after he left, a bit in shock at what he said. She hadn’t lost her edge after all.

Making herself dinner now completely forgotten, she turned off the lights and headed up the stairs to prepare for bed. Tomorrow was likely to be another long day at the precinct.

Her phone jolted her awake in the middle of the night again. She sighed as she reached over to answer it. She definitely wasn’t used to the pace of police work in the big city yet.

“Largusa?”

She was already sitting up and kicking her legs over the edge of the bed as she grunted in confirmation.

“You’re not gonna believe this.” It was Atlas.

“I think I can.” She mumbled as she fumbled for the light. “Another girl?”

“Sort of.