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

hit their mother but—” He took a deep breath. “She would never corroborate or come with us. She didn’t want to leave the kids and didn’t think she had any other options. And when I was called there for the murder scene—” He paused for a second, “This job became real for me. I had failed that woman. I had failed those kids. It wasn’t just tickets anymore, there were lives involved. So, from that point on I swore I was going to take this job seriously. No more fucking around and using it to get laid.”

Naya thought about saying something but it seemed like it was better to just stay quiet, she understood all too well and there was nothing to say.

“I’ve dated a few girls since, but they all couldn’t stand the job coming first so nothing ever made it past a few dates.”

She didn’t say anything, this wasn’t the time for advice or agreement, it was the reality of their career. She continued to look outside as they passed field after empty field.

“I think we should get out of the car.”

“There are miles of farmland out here. Are you crazy?” He was wide eyed, but she had a hunch.

“Humor me. You don’t have to join me.”

He slowed to a stop and Naya and Atlas stepped out,  she looked to the west where the sun was slowly beginning to sink below the mountains in a haze of yellows and pinks. She wasn’t sure where they were exactly but they were near the spot where they had found Julia’s body just over a week ago.

She started walking in the grass along the side of the road. She shaded her eyes and looked into the distance, she could just see what might be a farmhouse or a barn rising into view. She was walking in the direction of it and assumed she would eventually encounter the road to turn onto the property it was on. She heard Atlas jump back in the car from where he had been watching her with curiosity and he began to follow her slowly as she continued. She surveyed the horizon, looking for anything out of place, like hawks circling like the farmer had seen before. But nothing was standing out.

She finally encountered the dirt path turn that led to the building she had seen from afar. She motioned to Atlas and he cut the engine and got out to join her. “And may I ask just what we are doing here?” He was radiating skepticism and was openly unaccustomed to her methods.

“Investigating. Well at least I am, I can’t speak for you.” He rolled his eyes and followed her up the path to the building. It was a run-down and dilapidated wooden structure in a state of disrepair, but now that she was up close, she was fairly certain it was once a home. There were no animals or vehicles around to suggest it was still occupied, not that she assumed it would be by its state. But, she lifter her hand to knock to be polite just in case.

“Hello!” She called out. There was no answer. With her hand on her weapon, she tried the knob. It turned easily. She looked over her shoulder at Atlas who already had his gun drawn and by his side for cover. He motioned for her to go for it.

“Anyone home?” She tried again as she stepped through the door.

The interior was musty and dark. It looked as if the building had previously been divided into two rooms, but what remained of the wooden interior wall was now on the floor in pieces. She scoped to her left and right, as Atlas stepped in behind her and did his own visual check.

“Abandoned.”

She nodded in agreement.

“Long time ago too. Can’t imagine this wall fell recently.” There was a bed frame on one side of the wall and a gas stove on the other. At one point they had clearly been a kitchen and a bedroom, but nothing else remained now. “No personal effects, probably left of their own free will.” She noted.

“Agreed.” Atlas used his boot to scrape at the floor, “Concrete foundation. That would’ve taken some time and money. Someone probably used to actually live here.”

“I’ll check the public records when we get back and see.”

“Why the sudden interest in an abandoned farmhouse?” He questioned as they exited the small forgotten home back out into the open field which was now strikingly beautiful in the deep orange evening glow.

“I don’t know. Sometimes I have hunches and feel like and I should look into particular things. Most of the time it’s nothing, but every now and then it’s something, and that small percentage of the time that it is something is worth it.”

He smiled. “Interesting. I’m not judging you, this is just definitely not how city cops work. We spend too much time on paperwork to go poking around on intuition like this.”

“And you have too big of an area to know everything that is going on, so I get that. But I’m not ready to let go of the suspicion that our guy does everything with a purpose. I think he dumped her here for something more than convenience. Because, let’s admit it, unless he lived in this building, this wasn’t exactly a convenient location.”

“You’re right.” He agreed as he looked towards the horizon. Suddenly, he froze. “Do you see what I see?”

Naya immediately turned to where he was looking. There was a hawk, and it was circling. In the direction they had just come from.

They both looked at each other before running to the car. Atlas already had the key in the ignition and the car in drive before she got her seatbelt on.

The hawk was a little ways back up the road, just past the place where she had