Chapter 34


    There was a small, off to the side office that was located on the fourth floor of police headquarters.


    With his left arm wrapped in a sling, Detective Linus Bruin despondently sulked in his chair behind a


    clean and orderly desk. The clothes that he was wearing just happened to be the same torn and bloody


    garments he wore from the night before. Not one detail on his entire body had been rearranged; from


    his unkempt hair, all the way down to his blood stained Thom Mcan''s His drooping face was a nk


    canvas from cheek to cheek.


    No sort of emotion whatsoever bothered to appear. Inside of him dwelt a teetering calm, like a cease


    fire in the midst of a hecious battle.


    All night long the man had endured question after probing question, cameras shing in his face and


    officers frantically rushing him to one end of the police station to the other as if he were a time bomb


    inside of a box.


    His hands rested motionless in hisp while his face stayed poised on the desk in front of him. There


    was an itch on the bridge of his nose that the man didn''t have the strength or will to scratch at.


    A knock at the door disturbed the silence in the small office. From behind the door appeared Officer


    Donaldson who came in with a steaming cup of coffee. The woman quietly ced the cup down onto


    the desk before handing Linus a sympathetic smile.


    "Thank you, officer." Inspector O''Dea delicately stated before blowing lightly on the rim of the hot mug.


    "That will be all for now."


    The average looking man that was sitting across from Linus with his thin lips pressed tightly together


    was around the same age as the detective. He wanted to appear smart in his oversized, blue stripped


    tie and white shirt.


    The man''s pepper-tinted hair was trimmed to perfection, with not one hint of an out of ce sliver. His


    dubious looking white face supported a thick, grey mustache that was groomed to where a person


    could only see his bottom lip move up and down whenever he spoke.


    O''Dea meticulously sipped on the edge of the cup before looking up at Linus and saying, "You must


    forgive me. I did not have the opportunity to savor my wife''s delectable cooking this morning. The


    woman makes the best homemade sausage this side of the Ohio River. Jimmy Dean be dammed."


    Linus sat and watched as the inspector ced his elbows on the table and folded his hands before


    ncing around the room and asking, "Are you cold?"


    Linus only slightly shook his head from side to side. For him, and at that point, words were as hard to


    grasp as air in his hands.


    "It''s funny how thin the walls are in this building. Shows you just how old the ce really is." O''Dea


    affectionately sighed. "My grandfather was an officer here back around the turn of the century.


    ording to him, this ce was falling apart back then, too."


    Linus looked on as O''Dea turned his attention to the window to his immediate left. Both men could hear


    the protestors outside on the ground chant loud and clear.


    "Boisterous, aren''t they?" O''Dea looked back at Linus. "Jesus, you look like you haven''t slept in days,


    Detective," the man pointed. "Are you feeling alright? Well, that''s a pretty stupid question." He flippantly


    grinned. "Look, I know you think I''m here to nail you to the wall, but that''s not the case. I just want to


    know what took cest night."


    All of the sudden, colors began appearing right before Linus'' eyes as he sat there in his chair. It was a


    psychological disorder that seemed to ur at the perfect moment and in the perfect ce.


    "Now, you''ve been silent about the entire ordeal for the past few hours, Detective. Don''t you think it''s


    time to open up? I mean, you''re gonna have to do a helluva lot better than domestic abuse with that


    mob out there, my friend." The inspector empathetically exined.


    Linus batted his eyshes in a rapid sequence before looking up at the man. He waited for O''Dea to


    ask even more questions.


    O''Dea looked down and studied the papers that were lying in front of him. "How''s your family?" He


    inquired with a straight face that never bothered to look Linus in the eye.


    Linus sat for a moment or two before replying in a dry tone, "They''re fine."


    "How''s Elizabeth?"


    Linus contemptuously eyeballed the inspector before sternly answering, "Fine."


    "That''s good." O''Dea casually remarked with his eyes still staring at the papers. "I''m serious, that''s very


    good." He adamantly reiterated. "Detective, in your statement, you mentioned that you went over to Ms.


    Glover''s residencest evening to secure Mr. Mercer for more questioning. But what I''m curious about


    is, what more questions did you have for Mr. Mercer?"


    Linus exhaled a long breath before muttering, "I was following up on a...hunch."


    "A hunch," O''Dea spoke up. "What sort of hunch?"


    "There were some loose ends that I had to wrap up, so to speak."


    O''Dea studied Linus'' face as if he were trying to drill into his wrinkled forehead. "Mr. Mercer, much like


    yourself, was spotted running from one end of town to the other yesterday. From Ms. Glover''s home, to


    his shrink, to his father''s church and eventually back to Ms. Glover''s residence. What I want to know is,


    what kind of a hunch could you havee across?"


    "I visited the Cohen girlst—


    "The youngdy that was kidnapped and raped by Cummins?" O''Dea hastily interrupted.


    Taken off guard, Linus caught his breath and said, "Yes."


    "Why were you visiting her?"


    "I wanted to see how she was doing."


    "How she was doing?" O''Dea frowned with his arms folded in a sanctimonious fashion. "Well, I guess


    we could call you a nice detective, if nothing else. But that still doesn''t exin this so called hunch.


    What I''m curious about is why you didn''t bring Mercer in two nights ago when you and Detective


    Fitzpatrick visited there?"


    "He...he wasn''t feeling well." Linus hesitated. "I decided to—


    "Oh, I see, so you decided." O''Dea strongly emphasized at Linus. "So, not only are you a nice


    detective, but you''re also the decision maker as well. That makes sense."


    N?velD(ram)a.?rg owns this content.


    Linus sat and stared daggers at the inspector. The man was far from surprised at what was taking


    ce before him; he expected every bit of O''Dea''s smug treatment from the start.


    "Sost night you decided to pay a visit to Ms. Cohen in the hospital, to which afterwards, you decided


    to make your way over to Ms. Glover''s residence to pick up Mercer. Now, when you arrived on the


    scene, what was taking ce?"


    Linus took his eyes away from the inspector and directed them down at the desk. Right then, his body


    began to tremble all over again.


    "Dammit, man!" O''Dea snapped, pounding his fists onto the table. "This is no joke, Detective!"


    "I never said it was."


    "Do you hear that out there? That is a medieval mob waiting for your blood to be shed! You shot a


    naked, weaponless, colored man with a twelve gage shotgun, a shotgun that was left in a cruiser by


    one Detective Fitzpatrick, whom we will be investigating next, and all you can do is just sit there and


    keep quiet!"


    Completely unfazed by the inspector''s tirade, Linus remained still andposed as though nothing


    were happening at all.


    "What was the guy doing when you first busted your way into the house?" O''Dea anxiously inquired.


    "These are just some of the questions that the grand jury is going to throw your way."


    Seemingly disturbed, O''Dea shot up from out of his seat and began to pace the room from front to back


    with his hands lodged inside his pants pockets.


    "You say domestic abuse." The inspector shrugged. "Okay, maybe it was a domestic affair. It''s no


    secret that those people can''t keep a rtionship together longer than a one night stand. But the guy


    didn''t have a single weapon on him, and somehow, Ms. Glover''s finger was sliced right off. Her entire


    body looked as though she were hit by a truck."


    In vivid detail, Linus recalled holding Lyte''s wrecked and bloody body in his shivering arms. He


    could still smell her blood on his hands.


    "There was a gun, but Mercer''s fingerprints weren''t found on the weapon. And yet, you decide to


    rampage into this house and blow this man away in a bathroom of all ces. Jesus, I know you''re fifty-


    three years old, Bruin, but do you mean to sit there and tell me that you can''t overpower a naked man


    without shooting him dead?"


    Crossing behind Linus every other second, O''Dea would stop to stare down into Linus'' white hair as


    though he were admonishing a school boy.


    "I wish we could work together on this one, Linus." The inspector rationally articted. "I realize that


    you and I haven''t gotten along too well over the years. I mean, we won''t be exchanging Christmas


    cards anytime in the near future, but I''ve got both the D.A. and the Mayor breathing down my neck, and


    an entire town of colored hell-raisers wanting to burn down the city, all because you had a hunch."


    O''Dea ceased his outburst momentarily while facing the caged window. It was all the better for Linus,


    he needed toe up for air before being waterlogged all over again.


    "Did you happen to see some of the signs they got out there? One says, ''if it walks like a duck, and


    onks like a pig, then it''s the fuzz.'' The inspector sniggered, sounding tickled by the phrase. "They even


    managed to spell oinks wrong. Is any of this melting into that brain of yours?"


    Linus clinched his entire body while listening to the man endlessly drill on and on. It was all melting


    inwards, just not through the proper conduits. There was no care left inside of him.


    "It''s been almost an entire year since your wife left you. The media found your file from when you went


    away. Christ, here I am trying to save not only this department''s ass, but yours as well, and you just sit


    there." O''Dea then turned to the door and pointed, "Look out there, Linus. All those kids just waiting for


    one of us old farts to fall off of our perch. Hell, I''ve got a Mexican, or Chicano, or whatever they call


    themselves these days, drooling for my job. We''re old men, Linus, too old to be chasing down


    kidnappers, rapists and murderers. For God''s sake, man, this is no way for an officer to go out, a


    broken down husk of flesh."


    Linus suddenly raised his head back up and opened his mouth. At first, no words came out, but after


    seconds of silence, with a shaky voice he murmured, "I...I don''t know what you want me to say."


    O''Dea spun around in amazement and listened attentively at what else Linus was going to hopefully


    state.


    "What I did..st night was, was all my fault."


    The inspector stepped over, mmed his hands onto the desk and said, "It doesn''t have to be all your


    fault, Linus. All you have to do is tell me what happened inside that house and we can go from there.


    What the hell makes you think I want to see an officer like yourself go down? Linus, you broke into a


    house and shot and killed an unarmed man. Something like this doesn''t just up and go away overnight.


    Hell, it''ll be on the CBS Evening News before you know it. This is all Cronkite needs to add yet another


    award to his already cluttered trophy chest. Unarmed ck man shot dead in the buff, for no apparent


    reason other than he was beating his fiancée. Oh what a tragedy," O''Dea zealously satirized before


    nearing closer to Linus'' face and yelling, "Help me help you!"


    Linus wanted to look over at the loud inspector, he wanted to hand the same kind of treatment back to


    him, only worse, especially after the mention of his wife leaving him, but his stale body chose instead to


    remain immobile. It was as if he had lost any and all audacity to stand up for himself.


    Inspector O''Dea pulled away from Linus and sipped on his warm cup of coffee. He then looked back at


    the window behind him before ncing down again at the detective."Stranger things have happened, I


    guess." O''Dea spoke under his breath as he loosened his tie and headed for the door. "Don''t go


    anywhere, we still have a lot to iron out, you and I."


    Linus heard the door m behind him, he was all alone. The man turned and gazed on at the shapes


    and sizes mill about in the busy office beyond the blurry ss in the door. Eventually, he would have to


    see all of those same shapes and sizes face to face; staying inside the room all day was improbable.


    Linus sat and took a glimpse of his own blood stained fingers that he hadn''t bothered to wash since


    before yesterday evening. The redness of his fingernails was beginning to turn a darker shade. For a


    second or two the man had to actually remind himself just where he was to begin with.


    It took just about every ounce of energy, but Linus ultimately managed to get up from out of his warm


    seat and gingerly carry himself out of the room and towards his desk.With just about every set of


    mournful eyes bearing down upon him, Linus began to empty the contents of his desk into a small,


    brown box that he had already seated underneath the desk.Numerous pens and pads, a miniature U.S.


    g and a framed picture of his daughters all found their way into the musty old box.


    The detective could feel the enormous weight of every stare beam upon him. Besides the ringing of


    telephones, the entire room was quiet. A couple of typewriters could be heard in the background, along


    with the chanting protesters outside the building, beyond those annoyances, the fourth floor was a


    hushed tomb.


    Linus could feel the tears begin to well up inside his eyes; he wanted more than anything to breakdown


    right there at his empty desk, but instead, he chose the restraint of pride to hold back the eventual


    emotion.He swallowed his saliva and grunted while getting up from his seat. He put on his winter coat,


    loaded his box underneath his right armpit and without giving his co-workers a second nce he simply


    headed for the stairwell.


    As Linus stepped down the stairs that led to the garage, his red eyes couldn''t seem to tear themselves


    away from the grimy, discolored floor beneath his feet. He could hear perps hollering vile obscenities as


    he passed one floor after another; to him, they were just blurs in his head, like the buzzing of bees.


    Linus took one more step, and before he knew it, he was at the final door. The man pushed open the


    door and right away caught sight of his own car parked just three yards ahead.


    He briskly marched across the freezing cold parking lot while noticing his breath escaping with every


    step that he made. Linus'' legs were bing rubbery; his pace was uncoordinated. The weight of the


    box he was carrying was rapidly bing heavier. His car appeared more like it was miles away


    rather than simple feet.


    Nearly dropping his box to the ground, Linus, with one hand, feverishly reached into his pants pocket


    and pulled out his car keys, only to have the box and all the contents within crash to the cement.Out of


    both frustration and fear, Linus kicked the box out of the way before kneeling to retrieve only his


    beloved frame. When he atst reached the car, he forcefully jammed the key into the lock so hard that


    it nearly broke in half. Just like that, he climbed in and mmed the door shut.


    There alongside him inside the vehicle sat an ugly hush. It had been noiseless inside his head for the


    past few hours. He hadn''t slept a single wink in two nights. In his windshield Linus could see a young


    man shuddering and twisting about in his own pool of blood on a bathroom floor. In the rearview mirror


    he saw a creature seated in the backseat.


    Instead of being numb, Linus'' body felt as though it were dipped inside a freezing cold tank of water;


    the sheer shock of it all repeatedly stabbed at every inch of his body.The man couldn''t even shake


    anymore. He was still, his hands were to the side and his eyes were adamantly pointed directly at the


    steering wheel in front of him. Linus'' mouth hung slightly ajar, as if he were trying to speak a word.


    He no longer possessed anyprehension as to what day, month or year it was, all he seemed to be


    aware of at that point was the fact that it was daytime, and that reality was seen only through the open


    gate just a few feet away to his right.


    All of the sudden, his eyes began to shift, from the steering wheel to the dashboard where his brand


    new Peter Gabriel eight track was lying. Ever so steadily his right hand reached over to the glove


    compartment. Inch by inch the tip of his fingers neared thetch until they ultimately made contact.


    Without even looking, Linus reached inside and slowly pulled out a nine millimeter handgun. Just as


    many minutes as it took for his hands to reach the glovepartment, that was nearly as long as it


    took for him to pull it right back to hisp.


    From his eight track, Linus'' eyes progressed to the weapon that sat warm before him. By then, after


    only thirteen hours removed from the incident, Detective Bruin had managed to forget even the name


    of the young man that he had unsuspectingly put out of his own misery. As a matter of fact, everything


    that had taken ce over the course of the past few days had all but been erased from his brain,


    everything that is expect the nameless young man that was lying on a bathroom floor.


    Images of him convulsing while his face reverted back to the human form caused only a migraine as


    well as an elevated temperature. Within his shattered body he felt so much sorrow for the young man,


    so much so that he wanted to scream.


    Without thinking, Linus raised his gun, pointed it at his right temple and looked down at his daughters''


    smiling faces inside the frame.


    "Linus," n knocked at the driver''s side window.


    Linus spun his head around to see his partner wearing a serious and pitiable manifestation upon his


    face. Soon, the pride that Linus wore so gantly back upstairs was beginning to dissipate.


    Without speaking a word, n opened the door, and with little or no regard towards his own safety, he


    secured the gun from out of Linus'' hand. From there he helped Linus out of the car and wrapped his


    arm around his shoulder while escorting his friend back into the building.


    As they carried on, Linus'' face grew even more anguished and deformed. The man wept; there was


    nothing else left for him to do but weep.


    It was the one and only exnation he could ever hand the world.