The Florist

Crawling

            One look at the clock in the living room amplified Capri’s worry as she anxiously awaited her boyfriend. He’s normally home by now, she told herself. Where is he?

            She phoned his desk and was surprised to hear Franco’s voice. “Hey! It’s Capri.”

            “As if I didn’t know,” he smiled. “What’s up?”

            “Uh, I was looking for Mel. He’s normally here by now and I was …”

            “Here? Is he supposed to be meeting you somewhere?”

            Capri’s eyes shut as she huffed in upset. She forgot that no one else knew where she was staying except the captain who ordered the arrangement. With her silence, Franco gained insight on the situation.

            “You’re staying with Perrin.”

            “Please don’t say anything. No one’s supposed to know.”

            “Now the relationship between the two of you makes more sense,” he laughed as she gasped. “Oh, it’s all right. I’m pretty sure the only ones who caught it were me and Grayson. Ward’s about as bright as a broken light bulb.”

            “But how did you guys …?”

            “Princess, Grayson and I have known Mel since he was a tyke. The two of us, the chief, and his dad were thick as thieves. I took his death really hard. It’s the reason I left the field and decided to do more work behind the scenes. He was my partner.”

            Capri’s eyes lit up. “I didn’t know that.”

            “Figured you didn’t. He doesn’t talk about it much. Watching that cancer wear on his mom was painful enough, but when his father was killed on duty,” he paused. Capri could hear the struggle in his voice. “We both could’ve died that day, but I kept fighting … for my family. You know, it didn’t make sense to me until I talked to Mel at Clark’s funeral. I told him, I just don’t understand it, you know? I’ve always known your dad to fight. I guess he was tired. That boy looked me dead in my eyes and said, No, Uncle E. I told him it was okay to let go, so him and mom could be together. I know he misses her.”

            “Oh my God!” she gasped.

            “He tried to be strong, but losing them both so close together ate away at him. It didn’t help that his marriage to Paige was booby-trapped either.”

            “Wait, bobby-trapped? How do you mean?”

            “Chief Paige kind of … manipulated the fact that Imogen, Mel’s mother, wanted to see him happy before she died so he had him marry his daughter.”

            Capri’s body stiffened. Something didn’t sound right. “I thought his mother died when he was eighteen?”

            “She did. Mel and Paige were both eighteen when they got hitched. Imogen helped plan the wedding, we all attended, it was beautiful. She passed a few months later,” he explained. “Well, I think I’ve told enough of Mel’s tales from the past. I’m going to head home. You take care, kid. I’m sure I’ll see you soon.”

            “Yeah,” she said somberly. “You too.”

                                                                                                    §

            Mel chugged along as Ward continued to order more beers and shots of liquor than he could possibly count. When he started seeing two of everything, he knew it was time to substitute bottles of booze for glasses of water. The bartender offered to call a cab for him when his partner left him hanging for a gang of girls, but he refused. Since he didn’t want to leave his car at the bar, he reached out to Franco who gave him an earful while his wife followed behind in their family car.

            “What are you thinking, Melvin? You’re a light drinker just like Clark was and you were doing shots? What’s going on? Come on, talk to me.”

            “I can’t face her right now,” he confessed.

            “Her? Who, Capri? That’s what this is about?”

            “How am I supposed to tell her that the same guy she’s looking for, the same guy who took her whole family, is gunning for her?”

            “I knew this would happen. Now, you listen to me. We cannot afford mistakes like this! We have a serial killer on the loose.”

            “I know that.”

            “You know that?”

            “Yeah.”

            “Then act like you know it,” he reprimanded. “You’re scared for her? You want to protect her? You want to protect this town? Use that fear, that desire to keep her safe, as a means to do so. You don’t go get plastered and cry the blues about how you don’t know what to say to her. That’s a strong young woman you got there, and if you’re going to be with her, then you need to be strong for her.”

            “Wh – what if I can’t be, Uncle E? What if I can’t protect her? I’ll never forgive myself.”

            Mel felt like a child as he looked into his elder’s eyes for guidance. Franco parked the car in Mel’s driveway before turning to his surrogate nephew. “You can do anything, be anything, so it’s never about whether you can or can’t. It’s a question of whether you should or shouldn’t. It’s a matter of whether you will or won’t.”

                                                                                        §

            Capri jumped from the bed and ran to the front of the house when she heard the door open. She was surprised to see Mel so disoriented that he had to hang onto Franco’s sturdy shoulders. She moved out of the way as he helped her boyfriend to the couch. She tried to hide the anger, but her tone still oozed with venom when she asked, “What happened to him?”

            “He went out with Ward to grab a drink.”

            “A drink?” she countered mockingly. “Is Ward as bad as he is?”

            Franco’s gesture implied that he was unaware. “By the time I got there, he was gone. The bartender said he left with a pack of girls.”

            “He left him? Like this?”

            “There’s a reason no one’s too fond of him,” Franco said with one raised brow. “Try and take it easy on him, princess. He’s got a lot on his mind.”

            She nodded and thanked him for seeing Mel home before showing him out. After closing the door, she stood against it with her hands folded and stared at her drunken boyfriend. Capri had no words for him, none that were nice anyway, and she told herself to make the attempt to take it easy on him as Franco requested.

            “Hey, baby,” he hiccupped.

            She rolled her eyes in disgust. “Hey.”

            “Come sit here, sit next to me.”

            “I’d rather not.”

            His head lazily jerked at her response. “Baby, wh – why you acting like that?”

            “Why are you acting like this? We’re in the middle of a pressing investigation and you go get drunk?”

            “I don’t – I – I don’t know what happened.”

            “You don’t know what happened?”

            “It was just supposed to be one drink.”

            “Oh and let me guess: you got one sip of liquor and suddenly forgot how to count? You’ve got to be kidding me. You’re a grown man. Take some responsibility for your actions.”

            “I am responsible!”

            “This is you responsible? Is that what I’m looking at right now? Huh?” she shouted as he struggled to stand.

            “Man, whatever.”

            “Whatever?”

            “I don’t have to listen to this. Coming at me about responsibility. Humph. Who have you ever had to be responsible for, Capri, huh? Who have you had to look after besides yourself?”

            “Oh, so you want to argue tonight. Is that it?”

            “You’re the one getting mad because I had a drink or two!”

            “I’m mad because you’re drunk!” she corrected. “You went out and got drunk when we’re supposed to be busting our asses to c***k this case!”

            “I been busting my ass! You know what it’s gotten me? Nothing. Absolutely nothing. We question people, we bring them in, and you know what happens? Another body pops up. Another body with no killer. All these lives I have to look after, and they just keep slipping out of my fingers no matter how hard I try to hold on to them.”

            Capri didn’t appreciate the volume of his tone but during his rant, she heard his voice c***k a few times. It was then that she knew there was more to the story behind his intoxication. “Something happened today,” she concluded. “What is it? Tell me.”

            “Man, just … let it go.”

            “No! Talk to me! Tell me what happened.”

            “Just go, man.”

            “What?” she whispered as her heart fell to her stomach. “You want me to go?”

            “I – I don’t, I don’t know, man.”

            “You don’t know?” she voiced erratically. Generally, Capri refused to let a guy see her cry, but at that moment she didn’t care. “I’ll make it easy for you. If this is the kind of protection I can expect from you, I’m better off by myself. By sunrise, you won’t even know I was here.”

            Capri furiously stomped back toward the bedroom and slammed the door shut as Mel plopped down on the couch and covered his face in shame. The light of the moon caressed her cheeks until her whimpers transformed into light snores, signaling that she was asleep.