Brook
1999 Words
Alsie POV-
Sarah and I pulled up to a local little coffee shop. The day was becoming pleasant. Not too hot, not too cold, a small breeze was blowing. It was the perfect Spring Day. Sarah parked close to the windows, so we could keep an eye on her cruiser. We both got out of the car and went into the cute little place.
The street side of the building had floor-to-ceiling windows, and the front door we walked through was a glass door, with a break bar. It was so cheery when you walked in with all the pink and yellow décor, the wooden signs with goofy sayings on them. The place had a “grandmas’ kitchen” vibe to it. I liked it. It was cozy and had a friendly feel to it.
The smells of pancakes, waffles, bacon, and coffee hit me hard.
“I didn’t realize how hungry I was, until we walked in here”
“Yea, me too.” Agreed Sarah
We walked to the back of the coffee shop to grab a booth and hopefully have some kind of privacy. As we were walking past the row of booths, I stopped so suddenly that Sarah bumped into me.
“Alsie, what the hell?”
“Look!” I whisper-yelled at Sarah and I nodded my head in a forward notion.
“Are you kidding me right now?” Sarah responded from behind my back.
“What are you going to do? OMG, they’re beautiful and when they’re all together their coloring goes from dark to light. Like when you first put cream in your coffee.”
“Ugh, you’re hopeless Sarah.”
I knew Andrew saw me, because he was sitting there with his eyes closed tight, like a little kid playing "If I can’t see you, you can’t see me". These three, so childish. What are they doing here? I asked myself.
After, my initial shock of seeing them wore off. I continued walking towards the booth in the back of the row. Sarah followed me. I stopped when I approached the booth the triplets were sitting in.
“Food any good?” I asked, looking at their table and seeing the pile of dirty dishes.
“Yes, it is. I suggest pancakes.” commented Osiris.
“Andrew, you can open your eyes. I can see you. Childish all three of you. This is an awfully long drive for pancakes.”
“Yes, it is. But we need to have a conversation with someone we know here in the city before she comes back to our neck of the woods.”
Why was Osiris being cryptic? This is weird.
“I’m sure in this day and age the person you are looking to speak with has a cell phone.”
"She does. However, this discussion should take place in person with all four of us present." Osiris continued, almost formally. f*****g alphas and their egos.
“Right. Well, I hope you find who you are looking for. Just some quick advice, you know for future reference, even if a conversation is meant to be had in person, a heads-up phone call, text, or email, is always better than a surprise visit. I say this with the utmost respect; ALWAYS reach out first. Pop-ups throw the other person off and can make them defensive. Also, it comes off as stalker-ish.”
“Point taken. Thank you, Detective.”
“You’re welcome. Have a good day.”
Sarah and I walked silently to the booth in the very back of the coffee shop. The booth Sarah and I found had two menus on the table. It was roomy, the seat cushions were comfortable, with no lumps or springs poking through the faux leather.
I looked around and noticed that the place was busy. People were sitting at the breakfast counter, reading the newspaper, others were sitting in booths that lined the windows. Some were on their cell phones, a few were reading their books or magazines. There was no TV in sight, just the low hum of a local radio station playing. That’s when I saw the clock on the wall above the door, we had come through. I couldn’t believe it was 9:12am.
“It’s after 9am? No wonder I’m hungry. How are you functioning, Sarah?” I asked curiously.
“No. We are NOT doing that Detective. What in f**k is going on? Why are they here? Does this have to do with the kiss?”
I laughed. “I don’t know, Sarah. All those questions you just asked me plus many more are swirling around in my head. I don’t have any answers. I’m tired, mad, hungry and confused. Can we please order some food and go over our case? Well, the current one?”
“Alsie, did you see this menu? The more I read it, the hungrier I get.”
Just as I picked up my menu, a cute server about 5’5” tall with long blonde hair pulled back into a high ponytail, walked over to our table, dressed all in black with a black apron. The apron had a picture of a cake and a stand mixer on it, and the apron read, “I bake, so I don’t kill people”.
Sarah and I made eye contact and started laughing out loud. In between chuckles, I read the blonde’s name tag. Her name is “Justine”
“Can I get you two anything to drink?” asked Justine as she looked at us questionably.
“Coffee and water for me. I’m ready to order, as well, if that’s OK.”
“Me too.” Replied Sarah
“Ok, sure. What can I get for you ladies?”
“I’ll have the pancake special with my eggs over medium, bacon not to crispy, hashbrowns, English muffin, and one of those blueberry muffins while I wait.”
“You know what Justine? I’m going to make it easy. Alsie’s order sounds perfect. Make it two of those.”
“Sure ladies. No problem.” With that, Justine walked off, swinging her ponytail from side to side.
A few minutes passed and Justine reappeared with coffee, water and blueberry muffins for both Sarah and me.
I poured a little sugar into my coffee, stirred it and then cut my muffin in half. I was getting ready to take a big bite of my muffin when my phone rang.
“Man…this couldn’t have waited two more minutes?” I asked myself. I fished around in my pocket and found my phone.
“Uh. It’s the M.E.” I told Sarah, as I answered the call.
“Detective Alsie. You got an ID already, Kyle?”
“Oh hey, yea I do.”
“That was fast.” I commented as I ate a bite of my muffin. I washed it down with a sip of coffee.
I took another sip of my coffee, as I put my phone on speaker and turned the volume down to ensure only Sarah and I could hear the voice on the other end of the call. I placed my phone in the middle of the table. Sarah and I leaned in to hear what Kyle had to say.
“Your Vic’s prints were in the system, so ID’ing her was easy.”
“OK, why were they in the system?”
"I don’t know it wasn’t local to our area. It was something in Lewis County. It looks like she was printed for some type of police work.”
“Police work in Lewis County?” I asked, quizzically. Sarah and I looked up at each other. Sarah shrugged her shoulders.
“Yea. The name comes back to a Brooklyn Haggard.”
When Kyle said Brooklyn Haggard, I almost choked to death on my coffee. I coughed and spat out the coffee in my mouth at the same time. I ended up spraying coffee all over Sarah.
“I’m sorry, did you just say Brooklyn Haggard? You’re positive that it’s Brooklyn Haggard?” I asked Kyle.
“Yes, Detective 100%, without a doubt. The body in my morgue, from your murder scene, at Club 8 is Brooklyn Haggard.” Confirmed Kyle.
“Do you have a cause of death?” I asked.
“Yes, the cause of death is a GSW to the chest. Manner of death homicide. We recovered the bullet. It was a .45, we sent it down to the crime lab. It looked pretty clean when we removed it. They should be able to get good markings off it.”
“Thanks for the update, Kyle. We’ll talk soon,” I said as I hung up the phone.
“You knew her?” asked Sarah, which was more of a statement than a question.
“Yep, and so did they.” I said as I turned around and pointed to the Sandolf Triplets.
I stood up just as Justine was bringing over our breakfast. That would have to wait a few minutes, even though my stomach thought I was wrong. I headed over to the table that housed the triplets.
“You guys got a minute?” I asked.
“Yea sure,” replied Evander. Both Andrew and Osiris nodded their heads.
“Follow me.” I instructed.
The four of us went outside the coffee shop and took a couple of steps away from the front door.
“What’s going on Alsie? You can’t be that mad at us for wanting to come and talk to you.”
“I’m not Andrew, not anymore,” I said.
“As you three know, I left to work a case early this morning. While I was in the coffee shop waiting for my breakfast, mad as hell at you three, I got a call from the M.E. Our victim at Club 8 was Brooklyn Haggard.”
“WHAT?” growled Osiris.
“That’s not all. Her prints were in the system because she was doing some kind of work with the Lewis County Sheriffs' department.
“We’ve got to go. NOW!” barked Osiris.
I stepped up in front of Andrew. I could see his eyes go completely black with rage. His neck started to thicken, his nails started elongating.
“Andrew, I need you to look at me. I know you’re mad, but this is not the place for that. You are in the human world,” I said calmly as I placed one of my hands around his waist and the other on his chest. I pulled myself close to him, so our bodies were touching.
“Andrew listen to my voice, come back to me. Breathe slowly in your nose and out of your mouth. Listen to my voice, feel my hands on you.”
I could feel some of the tension in his body start to release. I could hear him breathing with me.
“Ok, good. Keep breathing.” I leaned my head against his chest to listen to his heartbeat. It was slowing down, his breathing was becoming even. I looked up into his eyes and there they were those copper eyes that looked like glass.
“You scared me, don’t do that again.”
“OK. I’m calm, I’m in control. I’m sorry I scared you.”
“You can let me go now.” I said softly, but secretly I didn’t want to move. I wanted to spend a few more seconds here with him.
Andrew bent his neck down, so his mouth was just inches from the top of my head, and he whispered, “The only way your touch, your smell, your voice, could’ve calmed me and brought me back like it did is if you are my mate.”
With that parting sentence, Andrew withdrew from my embrace and the Sandolf triplets went to their car and drove off. Leaving me there on the sidewalk, stunned in silence.
- Writer
