“No, my friend. Surveillance only.”
“You got it. I’ll call you when I find him,” Robert answered and hung up.
The reason why you can’t kill him, Robert, is because I fear he may be dead already, Wyatt sat back into his chair and rubbed his temples. “Please prove me wrong, Robert,” Wyatt whispered to himself.
9
Ness opened eyes, and her vision was blurry. She swallowed a few times, but her mouth felt like chalk. She blinked several times until her vision cleared, and she sat up in her bed. She didn’t think that she would sleep that deeply—she couldn’t recall dreaming. But, after everything that was going on, the lack of dreams was definitely working in Ness’ favor. The dreams that she had after the accident were terrifying, so the lack of them now was comforting.
“Time to get up, Ness. You still need to get to Wyatt’s house while you still have time to be alone,” Ness said to herself as she rolled out of bed and grabbed her phone off her bedside table: 11:56 A.M. Ness jumped out of bed and got dressed. She still had to pack a bag that would tie her over for a few days. It took Ness 30 minutes to pack everything that she needed and then she walked downstairs and locked up the house before heading to the station.
Ness parked her car and walked inside. Her skin broke out in goosebumps when she entered the doors with the air conditioners set on a remarkably low temperature.
“Hey Agatha. It’s freezing in here,” Ness said as she approached Agatha’s desk. “You know how these officers like their cold. Anything over 75 degrees and they claim to be melting,” Agatha used air quotes with her fingers and then burst out laughing. “But you and I are definitely the reptiles here: we like the heat.”
Ness laughed. “Have a great day, Agatha. I’m just popping in to see Wyatt.”
“It’s been wonderful seeing you so regularly, Nessie. I hope this becomes a habit,” she smiled broadly. Ness walked over to Wyatt’s desk who seemed to be out on a call because his chair was empty. Ness sat down and waited for him to return. Her dad’s office door was closed, and though she wasn’t sure if he was in, she wasn’t too keen on seeing him at the moment. She felt as though he knew she was lying when they were in the kitchen earlier in the morning. So, she remained at Wyatt’s desk.
20 minutes later, Wyatt returned and looked like he’d just run a marathon.
“What happened to you?”
“There was a teenager that pickpocketed an old lady at the grocery store, and he was caught by security; when I was transferring him to the vehicle, he decided to make a bolt for it,” Wyatt said.
Ness bit on her lip to suppress her building laugh. “It’s not funny, Ness.”
“It’s a little funny,” Ness giggled. “Did you catch the teenager?”
Wyatt glared at her, “Shut up.” This made Ness burst into laughter, “I’m sorry, Wyatt.”
“It’s alright, it’s good to see you laugh. We know who the kid is, so we’ll catch up with him sooner or later,” Wyatt smiled as he sat down. “Here are the keys to the house,” He took off a few keys from his keychain. “Just park outside the garage when you get there. The big oak tree is offering plenty of shade nowadays.”
“Thanks, Wyatt. Do you mind if I go there now to unpack?”
“Not at all. Just don’t wreck the house.”
“I’ll try my best,” Ness stood up and winked at her brother as she exited the station.
It only took Ness 10 minutes to drive from the station to Wyatt’s house, and although it was the house that they moved into right after they were married, it was comfortably sized. Being an up-and-coming police officer in the community and the son of the sheriff, Wyatt was able to purchase this home at a remarkable discount. The previous owners were happy to sell to someone who dedicated his life to keeping their neighborhood safe.
Ness parked her Civic in front of the garage doors under the vast shade produced by the oak tree. She climbed out and went straight for the front door. Once she unlocked the door and stepped inside, she had a quick look around the place. She hadn’t been here in a while, and she could see that the lovely couple made many improvements.
“Lindsay, are you home?” Ness called out, knowing that she most likely wouldn’t be there, but she didn’t want to take any chances. Her being there wasn’t entirely innocent, and she didn’t want to get caught with her hand in the proverbial cookie jar. Satisfied that no one was at home, she went straight into the den, dropped her bag on the floor next to the sofa, and turned on the desktop computer on the desk. The computer booted up within a few seconds, but Ness’ progress was immediately hindered by password protection.
“What would my brother use as his password?” Ness whispered and started typing in the names of his favorite teams, anagrams, and mixtures of Wyatt and Lindsay’s names; nothing seemed to be working.
“Come on, Ness. This is Wyatt you’re dealing with. He’s not always the sharpest knife in the drawer,” Ness looked around the desk and could see a picture frame close to the computer. Ness picked it up. It was a picture of Lindsay on their wedding day.
“Hmmm . . . I wonder,” Ness said and typed in Lindsay07072016—the computer unlocked. “Wife’s name and anniversary date. Should have led with
