Adrian lay on the hospital bed, eyes fixed on a blank spot on the ceiling. His mind was elsewhere; even though his body was aching, the last thing he was concentrating on was the pain.
His brain kept repeating the scene like a movie, over and over again: Riley’s face, the way she shot at those men, the way she almost killed him but changed her mind at the last minute. Adrian was certain he had scared her; otherwise he would have been dead.
“I’m glad to see you’re okay,” Marcus spoke. Adrian turned his head quickly toward his partner, wincing when it felt like hammers punching inside his head. “Care to tell me what happened?”
“There isn’t much to say, as you can see,” Adrian responded, closing his eyes briefly in hopes the pain would wash away. “The Vigilante just showed up and attacked me. He shot the others.”
“Right. Right.” Marcus sounded skeptical and it bothered Adrian that he was almost questioning his words. “You didn’t happen to see his face, did you?”
“No. It was too dark,” Adrian lied. Marcus didn’t seem quite convinced.
“I have a question though; why didn’t he shoot you?” Marcus asked. Adrian sat upright on the bed, despite the sharp pain at the back of his head.
“Why, do you want me dead or some shit?” Adrian snapped, raising his voice a little. Marcus backed away, hands up in defensive mode. As if Adrian would have the energy to attack him.
“Damn, dude, sorry I asked. I’m just curious to know how the mind of this guy works. Why those guys and not you? If you’re a cop he must assume you’re after him; it’s obvious he’ll want you dead,” Marcus stated.
“Well I have no fucking clue why he didn’t shoot me, or why he hit me and ran away,” Adrian said.
“Yeah, about that. You just let him run? If you had the gun on you, why not shoot him to get this over with?” Marcus asked. Adrian shook his head slowly in disbelief.
“Is it me or is this interrogation going to be about all the things I clearly did wrong?” Adrian said.
“Well, him being gone means a whole lot of explaining to the boss. I mean he is, after all, a serial killer now. Despite his victims being criminals as well, doesn’t justify the damage he’s done,” Marcus said.
“If you would have been here six months ago, your words wouldn’t be the same. I think the damage was done by someone else and the Vigilante didn’t even exist,” Adrian said. “So don’t try to make me believe you know what’s going on because you have no fucking clue how much power Julius has over everyone in this town. Julius is a complicated man. He has eyes everywhere. You have no idea how many times we’ve tried to stop him, how many times we’ve tried to put him behind bars, but he has help everywhere. If I knew how to prove it, trust me I would, but my hands are tied.”
“Is that why you’re letting this wannabe superhero kill Martinson’s men? Because he’s the bad guy and apparently the Vigilante isn’t?”
“Who says I’m letting him kill people? Do you see where I am right now?” Adrian responded.
“All I see is that you could have been killed, and you weren’t for some mysterious reason. Allow me to have my doubts on who’s side you’re on,” Marcus said.
“I don’t know what the hell that’s supposed to mean, but if you suggest I have anything to do with the Vigilante one more time, I swear you’ll regret stepping on my toes, you got that?” Adrian snapped.
“If you don’t have anything to do with this guy, then you’re gonna have some big explaining to do. Like, what the hell were you doing with Julius’s guys on the street in the middle of the night?”
Adrian rolled his eyes.
“So now you’re accusing me of working for Julius? What the fuck is wrong with you?” Adrian told him harshly.
“I’m just reading things like I see them,” Marcus replied with a patronizing tone, which angered Adrian even more.
“Why don’t you go fucking read somewhere else?” Adrian replied. He would have done something else if not for his captain walking into the room just in time to witness the interchange.
“What’s going on here?” the captain asked.
“Nothing, boss. This guy was already leaving,” Adrian replied, head spinning and body suddenly exhausted.
“Yes, of course,” Marcus replied. He walked toward the door, then, hand on the doorknob, turned around one last time before he left. “This isn’t over yet.”
Marcus closed the door behind him and Adrian turned angrily toward his boss, face flushed with anger.
“That moron is gonna be the death of this investigation if you don’t get him as far away from this as possible,” Adrian said.
“Why, do you think he’s onto something?” the captain asked. Adrian refused to mention Riley because to his boss she wasn’t a suspect, just a victim, and it had to remain that way until he could talk to her.
“He’s onto the Vigilante, and you know that guy is onto Julius. Soon enough Marcus will connect the dots, he’ll find out Julius is my brother and I was investigating him. I don’t want him to ruin everything we’ve built, especially with all the sacrifices we’ve made,” Adrian said.
“Did he ask you something? About Julius?” the captain said. Adrian was getting tired of the questioning.
“No, but he’s obstinate. He won’t stop until he gets what he wants” Adrian said.
“He wants the Vigilante,” the captain said. Adrian nodded slowly “Then we’ll give him exactly that. It will keep him away from Julius and we’ll finish the investigation in peace.”
Adrian had been afraid his boss would say something like that. Now he was going to have to figure out a way to keep Marcus as far away from Riley as possible; with his eagerness to catch her, he might just do it. Adrian wasn’t going to let that happen, even if Riley had actually become a criminal. Putting
