After Michael and I left the mall, on our way to our car in the parking garage, I told Michael what I was going to do. He didn’t really get it. “What makes you think Spaz is going to have any answers?... Hello ladies…” He said off to the side to some passing girls.
I answered him any ways. “Either He knows something Don doesn’t or we know something he doesn’t. Either way, it’s more than what we know now.”
After being rejected, he said, “Yeah but Don made us promise not to tell anyone. That includes Spaz.”
He had a point. “Well then, what do you think we should do?” I asked sarcastically.
“We go talk to Melanie. At least tell her what we know.”
“I’m not telling her anything until I get some definite answers from Spaz.” We reached the car and I unlocked it.
Michael and I opened our doors. “Well how do you expect to do that?”
I paused, “I don’t know yet. I may have to talk to Melanie’s dad. He’s a cop. He’ll have to know some kind of technique to get info from someone.” We got into the car and started it.
Michael continued, “Maybe, but where do we go now?”
I sighed, “I don’t know. I have to see when her dad is available and then go talk to him then. It might be a couple of days.”
“Ok, well once you know something let me know. If he comes back, I don’t want to be the only one in the dark.”
“Don’t worry. When I know something, you’ll know something.”
“Fair enough.”
We backed out and left the parking garage. It was getting dark now so I drove him back home. The drive to his house consisted of rocking out to our favorite bands and Michael whistling at girls out the window. He was always hitting on girls no matter where we were. I would always keep him in line though, smacking him when he said something objectifying. That was his style, random, wild thinking. He made for good comic relief in life. When we got to his house, I asked if he was doing anything over the weekend and he said no, but asked if I would be willing to hang out with Rose because she had been wanting to hang again ever since our trip to Sedona. I said sure and asked him if he was going to come with. He said he would and we left it at that.
A few days later, Michael had been throwing up, so Rose and I decided we would go hang out alone. There’s not much to do in Tucson besides walk around Old Town, go to the mall, or hang out at parks. So since we didn’t have any money at the time, we chose the park. We weren’t really doing anything special. We just sat on the swings and talked. “I’m glad we get to hang out alone today. I don’t think we have ever gotten to do this before.” She said cordially, as she began to rock back and forth on the swing.
“Yeah, it’s nice.” I didn’t know what to talk about. Usually, Mike and I would crack jokes and she would interject, but here, without mike, I was lost. What do you talk about with your best friends sister who use to have a crush on you? I mean, really. Lucky for me, she took the initiate. “So how are you and Melanie doing?” Ok, not the worse subject to talk about with her. “Uh, good I guess.”
“Oh.” Crap, I stand corrected, worse subject to talk to her about. “What do you mean ‘Oh’?” I kind of giggled, trying to not show how awkward I felt about her response.
“Can I be honest with you about something?” And it gets worse.
I asked, so I had already stepped in it. why not go swimming? “Yeah, of course.”
“I’m really not a fan of her.”
Not what I had expected but ok. “Why?” I asked confused.
“I don’t know. Something just isn’t right with her.”
“What are you talking about? You are the one who practically set us up.”
“I know, but… Call it a woman’s intuition.”
“Woman’s intuition? Are you sure you’re not just jealous?”
“Of her? HA, You’re funny, Nick!”
“What? You know you use to like me!”
“Yeah, when I was like 10. Come on Nick, we have practically grown up together. You might as well be my brother.”
Well that was a relief. “Hahaha, yeah you have a point.”
“You thought I still liked you, didn’t you?” Now she was just patronizing me.
“No! No I didn’t.” Yes I did.
“Yes you did!”
“No I really didn’t!” Yes, I REALLY did.
“Oh come on, Don’t lie. You did, didn’t you?”
What could I say? She wasn’t buying it. “Ok fine, the thought had crossed my mind.” Like a million times.
She started laughing really hard. Then she started talking in a high pitched voice, acting as a caricature of herself to mock me. “Hahahaha… Oh Nick! Your SO hot!” She got off her swing and started over acting everything out. “Why do you have to have a girlfriend?!? You and I should GO OUT!!!...”
“Oh shut up…”
“But Nick, I want you!” She threw her self on me, almost knocking me off my swing. “Come on give me a SMOOCH!!”
“Oh GOSH, Rose, COME ON!” I pushed her off of me, as she started cracking up. She tripped backwards and fell on her but in the sand. “Oh man, I’m sorry! Are you ok?” She was sitting there silent, with her head slumped down into her chest. I noticed her shoulders starting to bounce up and down, but there was no noise. She threw her head back and I saw her eye smashed shut and her mouth wide open… laughing! She was laughing so hard she wasn’t making any noise. She could barely breath. I couldn’t help but start laughing with her. Her whole performance was pretty entertaining, and to end it with that kind of fall was pure comedy. I tried helping her up but I started laughing so hard I fell down, too. We sat there for the next 20 minutes or so just laughing at ourselves.
The rest of the day passed with us laughing and joking about earlier. She didn’t let me live that one down for a while. We went back to my house and I got some money from my dad for dinner. She wanted to go to a Mexican food place so we did. We bought Mike a tortilla soup to get better. That night, I dropped her off at her house. As she got out, she turned back and thanked me for the dinner. “Thanks Nick. Today was really fun. I’m glad we got to hang out.” She then leaned back into the car and gave me a kiss on the cheek. “Your welcome. We should hang out again soon. Tonight was really fun.”
“Today?”
“Yeah, that’s what I meant, today.”
She smiled and agreed. Then she shut the door and I waited to see her walk in the front door.
The next day, I went to Melanie’s house to talk to her father. It was late in the afternoon on a beautiful cloudy Sunday. When you live in a place where you get nothing but sun all the time, a dark monsoon-ey day, with a thick shroud of clouds is a nice day. Anyways, I got out of my car and walked up to the front door. I rang the doorbell and Melanie answered the door. “Oh hey!” She gave me a kiss. “What are you doing here?” She let me come in and I came into the living room. “Well actually I’m here to talk to your dad. Is he here right now?”
She shut and locked the door behind me. “Actually they found a drug dealer robbed and murdered out near the train tracks. What do you want to talk to my dad about?”
I took a seat on the couch and thought about how to answer. I couldn’t tell her why because she would ask for more information and I couldn’t go there. I had made a promise and even if I didn’t like the guy, I still planed on keeping it. “I just need to ask him for some advise. It’s nothing.” She was persistant though and pushed for an answer. “Advise on what?” She had sat down next to me and put her arm around me. “It’s nothing, really. I’ll tell you what, when I know something, you’ll know something. Ok?” She looked at me with eyes of disbelief. “Come on. You say that when you don’t want to share something.”
“Listen, I can’t tell you anymore than that right now. When I clear some things up, and get some answers, I’ll let you know more. Ok?”
She looked at me and thought about it. “… Ok, fine. But I’ll hold you to it.”
“Fair enough.” I smiled. She leaned in and gave me a kiss.
Just then, her Father walked in the front door. “Well at least you two still have your clothes on.” He said sarcastically. Melanie got up off the couch and came to give her dad a kiss. As she aproched, she said, “Oh dad, you know we wouldn’t do anything.” She then kissed him on his cheek. “Sometimes you make me wonder. Nick, you know your not supposed to be with Melanie without me here.”
“Yes sir, I do, but actually I’m here to see you.” He paused and looked at me with a confused look on his face. “Sir, I actually need to ask your advice about my situation.”
“And what situation would that be?” he said looking at Melanie earnestly.
She piped up, “Don’t look at me, he wouldn’t even give me any details.”
His gaze shifted from her to me. “Alright, we can talk in my office.”
We walked upstairs and entered the second door on the left. His office looked like something out of a movie, with the shelves of book reaching from the floor to the roof along the back wall behind his desk with a huge window to the right with a view of the neighborhood. Behind me was the door and the wall was garnished with pictures of his daughter and him as well as pictures of his ex-wife. You could tell that this was a man who loved his family no matter what. On the wall to my left there was a fireplace that only looked like it belonged in accordance with the other furniture in the room. Who would put a fireplace in a guestroom? I thought to myself. To the right of the fireplace, even with the desk, there was a big gun safe that not only had a ten-key pad but also a finger print scanner and a big silver helm, like on a ship, to unlock and open it. He had more pictures on the mantel and there was a big picture in a fancy frame of him and his daughter hugging during their trip to the Grand Canyon last summer. He sat down in his big leather desk chair behind his desk and motioned me to sit down in one of the stationary leather chair in front of his desk. “So, what is it that you need to ask me?”
“You were a detective before right?”
“Yes, why?”
“I need to know how to get information out of someone without showing my hand on the subject. Got any suggestions?”
“Is this person cooperative?”
“Not likely.”
“Well, I’m not an torturer…”
“I’m not talking that kind of interrogation. What would you do to some one you caught on the street that might have knowledge about someone more important?”
“What do you know, and who are you wanting to talk to?” I told him about my conversation with Don at the mall and I told him about what Spaz said to Melanie at school, minus the whole rape thing. I didn’t need him getting the cops involved just yet. That could wreck my chances of finding Robert. When I was done, he had that look of ‘I see.’ on his face. “That’s why I didn’t want to tell Melanie. I didn’t want her to feel like there was no longer any reason to worry until I know for sure if Robert is dead or not. You cant tell anyone what I told you though, because Don is smart and he’ll find a way to make me pay if anyone finds out that I told.”
“Don’t worry, nothing that is said in this office will ever leave this office. How do you expect to question him?”
“I…” My cell rang. I looked down and saw it was Mike. He probably was calling because he was feeling better and wanted to see if I could hang out so I silenced it. “Sorry about that. I actually haven’t thought about it yet. I figured I’d come talk to you first before I figure out the best way to proceed.”
“Well, We have facilities that we incorporate certain methods of getting into the criminals head. Now, you can improvise these things, but the most important part is…” My phone went off again, this time as a vibrating sound. It was Mike again, so, I silenced it once more. I apologized and he continued. “Well, the most important part is to remember you’re not trying to force the information out of him, you’re trying to coax it out of him. Now, you could kidnap him, but that’s considered illegal. Plus threatening is never a good thing to do. So I suggest you read this…” He got up and walked over to one of the shelves closer the fireplace and took down a small book. It was only about 150 pages or so. He tossed it to me and I looked at the cover. It read “Interrogating a Suspect: Training Manuel for Recruits”.
“Sound’s promising.” I said, reading the title.
“I was given that when I first joined the force by one of my instructors at the academy. He said he knew I’d be a great detective one day.” The room was silent for a moment as he reflected on his days as a detective. I broke the silence when I spoke. “Well, thanks again for your help. I hope I can get some answers.”
“Me too. Good luck.”
I nodded, and turned to walk away, but I stopped and turned back. “By the way, do you mind if I ask, why did they demote any way? You were one of their best detectives.”
“It’s kind of a long story but lets just say I trusted the wrong people closest to me and it destroyed me. But that’s a story for another time.” I nodded and went to walk out the door. When I opened it, Melanie was just about to knock on the door. She had the phone in one hand and looked like she just saw someone get killed. I asked, “Are you ok?”
“Michael is on the phone. He need’s to talk to you.” She was monotone and barely audible. I just looked at her as she handed me the phone. I looked back at her father as I took the phone and put it to my ear. I heard mikes voice on the other end. He sounded nervous but trying to stay calm. “Hey Nick, You wanted my stereo system right?”
I was worried. “That was if you died man. What’s going on?”
“Yeah well, that may be sooner than we thought.”
“Whoa! What are you talking about, man? What are you doing?” I thought I heard cops in the background, yelling on a megaphone. It was muffled though
“You know my dad was never smart about hiding spots, leaving his revolver under his bed with the ammo. Not smart, man.”
“Why are you doing this? Rose needs you, man. Don’t let your sister down. How would she feel if she found out you were dead? Come on man, Think about what your doing!” Melanie’s dad shook his head and mouthed ‘stay calm.’ “I have thought about man, and this is the only way to get her back.”
“Alright, stay calm. Who’s got who?”
“Spaz was on my answering machine when I got home today. He said he had her. Guess she was at the park with friends. He said it was either me or her so I made my decision.”
“No Mike, we can get her back. It doesn’t have to be this way. We can save her. Melanie’s dad is a cop, man. We can…”
“No! If I’m not on the news tomorrow, she’s dead. That’s why I’m calling you. I want you to know I didn’t want to rob this bank, but there was no other way.” The cop’s megaphone in the background started to make sense. I ran downstairs and turned on there TV. The news was on and they were already broadcasting the hold up. The bank was completely surrounded. There was no way he could escape that by himself.
“Man you don’t have to do this. We can still get you off. Just wait for us to get there.” Melanie’s dad was already getting his stuff together.
“No, I’ve made my peace with God, man. I know what I have to do. See you on the flip side.”
“NO! Don’t! Don’t!!!” I heard a gunshot, a thud, then silence over the phone. The anchorman on the news reported, “It seems the gunman has committed suicide by shooting himself in the chest.” That stopped her dad in his tracks. Melanie gasped and held her hands up over her mouth. She was on the verge of tears and so was I. We stood there in utter and complete shock. I couldn’t believe what just happened. No one said a word. The phone was still connected, and I could hear footsteps coming closer as we watched the police move in on the bank. I wanted to stop them from touching him but I couldn’t. I couldn’t even move. Tears were running down my face and I could barely stand, my legs were so weak. Then out of the nothingness on the phone I hear a cough, a gurgle, and a moan that almost sounded like a growl. At that moment, a flood of adrenaline burst through my veins. He was still alive! I screamed into the phone, “HOLD ON MIKE, I’M COMING!”
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