You Missed One…
As Kevin drove his brother home he peered over to see him biting on his fingernails. It was a nasty habit that all the Richardson’s possessed, biting on their nails when they were in deep thought, or worried about something.
“Something troubling you?”
AJ stopped biting and looked over at Kevin, “No, why do you ask?”
“Because you’re biting your nails.”
“I always bite my nails.”
“Are you sure everything is okay?”
“Kevin I know you do the whole detective thing for a living but there’s nothing to investigate here.”
“Okay if you insist.”
“Speaking of investigating, why did you have women’s underwear on your bathroom floor?”
Kevin felt his face blush, which caused AJ great enjoyment.
“I have a girlfriend.”
“Are you sure you’re not cross dressing because that would seem more likely.”
“I should make you walk home.”
“Kevin you are so overprotective I doubt you would do that.”
“You’re right but I could make you jog in front of my car.”
“Shut up.”
They pulled into the driveway and Kevin put his hand on his brother’s shoulder, “You sure there’s nothing wrong?”
“I’m sure.”
“Okay.”
“Where are you going?”
“I’m coming inside to say hello.”
AJ rolled his eyes at his brother, “What? I am here why wouldn’t I say anything?”
“Just don’t let Brian know I invited myself over.”
“Your secret is safe with me fake tattoo boy.”
AJ gave Kevin the finger as they entered the house. Brian was sitting Indian style on the couch doing his homework and watching TV, and mom was on the recliner with her feet up knitting.
“We’re home!” AJ yelled which caused both to look up.
“Yippee.” Brian said sarcastically returning to his work.
“Kevin, hey sweetie, I made brownies...want a brownie?”
“Thanks mom.”
“Help yourself their on the kitchen table.”
Kevin walked in and grabbed a brownie and poured himself a glass of milk. He missed this, he felt bad for missing it, after all he was soon to be thirty but that didn’t matter. Maybe you were never too old to miss home.
“How come you didn’t ask me if I wanted a brownie?” He heard AJ ask upon his arrival back into the living room.
“Because you can eat them whenever you like…come here.” AJ stood up and walked over to his mom. She pulled him down on her lap at the amusement of Brian who snickered.
“Mom…”
“That tattoo is a fake?”
“Yes.”
“How come you let me think it was real?”
“Sorry.”
He placed his head on her shoulder as she continued to knit, “You are going to make me gray AJ!” Then she grabbed his head and kissed it. “But I love you.”
“I love you too mom.”
They all watched TV together for an hour before Kevin finally forced himself to get up to leave, “Hey you think Nick is asleep?”
“I hope so but I doubt it.”
“I’m going to go up and peek in on him really quickly.”
“Okay…” She said to Kevin then turned to AJ, “and you better have your homework done for tomorrow.”
AJ shook his head, “Mom it’s done. I did it before Kevin invited me over for dinner.” He made sure he looked over at Brian when he said that just to dig at him. Kevin ignored it and made his way upstairs.
Nicky’s door was opened a crack and the nightlight was on. It looked like he was sleeping; his covers off of him as he lay twisted in the bed. Kevin walked in, grabbed the covers from the floor and gently placed them on the little boy, kissing the top of his head as he turned to leave the room.
“Daddy?” That made Kevin stop and turn around.
“What did you say Nicky?”
Nick sat up and rubbed his eyes, “Kevin?”
Kevin sat on the bed, “Howdy, I’m sorry I woke you up, I didn’t mean too.”
“That’s okay is everything all right?”
“Yup.” He smiled and tousled Nick’s hair.
“Why are you here?”
“I wanted to say thanks for the badge.”
“Wow AJ remembered?”
“Yup he did and I loved it. I have it hanging on my fridge.”
Nick smiled, “Good, I just want you to be safe okay?”
“I will be.”
He noticed something lying by Nick’s pillow and saw it was a flannel shirt.
“What’s that partner?” Nick tried to hide it when Kevin went to grab it. He placed it in his hand; the scent brought him back eight years.
“Where did you get this Nicky?”
“Mom gave it to me. It was dads.”
“I know… he used to wear it all the time.” Kevin said picturing his father sitting at the kitchen table on a Sunday morning in this flannel shirt reading his morning paper while sipping coffee.
“I miss him.” The child confessed as he lay back down and hugged the stuffed teddy bear next to him.
“You didn’t even know him,” Kevin said giving the shirt back to his baby brother who quickly laid it under his pillow.
“I know but I still miss him.”
Once again the guilt came at him full force. He was the reason this child never knew his father. He was the only reason.
“I do too baby…now go back to sleep.” Kevin said, once again kissing the top of Nick’s head and standing up.
“Kevin?”
“Yeah?”
“Please be careful.”
“I always am,” He said winking before closing the door partway and walking back down the steps.
As he left, the drive home felt so lonely. The words I miss him clung to his mind and wouldn’t let go. He often didn’t think about Nick missing their father. He was barely two months old when he died. Sometimes he worried about his own mortality. How easily it would be for him to be killed in the line of duty. He had been lucky actually, in all the years he had been a part of law enforcement, he had only been shot at once. He never told his family about it, knowing that if his mother knew, she would have demanded he quit and become a soda jerk at some ice cream shop.
When he heard the gun go off at first, his heart stopped. It sounded more like a crack then a shot. He had already learned that from the police academy but still it all became different when you were the one being shot at.
Luckily, no one got hurt, but still it made him stop and think about death, even going so far as writing up a will. Another thing he would never tell his mother. At the end of the day, he had a very dangerous job and most of them ignored it, but apparently not the baby of the family. He was more aware than anyone gave him credit for.
By the time he walked back into his apartment and turned on his light it was almost eleven pm. His answering machine was glowing red. “Lisa.” He said smiling as he walked over once again blushing at what AJ had said. Next time he’d have to remember to take a minute and clean up any spare underwear left on the floor.
When he played back the message however, it was a man, the call was static filled and the message very short. “You missed one detective,” Was all he said before he hung up.
Quickly Kevin took the tape out of his machine and placed it in a bag, fear running through him, as he grabbed his keys and headed out the door for his office. Once he was there the night shift was very surprised to see him. He handed off the tape and explained what was on it. They quickly took it for analysis.
“I’ll be back first thing in the morning; by the time I get here I want to know who that is.”
“We’ll do our best Kevin,” The night lab technician said grabbing the tape and all but running down the hall to have it examined.
Bright and early the next morning, Kevin arrived barely getting any sleep and holding a giant cup of coffee. He was hoping more than anything that there would be a report waiting for him on his desk.
“How come you didn’t wait for me to come pick you up this morning?” Howie said coming in about thirty minutes after Kevin.
“I got a call last night D. He said I missed one.”
“Who did?”
“If I was a betting man, I’d say it was Scott Wilson.”
“He called you at home?”
Kevin nodded, “Left me a message.”
“That’s not good Kev.”
A few minutes later the same lab technician he handed the tape to last night, walked over to him, looking very tired and ready to go home.
“We analyzed it but the voice didn’t match any we have in our data bank.”
“Do we have Scott Wilson on tape anywhere?”
“No, I don’t believe we do.”
“I’m almost positive this is him.”
“What do you think he meant by you missed one?”
“No idea. Did we get the things we recovered from the house sent out yet?”
“Yup we have been working on them all night. So far we have positive matches for three of the girls.”
“That’s great.”
“What about the figurines?”
“We haven’t gotten that far yet.”
“Okay thanks…good work.”
The man nodded and then went home. Howie looked over at Kevin with a worried expression on his face, “What?”
“He called you at home Kev.”
“I can’t worry about that right now, I need to know what we are missing.”
“It also might have been a prank call.”
“He called me detective, how would he know that if it was a prank?”
“How would he know it was you working on this case?”
Kevin shook his head as he opened his desk drawer and took out the picture of the man they were talking about. He looked normal enough, but his eyes had an added layer of evil to them. You could almost sense the madness behind those eyes. Something wasn’t right.
“Maybe he has been watching us this whole time, you know as we entered his house and went through his things.”
“Should we send someone to the neighborhood?”
“Yes, let’s get a car over to the neighborhood, scout out the area, and maybe look for fingerprints on any payphones around there.”
“I’ll go do that.”
“Thanks Howie.”
He looked over at his friend and smiled, “And D, please be careful.”
“I will.”
“I’m going to call some of these parents to see if they have any Precious Moments figurines missing from their houses.”
“Good idea, I’ll check back with you later.”
Once Howie left the room, Kevin turned his attention back to the picture of Scott Wilson, the man behind so many deaths. “We’re going to get you…just a matter of time.”
Be back on Friday with another chapter!
