The Bitterness of a Crying Child's Tears

There were crime scenes that stuck in the mind of the police, but this could be thought of as one of the vilest. Several rookie cops had thrown up the contents of their breakfasts, and were now red-faced as they worked on cleaning the mess from the sidewalk and keeping nosy on-lookers from getting too close.

Alexis Cromwell arrived on the scene ten minutes late, still buttoning up the plain white dress shirt he had thrown on after receiving the call from the captain. He was disheveled, but that was to be expected given the circumstances. No one expected to receive a call ordering them back on duty so many of the cops and detectives filing in and out of the tiny apartment were just as disheveled as Alexis was.

“Cromwell!” A somewhat loud booming voice calling his name caught the young detective’s attention.

“Captain?” Alexis mumbled somewhat surprised; if the Captain himself was here then that meant that something serious was going down. Then again, the police forces here were spread so thin the really big cases usually required the Captain to get his hands dirty.

The captain of the police, who specialized in dealing mostly with cases in Downtown, was a man bordering on his fifties, Endaris Dumont. He was forty nine to be exact, and would experience his fiftieth birthday in a couple of weeks. There were talks of vacations and retirements, as well as talks of the captain receiving the status required to move out of this dump of a city.

Captain Endaris was a tall man, standing somewhere around 6’5 and 6’7; he also had the muscle mass that went along with that height. He was the type of man that gathered the attention of all those around him, and was quite the intimidating figure. Whether dressed in a suit or normal clothing.

Back in his younger years, the man had served on the army before being given the opportunity to become captain of what was left of the Downtown police unit and turning it into the police unit, it was today.

“Here, you’ll need this,” the ashen-haired man said as he handed over a small jar. It was a mixture of several things, used to numb the noses of those unfortunate enough to have to deal with things like this.

Alexis rubbed the gel-like substance across his upper lip, and shuddered when the smell flooded his senses. He hated the stuff because it always left him unable to smell things for up to a day, which seemed useful while he was at a crime scene, but turned horrific when it came, time to cook dinner.

“Just what’s going on?” Alexis asked as he followed the man inside the apartment building and up the stairs. Even with the gel numbing his senses the stench was horrible.

“I have no idea,” the captain admitted as he handed a pair of gloves to Alexis, and then pulled on a pair of his own. “We received a call this morning from some kid complaining about the smell coming from this apartment. Took nearly an hour to bust down the door because off the padlocks and it being made of steel, and--”

The moment Alexis entered the apartment he zoned out. Now he could understand just what had made the rookies, and even some of the stronger-stomached police officers lose their lunch.

To say that the place was covered in blood would be an understatement; to be quite honest, it looked like someone had exploded, leaving sinewy flesh hanging from the ceiling and clinging to the walls. The stench was overwhelming; it was not the usual smell of blood, but it smelled of something foul, it smelled of death.

Alexis had not realized that he was no longer listening to the captain until a pair of strong hands shook him back into the present.

“Hey, are you listening?” The captain looked concerned, and for good reason too, since Alexis’s face was now, as pale as a ghost. “Come on Cromwell, I can’t have you losing it.”

Alexis nodded, slowly regaining his composure. He could consciously feel his body return to normal, using the usual counting technique until his heart and breathing rate had returned to normal.

“I’m, I’m fine” he said, pulling away from his captain. The captain did not look convinced and he repeated the phrase again, this time sounding surer of himself.

“Don’t worry about doing too much, okay? Forensics still has a lot that needs to be done here,” the captain said, giving the room a once over, before focusing his attention back on Alexis. “I know how much the last case affected you and--”

“ I am fine, Sir” Alexis said, interrupting the older man.

While standing in a place like this, Alexis did not want or need any reminders about the last case. The final crime scene for that case had been a bloody one too. It was in no means as bloody as this crime scene, but that was besides the point in his mind.

He left before the captain could say anything more and headed into the master bedroom. The closer that he got, the stronger that the smell became, and the happier, he was that he had eaten only half that bowl of cereal; anything more, and he probably would have thrown up like one of the rookies.

x x x

“Jeez, someone must have really hated the son of a bitch” one of the cops on the scene, a young man by the name of Jenkins, said as he stood over the mutilated corpse of the victim.

“What do you expect? The guy was a pedophile. He got what he deserved,” another cop from the same unit said, giving the corpse a disgusted look. “If you ask me, whoever did this did us a huge favor. Guess the sonofabitch wasn‘t made out of teflon after all.”

The corpse on the bed held no answers for the jeering police officers. With its tongue cut out and laid across its chest, it would have not been able to give any answers even if it had been able to talk.

The eyes had been removed as well. The forensics officers had not found them yet, and judging by the mess the apartment had been turned into, they doubted they would find them.

There were many cops at the crime scene that shared the opinion of Jenkins and the other police officer. The victim had been a well-known pedophile, but because the charges never stuck, and they could never find evidence, the man was always getting off scot-free when it came to his crimes. It was hard to find empathy for a victim when the victim was a waste of human flesh like this guy had been.

“ I would appreciate it if you saved that talk for when you’re off duty and in private” Alexis said as he entered the master bedroom.

The two police officers frowned, but were smart enough to keep their thoughts and comments to themselves. Everyone knew that Detective Cromwell was the captain’s favorite, and no one wanted to suffer the tongue-lashing that would be the consequence for disrespecting the pretty detective.

“Oh come on Alexy, you gonna honestly tell me that seeing this guy get his just desserts doesn’t please you in the least?”

Alexis’s blood ran cold when he heard that voice; that slightly cocky tone with a hint of amused arrogance. The way the voice said his name sent chills down his spine, making his skin crawl.

An arm was thrown across his shoulders, and he found himself being pulled into a very unwanted hug. If he still had his sense of smell he knew he would smell the strong scent of aftershave and cologne.

“Regardless of who the victim is,” Alexis said, shoving himself away from the tall and dark bastard who was attached to that arm thrown across his shoulder, “It is our job as police officers to investigate any crime. Regardless of how much of a blessing it is.”

The last part was muttered, but the man standing next to him heard it and began to laugh, loudly.

“I knew you were thinking the same thing!” The man said, continuing to laugh like it was the funniest thing in the world.

Annoyed and exasperated, Alexis turned to stare at the man, who really had no reason to be here in the first place. Allusion Townshend. The thirty-year-old man (who only looked twenty-five) was a private investigator who was both helpful and harmful to the police. The man tended to show up on all the major cases, and had a penchant for getting in the way under the guise of helping.

Alexis’s dislike for Allusion came from years upon years of having to deal with the man during his younger years. Allusion’s father was a friend of his father, and the two had been forced to spend time together while in the company of their fathers. Allusion was also a close friend to his half-brother, which made social gathering very uncomfortable.

Luckily for Alexis, Allusion knew nothing about his younger years or his mother, which gave him the strength to put up with Allusion.

“Why are you here?” The detective asked, pinching the bridge of his nose as he felt a headache coming on.

“I assure you, it has nothing to do with you guys this time” Allusion said, casting a nonchalant look towards the corpse. “I was asked by this pretty little girl to find that guy. Too bad, it seems like someone got to him first.”

So someone had hired Allusion to find the victim? Alexis wondered if this could be beneficial to the case; even if it meant he would have to deal with Allusion, he would need to find this person.

“Really? Do you think you could--”

“Sorry, it’s confidential” Allusion answered with a grin before Alexis could complete his question. “I could be convinced though.”

Alexis could have sworn the man just waggled his eyebrows at him. He could expect that headache to hit him at any moment now. “Just what do you want?”

“Well,” Allusion said, drawing out the word because he knew it would annoy Alexis. “Convince the old man to let me in on this case and I’ll give you the name of the chick who contacted me.”

Alexis was surprised it would be that simple. The captain had never turned down Allusion’s “help” before, so why did the man think it would take the captain some convincing now? Unless Allusion had done something to piss the captain off. Allusion had the personality of a snake so it was not that hard to see that as being the truth.

“Fine, I’ll see what I can do,” Alexis said, stepping aside to allow a forensics officer to pass. “Now, can you tell me the name?”

He waited quietly as Allusion did something with one of the many dials on the clunky looking watch the man wore. It was most likely a camera; Alexis had seen a couple of watches with small built in cameras for sell, but they were mostly spy toys for children with overactive imaginations. Then again, Allusion was similar to a child with an overactive imagination, so he guessed such things suited the man.

“Oh, the name?” Allusion said, finally focusing his attention on something else besides the stupid watch. “Her name’s Jessica. She was the victim’s sister. Sounded really concerned too, was afraid he’d fallen into his old habits again. Such a shame; a pretty girl like that wasting time worrying about her sleazy brother…”

Alexis left Allusion to secretly take more photos, and headed back towards the living area of the apartment. He did not bother telling Allusion not to take photos since he knew it would not get him or Allusion in trouble. No one really bothered with Allusion when it came to those things because the police never could tell when they might actually need the private investigator.

In Downtown, a crime scene was not open to investigation until after forensics got things packaged up and cleaned out. Alexis had no idea how the police in those big cities did it, but he was glad for the somewhat lax way of things here. It was nice to know that he could leave now and go home to wash the stench of the crime scene off and not get in trouble for it.

Informing one of the rookies still hanging around outside that he had checked things out, and to inform the captain that Allusion was inside poking around, he headed towards his car. He hated driving the thing, but it would be disrespectful to climb into a taxi cab while smelling like this.

Starting up the car, he drove back towards his apartment, where he could have a hot bath and change into some fresh clothes.

x x x

An hour long shower, with an equally long amount of time spent on washing his hair, and Alexis felt like he had felt this morning. Happy and clean. He lounged on his couch with a half eaten sandwich on a plate resting on his stomach. It surprised him that he had managed to eat half the sandwich, before the image of today’s crime scene flashed in his mind and filled him with the urge to vomit.

The doll, which still sat on the coffee table, seemed to be mocking him as he set the plate onto the coffee table next to her.

“You finish it off,” he muttered, before turning over onto his side. All he wanted to do was sleep and pray that his dreams were not nightmares, which were not likely.

That plan was dashed to hell when the doorbell rang. For a minute he ignored it, hoping that the person would get the hint and walk away, but with his car in the parking lot, he doubted that would be happening sometime soon.

“Alex, I know you are here.”

Upon hearing that voice, the young detective quickly stood up and headed towards the door. If he had time to rethink his actions, he might have found it a little embarrassing at how quickly he had opened the door.

“Captain-- “ he said, stopping when he noticed that the man was trying to say something at the same time.

“Sorry to come bothering you. May I come in?” The older man asked.

“Of course Cap-- I mean, Endaris” Alexis said as he stepped aside and allowed the man inside. He quickly shut the door and locked it, turning to notice the man looking at the doll. “It’s not mine. Someone left it outside my door…”

“You don’t have to explain” the man said, then said in a slightly teasing voice, “Your face is all red.”

Alexis did not reply, but walked over and joined the man on the couch. He was glad that he had chosen to put on a pair of sweat pants and a T-shirt-shirt, rather than the usual pajamas-and-robe combo he had been thinking of wearing at first.

He did not usually receive guest, but it was still the afternoon, and he had been expecting Allusion (who did show up sometimes at his place unexpected) or Candy. He never would have expected the captain of all people to show up.

“Is there a reason you came?” Alexis asked, folding his hands in his lap.

Endaris was quiet, his attention focused on the doll at the moment. There was something familiar about it, but he could not place it. Turning the doll over in his hands, he set it back down on the table and turned to look at Alexis.

“I am thinking of taking you off the case,” the man said, and held up his index finger to silence the younger man. “It is not just you. There are many other officers who I do not feel is ready to handle this type of case. It will be troublesome, but I can call the Mainland and ask them to send out some help.”

“Why would you do that? You know those bastards will come in with their nose stuck up in the air and mess up everything!” Alexis said, unable to keep the malice out of his tone. “The Mainland hates us. This would just be another reason for them to--”

He stopped when Endaris began to laugh, unable to find anything funny about the situation. The only people that the Mainland would send over would be their own screw ups and incompetents. Downtown had suffered before, because of the Mainland and no one on the police force wanted to see it ever happen again.

“I am sorry. It is just, your reaction, I am not used to seeing you speak so adamantly about something” Endaris said, his laughter stopping as he tucked a few strands of loose hair back behind Alexis’s hair.

The touch made Alexis feel uncomfortable, but he remained quiet as Endaris’s hand settled on his shoulder. The man’s hand dipped into his shirt and he felt fingertips brush lightly over his skin, and trace over his collarbone.

“Endaris…” Alexis began to say, but let his voice trail off instead.

“Let me spend the night here” the man asked; and Alexis hated how the man’s voice sounded needy and desperate. “I hate leaving you alone. I just know you’ll show up tomorrow with dark circles under your eyes.”

Pushing the man’s hand away, Alexis wondered what made the captain act this way towards him. He was no virgin, and they had slept together many times, but Alexis would never care for him. It was not for lack of trying; he honestly wished that he could love the captain and be happy with him, but he could not. It was a cruel game of self-sabotage and Alexis unwillingly played it anytime someone got too close.

“Spend the night with me,” Alexis said, with no enthusiasm at all.

It got the wanted effect; Endaris pulled away, and Alexis waited to hear the door slam, but it never came. Instead a strong grip on his arm pulled him from the couch and dragged him towards the bedroom.

“Go get dressed in something nice. It’s been a while since we’ve been out, right?” Endaris said, managing to keep a kind smile on his face despite the coldness he had received. “I have a little money to spare. We can go to that restaurant you mentioned last month.”

Standing in the middle of the room, Alexis watched as the man turned and walked out of the bedroom. Why did Endaris do this to himself? Was it really because of love? Was someone like him capable of even being loved? His mother never seemed to think so.

Endaris loved Alex, but would he love Alexis as well? Turning to stare at the mirror in his bedroom, Alexis smiled coldly at his reflection.

“We’ll just have to see, won’t we?” He whispered.