Cade

The whole sequence of events in the last few days flew in the face of conventional rationality. To say Cade was confused was an absolute understatement. He prided himself on able to sift through the bullshit and find logical answers to illogical questions. Understanding criminal behavior forced him to think outside the box, look at crimes from disparate points of view, but this shit, straight up twilight zone.

Getting dressed in a rumpled suit and tie, he laughed at the thought of the golden eyed Hilde dragging his carcass to his apartment. Visualizing her pulling him by the leg down the hall. Damn that woman was sexy. There was just something about her, something his cop intuition told him was dangerous, not that it made her any less desirable, just an intriguing mystery he wanted to unravel, maybe a couple of times. He sniggered to himself, who was he kidding? He hadn’t been laid in forever, and she could probably ride his ass into the ground.

Checking himself in the mirror, five o’clock shadow slightly bristly, he decided to forego a shave and left the apartment. Climbing into his unmarked police car, he pulled out of his parking spot and turned onto the street.

Information began to percolate in his head. The case of the missing lawyer was closed, conveniently so according Hilde. Little Train’s missing crew and Arvin blasting Jack’s girlfriend, also apparently all wrapped up. Not that it made any sense, but she had said everything was essentially resolved. Weird. There was still the missing cop from the hills but that was someone else in North Division’s headache. What did Hilde mean when she said she didn’t want to leave him in a state of limbo? Nagging fucking questions and stupid cop brain, too goddamn stubborn to just let it go. Letting out a sigh, he decided he needed more answers, specifically, more answers from Hilde.

Grabbing his cell phone, he called the office.

“Homicide desk, Rebecca speaking,” answered the administrative assistant, tone pleasant.

“Hey Beck, it’s me, I’m going to be coming in late this morning, I got a snitch I need to see,” he explained.

Leaning forward in the seat at her seat, she pulled the phone close to her face, whispering, “You might want to stay away awhile this morning,” she said, tone conspiratorial.

“What?” he asked, confused by her comment.

“There is a new assistant district attorney down here and she is definitely on the prowl for you,” she advised, glancing toward the captain’s office.

“Oh? New ADA? I didn’t know we had one, this girl got a name?” he asked, pulling off the road and into the drive thru at Donut World.

“Morgan or Morrigan Kane, or something like that, bitch is hell on wheels and she’s definitely got her panties bunched up. She wants you, asked specifically by name. Captain is getting his ass chewed on royally at the moment or so it looks through the glass,” she informed.

He frowned. Who the fuck was Morrigan Kane? Never heard of her. “What’s this girl look like?”

Rebecca chuckled softly, “Like every man’s fantasy, tall dark hair, weird purple eyes, almost lavender, got to be contacts, tits got to be bolt-ons they’re big and too perfect, narrow waist tight ass, stick included. Expensive suit, thirty, maybe,” she answered sourly. “She’s got a half dozen tongue on the floor here.”

Detecting an undercurrent of unspoken envy in Rebecca’s voice, Cade chuckled, “Sounds horrible,” he said, but still unable to visualize the woman in his mind’s eye.

“Why is she looking for you? Who did you piss off now?” she asked.

“Did she say anything about why she was there?” he inquired.

“Nope, just asked if you had clocked in yet. You still didn’t answer my question who’s toes did you step on?”

“Don’t know, stumble around long enough in the dark, bound to step on a whole lot of toes,” he chuckled. Pulling up beside the speaker for the drive thru, he said, “Just a minute,” and rolled down his car window.

“Welcome to Donut World. What can I get for you today?” asked a young sounding female voice through the speaker.

“Are you at Donut World? Get me a coffee,” said Rebecca.

“Coffee, black, that’ll be all, thanks,” he said.

“Anything else?” asked the voice.

“A fritter, get me an apple fritter,” instructed Rebecca.

Cade frowned at the phone, “And an apple fritter,” he added.

“Two ninety at the window please,” said the voice.

“Did you get my coffee?” Rebecca asked. “I didn’t hear you order my coffee.”

Pulling his car forward, he brought the phone back to his head. “Nah, I won’t be in for a while, it’ll be cold. I’ll grab you a fresh one before I come in,” he said.

Stopping by the window, he handed the young girl a five and took his coffee and Rebecca’s donut and seat the cup in the space in the console of the car.

“Have a nice day,” said the girl in a perfunctory tone, so practiced and routine it rolled out of her mouth second nature.

“Can you look this Kane broad up, see if we got anything on her?” he asked Rebecca, driving away from the shop.

“I’ll look, but she’s probably squeaky clean. I’ll check and see if she’s google proof too,” she offered.

“Roger that. You know you are a gem right?”

“Yeah, yeah, I know. Just like a bloody piece of coal under a lot of pressure right?” She chided.

He laughed, “Let me know,” he said.

“Wil do,” she answered disconnecting the call.

He smiled to himself. She truly was a gem, always coming through in the clutch for him. He would have been lost without her assistance.

Morrigan Kane? Why would an ADA come all the way down to the station? That in of itself didn’t make a ton of sense. Why would she be looking for him? He didn’t have any imminent cases pending, no perps in lockup? Frowning, he took a sip of coffee and turned the charcoal grey unmarked Crown Victoria toward Hildegard Helvet’s residence.

Pinned Jimmy

An uncomfortable silence hung in the air, many sets of eyes, each pair belonging to an absolute bombshell looked down at Jimmy. He cleared his throat and studied his feet. He definitely felt uncomfortable under the scrutiny.  The only woman he recognized was the girl with Jack when he and Trevor brought the two of them in, Clarice that was her name.

“Well?” said the woman who said her name was Elizabeth.

“Well what?” he asked, looking up at her shyly.

“So Serah never keep her captures, like ever, yet she kept you, how come?” she asked. A couple of others nodded, also curious.

He shrugged.

“Anyone know what happened to Trevor?” he asked.

A woman resembling Clarice stepped forward, rubbing her hand over her stomach.

“Oh,” he said.

“So why did you survive?” asked Clare.

“I know,” said Simone, stepping forward. “Jack Dalton in no small way resembles Tius Valerius. That likeness touched her and she wanted to glean as much information about Jack as she could,” she said, nodding her pretty blond head.

“Oh goddess, you’re right!” agreed Selene. “I didn’t see it before, but he does look like Tius,” she commented.

“Who is Tius Valerius?” asked Clarice, frowning.

Simone and Selene exchanged glances, before the blonde spoke, “It was long before your time Clare, we were still studying at the villa, Serah was very young. The remnants of a roman legion passed through the mountains into the valley. Serah captured their ranking officer, a centurion named Tius Valerius. From what I’ve seen of this Jack, they were not only similar in appearance but apparently disposition as well,” she chuckled.

Clarice looked over at the helmet and sword in the case against the wall before turning to Hilde, “His?”

Hilde smiled and shook her head, “No, those belonged to another of those roman soldiers, Agrippa. He was,” she paused, “Special.”

Clarice pouted, “Seems we missed out on a bunch of stuff,” she said.

“Like the Dark Ages, the Black Death, the Inquisition, not to mention crappy food and a definitive lack of anything resembling personal hygiene,” Vanessa said, chuckling.

Clarice nodded slowly. “So what is Serah going to do with Jack?” she asked.

Simone shrugged. “I know what I would do with him,” she said, grinning deviously.

Clarice scowled.

“So what do we do with human toothpick?” asked Angela, pointing at Jimmy.

Hilde moved forward, “Serah hasn’t expressed ownership over him, he’s pretty much fair game,” she said.

“Whoa just a minute,” he said, bringing up his hands, eyes wide. He suddenly felt very much his tiny size. At first being amidst all these dimes, it was like being a fly on the wall of the Playboy mansion, but now, fair game could mean a lot of different things and he had seen the white haired woman consume people with no hesitation. The one broad all but said that Trevor was in her belly, no way in the world did he want to check out that way.

Angela frowned and shook her head. “Too frail,” she commented.

“Agreed,” said Clare, nodding. “No way he would hold up to such rigorous use, especially after having been with Jack,” she commented.

“Jack that good?” asked Elizabeth, turning to Clare.

Clare grinned knowingly, mind darting back to some of the more memorable moments of her time with him. A touch a crimson staining her cheeks.

“Really,” said Simone, eyebrows raised, interest in the man growing.

“He’s a little rough around the edges, sort of an acquired taste,” defended Clarice, not happy with the discussion returning to Jack. “Let’s focus on the twig here,” she added, stabbing a finger in jimmy’s direction.

Selene shook her head, “While I haven’t been able to sample him yet, the dark goddess did leave him in my care,” she reminded.

“For now,” said Simone. Clare chuckled.

Clarice glowered. Simone was the daughter of the goddess of love and Clarice suspected her innate abilities might forever bend Jack to her will. Though, on the other hand, Jack was Jack and seemed quite resilient in his own right. Still, she wasn’t happy.

“I’ll take our little friend here,” volunteered Vanessa, red hair swept back over her shoulders.

Jimmy looked up as she approached. Like the other women in the room, she was absolutely gorgeous, her light green eyes gleaming.

“Anyone else?” asked Hilde.

Vanessa turned, lower lip between her teeth, “Anybody want to share?”

“Hold on a goddam minute, doesn’t the twig have any say in what’s going on here?” he protested, growing more and more alarmed.

The red head turned back and looked down on him. “Hush now,” she encouraged, holding up an index finger to silence him.

“No, I don’t think Serah would like it if any of you ate me,” he warned, shaking his head as if to emphasize his point that none of them would want to upset the white haired woman.

“Who said anything about eating you?” Vanessa chuckled, sly smile on the side of her full mouth as she gazed down upon him. Several others also tittered.

He frowned, puzzled and unsure. “What do you mean?” he asked, not comprehending.

Still smiling, Vanessa looked at Hilde, “Is it okay if I use the room upstairs?” she inquired.

The blonde owner of the house nodded. “By all means, but remember the regular rules apply,” she reminded.

Vanessa grinned, crouching down, bringing her face level with the table, she said “Good.”

“What does that mean?” Jimmy asked again, searching the faces of the other women surrounding him for an answer but receiving none. Looking back to Vanessa, “What the fuck does that mean?” he repeated, voice climbing in pitch.

Reaching over, Vanessa curled her fingers around the frightened little man, bright red nails immaculate as she stood up and lifted him off the table. Those around the table parted, allow her to leave.

Panic seized Jimmy but he was completely powerless to do anything, even move.

“Have fun,” one of the women he didn’t know said to him as the gigantic red haired woman carried him away.