On The Run

Chapter Six - "Trusting Dishonesty"

Sarah

I remember my first day on the force like it was yesterday. As confident as I might have portrayed myself, I was completely terrified. I had finally gotten my chance to break free of the reins holding me to a past I could barely escape, but I couldn’t help the ever-creeping fear. And then, to aggrandize my terror, we got a case: Arianna Velazquez, aged four, kidnapped from her own playroom three nights before. The Velazquez family was very well known for their connection to the mob, so it was pretty intense for a start. I’d gone in to the break room to get away from it all and had hidden in the walk-in supply closet. I was not proud of it, but in order to fully come to terms with what awaited me, I needed to take a breath.

And then, a couple more.

Just my luck, Jake had decided to walk in right then and to his surprise, found me. He looked taken aback, and then curious. It was about a week since our first encounter, and we’d just been doing deskwork mostly; now, we were about to tag along to check out leads on a new suspect.

 I expected him to raise his brows and ask what I was doing, but he simply stared at me, burning holes through my eyes, and boring right through my rising fear. The one thing I quickly learned about Jake was the strength of his stare.

“Um . . . I was just . . . –” I began, mumbling.

He shut the door behind him, and said, “Hiding,” with a small smile. It was only his third week, so we weren’t at such different levels.

“No, just . . . stalling,” I said, feeling slightly ashamed, until I realized he wasn’t leaving, “Are you . . .  hiding?”  I asked.

He gave me a sheepish smile, “Not exactly. I just needed to take a breath. This part gets a bit . . . intense.”

“Because we’re dealing with the mob?”

“No, because if we make one wrong move, she’s dead,” he replied plainly.

Not knowing what to say to that, I nodded slowly.

“But, if you think too much, you’re more likely to screw up,” he added solemnly.

I snorted, “How can you help but think about that?”

“Don’t worry, you’re not going to screw up,” he said knowingly.

I scoffed, “And you know that how?”

“You’ve got me,” he replied with a shrug.

So, it wasn’t a surprise when I felt a slight pang at the thought of him dragging me round town searching for his girlfriend. I had no feelings for him in that manner, but it wasn’t pleasant to feel used.

That first day, in the supply closet, had been the first time when I knew I could actually count on somebody for real. The only other people had been my parents and my best friend from high school, but my mom was gone, my dad was . . . estranged, and Aubrey Reed and I had completely drifted apart. Having a new friend was just what I’d needed to calm my nerves, and that trust seemed to make us more comfortable around each other. And, that was that.

I know it seemed like a simple assumption to think that he was the supposed ‘friend’, but in my head, it all added up. Somehow, I didn’t want to go right out and ask him; if he wanted to keep it a secret, that was perfectly fine. But, if we just so happened to figure it out along the way, so be it.

“Hey, don’t you want to update your friend?” I asked, placing an emphasis on the word.

“He . . . I already did,” he replied, not making eye contact.