Casting Bones

Chapter 11 - Part 1

Desi woke, groggy and stiff-muscled, to the clean, fresh orange glow of the rising sun inching it's way across Casper's walls. At first he assumed it was a sunset, it had been barely evening when they made the smoke after all, but the dim light was paired with song birds, chirping excitedly from outside the opened window, signalling the early hours of a new day.

If it was morning, that means Desi must have slept for over twelve hours. It was not wonder he felt a bit like the undead. He stretched before sitting up, rubbing at his sticky eyes as he searched the room for a sense of reality after returning from his dreamless sleep.

Casper was right where he'd left him, in his chair at his desk in front of the computer, but he wasn't clicking and scrolling anymore. He had passed out also, leaned forward over the desk, his head buried in the bend of his arm. Desi allowed a smirk to crawl across his face, endeared by the idea of Casper keeping an eye on him until he simply couldn't any longer. He noted not to get too far ahead of himself; sleeping at his desk could have just been a more common occurrence for Casper than Desi was assuming. The boy did seem like a bit of a night owl, after all.

Desi called Casper's name in a whisper, thinking to give the boys bed back for a few hours at least if he could wake him gently. When Casper didn't stir, Desi tried again, then rose and neared a few steps closer as quietly as possible, getting a better angle to help assess the boy's consciousness.

Casper's face was noticeably softer as he slept; the bluntness of his personality that usually showed on his featured in straight lips and brows had slipped away to something more gentle and vulnerable. Desi noticed the same about Ashley when she slept. He used to tease her, saying that the only time she looked like angel was when she slept. All the other times she was the devil incarnate.

She'd slap at him, but she'd laugh while doing so.

If Casper was anything like Ashley, he wouldn't appreciate being woken this early; Desi would have to soften the blow. He considered the coffee machine downstairs, but Casper had been so kind, maybe he deserved a slightly more expensive 'thank you'. Desi had just enough cash for a coffee at the cafe a few blocks away, and one of his favorite donuts of course. He'd been through shit as well, after all. He deserved a good breakfast, and probably needed something in his stomach after that sleep.

Desi grabbed a pen from near Casper's sleeping head and scratched a note into a scrap piece of paper:

Borrowed your keys

I'll be back right back

- D

He didn't want Casper to freak and think Desi had taken off to eat faces bath salts style if he woke and Desi was nowhere to be found. Leaving the note right there on the desk next to Casper, Desi snuck from the boy's room and left the house as quietly as he could, locking behind him with Casper's key.

Since the cafe was not far, normally he'd consider walking just to save on gas, but since he was getting Casper a gift, he thought it best to make sure it was brought back hot. So Desi went for his car, flipping the keys as he went, finding himself in a slightly better mood than the previous day as he unlocked the driver's side and got in. It was through the windshield with his key already in the ignition that he noticed the station wagon parked on the side of the road, a few houses up the street but in plain sight of Desi's vehicle.

His mood soured with the reminder of the problems he'd so far left pleasantly ignored. If Desi was smart he'd just let it go, let the cops trail him if they really needed to, because he hadn't fucking done anything, but the witch hunt was really starting to strain his last nerve, and if he was going to get this coffee for Casper today, he'd have to make some money somehow by this evening if he wanted dinner.

Desi exited his car again and shoved his hands in his pockets as he cross the quiet, empty suburban road over to the old station wagon to investigate. He hoped he was just going a little crazy. Being paranoid for no reason. He hoped the car would be empty when he looked, that it was just a coincidence that it was the same ugly tan color of the one he'd seen following him the previous night. He'd already proven that he had no such luck lately though, and this case was no different.

As Desi approached, he could clearly see the man in the passenger seat, and when he reached the driver's side window, it became obvious that said man was sound asleep in the middle of his stake out. Desi rolled his eyes, then lifted a hand and knocked his knuckles loudly against the driver's window.

He woke with a start, rubbing a hand over his his face and taking a moment to find his bearings, before shift to roll down the window. With the pastel blue of the morning sky no longer glaring off the glass, Desi got a better view of the man in the car, and he was underwhelmed, to say the least.

He didn't look like a cop. The man was unshaven and his hair was grown out to a clearly unintentional length. He was wearing slacks and a tee-shirt but looked like it'd been a day or two since they were changed. He had tattoos littering his arms, one creeping out from his collarbone up towards his neck. And he had a scar at the corner of his mouth that pulled the line of his lips into slight exaggeration, making him look like he was smirking and making Desi concoct an image of an accident with a fish hook as explanation.

"Sorry about this, had a bit too much to drink last night it would seem. Didn't want the wake the Misses going back inside." He gestured to the house he was parked nearest to with the lie, offering an uneven smile with his rough, morning voice.

Desi hummed and nodded, glancing toward the house himself to go along with the fib for a moment, before dropping his gaze to sharp as he responded, "You think if I'm suspect enough for twenty four hour surveillance, they'd at least give you a partner so you don't gotta sleep on the job."

The man looked confused at first, as if he was going to keep up the act, but let the face cave momentarily, offering a defeated sigh. "I'm not with the feds, kid."

"Oh. So you're just a creepy old man following around a college kid. Cool, good to know."

When Desi pulled out his phone to fake a call to the cops, the man waved away the accusation immediately, annoyance crossing his weathered features. "I'm a private investigator. The Isaac family hired me to look into the situation, separate from the police. You're Desidario Sarno, right? Ashley's boyfriend?"

"I guess you should hope so or else you're not a very good P.I." Desi offered a snarky response to conceal his nerves. This really was serious then, or at least, Ashley's mother was taking it seriously if she hired someone. Ashley's family weren't exactly well off, they wouldn't have the money to spare on a freelancer if they thought this was just Ashley pulling another one of her runaways.

And now even the private investigator was on Desi's case. Great.

"Can I ask you some questions, son?"

Desi resisted a growl, rolling his shoulders instead to shake off the frustration. "I've already been through an embarrassing interrogation about this and I'm kinda dealing with the whole 'my girlfriend might be dead and the town thinks I killed her' thing, so pardon me if I'm not do keen on answering more stupid question. Why don't you ask the cops for this shit?"

The man chuckled a little. "Generally getting info regarding an open case from the police is like pulling teeth. And usually they don't give me the right info anyway. Just a couple questions, it's all I ask."

It must have been obvious that Desi was apprehensive, because after not receiving a response, the man added a slightly more pragmatic offer. "Listen, kid. I don't want to waste my time following you around if I don't have to either. But you're kinda the only suspect right now. Just answer my questions, give me something else to go on and I'll get off your ass. Deal?"

Desi glanced away for a second as he weighed the worth of his cooperation, sighing with his caving resolve and circling around the front of the car to the passenger side. As he got in next to the man he muttered a disgruntled, "it's too fucking early for this shit."