A Dallas Suite

Chapter Twelve

I left the office sometime around nine. I was past the point of keeping track of time. When you're working on the same murder for around 14 hours with just a few hours of sleep keeping you going, what time it is stops mattering.

I made it home and gave Susan a big hug and kiss. It was good to see her after a long day. She has been understanding of this job from the jump. And before that, she had to deal with Army life, which isn't easy on any spouse. She truly was the glue that held my crazy life together.

"Hey Babe, long day?"

"You have no idea. I know it's late, but can we talk about it over some food?"

"Sure! I made food earlier, but was waiting on you. I'll reheat it if you want to take Rosco out for a walk?" Rosco was the other piece of our happy family. He was a six year old German Shepherd that we adopted from a shelter as a puppy.

I enjoyed walking the city at night. It was quiet, or as quiet as you could get in a large and busy city. Even though I've lived in the city for years since I've been a cop with Dallas, I still hadn't gotten quite used to it. I missed seeing land and animals around. Looking at the same buildings every day was depressing to me. But, this was my life now and I was starting to get used to it. I almost enjoyed it at times. It didn't make me happy to work murder investigations, but I appreciated that it was a more exciting alternative to taking reports of stolen tractors. I'm sure that would have been my big cases if I had become a sheriff's deputy back home.

I brought Rosco back in and gave him some more attention with extra petting and scratching. Like every good dog, Rosco always had my back. No matter how many hours I worked or how sporadic my schedule was, he was always happy to see me and always acted like my best friend. I was truly lucky to have him and Susan.

I sat down at the table with Susan and smiled towards Rosco lying at my feet. She had prepared a huge portion of spaghetti with meat sauce that she added extra ground beef to. Fitness was a big part of my life still and she always made sure to add plenty of extra protein into my food.

I took one bite and immediately complimented her cooking. It was such a simple dish, but for some reason tasted amazing. I started to fill Susan in on the murder and some of the details. She listened and let me get it all out, from start to finish. She was good about that. For years I've done some of my best thinking and problem solving just by talking to Susan. I spend so much time in the office trying to go over pieces. When I laid it all out for her, the story began to take shape and I would sometimes find things that I missed.

That didn't happen this time. After I finished telling her about Michael fighting with his wife and leaving in a bad mood hours before Jason was found murdered, I realized I still had nothing.

"Wow," she shook her head, "well the good news is; if you find him, he'll have enough money to hire the best lawyers to get him out of trouble. It is a shame though, it sounds like he's killed his best chance."

I laughed. I don't know if she meant it to be funny or I was just delirious after a long day, but I found it hilarious.

I was still laughing when I saw Moore's name pop up on my caller ID. "Sergeant, good to hear from you, it's been so long."

"Seeks, we've got another one. The parking garage on Pearl Street, next to the hotel. You need to get down there, now."

"Another one? Another murder?" I knew what he meant. But again, delirious.

"Yeah, another murder. And better than that, it's your prime suspect, Michael Caping. They've already identified him at the scene. The responding detectives are on strict orders to not move anything until you and Hope show up. So get off your lazy ass and get down there."

"Got it, Sarge. I'm leaving now," I saw the look of disappointment on Susan's face as I said it.

"Seeks, one more thing," he said right before I hung up.

"What's that?"

"Don't think this means you get to come in late tomorrow."

I don't know why that made me laugh, either. But it did.

I looked at Susan who I could tell understood, but wasn't happy about it. "I'm sorry Babe, but you and Rosco will have to finish without me."

"Who was it this time?"

"My too-good-to-be-true suspect, Michael. Apparently they found his body at the parking garage near the hotel."

"Did y'all search that before? Maybe he was there the whole time?"

"Well I didn't, and I doubt anyone else did, either. There are a ton of garages around there. Hopefully a body hasn't been sitting there all day," I said as I got up and walked around the table. I gave Susan another hug and kiss, followed by a gentle pat on the head for Rosco.