chapter 53

word count: 1560

hank immediately dialed ben morrison, the arson investigator who had been first on the scene.. 

“ben, hank bowers, here. any updates what so ever on the miller case??

“it’s been a slow go, “ ben started, “we only got the go ahead last night,,  the fire department and bomb squad wouldn’t sign off on it till then,, and then we had to wait for daylight to really get started.. we did a thorough run thru with an arson dog,, and there is no question, it was arson.. looks like it started in the laundry room,, and the proximity of the point of origin to the natural gas appliances was more than likely the cause of the explosion.. “

“what about a body? any indication there is a body in the wreckage??”  hank prodded him for more information.. “we have reason to believe one of our own was on the scene.”

“one of our own?? shit!! all i can say is, the investigation is still in its preliminary stages, hank.  in an explosion of that proportion,, integrity of the crime scene is our first concern,, especially in this case, seeing as how it was buzz millers house.."

“yeah, yeah, i know all that,, hank interjected, “but i would think your preliminary investigation would have included a victim search by now..”

“and, ordinarily, you would be right.. that portion of the investigation is underway,, we’ve got cadaver dogs over there as we speak.. you have to understand, hank,, with this level of devastation,, we aren’t looking for a body,, we are looking any evidence of human remains. if there was anybody in that house,,  at this point,, we are looking for pieces parts..”

“jesus christ!” exclaimed hank, “so give me a time frame,, what are we looking at here??”

“well, like i said,, we have the dogs on scene,, so a thorough search is underway,, we can’t disturb the crime scene any further till after we run the dogs through it. unfortunately, there is a very real possibility,, they won’t be able to detect the remains, if there are any, due to the fact that nothing but skeletal remains could be expected to have survived that kind of combustion.. the fire was just too damn hot,, hank,, and the explosion would have distributed the body parts all over the crime scene..”

“i need full and immediate disclosure on this,, like i said,, we have reason to believe one of our own was on scene. we were able to pull a partial plate number, with the police insignia still intact, from a remnant we found in the driveway,, and it has been identified as belonging to our fellow detective, brenda simmons.. who, incidentally, has failed to show up for her shift the last two days.” hank continued,  “all efforts to contact her have hit a brick wall,, and a walk through of her apartment suggests she hasn’t been there in days..  we currently have a couple of desk jockeys  working on contacting known friends and family,, to see if anyone has any information as to her whereabouts.”

“you’ve got my word on this one, hank,, if we find anything on scene that points to a victim, you will be the first to know.” ben assured him as they concluded the call..  

“this is fucking unbelievable!!” gil exclaimed as hank hung up the phone. “you are never gonna guess who patrol just dragged in..”

“no, i’m not, and i am in no mood for guessing games!!” hank barked back at him,, the stress was clearly starting to get the best of him..

“ you know that trudy chick,, the one you said was the bosses main squeeze??

“no fucking way!!,, what the hell did they pick her up on??”

“you are not gonna believe this,, but they are booking her in on issuance of terrorist threats!! she freaking stormed the bosses room at the hospital, and threatened to kill him!!”  gil said still finding it hard to believe it himself, “and in front of two fucking uniforms to boot!!”

***

after further consideration,, adam dropped the blue crayon back in the pile and decided on a black one instead.. he put the crayon to the paper,, and then withdrew it.. he just couldn’t bring himself to draw anything.  he dropped the crayon back on the bed.

“elliot can i tell you something? i mean like something really important,, something you can never tell anyone,, and i mean anyone!!”

“sure.”  said elliot not looking up from his drawing.

“no,, i mean like this is really important.. like life or death important!”

elliot dropped his crayon on the bed,, and turned to adam. “dude,, you should know by now you can tell me anything.. after all,, i wouldn’t a told you about the cutting shit,, or showed you my knife if i didn’t know i could trust you!”

“yeah,, i guess you’re right..” adam said as he lowered his eyes.. he just couldn’t look elliot in the eye in light of what he was about to reveal.. 

“huh!!!” adam exhaled loudly.. “pinky swear??”

“fuck pinky swear,, let’s take a blood oath.. a blood oath can never be broken.. i will swear i will never repeat a word of what you wanna tell me,, and you swear you will never tell anyone about what i told you last night. deal?”

“deal.” adam looked up,, elliot was the best friend a guy could have.. “is it gonna hurt?”

“ a little,, but it’s a good kinda hurt,, you’ll see.” elliot said as he jumped off the bed and went to his desk to retrieve his knife.  “stand up over here so we don’t get any blood on the bed, it soaks right in the carpet.. elliot instructed adam out of experience.. 

i’ll go first.” 

without hesitation, elliot pierced the soft flesh on the palm of his right hand,, his pulse quickened as he saw the deep, red, blood oozing up from the wound.

“there see,, it’s not so bad.. your turn.” he said as he took adam’s right hand in his,, and drew the blade expertly across his palm, creating an identical cut on adam’s hand.. adam winced,, but secretly admired the way it felt.. elliot was right,, something about the sight of the blood rising up out of the small cut felt good.. good in a way adam could not describe,, but could not deny either..  

they stood motionless for a moment,, each mesmerized by the sight of their own blood.. 

“ok,, so now we rub our hands together,, and our bloods get all mixed up with each other’s,, and we both swear out loud that nothing we ever say or do together gets talked about to anyone, ever!”

elliot and adam raised their hands,, palms met,, and they proceeded to rub them together until each of their palms were smeared in their combined blood..

“repeat after me,”  elliot instructed adam,  “i, elliot taggert.”

“i, adam miller,”

“do solemnly swear,” elliot continued.

“do solemnly swear,”

“to never breathe a word of what is said,, or goes on between me and adam miller.”

“to never breathe a word of what is said, or goes on between me and elliot taggart.” adam repeated dutifully.

“to anyone, ever, under penalty of death.”

“to anyone, ever, under penalty of death.”

“there , “ said elliot,,  “now we are blood brothers, joined by this blood oath,, and it can never be broken.. like i said ‘under penalty of death’.”

“under penalty of death.” adam repeated.. 

elliot pulled a bloodied towel out from underneath his bed and handed it to adam..  adam wiped off his hand,, spit on his palm,, and wiped it some more.. he then handed the towel off to elliot.. 

“so,, are you gonna tell me or what?” elliot asked as he spit on his own hand and wiped it as clean as he could on the blood stained rag..

“yeah.. but let’s sit down. this is gonna be a long story.” adam said as he took his place in the bed,, and pulled his legs up tight to his chest.. elliot sat down on the edge of the bed, facing adam.. 

“shoot!’ he said, the curiosity was getting the best of him.."

“huh!!!” adam let out yet another deep  sigh,, and continued.. i don’t really know how to say this so i am just gonna say it.”

“c’mon, said elliot,” whatever it is,, it’s ok.” 

“well,, alright, here goes.” adam started, still an inkling of hesitation in his voice.. 

“i tried to kill my dad.” he stated bluntly.

“wow!!” exclaimed elliot..

“yeah,” started adam.. “i poisoned him.”

with that admission,, the floodgates just opened up.. wide.. adam told elliot everything.. he told him about the gun,, and about the homeless guy they had met at the dairy queen who took it away from him..

he told him about jack and steve , and how they got in big trouble for selling it to him,, right before steve’s little brother had disappeared.. 

he told him about the oleander,, and how he knew it was poisonous,, and how he mixed in the mayonnaise so his dad would never know.. 

he concluded by telling elliot about how his dad beat his mom,, and him (every gory detail) and how, (no matter how bad it sounded),,  he still wanted to see him dead..