LOVE LIKE HIS - Chapter 14 - Game Over - An Original Story by @papa-pepper

papa-pepper (80)in #fiction • 8 years ago

CHAPTER 14 - GAME OVER

Ms. Shields rises as Ray sits down in the chair across the desk from her. Her annoyed countenance is becoming an all too frequent sight for Ray.

She rounds the desk and finishes closing the door to her office. Ray had made an unsuccessful, half-hearted attempt at accomplishing that, but his lack of effort has been displayed by his lack of success, and Ms. Shields is not impressed.

Ray blushes ashamedly as he realizes his error.

As Ms. Shields returns to her seat, Ray notices that she appears to be downright angry, and not simply annoyed.

“Mr. Foster, would you please explain to me which law enforcement officer you have had contact with and exactly what the nature of the contact was,” her request is direct, formal, and very to the point.

“Well, Ms. Shields, a Detective Timothy Cromwell stopped by my apartment, and said that he wanted my help. I was cooperative and went downtown with him, and eventually he began to interrogate me.”

Ms. Shields is nodding, and peering at Ray with squinted eyes, trying to read the man.

“What was the nature of his interrogation?” she continues the conversation.

“He believes that what happened was not an accident, and that Gary hired me to kill his wife. He repeatedly accused me of that,” Ray’s voice quivers as he vocalizes that reality. He knows that it does not sound good, but he is far from realizing the weight that those words carry to his private audience.

“Well, Mr. Foster, it appears that I may have been wrong about you. Do you realize who Detective Cromwell is?”

Ray looks blank and shakes his head slowly.

Ms. Shields tilts her head slightly, still studying Ray.

“Detective Cromwell is one of the best in the business, Mr. Foster. He has an incredible sense of reality and has proven his skills over and over again.” Ms. Shields pauses, and leans towards Ray slightly.

“Basically, he know the truth before it can be proven and once he’s on the case, many consider it solved.”

Ray can hardly believe his ears. Is this the same detective who just threatened to kill Gary? How can this be possible?

“Mr. Foster, I’ve been having a hard time believing your story, and now I think I know why. It wasn’t adding up on my end, and sounded too wild and fanciful to be the truth. It looks like I had my reasons to doubt you.”

Ray has paled. His face is now a far cry away from the embarrassed red that been there not so long ago.

“Ms. Shields…” Ray starts, but she immediately cuts him off.

“Excuse me, Mr. Foster, unless you have a different story to tell at the moment, I am in no mood to hear more from you. Perhaps your contact was unprovoked by any recent activities, but the fact that Detective Cromwell was involved makes me believe that your number is up, and that justice has not yet been served in this matter.”

“But it’s not like that at all…” Ray begins once again, refusing to change his story.

“RAY!” Ms. Shields shouts his first name and abruptly rises to her feet. “You’re not going to play any religious card with me on this one! I'm not going to get played here, I've almost fallen for it before, but not again! It sure sounded good at first, but I was hesitant to believe it. Now, I know that you’re full of it. I’ve been more than generous to you so far, but you’re done now. You are free to go, thanks for reporting in, I’ll see you in jail soon enough. For the time being, this conversation is over.”

Ms. Shields crosses the room and opens the door to dismiss Ray. Fire is in her eyes and she looks wild and savage for a moment. A dumbfounded Ray awkwardly rises to his feet and half stumbles out the door.

It closes behind him hard.

This is bad.

How is it even possible? How can this unorthodox, renegade detective be some superhero to the justice department? If his crafty threatening is what has led to the “solving” of many cases, this is going to be one bumpy ride. The situation just got a whole lot more desperate, and by mentioning the detective’s name alone, Ray has apparently accomplished the equivalent of confessing a guilty plea to his probation officer.

Gary will need to be notified.

Ray is still standing outside of Ms. Shields' office as his mind races and attempts to process exactly what just occurred. Somehow, it appears that Ray has just received a death sentence. Game over.

Ray starts to move and is racing towards his car. He quickly exits the building and rushes across the parking lot. For many reasons, time has become of the essence. Thankfully, Ray has a plan, he just needs to clue Gary in.

The End of Chapter 14