Free Twist of Fate by Jaime Whitley

canvassed the area. We look over the statements that were taken from the people in the area before heading in. Lucas and I split ways, checking it out. Every victim leaves behind a story on how they died; you just have to be able to find it. I tell an officer nearby to call the coroner if they haven’t been contacted yet and start to look for his story.
    “So, what do you think?” I lean down, checking out the bullet shot to the back. Standing up and stepping away from the body I say, “Definitely not an accident. Whomever did this was out to kill. I don’t know for sure, but the way the bullet to the head looks, it seems like he was already on the ground when shot, making the bullet to the back the first shot fired.”
    “I agree, let’s take it over and push everyone to an outside perimeter.” Lucas and I remove our gloves and exit the house. We get everything done and tell the witness from the scene to follow us back to the station.
    “Thank God for nosey neighbors,” Lucas says, referring to the older woman.
    “Yeah, she told me she usually snoops around the same time every day, but decided to people watch a little earlier today.” I shake my head laughing.
    “The best part of it all is the fact that her name is Gladys.”
    My eyebrows draw in and I look over at Lucas, “Okay …”
    “Dude! Gladys, the nosey neighbor from BEWITCHED. Haven’t you ever watched that show?”
    “No, can’t say that I have,” I say, shaking my head at him.
    “Don’t shake your head at me. It’s a classic and the kids love it.”
    “I will take your word on it.”
    “Are you ever going to man up and call Lilly to hang out? Or are you friends who don’t see each other or talk to each other?” It’s just like Lucas to change the subject so abruptly.
    “No, I haven’t.”
    “Why not? You went through all that trouble to go back and talk to her, and you even stalked the poor girl to get her number--” I cut Lucas off before he can continue.
    “I did not stalk her. I’m a detective, I simply put my skills to work and found her number,” I quickly defend myself.
    “Dude, you stalked her. Who cares? My point is, you went through all that trouble and you haven’t even reached out to her after you practically begged her to be your friend. Grow a pair and shoot her a text.”
    “I don’t need to grow a pair; I have a really nice set already, thank you very much. But, if it makes you happy, I will text her.”
    “Now.”
    “Now what?”
    “You will text her now.” As we pull up to the station, I pull out my phone and shoot Lilly a quick text.
    Me: Hey sorry I haven’t reached out sooner. Want 2 grab a bite 2 eat this week?
    “There, are you happy?” I hit the send button and pray she doesn’t text back while I’m with Lucas. I don’t need him watching over my shoulder while I try and make plans with her. I’ve been wanting to text her, but haven’t had much alone time. I’m still trying to figure out if being friends is going to work.
    “No, we have a busy ten to twenty hours ahead of us. So quit jerking off and put your phone away, we have work to do,” he jokes.
    Once we’re in the station, we set Gladys up with a sketch artist and head back to our desks to get started. We look up all the information we can find on our victim and enter in any additional information we need to add to the case file. We still need to inform the victim’s family and will have to leave soon to do it. We’ll wait till Gladys is done with the artist, so we can have a look at the image drawn up. Once it is done, we’ll get it out as soon as possible, head out to notify the family, and start our long night of investigating.
     

Chapter 11
    Lilly
    You ever have one of those weeks when nothing goes the way you want it to? Well, that is exactly the type I’m having. We got swamped with clients out of nowhere, and on top of falling behind on my work, Ezra is sick. I don’t know how it’s possible, but he manages to get