We arrived at the police station where Zion told a deputy everything that had happened exactly the way she’d told it to me a bit ago. This time she was calmer and very direct with her story. I could see that she was indeed a very strong woman. I found this very appealing and the more time I spent with her the more I found myself liking her. It was dangerous to develop feelings with a woman under these types of situations, but I couldn’t help the way I felt.
When we left the police station Zion wasn’t very optimistic about what the police might do. The deputy told her that they would send out a unit to investigate the scene and see what they could find out. They would take all of her details she’d given them into account as well and put out a search for men matching those descriptions.
“They will never solve this. What the actual fuck?” Zion said as we left the station and walked towards my car.
“Well, give them time. You have to have some faith. Besides, they offered to have a patrol outside of your house around the clock. That’s about the best they can do right now.”
“I wish I had as much faith as you do,” she said. “I just don’t know if I’ll feel safe at home knowing that these guys might have found out who I am. I work with Tyler. It shouldn’t be hard to track me down. These guys didn’t seem like your everyday rob a liquor store lowlife thugs. They are part of something bigger. And the way they were talking… they mentioned ‘the boss’…”
“So, you think they were in the mob or something?”
She shrugged. “I don’t know.”
I leaned against the side of my truck and looked into her eyes. It felt like there was something she wasn’t telling me, but I couldn’t be sure what it was. I didn’t know this girl that well. And right now, I was just playing things by ear. And I couldn’t help but feel this enormous attraction to her. It had been a bit of a downfall of mine over the years. I had that kind of track record where I always fall for the wrong woman, the one who seems to attract trouble like a magnet. What the hell is wrong with me? Maybe one day I’ll learn. But probably not.
I opened the passenger side door and motioned to her. “Get in. I’ll take you to my place. You are more than welcome to stay there until you get this thing sorted out. Hell, the cops can stake out my place if you think you need it.” I glanced at the station behind us with a bit of a laugh. The cops around here were a bit of a joke. I think she’d figured that out already.
“Are you sure it isn’t too much trouble?”
I shook my head. “None at all.”
We arrived at my place about twenty minutes later. I grabbed a beer from the fridge and then handed one to her. I then walked over into the office that stood adjacent to my room and sat down in front of the computer screen. I fired up the search engine and then motioned for Zion to join me. She did so, if a bit reluctantly. She slid over beside me and looked at the screen. In the illumination of the screen she looked breathtaking.
“Ok, so you have any idea what these guys’ names are? Or anything else you can think of that you didn’t tell the cops?”
She looked at me with a look of uncertainty. “I don’t know them. They were total strangers.”
“But this guy you worked with did know them. And they weren’t smart enough to wear masks?”
“I guess they figured that anyone who could identify them would be dead.”
“Right. Ok, well did they have any earrings? Odd ones? Tattoos? Were they wearing any original looking clothing? They say anything that might have given themselves away? In my experience people who are trying to hide always leave a little bit of themselves behind. It’s not just a clichéd statement you hear in the movies. It’s real.”
“Well, I’ve racked my brain and I can’t think of anywhere I would have seen these guys before. I don’t know a thing about them, but it won’t be hard for them to find me.”
I sighed. I figured it might lead us to a dead end, but often when you put someone on the spot they suddenly begin to envision things in their mind and things start popping out at them. This was not one of those times apparently.
“And you are a law student?”
“Ok, well let’s think. This friend of yours was a lawyer as well. But not yet in the big time, so he isn’t making the huge bucks yet. And he probably has some expensive student debt he needs to take care of. It sounds like he went in debt to the wrong people to pay off his benign student debt. That’s a dumb mistake more people than you can imagine actually end up making. So, let’s see if we can cyber stalk him a bit. You friends with him on social media?”