At the station, he was waiting for Beth to be processed. He knew he had to make the phone call he was dreading. He picked up, knowing that he was going to make the in-person notification to Matt’s parents, but he was going to make this phone call first. It wasn’t normal, but Max needed to get it off his chest.
“Hello?” Mack answered.
“Mack,” Max said, and he found the words getting caught in his throat.
“You found him, didn’t you?” Mack said softly.
“Yes,” Max said as he hung his head down.
“How long?” Mack asked.
“Looks like the day of the murders,” Max said as he thought of his friend. He also had gone over the thought that Max had after he used Deanna’s paper as a clue itself. He thought he knew everything, but Mack was the one who had thought for weeks his friend was gone.
“I see,” Mack said. “Well, I know the next
Max couldn’t listen to her anymore. He got what he needed from her. He turned his back and walked out without another word. He shut the door, and the Captain clapped him on the back as he walked out into the air of the main room, and then he went to his car. He opened his glove compartment and took out the box of cigarettes. He hated the fact he still carried them, and he would debate on tossing them, knowing they were stale by now.He pulled one out and lit it as he took a deep drag. He was surprised he didn’t start coughing. It had been months since his last one. The captain walked out and spotted him. “Didn’t take you for a smoker.” He said as he walked up to the younger man.“I’m not. I quit when I got out of the army.” Max said as he looked at the cigarette in his hand. “Today, I really need this.”
As the group, all headed to the small ceremony for Matt in the church. They all knew this was the real end to the situation. They thought it had ended years before, but now there was no one left but them. They were now sitting as a group behind Matt’s parents, and the children all hugged them as well. They turned to Mack, “He is gone now. I hope you don’t mind if we adopt them as our grandchildren. We have known you and your cousin since you were born.” “Ma’am, if that is what you want to do, my wife and I would love you share them with you,” Mack replied, and Henni nodded. The kids all stood with their parents. “Matt was their godfather. It would honor him to have you a part of their lives.” Mack moved into the pew, and the kids sandwiched between them. “Daddy?” his daughter asked as he whispered. “What, sweetheart?” Mack asked quietly as the service was going to start in a moment. “Why are we here?” she asked and
“Why are you bringing your friends here?” Henrietta Hanson asked her brother, who was sitting across the table from her as the two sat at the table on her patio eating a quick lunch together. There were complete opposites in everything in their lives, even though they were not only brother and sister. They were twins. They couldn’t not be any more different if they actually tried.Christian looked at her as he took another bit of food. He looked at her through his soulful brown eyes as he met her light blue ones. He had long accepted that his twin was different from him. He knew that everything about her was something he didn’t understand. Unlike most of their family, he tried to keep in contact with her and help her understand the differences in life that she didn’t seem to get. “You need to meet some new people.” He easily replied after he swallowed his bite
It was almost a week from their lunch date when she heard from her brother again. He often would forget until the last minute, and then he would call and leave a voice mail for her on her work phone. Which is exactly what he had done this time. He had left her a message while she had been busy running a few tests at the hospital she had worked at for the past four years. Chris’s friends and he were going out in about two hours from when she had got the message.He knew that things were always on a schedule for her. Some extra time would have been nice for her to be able to get herself together, but he didn’t think like that. He was ready to go hang out with his friends and drag his poor sister along to meet people, and that was that. It was all he cared about. She shook her head to clear her thoughts. She didn’t want to go out tonight. It had been a long day already, and she had been
She drove to the place her brother had told her about in his message, and she spotted his car. She knew he was there even though she was a little late. She figured they might have moved on already. She knew that they often hopped places from her brother's stories when they got together during the week for lunch or dinner. She had a good idea of the group of friends that he was going to introduce her to as well. Things about them had been dropping for a while. Christian seemed to really like some of them. Henni was leery because it seemed they were more interested in their family and not just Christian. She just didn’t want her brother to get hurt. That would be something that would set her temper off. She might not like the family, but she did like Christian. He did try with her.Henni got out of the car, took off her hospital lanyard, and then thought twice about it. Somehow it being there around her neck would give her the
“I am an online marking rep for a marking agency. I also co-own a boutique with my sister. Which we design the clothes for.” She said as she looked over Henni again and was taking in everything about her. This was one of the mean girls that every school had. It was time to take her down a few notches. Christian also could feel the wave of pain that Henni was going to bring with only a few words. He shook his head behind her, knowing that his friend Gabe’s girl had brought this on her own. He wasn’t too fond of Abby on her own. She was worse when she had other women there. When Chris made these plans, she had not been invited. They simply didn’t take directions well. Chris knew that Henni had struck a nerve.“Online marketing? “Henni asked, “Oh, Christian told me about you. You’re in graduate school for it.”“Yes. I am.” She
As Henni walked back into the hospital, she avoided all the main places that her co-workers would go. She didn’t want to be seen if she could help it. She then slipped into her office and closed the door. No one would know that she was there. As long as she really didn’t make any noise or someone didn’t go looking into her office for something that they needed. She settled into her desk, and then she picked up a folder and turned on her computer. There was a new email from the detective she had just met.She looked over the email, and it was rather basic. She had to wonder when it was actually sent. It had to be before they had met a few minutes ago. She smiled to herself. It isn’t like that working with the good-looking detective would be hard unless he was attached to one of those women she had just put into their place. She shook her head. That is one of the reasons that she hated meeting new people. She
“Of them? No,” he said. “They were not supposed to be there tonight. That was the only reason I went.”“So what are they trying to set you up as well? “she asked.“Yes.” He said with a sigh. “The women have a thing for the people that surround my family. Actually, my cousin's family. All of them are friends and have been for years. They all want to date or have some chance with one of the members of the family. Abby and her sister Beth are the worst in the bunch. You put Abby in her place. That was the highlight of my entire week. Right now, she is trying like hell to set me up with one of her friends. That will not be happening. I can’t stand her friends or any of them for the most part. I only go out to enjoy my cousin and friends, not them.”“It seems like you have no love lost between you and her.” She said as she started digging through the files and then lifted the