My Kevlar Surrounded Heart

A New Fire

"It... has to be wrong. Right?" I sit down on the grass, my hands shaking as I stare at the driver's license –Not just at the date of expiration, but also at his picture. He looks so similar to before he died, but also a bit different–.
"Lyra, you and I both know those things are never wrong."
"Then how is he alive?! Tell me, please. We watched the building blow up, we found his badge and shirt on the floor destroyed. How could he be alive, Dan?! And why would he..." I slump down slightly. I knew Dan was right, I knew Delilah was right. This was Ray's doing, or he was at least around when it happened.

Breathing, walking, living.

"I don't know, Lyra, but once we find him we will ask all of the questions we have." He holds his hand out to me, offering to help me up.
I let out a sigh as I took it and stand up, "Let's keep looking for stuff. Whoever he is working with may have left something."
"How do we know he's working with someone?"
"Because Ray wouldn't do something like this!" I yell, quickly calming myself down, "I don't believe Ray would go from one of the top detectives to murdering someone."
Dan nods in agreement, "you're right." He then starts looking, making sure to give me some distance.

We search for a while with no luck, I was starting to get demotivated and I could tell Dan was as well.
"I think we've searched all that we could. I think we just leave this to CSI." He ran his fingers through his hair, "Let's take the wallet to the DMV, maybe we can figure out when he got it renewed and if he was with anyone."
"Should we check in with Rico first?"
"Definitely. I'll call him in the car."
I nod a little, walking back to the car and I silently wish that this was all a dream and Ray just stayed dead; Don't get me wrong, I'm happy that he's not dead, but I wish he was alive and still with the force, not out on his own committing murders.
We got back to the car and Dan calls Rico, it rang twice before he answers.
"Got anything, Rico?" Dan asks.
"Prints are a one hundred percent match to the prints on his phone. It's really him."
"Dammit..." Dan sighs and looks out the window, biting his lip slightly; I knew that's how he kept from getting really mad. I wasn't sure why this was the thing that made him so mad, and not the wallet; Probably since the wallet meant he was here, while the prints on the clothes meant that Ray had touched our victim.
"Anything from you guys?"
"We found his wallet. No money, but his driver's license is here, and it was renewed last year. New picture and everything."
"I guess we have a pretty high suspect then. Anything else?"
"Nope."
"Alright. I'll update the boards."
"We're going to head to the DMV to see if Ray was there with anyone."
"Sounds good. See you guys." Rico hung up and I let out a frustrated sigh.
"I can't believe this," I look over at Dan, "Why would he do this?"
"I'm not sure. All we can do right now is find him."
I nod and start the car, "you're right." I couldn't help but look down at the driver's license again, my eyes training on the address, "I thought his apartment was abandoned when he died?" I question while picking it up.
"Yeah? We swept his place once he was dead and we've been clearing it out so other people can stay in it. Why?"
"It says his address is the apartment?"
"Huh... why would he lie about that?"
"He's... he's hiding."
He nods a bit, "This wasn't an accident."
I shake my head, "He was prepared for this. All of this. His death, his disappearance, this murder."
"Why would he change a cop to that, though?"
"No idea... Let's just head to the DMV."
He nods and I drove off.

I step into the DMV before Dan, I was silently hoping Ray would be standing there, trying to get a new license since he lost his, but he wasn't.
I walk up to the lady who was running the pictures and ignored the angry comments from people in the line. I hold up my badge as I got close, "Hi there. I'm with the NYPD and would like to ask you a few questions."
The woman looks up from her computer, "Yes?"
"Do you recognize this man?" I hold his wallet up to her, his picture clearly visible to her.
"Hm... I'm not sure. I see a lot of faces in a day, and that says it was renewed a year ago."
"He was probably in here on the 30th of October last year." I close the wallet and put it in my pocket.
"I could have the security look over the tapes if you'd like, but I don't recognize him."
I nod, "That would be great."
"Alright." She stands up and walks into a back room, a bit later she walks back out and points to a door, "go in there."
"Thank you." please give us something good, I step into the room with Dan.

The security room was simple; A desk with a few monitors and a swivel chair with a man in his mid-20s sitting in the chair, "October 10th, 2015, correct?"
"Yes." I pulled up another chair, sitting down.
"Do you have a specific time?"
"No, I don't..."
"Alright," he grumbles and pulls up the tapes from the 30th, speeding through them. It took a bit, but at 3 pm Raymond walked into the DMV with another guy. They both looked much more threatening than I've ever seen Raymond look before.
"There!" I call out, scooting closer to the screen, "do you have audio?"
"Yeah, but it's going to be difficult to hear just them." He turns on the sound, and just as he said, there was a lot of noise.
"Could we take the tapes with us?"
"Sure. But I'll need them back once you're done." he took the tapes and put them onto a drive, handing it to me.
"Thank you." I put the drive into my pocket as I was leaving the room, "Hopefully we can get Bella to be able to just get their voices."
Dan nods, "I'm sure she can."
"Yeah. Let's go back to the precinct."
We got into the car and I drove back to the precinct.

"It's not perfect, but I managed to pull their voices out of the crowd."
"Great." I sit down, staring at the screen, my eyes locking on Ray. I hated seeing him like this, it didn't seem like him: The ripped dark clothing, the black beanie, the tattoos on his arms. It all felt so wrong.
Bella hit play on the recording and a few seconds follow till Ray started talking,
"I'm not even driving, why do I need to get this renewed?" The sound was a bit muffled and distorted, but with his lips moving and the sound that we had, it was easy to decipher what he was saying.
"We may need you for a getaway car, and I don't think you want to be even more illegal than you already are."
He sighed and stuffed his hands into his pockets.
"I know you're upset about ditching the force, but you know this is for the better!"
"Better? Alex, for the better would be me stepping back into that precinct and seeing L... my friends again."
"Oh my god, Kid. Get over yourself. You're with us now, just like you were always meant to be."
Ray scoffed and went silent, the rest of the time they were silent, but the good part is that we got a clear shot of Alex's face.
"Find this Alex kid and get his address." I get up, "once you do that, bring him in."
"This feels too easy," Dan says, standing up with me.
"I don't care. We have a lead so we're running with it." I turn to him, "have someone try to get the street cams for that time and see if we can follow where they went afterward. I turn to leave the room but stopped and turned back around, "Also, I call dibs on interrogating Ray when we catch him. Got it?"
"I'll be in there with you, but it'll be all you, girl." Dan shot me a smile.
"Great." I leave the room after that, a new fire burning inside me; We're catching Ray, and we're getting answers, no matter what.