Anti-Hero | Tim Bradford

Chapter Twelve - Breaking and Entering

Tim blinked himself awake. Heavy with sleep he looked over to his alarm clock, mentally swearing at himself for waking up at 3:37 in the morning. He knew why though, the knowledge that they could die at any moment had been plaguing his thoughts, and now his dreams.

He knew that sleep would not come naturally for him for at least another hour. I had always been a bad habit of his. It started when he was still in the military and the constant noise and activity in the base camp kept waking him; usually he would go for a run or do some housework to burn some energy but as he shifted back onto his side, he couldn't find it in himself to leave the bed.

Soft moonlight shone through the crack between the curtains and gently illuminated the Morgan. She had changed so much in the years they spent apart, it was as if she had lost a part of her soul. When she smiled, her smile didn't fully reach her eyes, her laugh seemed somewhat hollow, and her demeanour was very guarded. She had begun to pull herself away from Tim's touches as if she was guarding herself from being hurt. That had briefly disappeared though.

Sleep had restored the peacefulness that Tim had fallen in love with and for a moment, he could pretend that nothing bad had happened.

Slowly, Tim reached across to run his fingers down her cheek and for the first time since he had found her again, Morgan didn't flinch at his touch.

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Around 6:30, Tim woke for the second time. This time he was greeted by an empty bed. For a moment, he had thought he dreamed the last days and that he was alone again. His fears faded as he heard Morgan's panicked calls for him echoing throughout the house. Quickly, he grabbed his gun from his bedside drawer and made his way throughout their home.

As he made his way through the house, he looked around for any signs of what could be wrong. He didn't look long before he saw Morgan looking at their backdoor. "Hey, are you okay? What's wrong?"

"The lock," Morgan stood back from the door, allowing Tim to get closer. She watched as he placed his firearm down as he moved to inspect the lock. "It's been broken. I found the door open. Someone was here last night."

Tim reached for his gun again. "Crap. Did you check the rest of the house or did you come straight here?"

"I came straight down here, I thought you may want a coffee."

"Right okay, I'll call 911, and you call Grey. We need to stay here until this thing is reported and added to the caseload. I highly doubt this was a coincidence."

-----

It didn't take long for their home to be flooded with cops. Grey had turned up first, he was still in his jogging bottoms and shirt he had been sleeping in. He had rushed out of bed to get to their house, barely taking the time to grab his gun and badge.

It had taken all the reservation he had to not burst through the front door to go find Tim and Morgan Instead he tried the spare key Morgan had given him when they had moved in and tried it in the lock. He found Morgan sat on the sofa, her leg shaking up and down in anxiety with Tim beside her trying to ground her.

"Thank God you guys are okay'" he said, walking into the room, "What happened? I didn't get a lot of details over the phone."

"Morgan found the lock on the back door broken. Someone had broken in. Nothing valuable has been taken, not that we could think of anyway. However our cabinets have been gone through. I think they were looking for something. And if they didn't get it, they'll be back." Tim said, moving away from his wife and towards Grey. As he got closer, he lowered his voice so as not to be overheard. "She's been like this since she called you. I think she blames herself."

Grey hummed in agreement. There had been many times where he had talked Morgan out of a spiral of self-loathing and distress. He also knew from these times that it was sometimes better to let herself start to calm down alone. "I saw you had a camera doorbell. Did it happen to catch anything?"

"No," Tim sighed, leaning against the arm of the sofa. "I checked. It was disconnected. I don't think it's unrelated."

"You're right to not write it off. I'll mention it to the detectives." As of one cue, the sound of car doors slamming echoed from the street and into the house. "Both of you, take the day off today. You've got a lot to deal-"

"No." Morgan's head snapped up. "I need to go in. This is my mess. I'm the reason this happened. I need to be there to stop it."

Grey sighed, "You know we have a whole team working on this. You need to take care of yourself. We'll have a unit placed outside so you needn't worry. You've had an eventful start to the day, take the time you need to rest."

Morgan's eyes hardened in a way neither man had seen before. She almost looked like she had been possessed by the personification of rage and determination. "I'll rest when we catch this sorry son of a bitch."

———

"I'm worried about her," Tim said to Grey after the detectives had taken his statement of events. "She's changed."

"It's been a long time since she's been home, Tim. Of course change will have happened."

"You saw what she was like earlier. It was like a switch flipped in her mind. Who knows what she went through all that time, what she did to survive. She doesn't talk about it; I asked once, I got no response. It was as if she left reality."

Grey looked over to Morgan and then back to Tim. "Do you not think that she should be working this case."

"No, it's giving her something to focus on... and the closure may help her."

"And what if it doesn't."

"Well that's what I'm here for. I'll always make sure she finds her way home."