The Murder Of 1998

Chapter Sixteen

Sergeant Wanda Powell threw her cigarette onto the ground, crushing it with her beige boots. She adjusted her jacket and walked away from her car while her boots clicked underneath her with every step she took. Despite the harm that seven years of smoking can do to a person, she still maintained a fresh and young look.

Seth and Walter were sitting at their desks, both giving each other glares. Wanda looked at them oddly from across the room before walking over to them, wondering why they were staring at each other instead of working.

"Whats going on here?" She asked the two men as she clutched on tightly to her purse.

Seth sighed. "Oh its nothing. Just a bit of a... disagreement."

Walter scoffed and rolled his eyes. He looked off the the side. "Yea whatever."

"Well whatever it is, get over it and do your damn jobs. You're not getting paid just to sit on your ass all day. So get going," Wanda said. She walked to her office and left the two detectives alone. Seth stared at Walter with a stink eye but eventually dropped the dirty look.

"Look, I'm sorry I don't think like you. But what you did was disrespectful and completely uncalled for." Seth bit down on his lip. Walter shrugged.

"I have to do what I think is best. I'm trying to look for someone who murdered a poor woman. I'm not so concerned with being nice to peoples feelings."

The silence between them intensified. Seth tapped his fingers against his desk. Walter's eyes had no sign of anger in them. It was like he tried to look angry but Seth could see the way his partner truly felt. He wasn't angry, just upset that he couldn't do his job the way he wanted to.

Seth stood up from his seat, leaning over his desk. "I'm going out to get some coffee. You want one?"

Walter shook his head as he grabbed a pen and the papers in front of him. "Nah."

-x-

Kora and Mitchell were seated in the back seats of Raymond's car as he drove rather recklessly. They both looked at each other with confusion crossing their faces. It felt out of the blue to suddenly go for ice cream at eleven in the morning. But they were little kids so they didn't question much in life.

Raymond could only think about rocky road. He didn't understand what that even meant. Was that code for something? He sighed in frustration as he had been thinking about rocky road for the past hour.

He pulled his car into one of the parking spaces at Betty's Ice Cream Farm. It had a fair amount of people. People just looking for something to cool down from the summer heat.

"I want strawberry!" Kora giggled as she tilted her head back to look up at the menu. Raymond hand her in his arms while Mitchell stood next to him, being able to examine the menu of different flavors.

It was amazing how a little kids mind worked. They could see some horrific shit at a young age but then if you try hard enough they eventually forget and are back to laughing and picking their nose.

Raymond stared at the menu. The sixth item on their list was rocky road. It made him tense up just looking at the name.

"Next!"

"Go on, tell her what you want."

"I want strawberry ice cream with a cherry on top!"

Raymond raised a brow at her. "What do you say?"

Kora smiled with her finger to her lips, looking innocent. "Please?"

Raymond forced himself to smile as he let down his daughter. "Good girl."