Pitiless

1. Prologue: Dreamscapes

1. Prologue:  Dreamscapes

            It was one of those days haloed with possibility.  Bright, crisp air that was so fresh it seemed to snap in your mouth like an apple.  Even though it was October, it had been an unseasonably mild fall in Charlotte, and everyone seemed to be outside—jogging, dog-walking, going to Freedom Park.  Isaac and Carly had enjoyed a long stroll themselves in Freedom Park, taking in the sun glittering on the lake and then headed to their favorite café on Piedmont Road.  They were at a table on the sidewalk, enjoying a brief lunch and already making plans for a movie and dinner later that night.  Isaac sat back in his chair, smiling, and took a breath.

            “What is it?” his wife asked with a smile.

            “Ain’t nothing wrong, Carly.  It’s just a nice day.  We need more of these, you know?”  He took another breath and allowed his shoulders to sag, mocking huge relief and flashed a smile of his own.

            Carly’s face glowed iridescent as if she wore a translucent mask of pearl.  Her body seemed to hover above her seat momentarily and Isaac Black narrowed his eyes, staring hard at her.  He was confused as to why she was floating there above her seat, but at the same time it wasn’t a completely foreign notion to him.  He seemed to recall seeing her do this before somewhere in the back of his mind.  So while he found it odd, it wasn’t completely unexpected to him.  He glanced around to see if the other patrons of the café, also outside enjoying the mild fall day, noticed his wife hovering in the air.

            Suddenly, his mobile phone rang out from his blue jeans and that seemed to break the spell.  As he pulled his phone from his pocket, his wife was once again seated normally in her chair and drinking from her water glass.  She gave him a look as if to say ‘this was too good to be true.’

            Black listened and said a few words into the phone, pulled out a pen and wrote something down on the napkin in front of him, even though it was cloth, and then returned the phone to his jeans pocket.  The next few minutes appeared to Black’s mind as if he was watching another couple who were sitting on other side of frosted glass.  He could make out the shapes of his and Carly’s bodies, watch their gestures, and hear the conversation, but only indistinctly.  He knew what he was saying.  That there had been a body found with a single gun shot wound, that he was next up on the list, and he needed to head to the murder scene.  Carly took a breath, but didn’t complain.  The regret on her face was clear as was her realization that if she was going to take in dinner and a movie, she’d be doing it alone or with one of her girlfriends.

            Then, and this part was still pretty muddled for him, Carly surprised him by saying she’d like to ride along with him to the scene of the murder.  Black shook his head.  Now he was back on the right side of the frosted glass, back in his own seat looking straight at his wife.  His eyes were narrowed again, confused and unclear.  In all of the years they’d been married and in all of the times he’d been called to a scene, she’d never asked if she could ride along with him. 

He cocked his head in confusion and squinted his eyes.

            “What?”

            “Let me go along with you, Isaac.  This has been such a nice day.  I know you have to go, but just let me go along with you.  It’ll extend our time together,” she reached across the table and stroked the back of his hand with her fingernails.  Something she did because it sent chills up the back of his neck.  Black smirked at her in response.