Surviving The New World (Book Six in the Surviving The Walking Dead Series)

To Catch A Criminal (TRIGGER WARNING)

     "Michaewa!" Elijah smiled as he ran towards me, wrapping his arms around my stomach, for that was all he could reach now. "I missed you!"

     "I've missed ya, too, bud!" I smiled.

     "How ya holdin' up?" MJ asked.

     "Well, I'm still standin', so I take that as a plus for now." I chuckled. "I needed to deliver some medicine we found on a run to Siddiq, so I decided it'd be a great time to visit my family."

     "Hey, you're always welcome to visit us anytime."

     "Michaewa, you gotta see what Judith and I made!" Elijah quickly ran upstairs before I could even respond, causing me to smile.

     "Boy, he's gettin' big, full of energy, too."

     "Can't keep up with 'em on most days." MJ smirked.

     "How's Maggie treatin' ya?"

     "Pretty good. She understood why I didn't wanna stay in Alexandria any longer, so she was happy to take us in, as long as we earned our keep."

     "Are ya?"

     "Sure am. Elijah and I work in the garden; he just loves helpin' me."

     "Daddy, I can't find it!" Elijah shouted from his room.

     "Keep lookin' bud, I'm sure it's there!" MJ shook his head in amusement.

     "MJ, I gotta be honest... I didn't come here to deliver medicine, that was just killin' two birds with one stone."

     "Oh? So, why did you come?"

     "Do ya think you, Elijah, and I could talk somewhere private?"

     "This ain't?"

     "Not private enough." MJ let out a sigh.

     "Must be bad if ya need to talk in private this bad." MJ motioned for me to follow him up the stairs, which I complied, though, it wasn't without a struggle; God, how I wish this place had a working elevator. "The Saviors givin' ya a hard time with Daryl gone?"

     "No, they seem to respect me well enough. It's just one I've got a problem with."

     "Just one? I'd figure Jed would give ya some shit."

     "He does, but that's normal Jed. As long as I keep 'em busy, he's fine by me."

     "So, which one is it?" MJ and I stopped out side of his room and stood in silence.

     "Patrick."

     "Patrick? Ain't he the quiet one?"

     "Yeah, but now I'm thinkin' he's been a little too quiet for his own good. Somethin' wasn't sittin' right with Negan about 'em—"

     "Ya took Negan's advice on this?"

     "No, I took his concerns into consideration and decided to look into it. The medicine that was found today was found in an evidence room at a police station; I asked a small group to go and cross reference the entire list of sanctuary members in the criminal background files."

     "Patrick was the only hit?" I gently nodded. "On what grounds?"

     "I dunno what the story is behind it, so I'm not wantin' to discuss it until I find out more, but I really need to talk to Elijah."

     "Oh, God." MJ quietly gasped.

     "Like I said, I dunno if it was a he-said-she-said thing, so I'm not raisin' concern until I know more."