No Rest For The Wicked

Not What We Expected

Murder is unique in that it abolishes the party it injures, so that society must take the place of the victim, and on his behalf demand atonement or grant forgiveness. ~W.H. Auden

The cold evaporated Darcy's anger the moment she stepped out of the station. Guilt gnawed at her; she knew how much John hated lapdogs who blindly obeyed orders, how one had almost gotten him killed when he worked homicide in Chicago before coming out here. But her pride refused to let her go back in and apologize, not yet anyway. There was always tomorrow.

What there wasn't time for was to further allow the guilt to eat at her, as a black and white Dodge Charger pulling into the parking lot caught her attention. Leaning against the grill of her SUV, she watched the muscle car swung into the spot next to her and wondered what department it was from. POLICE was scrawled along the doors, but there was no town name under it and she didn't recognize the sigil on the side panel. Red and blocky, it somewhat resembled the face of a robot, or a cat. Whatever the logo was supposed to be of, she'd never seen it before and hadn't a clue who was driving until he stepped out. The man was undeniably bureau; crisp suit, clean shaven, serious expression, and a walk that was all business.

Despite the severity of his look, he was probably one of the most handsome men she'd ever seen in person; at least six foot and some change, short cropped brunette hair, chiseled jaw, very Karl Urban-esque, except for the piercing blue eyes that probably shouldn't even be possible.

"Detective Darcy Blake, I am Agent Peter Row, FBI," he offered no handshake, instead flashing his badge for just long enough for her to see the bureau stamp. "Shall we get started?"

"Actually, it's pretty crowded in there. If it's alright with you, we could work at my other office, I've got everything we could need and decent coffee." Home, other office, there really wasn't much of a difference these days and she couldn't find it within herself to care that she was being a coward and avoiding her old mentor this way.

"Lead the way," his tone was flat and he turned sharply on his heel to return to his car. Given the monotonous nature of his voice, she wondered if he perhaps missed the day regular emotions were handed out. Lightly shaking her head at herself, she decided she was not about to complain about getting an emotionless agent; she was already attached to these cases, perhaps less feeling was exactly what she needed.

The fact that the federal agent was driving a patrol car was odd, but that was a question for another time. Instead Darcy wondered if perhaps she should have offered him a ride. The muscle car would be great for speed no doubt, but there was no telling just how well it would handle on the icy roads to her house. It was too late now, though, he had already pulled out of the spot and sat waiting for her. Shrugging to herself, she fired up the SUV and led the way out, the Charger right behind.

Her worry was for naught, as the high-powered vehicle stayed right behind her, never lagging behind or skidding off track the whole way to her driveway. Throwing the SUV in park, she delayed getting out to listen to the weather forecast. Thick fog was inbound and supposed to stick around for the next several days, which was going to reduce visibility to almost zero; snow would be following it.

Silver lining, she mused, no hikers would dare tempt the mountains in fog.

Already she could see it blanketing the horizon, bringing with it freezing, stagnant air. It wouldn't be long before it was thick enough to cause another slew of accidents on the highways and backroads.

Darcy really didn't know what to say to the agent as they both climbed out of their vehicles and headed for the front door, so she settled with silence. It was almost awkward, especially when her old lock was frozen and she had to jimmy and shove to get it open; but Agent Row offered no conversation so the silence stayed until Darcy flipped on the lights and grabbed the box of files.