Chase // Van McCann

7. Did You Hear the News?

After how yesterday went, I was definitely not looking forward to talking to the next person who admitted to killing Erica Foss. I didn't sleep a wink last night. Steve Mackey filled my mind and I felt heavy. As soon as we came back, I had Joe contact his parents right away. I was hoping it'd give me some solace but it didn't at all. I downed the last of my tea and walked over to Bondy's office.

"I'm ready," I told him gruffly. I wasn't really but I wanted it done and over with.

Bondy looked up from his paper. "Just give me a minute," he replied.

"That's fine. Take your time. I'm gonna go for a fag break and then I'll meet you at the car."

"Sound."

I made my way down to the first floor and stepped out. Since it was still relatively early, it wasn't hot yet so I stood in the sun, lighting my cigarette. I huffed and blew smoke towards the sky.

I began thinking about the investigation as a whole and how we haven't gotten anywhere. The evidence was inconclusive and so far all the people we've talked to are innocent. Bondy and I were sent to investigate the claims of the two people who confessed to the murder while a separate team was sent to question Peter McLeod. I heard he's being questioned at 1 PM today so I looked forward to hearing how that went.

It's been about a month since her body was discovered and we haven't identified a person of interest yet which frustrated me to no end. It's rare to have something like this happen. Usually it's obvious who the killer is but not this time apparently.

I heard the door open and Bondy walked out, looking around until his eyes rested on me.

"Are you done?" he asked.

"Yeah," I said, stubbing out my cigarette.

We both got in the car and drove to the next address. This person lived further south in Tacoma. I looked out the window at the scenery while Bondy drove.

"So how did your talk with Lily go yesterday?" Bondy asked out of the blue.

My eyes widened and I looked at him, shocked. How did he know? "How did you know?" I asked.

"I didn't. It was a lucky guess. So what'd you talk about?" Damn. Bondy was really good at this and I should've known not to fall for it. He said it so confidently which made me believe he actually knew.

"It was okay. I asked her if she knew a Peter McLeod and she did so she told me a bit about him."

"You don't have to hide that from me, y'know," Bondy said, glancing at me.

"I know. I'm sorry. It won't happen again," I said, staring straight ahead.

"You keep telling her to leave it to the professionals but you keep coming back to her. Why?"

I glared at Bondy. "What're you trying to say?" I asked carefully.

"Nowt. I was just wondering what made you change your mind."

"She knows more than she's letting on."

Bondy stayed silent at my answer and I was glad of it. I didn't feel like talking about her but it didn't stop me from thinking about her. I wondered what she was up to. I imagined her doing her own investigation, finding something that we didn't know and it worried me. What if she found the murderer before we did and tried to confront him or her by herself? I shook the negative thoughts from my mind and reached forward to turn on the radio. I picked a station I liked and turned the volume up so I couldn't hear the thoughts in my head.

We took the exit and began making our way to the residential neighborhoods. I found myself being intrigued by everything I saw. I've never been here before so it was all new to me. Bondy finally pulled into a neighborhood and I could feel the nerves return again. We finally pulled up to the drive and Bondy parked the car.