Rest in Peace
Chapter 7
by Aimless
“Ryo? What the fuck?” I scrambled backward and frantically looked for anything to block the impending blow. It was not on my agenda today to get my brains bashed in by my lover.
I saw the mag-lite lying nearby and dove for it. The throbbing pain in my shoulder a testament to how close a call I’d just had. The look in Ryo’s eyes as he brought his weapon down caused fear to coil in my belly in sickening waves.
My partner, lover and friend was not home right now please hang up and try again. The hatred and rage that twisted his face belonged to someone else. The snarl that left his lips not even remotely sounding like Ryo’s warm smooth voice.
I got the flashlight up just in time and the crowbar hit it with arm numbing force. Pain radiated out from the earlier blow I took. I dropped the light and hissed at the burning throbbing all along my arm and shoulder. I hoped Ryo, or the asshole that was using his body, didn’t reach for his gun. Mine was a heavy weight in the holster under my armpit. There was no way I was drawing it. I’d rather shoot myself than point it at my lover.
Ryo started forward and I braced for another attack. The crowbar hitting the concrete startled me badly. Ryo suddenly grabbed his head and shuddered.
“That’s it Babe fight it. Please Ryo I don’t want to have to hurt you.” Shakily I stood up clutching my wounded arm.
Ryo’s head lifted to stare at me. The eyes that glared so menacingly were not the deep, dark, expression filled eyes of my lover. His lip curled in a sneer.
“She’s mine! You can’t have her! Bitch tried to leave me. I showed her! Fucking whore!” Mike, the former building super had complete control. He bent to grab the iron bar again.
God dammit! I never meant for this to happen. I couldn’t let him get a hold of a weapon. Begging forgiveness as I lunged I managed to knock Ryo off his feet. He hit the floor with a bone jarring thud.
I got an elbow to the chin for my troubles and saw stars. Still he could have hit me way worse than that. Ryo was a black belt in Karate even though he hadn’t participated in classes for quite some time. It appeared again that my lover was in there somewhere trying to help.
Somehow I got him turned on his stomach and for lack of anything better I sat on him. I weighed a bit more than Ryo and had the leverage to keep him there.
“Asshole! I’ll kill you! She’s mine!” Ryo screamed and I swear to god he was frothing at the mouth.
It tore me up to see him like that and I prayed with a frantic urgency. Mostly remembered prayers from my days at the orphanage. It might not be much but it was all I had. I grabbed the cuffs from Ryo’s belt and snapped them around his wrists. I took a deep breath and rolled him over. I couldn’t bear to see him face down on the filthy floor.
One solid kick to my upper thigh had me rolling away. Damn he almost got me in the balls. Fuck this…Ryo or not no one messed with my jewels. I grabbed his legs and my cuffs and bound his ankles.
“You can’t have her! She’s mine! Slut…always cheating on me with everyone in the building!” Ryo thrashed and I was afraid he’d do himself harm.
I grabbed him by the shirtfront and hauled him upright.
“Stop! Ryo, Babe listen to me. You have to fight this. I know you’re in there. Come on you’re stronger than this murdering piece of shit.” I placed a hand on the side of his face. God I wanted him back.
Ryo’s face twisted back into that mocking sneer that looked just so wrong. Then he spit right in my face. I let him go in surprise and he slumped back to the floor. I wiped a hand across my cheek and got pissed.
“You know what asshole? You’re dead! She’s dead so why don’t you just take a one way ticket to hell and leave my partner the fuck alone! I know what you’re guarding down here and I intend to uncover your crime and give the poor woman and her daughter some peace. So you can just fucking watch as I do it!” I was so mad I didn’t even feel the pain in my shoulder as I grabbed the crowbar and attacked the mortar on the cinderblock wall.
I tried to ignore Ryo’s mad struggling and cursing. Every foul thing that came out of his mouth was like a fist to the gut. The wall was poorly constructed and the cement chipped away easier than I thought. I avoided looking at my lover because I knew his frantic struggles was abrading the skin of his wrists and causing damage.
I had to end this.
Maybe, just maybe if Mike’s shameful secret was brought to light and Emily’s mama’s fate was revealed this nightmare would end.
I just prayed I was right.
The first few hits to the wall knocked loose a significant amount of mortar. Ryo’s body behind me continued to be a distraction despite my efforts to tune him out. The shouts and struggling made my heart ache for what this whole mess was putting him through. I didn’t know why the ghost inhabiting his body stayed trapped. Perhaps it was the only way he could affect the physical world. Maybe Ryo’s psyche helped keep him there to let me do what I needed to find peace.
Out of the corner of my eye I could see the hazy image of Emily. She stayed close to me watching my partner’s struggles. I wished her strength to deal with the abusive man that had been her step father.
Sweat stung my eyes as it dripped down from my bangs. The wall gave up its secrets reluctantly and I was dimly aware of a fierce burning ache radiating across my shoulder and down my arm. I stopped to catch my breath and realized the room was silent save for my heavy breathing. Nervously I turned towards Ryo.
He lay there unmoving with his eyes closed and I almost panicked. Only the steady sound of his breathing reassured me that he was ok…or as ok as he was going to get under the circumstances. God…I hated seeing him like that. I just stood there as Ryo raised his head and looked at me.
“D…Dee? Wha…what happened? Why am I handcuffed?” His pained and confused tone of voice cut me deeply.
I dropped the crowbar with a loud clatter and knelt by his side. I winced at the vivid red and purple marks adorning his wrists. I smoothed his tangled hair away from his forehead.
“Are you ok Babe? Here let me get these off of you.” I could not stand to see my lover restrained a second longer. I grabbed the key out of my pocket and unlocked the cuffs around his abused wrists.
“What happened?” Ryo asked again as I released cuffs at his ankles.
Just after I reached for his legs I felt a stinging sensation across the back of my hand and I dropped the keys. I looked down at the four parallel red scratches. What the hell? Cold rolled over me and Emily now stood in front of me frantically shaking her head.
It dawned on me that I’d just made a monumental mistake.
With a terrible sense of dread I looked up from Ryo’s legs. He sat there grinning maniacally and pointing his gun at me. Fuck!
“You can’t have her!” Then he laughed. A chilling high pitched sound that grated on my ears.
I dropped the keys and scrambled backward. I could only hope that Mike, being unfamiliar with Ryo’s gun, would give me an opening to disarm him before I got shot. There was no way in hell I was drawing my own weapon and pointing it at Ryo.
I raised my hands in a non-threatening manner.
“Hey now you don’t want to do this. I’m just trying to help. You want to find peace right? Just let Ryo go.” Cautiously I moved back.
Ryo’s finger twitched on the trigger. God babe I hope you’re in there somewhere or I’m dead.
“You just had to interfere! She tried to leave but I stopped her. No one leaves me! No one!” Ryo shook so he gripped the gun with both hands.
“Ryo I know you’re in there. Please Babe just drop the gun.” I was so fucked. Cold sweat trickled under the collar of my shirt and I prayed for a miracle.
My savior appeared in the form of a little girl. One who finally found her courage.
Emily drifted in front of me. Her presence felt strong and almost tangible somehow.
“I want my mama!”
Faintly I heard Emily’s whispered voice.
“Your mama was a whore!” Ryo angrily snarled.
“No! She was good and kind.” Emily’s voice got a little louder. A chill breeze stirred the debris in the room.
“She deserved what she got. She tried to sneak out.” The spirit inhabiting my lover’s body argued.
“NO! You hit her! You kicked her down the stairs! I saw! I saw it all! But then I hid. I ran away and hid. I never knew what you did with her. I WANT MY MOMMA!” Emily’s voice rose to a shriek as she advanced on my partner.
The wind in the room rose and I was flung into the wall I’d been knocking a hole in. Already weakened the unstable wall gave way and in a shower of cinder blocks and mortar I fell backwards. A stray piece of concrete smacked me right on the head.
Fuck! I thought as blackness swirled around me…not again!
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Ugh…this was getting to be an unpleasant habit. My eyes were closed and I was lying on a very uncomfortable surface. Cinderblocks do not make a good mattress. Experimentally I cracked open one eyelid. The room did a lazy circle and I swallowed down a surge of nausea. My head throbbed and I wondered how many brain cells I’d lost this time. Getting knocked unconscious twice in as many weeks could not be good.
Then it occurred to me how quiet it’d become. I was almost afraid to look. Shakily I rolled over and got to my hands and knees. A few deep breaths and the cramping in my stomach eased to a bearable level. I grabbed the edge of the wall I’d fallen through and pulled myself to my feet. The last thing I remember was Emily going postal on her step father.
Ryo…Oh God Ryo. What had this done to him?
My partner lay curled on his side not moving. His gun flung some distance away on the trash covered floor. I staggered to him and collapsed onto my knees. Ignoring my throbbing head and other various aches I sat back and pulled Ryo into my lap.
“Ryo…come on babe. Wake up. Please. Don’t scare me like this.” I gently slapped his cheeks and noticed the unnatural pallor of his skin.
I was rewarded a few minutes later by a soft groan. Ryo grimaced as he blinked a few times and opened his gorgeous dark eyes.
“D…Dee? What?” Confused Ryo tried to sit up further and look around.
“Shhhh…babe. You’re ok now.” He was all right. It seemed that Mike was gone. At least for now.
“Dee oh my god! I hit you. I…I remember it all. My gun! My finger was on the trigger. I…I almost.” Ryo’s eyes filled and he looked so horrified at what almost happened. “I couldn’t stop myself! I tried! I tried so hard.” Then he buried his face in his hands.
Ryo looked so heartbroken. I held him tighter as he shook in my arms. I hated the situation that reduced my lover to this state. The knowledge that he hurt and almost killed me proved to be too much for Ryo to handle.
So I just sat on the damp concrete floor and comforted my lover the best I could. Soothing words and even though I didn’t feel the need I forgave Ryo when he begged it. He needn’t have asked…it was not his fault.
But this was not over yet. A small transparent shape hovered right at the edge of my vision. I sighed…I needed this to end as much as Emily did.
I kissed Ryo briefly on the lips and reluctantly let him go.
“I need to finish this Ryo. I want to go home.” I got to my feet and dizzily clutched my forehead.
“Dee! You’re hurt. You need to sit down. Is that blood?” His own remorse forgotten Ryo got up and examined the side of my head above my ear.
I raised my fingers and gingerly felt a large lump. I looked at my hand and the smears of red. “Piece of concrete got me. I went down like I’d been sucker punched.”
“We need to get this looked at Dee. You probably have a concussion. Another one and that is dangerous. Your shoulder where I hit you…how is it?” Ryo’s hands pulled aside the collar of my shirt. I looked too and the red and purple welt was not at all pretty.
I hissed and sidestepped when he gently prodded the wound.
“Ryo stop fussing. I’ll be ok.” I really, really wanted to be out of this basement.
“I’m so sorry Dee. Look at what I’ve done.” Ryo briefly caressed the abused flesh.
“We’ll talk about it later ok? Right now there is something I have to do. Although I feel like shit so I’m going to need some help.” I held my arm out and Ryo immediately gave me his support.
I needed to check out the room I’d discovered. Hopefully it contained the answers we were looking for. Ryo helped me through the hole in the wall. Emily hovered just on the fringes of my awareness. An anxious presence that I would not be sorry to see depart. I’d had more than enough of this spooky shit.
It took a minute for our eyes to adjust to the dark room. All it contained was a moldering suitcase and a large steamer trunk. Ryo looked at me and I nodded. He went to fetch the crowbar. I stood nearby as he broke the lock on the trunk. Ryo hesitated and looked back at me.
“Open it.” I edged closer as Ryo flung back the lid.
Inside was the pathetically sad corpse of a woman. I assume it was female because it was wearing the remains of a dress and shreds of long hair clung to the desiccated scalp. There wasn’t much of a smell since the body decayed decades ago.
I just stood there saddened by how she had ended up hidden away in this dank basement. Ryo bent down and retrieved something from the floor. It was a black handbag. He opened the mildewed leather and retrieved a wallet.
“Anne Mason….Emily’s mother. We found her. Poor woman. You think Emily can move on now?” Dee handed me the ID and sure enough it was the woman in the photo back at O’Donnell’s apartment.
“I hope so Ryo. I really do.” But it wasn’t quite over yet.
An angry wail seemed to fill the room and the air turned icy cold. Ryo grabbed my hand and held on tight enough to leave bruises.
Someone was not happy about our discovery and I’d be damned if I’d let Mike get his hooks in Ryo again. The room seemed to darken and I felt like running. The oppressive atmosphere made it hard to breathe.
Blocking the room we were in was Emily. Her small form seemed unable to hold back the rage building in the small space.
Just when I though about diving for cover and pulling Ryo with me a different aura seemed to overshadow the gathering gloom. This one smelled floral and a slightly warm breeze ruffled my hair.
Another figure stood behind Emily. This one also female but that of an adult. One that wrapped her arms around the little girl and pulled her close.
A distinct voice called out to the darkness. “Go to the punishment that surely waits for you Mike Malone. You’ve escaped judgment long enough for what you’ve done! Go and bother us no more!”
The pressure built and I stared wide eyed at the spectacle. Then with one last cry of rage the presence was gone. Just like that. The room seemed less suffocating and when the woman turned to face us a bright smile lit her thin face.
“Thank you.” She simply said before gathering her daughter even closer. Emily looked at me too and smiled.
They slowly faded away arm in arm and I felt like crying in relief. It was over. Finally. I could no longer feel the presence that had shadowed me for a week. I sagged in relief and Ryo stumbled a little under my weight.
“Is it over?” Ryo timidly asked as he warily glanced at the shadowed corners.
“Yeah it’s over babe. Can we leave now? I think I need to go to the hospital.” Truth was I felt like crap and even a trip to the emergency room felt like a vacation compared to what just happened.
“You know I got to call this in. We have a body in the basement. Dead of suspicious causes. What are we going to tell the Chief?” Ryo asked as he helped me up the stairs. We paused a moment as Ryo retrieved his gun and put it back into the holster. As thorough as always he even had the presence of mind to grab the crowbar.
“We’ll think of something.” I leaned tiredly on my partner as we made our way outside.
The trip to the emergency room was fairly short and by that time we had our story straight as to how we’d found the body. I have informants all over the city and we cooked up a tale of one of them scouring the building for salvageable items to sell found the body and called me. Since I would not be forced to divulge my source our story would be hard to disprove.
I was looked over, my head got four stitches. My sore arm placed in a sling. Nothing was broken thank goodness. Ryo would have guilted himself into an ulcer. Then they admitted me for observation over night.
Drake and JJ came to take my statement and Ryo handed them the wallet he’d found. Since the woman was never reported missing there was not too much emphasis put on the case. Within a fairly short amount of time it was declared a cold case and closed. I knew Emily and her mom had gone to a better place whether the case got an officially solved stamp on it or not.
Rose was not happy at all that I was once more on the disabled list. At least for the next week while my shoulder healed. Rose vowed to bury me in tedious paperwork and my pained exclamation made him smile with glee…the bastard.
Ryo stayed by my side all night. I thought it sweet that he held my hand. He still felt so guilty about what happened. If anyone had any right to a huge cup-o-guilt it was me for dragging him into this mess. We had some serious talking to do to put this behind us but I was confident we’d work it all out.
The next morning I was awoken with a kiss I enthusiastically returned until a strident ‘ahem’ behind us got our attention. Ryo broke away from me and blushed scarlet as a smiling nurse brought in my breakfast tray. She winked and told me that if I ate the unappealing grey glop they called oatmeal I could go home.
Ryo regained his composure and thanked the lady in white. Then he made me eat every spoonful. I half expected to him to grab the spoon and do the ‘here comes the choo choo’ while he fed me. It seemed he wanted to get home as much as I did. Dark circles ringed his eyes and I knew he hadn’t gotten much sleep. We were both still exhausted…mentally and physically.
On the way home I made Ryo stop at a small flower shop. He looked bewildered as I got out and came back a short time later with a bright yellow bunch of daisies.
“What are those for Dee?” Ryo asked as he pulled away from the curb.
“I got a stop to make on the way home ok? Call it closure.” Ryo still looked confused but he nodded anyway.
I gave him directions to an alleyway I remembered well. I asked him to wait in the car while I got out. He reluctantly agreed because this was a rather bad part of town.
This was where my friend Arnon got gunned down all those years ago. Unbeknownst to me and his other friends Arnon became a mule for a local drug ring. He needed to make money to pay the rent for his sick mother. They got him hooked on the junk. They laced candy bars with the drugs and we were too naïve to figure out what was going on. They also sold my friend to their buddies as a fuck toy for extra cash. A fate I almost got trapped into when I tried to find out what happened to Arnon. The man I considered my dad, another NY cop, stopped em even though it led to his death. This cop was the man I took my surname from even though he had no relation to me by blood. This was also the cop that found me in a cardboard box in an alley as a baby and brought me to the nun I affectionately called Penguin to raise. She ran a catholic orphanage. Detective Laytner also made it a point over the years to keep in contact with me up until his death. He was the closest thing to a positive male role model I had. I found out when Arnon was killed that Detective Laytner was in it also up to his neck. Because he tried to save me from Arnon’s fate he was gunned down for betraying the drug ring he worked for. It was then I vowed to turn my life around and become a cop. To prove I could be a good one despite my mentor being so corrupt. I knew that he loved me like a son and swore to become what he couldn’t.
I’d made my peace with Detective Laytner years ago but there was one more person I owed closure to. Someone I’d seen as a ghostly presence lurking in the very alley where he’d been killed. As I walked down the trash filled alley I stopped at the very spot they’d found his body. I could still, in my mind’s eye, see the bloodstains. I crouched down and laid the bouquet on the filthy ground.
“Arnon…I’m sorry man. About what happened to you. About ignoring what I’d seen that night when you looked at me from this alley. I didn’t believe you were real. I know different now. I just wanted to say I’m sorry and I hope you found some peace.” I closed my eyes and said a little prayer. As I half expected I got no response. With a sigh I awkwardly got to my feet as my aching muscles protested the movement.
Ryo looked relieved when I climbed back into the car. He looked sideways at me and I laid my head on his shoulder. On the drive home I told him all about Arnon and why I had to make this last stop. Ryo held my hand the whole time caressing the back soothingly with his thumb.
When we pulled up to the apartment building I was drained. Heart sore with memories and aching from my injuries. Ryo didn’t say much but was there for me as a solid tangible thing for me to latch onto. He helped me into the apartment and then into the bedroom.
Wearily I got undressed as Ryo got a glass of water from the bathroom. As I crawled into bed he handed me some mild painkillers. Gratefully I took the pills and lay down. When Ryo started to go into the other room I grabbed his hand.
“Stay. Please I don’t want to be alone.” I softly asked and pulled him back towards me.
Ryo looked around the room. “Is she really gone?”
“Yeah she’s gone. This place is ours again. But I need you Ryo. Lie down beside me.” I was feeling strangely fragile and needed his loving warmth.
Ryo smiled at me and removed his clothes. I didn’t even leer at him as he stripped down to his briefs. He climbed into bed and drew the thick comforter over the both of us. I snuggled into his compliant body and rested my head on his shoulder. His fingers sifted through my hair as my eyes drifted shut.
“It could have gone terribly wrong today. I almost lost you Ryo.” I whispered. Then burrowed closer.
“But you didn’t Dee. I’m here and plan to be for a long time. I love you. Now get some rest.” He kissed the top of my head and stroked my back.
“Love you too Babe.” Finally at peace myself I fell asleep in Ryo’s arms.
I sincerely hoped that no other spirits in need came knocking at my door. Once in this lifetime was more than enough.
~ end ~