my nanowrimo epic fail

                             It was a quiet day at Oak Valley Police Department. There were seven people in the drunk tank, ten phones ringing and fifty or so officers shuffling around the two hundred year old room. Detective Carmen Crown had just sat down after pouring her third cup of lackluster coffee trying to shake the Pennsylvania winter off her mind. She plopped down at her desk, took a swallow, burned her mouth, cussed and looked up. About ten feet across the room there was a girl in a pink waitress uniform standing in front of a window. She had brown hair with soft loose curls and was very pale save for a bruise on her neck. "Can I help you with something?" Carm asked meaning to speak to the girl, however, her captain had walked in front of her and answered.
         "Now that you mention it, here's a case for you." Captain Munson snickered. "Your pile is looking a little thin."
          "34 open." She sighed. "What's 35? Lay it on me." She said taking two swallows of coffee.
          "Name is Dacy Miller 23, reported missing by one of her co-workers at the Purple Palace Strip club after failing to return her cat. The girl who reported her missing is in Interrogation 3."
          "Fine." Carm stood up and snatched the file out of the captain's hand and watched towards the interrogation room.
          "Watch it Crown."
         "Yeah. I was just thinking I didn't have enough strippers in my life."
          "What life?" The Captain asked. "You're always here."
          "Someone's gotta be since you ain't." She slammed the door behind her and sat at the table. "Fuck I forgot my coffee. Always storming out with something." She looked up at the girl. "So you're here about Dacy Miller?"
         "Yeah bitch ain't been around in a month and she took off with my cat."
          "So no one has seen Dacy in a month and you are worried about a cat. Take it you two weren't close."
          "We was til bitch took off with my cat. Now Fluffy has a spot of brown-"
          "This is missing persons not missing cats. Try and focus. Do you have a picture of Dacy or something relevant to my investigation? Or are you gonna waste time by bitching about your cat when we could be looking for Dacy."
          "Here." She took out a flyer from the Purple Palace. "Dacy has the pink bow on."
          "I think you mean boa." Carm said. "So what do you suppose happened to Dacy?"
          "Maybe she moved back out West to get away from that crazy boyfriend hitting her."
          "Crazy boyfriend got a name?"
          "I think Zach or Zeke. I dunno for sure I tried to steer clear of him. I don't like junkies." She said rubbing her track-marked arms.
          "Uh huh. Well thanks for your time. You've been most helpful." Carm rolled her eyes and walked out of the room. As she sat down at her desk and studied the flyer she realized that one of the girls on the brochure had been the girl standing in the lobby not 20 minutes before. "Aw hell." Carm sighed as she leaned back in her chair and put her feet on the desk.


          I didn't want to wake up today. When I got home at 3 a.m. my baby was screaming his head off. No amount of diaper changing, feeding, or back rubbing would make it stop. I laid down at 6 to try and sleep for a little bit but then my fiancee yelled for me to wake the freshly asleep baby up and fix them breakfast so they could go see his mother. I wanted to fight but I was still sore from the last time. So I got up and quietly began to make Zeke and Zachariah their eggs. I felt my stomach tighten as I attempted to make Zeke's sunny side up eggs "perfect just like the Denny's picture." I didn't want to get burned by a hot pan thrown at my back today. I knew I had to dance tonight and so I had to try really hard to not let Zeke beat me up today. I heaved a sigh of relief as the eggs turned out perfectly. Zachariah started to whimper and Zeke went to slap his hand on the highchair tray to startle him. I hated it when he did that because Zachariah always looked up at me like I was supposed make this madman go away. I knew I would never be strong enough to make that happen. I didn't want to wake up today but I always thought that I could wake up tomorrow instead. How could I know there were no more tomorrows there were only hours left.

          Carm Crown rarely slept. It was a habit that started in High School when she wrote her tenth grade term paper, the last that she ever wrote by hand. She just could not get her thoughts together about Louis the Fourteenth, "He's fucking dead almost four hundred years why does it matter today." she whispered into the phone talking to her stoner boyfriend Dustin in a forbidden after dark conversation.
          "It only matters today because you are letting it. Pretty soon we are all dust, passengers on the Crystal ship known only to each other. Not to anyone back here on Earth."
          Carm was sitting in her overstuffed chair with her tenth cup of coffee. She had just seen Dustin with his two sons running through the Wal-mart. He looked like through her as if she never mattered. She knew she never did but there was always hope. A million thoughts always passed through her mind on these nights when it was 3 a.m. and she was wide awake. It was like being on a roller coaster through the past, sometimes with a glimpse into the future and sometimes into a new place all together. She thought about work as always and Dacy came into her mind. Why had she seen her before the pamphlet with her picture standing in the lobby? Maybe the precognition of her Creole ancestors had finally transcended in to her. Maybe Dacy was dead. Maybe she shouldn't have the eleventh cup of coffee and maybe she should catch forty winks. "No" she said aloud. "I need to think this through. I need to find out about this girl and it sounds like she had no real friends. Probably no parents. Boyfriend can be a suspect...parents are in the midwest maybe and who knows if this is this girl's real name. Fuck. There's alot to do. But at least I have her DMV record so I have her address and a starting point. Property belongs to her transfered upon death of Beatrice Miller 20 months ago. Mother, Grandmother, Aunt, another possible Vic? Who knows who that is. Fuck Seven A.m. is in three hours. What the fuck am I on 7 to 7 for. fucking Munson. off banging someone at night while his wife works at the prison. I hate that cocksucker. He knows I don't sleep at least I could be working. Fuck me. I wish someone would at any rate. I know I ain't 20 or blonde anymore but damn everyone needs their pipes cleaned. I guess I could call Shawn. Then he will cling for the next week. Fuck it I just need to go to bed." She stopped talking to VJ on Insomniac music theater and fell asleep.
          It wasn't a peaceful sleep. She had a nightmare that she was laying on a hardwood floor and someone was taking a baby with brown curls in their arms and she was powerless to stop them but felt like she wanted to. She woke up to her cell phone alarm in a panic gasping for air, adreniline pumping. After she got her bearings, she stood up and got ready for the day. After checking in the office she jumped into her teal Corsica and drove the ten miles across town to Sycamore Street, the last known address of Dacy Miller. As she drove down the street she noted that the neighborhood was not even close to the swanky environment she had envisioned. She passed more families and school bus stops than she did tip-offs that a stripper lived in this neighborhood.
          The house sat off the road just visable above the hill in front of it. The hill was held in place buy a stone wall with a white fence of rail ties. The driveway ran along side the fence and Carm opted to park in the street to avoid being immediately detected, The driveway was alot steeper than it looked and by the time she had reached the top she was winded. Damn, shouldn't have smoked those Newports. To bad they are amazing and go great with my Vodka shooters. The house was something out of a British Moor. It was stone with white trim. Now how in the fuck does she afford something this gorgeous. I know they say strippers make good money But damn. I may need to turn in the badge after this shit. She knocked on the ornate door and hoped that the girl answered with the goddamn cat so she could get back to the other 36 cases and call it a day.
          Of course, that is not what happened. A guy with eyes that looked like they were glued open and a full beard answered the door. "Yeah?"
          "I am Detective Carmen Crown with Oak Valley P.D. I need to speak to the owner of this property."
          "Well Crown that's me." The guy said spitting his chew dangerously close to her Khaki pants.
          "Oh they didn't tell me you was a drag queen because my file says this place is owned by Dacy Miller."
          "I'm Dacy's old man."
          "Uh huh." She said sneering. "Well I need to speak with her."
          "She ain't here." He said spitting the wad out and lighting a smoke.
          "Where is she?" Carm asked and noticed that his micro-expressions said he knew exactly where Dacy was.
          "She went out of town for a few days."
          "Where'd she go?" Carm asked just to make sure she was getting on this guy's nerves.
          "To see her folks out west."
          "Do you have a number where I can reach her?''
          "What do you want?" He asked blowing smoke in her eyes.
          "It's of a private nature."
          "What are you, dykin it out with her?" He asked. Carm rolled her eyes and in one swift motion pinned him against the wall.
          "You are under arrest for tresspassing and for being stupid Mr. Whoever you are. Let's go."
          "You can't arrest me my name is on the light bill. I live here." He said. "Now uncuff me ya dumb broad." Carm leaned hard her elbow into his back while she was uncuffing him.
          "Cut it with the name calling or I will cuff you and leave them on this time for obstruction. Now do you know where Dacy Miller is? Yes or No?"
          "Not for sure." He said.
          "What did you say your name was?"
          "I didn't." He said.
          "You know you can answer me now or I can cuff you again.I'm done playing games with you." At that moment a baby came toddling over to the door and tugged on his leg. "Aw hell." She said.
          "Way to almost leave my kid by himself." He shoved the boy's hand off and said "Zachariah get back in the house."
          "MOMMA." Zachariah said.
          "Momma's not here." The man said shuffling him back inside.
          "Is that Dacy's baby?" She asked.
          "Yeah that's my son." He said. At that moment another scruffy-looking man walked up.
          "Hey Zeke, who's the fox?"
          "This here, is Detective Crown." Zeke said.
          "Yes and you are?"
          "Zeke's cousin Bird." He stuck out his hand and Carm shook her head. "The old boy in trouble again?" He walked past them and opened the door as if he owned the place.
          "Alright I'm gonna say this one more time...until someone tells me where Dacy Miller is every person that walks through that door is tresspassing except for the baby. And I will haul both of you out of here in three seconds."
          "Whoa whoa whoa..." Bird says. "Dacy is visitng her folks out west. Zeke lives here Dacy lets me hang out here all the time."
          "How long has she been visiting her folks? Her Job hasn't seen her in a month." She said. "And what kind of mother would just leave her baby with ZZ top?"
          "She's only been gone for like a week." Bird said. "Must be the crazy girl with the cat reported her missing to hope to get y'all out here to find her pussy." He laughed and he and Zeke slapped five.
          "The pussy got out last week and I haven't seen it since and Dacy will turn up sometime soon. She does this sometimes. Her job dancin on a pole gets real stressful." Zeke said lighting another cigarette.
          "Do you mind if I look around just real quick and I'll be on my way then?" Carm sighed knowing that if they said no she was going to need an act of God to get a warrant.
          "Sure." Zeke said. "Just let me piss first."
          Carm waited while he flushed his stash knowing full well what he was doing. At least he'd be inconvinenced. When he returned she sighed and walked through the door and the baby that was sitting in front of Spongebob's latest DVD was the same child she dreamt about the night before.
          Now I know I am losing it. He looked up and smiled and she could see he had three teeth. He was beatiful and she resisted the urge to pick him up and carry him out of there. The house was clean save for the sea of beer bottles on the table. Zachariah's juice cup was next to him empty and she picked it up tussled his hair and asked if she could get him some juice. There was no shortage of beer but the only juice was orange juice. "Well I will be in touch gentlemen." She left and when she did she saw an apparition of Dacy walking through the yard. "I'm gonna find you girl. I'm gonna find you for that baby."

          "She's dead." Carm said aloud that afternoon as she was midway through her twelve hour shift.
          "Who's dead?" Her deskmate Bradshaw asked because she startled him by speaking.
          "Dacy Miller." Carm said. "She is dead, Her baby is sitting in her living room surrounded by his father and his drunken friends. Her parents haven't seen her in 4 years. She was supposed to be visiting the parents according to everyone local and she is not there. She is fucking dead. "
         "You'll find her if she is Carm." Bradshaw said. "Who do you think did it. Boyfriend?"
         "It's always the boyfriend." She sighed. "Unless it was someone down at the Palace."
         "Which way are you going to head first?"
         "Palace. Just to cover my bases. The guy gave me the willies I almost bet it is him."
         She didn't get much out of anyone at the Purple except that Dacy preferred to waitress because she was the worst dancer ever to hit the floor. No one had seen her in a month and no one knew Zeke from his mugshot. She sat down at the bar and waited for the owner to come out. She sipped her cranberry juice and didn't look anywhere but in her glass. The owner sat down. "Carm long time no see."
          "I know Paulie. How's Veronica?"
          "She is alright. Still trying on the bambinos, she's getting kind of down about it."
         "I know the feeling." Carm sighed."So Paulie, what do you know about Dacy?"
         "Not too much except she didn't belong here." He sighed. "She took this serious like a real job, called if she was running late. Couldn't dance worth a fuck but I kept her because everyone likes her. People have been asking for her all the time."
         "Anyone in particular?"
          "Jace Benson. Been in here every night looking for her. Nice enough guy. Not sure what he is to Dacy but he gave her a bouquet of flowers the last day I saw her."
         "Well Paulie if Jace shows up gimme a buzz and I will come down and talk to him." She walked to her car and wondered why the last name Benson was familiar to the case already. She looked through her notes and realized that Zeke's last name was Benson but his aliases didn't list Jace as one of them. She drove back to the station and it was eight thirty. She sat at her desk and spun around in her chair as she waited for the backround check on Jace Benson to come back. The computer beeped and she slid her chair across the floor and was stopped by Munson's big toe.
         "I feel as if we have had the conversation we are about to have before..."
         "I know Cap'n I will try to be more conscientious. I'm just a little on edge at the moment."
          "Let's chat." He said sitting in Bradshaw's desk.
         "Yessir." She smiled on the outside but inside her evil twin was slowly planning his demise.
         "Where are you on the Miller case?" He asked after inquiring after the other 10 open ones.
          "I was just getting the backround on a potential suspect. I am not sure where he fits in the puzzle. But honestly, I'm fairly certain that she is gone."
         "Should never be so sure." The Captain smiled. "Well it is always a pleasure Crown. I do have a dinner date to tend to."
         "I don't need to know where you are going and the shift at the prison starts at seven. Get a lil more clever Cap'n or someone less smart will catch on"
         "That's what I have you for Crown to keep me honest."
         Rather than saying that she had a day job too she wished him a good meal and read Jace Benson's backround check. She discovered after reading that Jace had no prior criminal record but did have a brother named Zeke.
         She had made it all of the way home before Paulie called to say that Jace had come in.

         I was so relieved when Zeke walked out of the door that morning and I had the house to myself. I waited for 45 minutes in case he doubled back and then got ready to go to work. I got there and Paulie said he was short a dancer but he wasn't going to make me dance. Paulie was a decent guy he owned the strip club largely to keep the girls safe from the swankier clubs. I loved going to work because I knew the guy I loved would be there. My last day, he walked in and walked over to my section and sat down at the table. "I got you a present beautiful." He smiled shyly and his green eyes started to mist over. He handed me a dozen carnations and I smiled. "The card is the real surprise." The front of the card said I love you and on the back there was a picture of a mini-van in front of a cottage. "Figured we could use the van and take our summer vacations there. I am staying there for now." I sat down before I passed out. "I also got someone to fix the roof on your house. He owed Zeke a favor so I called it in for him."
         "How in the hell did you afford this?" I asked. "This is amazing."
         "Hard work and parting with old things that don't mean anything compared to y'all."
         "Like what?"
         "The Corvette, The Chevelle, and the Harley."
         " Oh my god. Why did you do that? You loved all of those things!"
          "Read the card again." He said. "You told me I needed to do something to show you that I was serious. So there you go darlin'. You're up to bat now." He threw money for his drink on the table and stood up. "I don't care what time of day or night it is. You want him gone you tell me. I want to be with you. He doesn't love you and we both know that. I need you to be brave enough to say what he has on you doesn't mean shit anymore and that you want to be with me too." He turned to leave and I started to cry because I knew he was who I wanted but it would never be that simple. Had I known that was the last time I'd ever see him, I would have told him so much more. But no one had ever done so much for me that I couldn't speak.

         Carm pulled up to the club and walked inside. Sitting at the bar not looking at anyone else was Jace Benson. He was swirling ice in his cup. She walked up to him and he looked like he might have been an attractive man except for the fact that his five o'clock shadow had drifted to the next day's five o'clock and he either had not slept in a month or was jacked up on something. "Are the detective who wants to talk to me about Dacy?"
         "Yeah I do." She said. "Are you Jace?"
          "That's me. I don't know where she is. I last saw her on July Seventh walking into her house after work about 4 am. I know it sounds odd, but I worried about her getting home safe."
         "Why did you worry about her getting home safe. She was grown." Carm asked.
         "She was involved with my brother, that was cause enough for worry."
         "Why so?"
          "Zeke likes to get his way and when he doesn't he pushes you until you break and give it to him."
         "Stop talking to me in riddles boy tell me what you know."
         "I don't know what happened. But I do know she would never on Earth gone anywhere without Zachariah. I know Zeke beat the fuck out of her about two months ago and she needed stitches. I know she is not at her parent's house or her sister's or in any of the shelters or hospitals within two hundred miles. Her car is parked in her garage." He started to tear up. "I don't know what to do. So I come here every night and I pray I see her. And I go to work and I just try to pray my thoughts are wrong." All of his micro-expressions suggested that he not his brother was the bereaved boyfriend. "Where should I look now? I know you probably have another twenty cases but I need to know what happened."
         "How do I know you aren't 'what happened'." She asked.
         "You don't know for sure." He said."It's not like this couldn't be my fault. But I never hurt Dacy and I never would. I have my reasons. Please find her. I don't care what it takes."
         "What are your reasons?"
         "He is 2 feet 4 inches tall has three teeth and looks just like his mom. That's all the reason i ever needed for anything." He stood up. "You should put the heat on my brother because he was the last person to see her besides me and he will crack soon. Oh and usually where my brother is Bird is. Dirty Fucks."

          Jace knocked on the door and walked into the house on Sycamore Street. Zachariah toddled up to him through the pile of pizza boxes and beer bottles. He picked him up and kissed his cheek. "What's up boy?"
         "Momma?" He asked and looked sadly at Jace. Jace swallowed hard and walked to the den where Bird and Zeke were passed out on the couch. "Zeke wake up man."
          "You ever hear of knockin bro?" Zeke asked.
          "Look this cop just asked me about Dacy man, where the fuck is she?"
          "She is somewhere not making noise like some people." Bird said.
          "They are looking hard at the both of you. It sure don't look good that y'all are squatting here with her car in the garage here." Jace felt his blood boiling but knew that this was his one shot to get Zachariah out of there clean. "I think maybe you guys should split town for a while. I got a place you can go up in Maine."
          "Dude don't panic, it's cool." Zeke said.
         "She said she was coming today to arrest the both of you. Said she had indisputable evidence. You've gotta go now. I don't want y'all to get arrested.'
          "I am not taking a whining kid across 5 states." Zeke said.
         "I will look after your boy Zeke, c'mon man, by the time you finish arguing with me they will be here." Zeke got up and dragged his feet to the bedroom.
          "Can you find all of Zach's stuff?" Zeke asked. "I guess we will just take Dacy's car."
          "Don't worry about Zach, he'll be fine I will look after him like he is my own. Don't take that car, they will be looking for that. I have a van parked at my house that I repo'ed I can lend ya. Here's two grand that should be enough."
          "We gotta stop by Bird's. Then we will take off. Man I didn't need this shit. Dumb bitch. Oh well. She's gone now."
          "What do you mean gone? Do you know where she is? Because if there is something I need to know, now would be a good time to tell me."
          "Ask Grandma." He said. "C'mon Bird."
          "What the fuck do you mean?" Jace asked following him out.
         "She's with Grandma. Lock up or don't when you go. Take care of Zach dude." Zeke and Bird peeled out without kissing Zach goodbye. Jace kissed Zach's chubby cheeks at least fifty times before placing him in his car seat.
          "You will never have to see them again boy." He reached behind the seat and grabbed Zach's foot. "I will never let him take you because you are mine."
         "Want Momma." Zachariah started to cry as they pulled away from the house. "Momma!" He reached out towards the yard to the nothing that was left there now.

         "Ms. Miller, I'm Detective Crown, I'd like to ask you a few questions about your sister Dacy." Her sister carefully examined the badge and credentials and motioned for Carm to enter.
         "I don't know how much help I will be, I haven't seen her in quite a while."
         "Can you tell me anything about her? Do you know where she would go?"
         "Dacy already ran as far and fast as she could when she went to Grams. Who the hell runs away to Pennsylvania? I don't know why she left here, she never did say. She just wanted something different."
         "Did she ever write or call, email?"
         "She sent me new pictures of Zachariah every month." She took out down a picture frame and handed it to her. "I have one of her and her boyfriend. She didn't mention his name though. She just said she loved him and he took care of her." She took out a photo album and there was a picture of Dacy pregnant smiling sitting in a tree swing with Jace Benson. Carm tried not to show that something was very wrong.
         "Did she ever mention anyone by the name of Zeke?" Carm asked still staring at the picture
         "Yeah she said she'd gotten in a fight with someone named Zeke who beat her up pretty good. But he wasn't her boyfriend."
         "Everyone in Pennsylvania thought Zeke was her boyfriend. Ok, Thank you much for your time."
          She started to walk to the door and her sister said "She's dead isn't she?"
         "I don't know sweetie. I'm trying to find out and I will."
         "Is Zachariah okay?"
         "He was when I saw him two weeks ago. But I would encourage either you or your folks to petition for custody."
         "I'm only 17 and my folks won't. They are pissed because she had him without being married. There are worse things."
         Like him ending up with someone who probably killed his mother.

         "You did what?" Carm asked ready to throw Jace out a window.
         "I gave him the money and the hideout and the van fitted with the GPS so I knew where to find him. And so he would give me Zachariah willingly."
         "You ever hear of obstruction?" She asked. "Extradition? Just Fucked up?"
          "Yes I have. Did you ever hear of protecting your own?" He slammed down a file and a tape walked to the bench and sat down, folded his hands, and placed his chin on top of them. Carm looked at the paper and it was a DNA paternity test result file on Zachariah.
          "Who else knows about this?" Carm asked.
          "Dacy." He said. "No one else knows."
          "You can walk your happy ass into Interrogation 3 before I kill you myself." She slapped her hand to her head and plopped into her desk. "I do not fucking believe this. BRADSHAW?"
         "What?" He yelled from the water cooler.
         "I need your help." She said leaning back and shaking her head. "I just need your help."

          I sat in my car for twenty minutes when I got home that night. I put the flowers on the side of the garage thinking I'd plant them in the morning. I never did get to it. My last thoughts were happy ones at least of me and Jace walking in the sand in front of the cottage and us just being together every minute. I wanted Zeke gone. He had held what he knew about me over my head long enough. It didn't matter anymore that I stole from the Centriano family while I was pregnant. Jace could pay that money with interest tomorrow. Paulie would have forgiven me. He would have known that I was scared about money because I couldn't work. I doubted the whole mob would ever look for me in Maine. Jace wanted to distance himself from his family anyways because he was nothing like them. They would never forgive him for "stealing" me from Zeke the exhalted.
         I kissed Zachariah when I walked in and he strecthed and yawned just like Jace did. I smiled when I thought of how different and happy our life was going to be from now on. I walked downstairs to the living room and I poked Zeke in the side. "You need to get your shit and leave. Take Bird with you."
         "What the fuck you talking about bitch this is my house." Zeke said jumping up.
         "The hell it is." I said. "Get out now."
         "Aight bitch, I'll leave and I'll go right down to that club and tell Paulie you stole that money."
         "Go ahead." I said standing toe to toe with him for the first time. "I'd rather be dead than to have your nasty ass hands on me one more time." He slapped me across my face and I didnt move from where I was standing. "Leave Zeke."
         "I ain't going no where you whore." He grabbed me around my neck and started to squeeze. I knew from getting choked before that I had to stay calm or I'd pass out faster. "This is all mine now."
         "Zeke let her go man."Bird said. The last thing I saw was Zachariah toddling out of his room holding his teddy bear before everything went black. "Let her go dude."
         Zeke let Dacy go and she fell to the floor soft brunette curls laying around her pretty face. "Momma sleep!" Zachariah said sitting next to her head sucking his thumb,"Wake up Momma!" Dacy didn't move. Bird picked up Zachariah and put him back in his room. Zeke slapped her face to try to get her to snap out of it.
         "Quit playing bitch and get up." He said slapping her again. "Dacy! Fuck. Dacy!" Bird pulled Zeke off Dacy. He felt for a pulse and listened for a heartbeat on her chest. There was nothing but silence.
          "She's dead Zeke." They both sat on the floor on opposite ends of her body for a good twenty minutes crying. "It's like this Zeke. No one has to know what happened here. She has bruises no one will ever believe it was an accident. Grandma's grave is fresh it will be easy to dig up and throw her in before anyone ever notices. We have to hurry though."
          "Let's get this bitch gone." He tore one of her grandmother's antique lace curtains down and rolled her in it. they carried her to her car and put her in the backseat and drove to Grandview Cemetary and park at their Grandma's grave which was only two months old. They stole shovels out of the caretakers shed because they weren't smart enough to bring their own and placed her body two feet above granny's vault and buried her just in time for Bob Evan's to open for the early bird special.

          Jace started at the green and blue walls of Interrogation 3 over his folded hands. Surprisingly he felt a sense of relief because someone knew the truth. He knew Crown was irritated. Paulie warned him to shoot straight with her and he hadn't. He was praying the answer would come to him about Dacy being with Grandma. Her Grandma? His Grandma? Who the fuck knew. All he knew was that she wasn't coming back. Zeke had said so and in his heart he knew it to be so. He still wanted to believe she was waiting for him at the park by the tree swing but he had been there everyday too on his lunch break and hadn't been there once. 33 days it had been since he touched her and a life more to go. The door opened and Carm walked in with two bottles of water. She handed him one and sat across from him. "You should talk Jace and you may want a lawyer."
         "I don't need one. I will tell you whatever you want to know. Did you play the tape?"
         "No I didn't. I want to hear it from you directly."
          "Bird said she was somewhere where she wasn't making any noise and Zeke said to ask grandma where she is. I don't know what he meant by that."
         You're starting at the middle. Why don't you tell me how you met Dacy?" Carm said being soft for once.
          "I was staying at my folk's house and Zeke brought home his new girlfriend. She was so quiet and timid. The first thing he did was to tell everyone she was a whore down at the Purple Palace. My whole family started laughing in her face like she was nothing. She had gone outside to get some air and I followed her and asked why she was letting my brother treat her like that. I figured out he was hitting her just by how she acted. She was also upset because her grandma had just died and Zeke knew they were on easy street and was partying it up."
          "How long ago was this?"
         "February 2 years ago."." He sighed. "I don't know what it was about her that got my attention at first but once I started to hang around her house I just could not get enough of her. My brother is so into his drugs that he didn't notice anything else not even when Dacy and I fell in love."
         "When was that?" Carm asked actually for once wanting to know the whole story.
         "The first day I ever kissed her was on the fourth of July two years ago. My brother had fifty friends over and was acting like a straight ass. Dacy had worked all of that night and came home and the place was trashed. Zeke was crazy drunk and she called me over to get him under control. He's older but for my whole life I always cleaned up after him. Someone had to clean up after my whole family and I guess that's my purpose in life other than my son. She was sitting down on the stone wall when I pulled up and she was sobbing. She musta apologized a hundred times for calling me and alls that I could think about was that if she was my girl, I'd never make her cry. She begged me to take her somewhere that wasn't there and I drove her to this quiet spot I knew by the river and we talked until the sun came up. She said she wished she met me first and I just kissed her. I never wanted to stop kissing her."
         "So why didn't you go back to her house and throw Zeke out and ride off to the sunset." Carm asked.
         "I wish I would have. She told me it wasn't all bad with him and I didn't want to make her choose. I figured if she was mine, she'd come when she wanted." He ran his hand through his hair. "I didn't realize the hold he had on her. But at the same time, I'm never one to give up on what I want. So after I met her at my parents' I started to going to the Purple Palace almost every night."
         Jace thought back to the image of watching her dance on the stage in the back corner content to let the other girls get all of the attention and the tips. The first night she noticed he was there she smiled at him but at the same time seemed to realize where she was and got embarrassed. He had waited until closing time and walked up to her at her car and said hello. "What are you doing here?" She had asked.
         "Oh there is a girl that I like seeing here."
         "Which one?" She asked fumbling for her keys.
         "The brunette with the curls." He said.
         "I'm the only brunette that was there today." She laughed. "Doubt Zeke would like it so much if he knew you were here to look at me." She dropped her keys and he bent down and got them for her.
         "Doubt if I care very much what Zeke likes, but I know what I like." He said rubbing her palm with his finger as he handed her the keys.
         "Get serious Jace." She said.
         "Oh, I could get serious in a minute. Do you think my brother ever will get serious?"
         "Bet if I go home and tell him you were here he could get real serious." She smirked.
         "I bet you won't go home and tell him anything. You like me being here." He said. "Well, I guess one of two things are gonna happen either you're gonna go home and tell Zeke that I am haging out here or I will see you tomorrow night."
          "I guess you will see." She smiled. "Goodbye Jace."
          "She hasn't told Zeke anything about me being around and she doesn't have many friends so none of her friends put two and two together." He rubbed his eyes and temples and stretched.
          "She told her sister you were her boyfriend." Carm said.
          "I guess it is hard to lie to your family for normal folks." Jace said. "In my family, there is no honesty, no code. I guess that is why I don't care so much about falling for Dacy. Zeke took girls from me for years. Not that any of them were anything like Dacy. She is so pure-hearted and good spirited. She is going to go so far in her Sociology career."
          "Sociology?" Carm said baffled.
         "She is working on her Master's in Sociology. Her work at the Purple Palace is about outsiders integrating into socially abnormal groups. I forget the fancy words for it, but that is the main idea for her big paper."
          "Dissertation Thesis." Carm said. Letting out a huge sigh. Dacy Miller certainly was not what Carm thought she was at first. But she still could not understand why Dacy stayed with Zeke so long. There is girl's being stupid and then there is just damn well not making sense. Dacy's relationship with Zeke made no sense. "So Jace, why didn't Dacy leave Zeke?"
          "When we first got together, I was wreckless. I would say I'd be around and then get caught up at a rally or get caught up drinking. I didn't always put her first, she was maybe third until she got pregnant. I was like any other 21 year old male, I thought with my dick first and my heart and head last. I bought all of these expensive cars and stuff before we got together and I was not about to give up my Jersey Shore lifestyle."
          "So you left her while she was pregnant?"
         "I didn't leave. I still was crazy about Dacy but I just wasn't ready at first to show her. I see why she was skeptical this last year. I just wanted to live at Mommy and Daddy's and have my toys and my freedom."
          "When did that change for you son?" Bradshaw asked speaking for the first time in the interview like something Jace had said struck a chord with him.
          "The first time Zach called me Daddy." Jace said smiling but starting to cry. "You know when they are little every guy they see is Daddy. But I was at the park with him and Dacy and we were eating Burger King and he was sitting on my lap and he hugged me and said DaDa. And my heart turned to mush. I cried for the first time in front of Dacy that day.
         "Did he just call me Dada?" Jace asked trying to wipe the sting out of his eyes.
         "Yes he did." Dacy said. "He doesn't call Zeke Dada." Zach lifted his arms up like he wanted to be picked up and Jace went to hold him.
         "I don't want to get attached to him if he is Zeke's."
         "I think you just don't really want to be tied down to either of us." Dacy said looking away from him at the river.
         "Girl you know that is not true. And who are you to talk, you sleep next to Zeke every night."
         "Jace you know why I do. I am trying to stay alive if you don't mind."
         "I will tell you what I do mind girl." He walked over and held out his hand to pull her up."I mind not knowing if I am spending everyday away from my biological son. I mind laying awake every night until you call wondering if you are fucking him. And I mind that I can't have you."
         "Do you want me to get the test done?" She asked. "Because this situation has already gotten way out of hand."
         "You say when and where and I will be there."
         "What if he is Zeke's?" She asked. "You gonna drop me like you did that 30 grand on that car."
         "It won't change anything if he is Zeke's. I was there the day he was born not him. I am going to prove to you that I am totally serious about you."
         "What do you mean?"
         "I want to marry you Dacy." He said. She sat back down at the table. "I want to raise Zach with you."
         "Jace you can't be serious."
         "Why because you know I'd break my back to make you happy?"
         "Because you are not anywhere near ready to give up the bachelor life."
         "And you aren't ready to give up Zeke."
         "That's not true."
         "Neither is what you said true." Jace said. "So I guess someone has to move next or I need to let you go and I don't think I can let you or Zach go."
          She sat on his lap and wrapped her arms around him and Zach. "I am just not sure you realize what could happen."

         "I don't know what happened but I know something did. Just sitting there watching those two crack jokes about the most important person in my life being gone forever. I just stood there. I didn't even do anything." Jace sobbed into his palms. "I wanted to rip their hearts out until someone tells me where she is. You're right I just let them walk away from here like some kind of pussy."
         Carm patted his shoulder and seemed surprised at her own reaction. "You were only thinking of Zach. You knew the right thing to do was to let us catch them. Revenge only would have taken your boy away from you. We still don't know for sure what happened. You have to stay strong and stay focused Jace. We will catch whoever is responsible for anything that may have happened."
         "Detective Crown, a word outside please." Bradshaw said opening the door. They walked to the hallway and huddled."I wanna hear what is on that tape. Either he is innocent or he is the next Tom Hanks. I just don't think he had anything to do with her being gone. "
         "I'm not sure if the tape is enough to convince a judge to give us arrest warrants for Zeke and Bird."
         "Now ain't the time for you to lose your balls Crown. We've seen a hundred guilty men sit in that chair and I'd bet the farm that he isn't number 101."
         "Let me play Devil's Advocate here for a minute. Jace basically stalked her. The only person that can corroborate the fact that he is Dacy's boyfriend is her sister and she only has one picture and has never actually met Jace in person. Who is to say that this did not go down the other way and that he didn't knock her off and set up his brother so he could get the kid clean and clear."
          "What 23 year old wants to be a single dad?" Bradshaw said. "If Marge had died in that wreck and I had been stuck with the boys I sure as hell don't know what I would have done."
         "That is because you make sense Bradshaw. I don't know that this guy isn't as whacked out as his brother."
         "Ask him do submit to a drug and DNA test."
         "For what? We have nothing to compare it to!" She held up her finger as if to stop Bradshaw from speaking. "Which he doesn't know. I'm going to bed early tonight I'm getting stupid."
         "I'm so pleased." Bradshaw said opening the door. "After you my lady."
         "Mr. Benson, we'd like you to submit to a drug analysis and DNA test."
         "Absolutely. Do I need to sign papers? Where do I go?" Bradshaw and Crown shared a look.
         "Across the street to Dr. Timons. She is in the mourge." Bradshaw said. "She may want to test Zachariah as well."
         "Do they have to draw blood from him? If so I'm gonna need to get him an orange juice first." Jace looked concerned. "He just gets woozy when they take blood."
         "They usually just swab the inside of the little guy's mouth." Bradshaw said. "Now get right on over there before she leaves for the day."
         "Yessir." Jace said. He walked out of the room to collect Zachariah from the playroom. Crown and Bradshaw stood at the window and watched him go to the building across the street unbeknownest to Jace.
         "Let's play the tape." Bradshaw said. They listened to all 15 minutes and Crown spaced in and out. The days of not sleeping had really caught up with her and after Jace's interrogation she was drained. She felt like she was a fly on a video reel spinning around a projection reel while the movie played. She was relieved that the quality of the recording was good and she made a mental note that it had to go to transcriber's before she zoned out. As her eyes shut a vision of Dacy pointing sternly in the direction of the tape recorder snapped her back into reality. "Did you hear that Crown?"
         "Yes I heard every word."
         "So you heard him say 'in with' Grandma."
         "He did not say that, that would have gotten my attention." She yawned. "I will take it over to the transcriber." She ejected the tape and started out of the room. Bradshaw grabbed her elbow.
         "Crown, hello he said DACY was IN WITH Grandma." Bradshaw tugged with each syllable. "I swear to god if you don't sleep tonight I am going to report your ass. You are about worthless at this job when you don't sleep."
         "I will break your goddamn jaw if you do. How about that one. It's not like you know any more than I do at the moment,"
         "Do you have a plan?" He asked "Or aren't the neurons firing that far yet?"
         "What's your plan?" She asked. "Beacuse for once I think you are right. I can't hold two thoughts together and this girl deserves better than I can be right now."
         "I think we need to do a Grandma head count."