Syla and I sat next to Dani on the couch while Michael paced casually in the living room, looking at his phone. It was an overall regular Friday night; the TV was playing an episode of the latest show Syla had been binging. It felt a little like a soap opera with how dramatic the acting was, but she loved it.
“Alright, got a few things for you, Dani,” Antun announced as he came down the stairs. He set down a manila folder on the coffee table and opened it, taking out papers as he talked. “Proof of relationship, next-of-kin affidavits, and even a family tree showing that you and Jared were cousins. Once you fill out the paperwork for release, his body is yours.”
Dani looked at all the papers, glancing at each page to see just what Antun’s forgery friend had come up with. “Do you really think the police will buy it?” she asked skeptically.
“Oh, certainly,” Syla said. “The police are much too busy to verify things like this. At least, they used to be. I know when Nikola was an officer he didn’t bother with anything like that.”
“I’d hope that today’s police officers are better than he ever was,” I add, “but I agree with Syla. They aren’t likely to look further than what you’ll provide.”
Dani nodded, holding the paper with the family tree. “I didn’t know much about him, we hardly ever talked about life before. But he had my back, and I had his. He kept us safe, helped find better places for us to stay. He was good, underneath everything…” Her words dropped off, as she carefully tapped the papers back together and put them back in the folder neatly.
I asked her, pointing between Syla and I, “Would you like one of us to come with you to the station?”
She nodded. “I’m nervous,” she admitted, though it was obvious in the way she fidgeted.
“You’ve got your ID, and Antun prepared everything else. There’s nothing to worry about,” Michael assured her.
“I guess there’s nothing else to do but wait until tomorrow,” Dani shrugged. “I’m going to try to get some sleep.” The poor thing had dark bags under her eyes and overall looked gaunt. I doubted she had slept much at all since everything went down. I knew that I was having trouble sleeping myself.
Everyone agreed that it was a good idea and got ready for bed.
The next morning, we all went about preparing for the day. Syla came up to me while I was getting ready in the bathroom. “Do you mind going with Dani today? I was planning on getting the house cleaned today and won’t be able to do both.”
“No worries, I can go,” I assured her.
I couldn’t help but glance over at Dani in the room beyond. She was sitting on the couch, her knee bouncing fast enough to power a car, hands folded tightly in her lap, resting on top of the manila folder.
Antun walked up the stairs, asking us, “You ready to go?”
I set down my hairbrush and looked at him. “Ready.”
❖ 🩸 ❖
At the station, I sat next to Dani on an uncomfortable plastic chair. I shifted, trying to get comfy, ultimately deciding that it was a moot effort. Antun was on my other side, scrolling on his phone.
The officer at the desk called, “Danielle Sorenson?”
Dani shot up but walked calmly over to the desk. Detective Jones walked in and Antun stood, walking over to shake his hand. I followed him. “How goes it, Detective?” Antun inquired.
“It goes,” Jones replied with a sigh. “Just another day.” He turned to Dani. “Ms. Sorenson?”
Dani turned, seeming to try not to look nervous but failing.
Jones stuck his hand out. “I’m Detective Jones, I worked the cases that involved Jared. I wanted to meet you; I was curious how someone who could do such things could be related to such an upstanding citizen.”
Dani shook his hand. “Jared and I were close, but I never would have suspected he was doing this. He was a good person underneath everything,” she insisted.
As she was talking, Razvan walked into the room. He saw us and started walking over. “I couldn’t help but overhear. Were you talking about the recent case with the serial killer?”
“Ah, Dr. Ilijev. This is Ms. Sorenson, the perp’s cousin. She was coming in to claim the body,” Jones explained.
“I see,” Razvan nodded. “A pleasure to meet you, Ms. Sorenson.”
She shook his hand, “Just Dani is fine.”
He nodded again, “Dani. Did I hear you correctly in saying that Jared was a good person?”
“He was,” she insisted. “He was misled to do what he did, I just know it.”
“So, you’re saying he was being manipulated?” the doctor clarified.
She nodded, conviction in her eyes. I wondered whether it was the best idea to bring up the Inquisitor when there were mortals around. Plus, I still didn’t trust the doctor.
Razvan’s hands rested in his pockets, giving off a relaxed air. “He was not innocent, unfortunately. I was the psychologist assigned to his cases, and I have an understanding of how people like him work. His suffering gave him meaning. He learned that discipline meant love. His accountability cannot be displaced onto an outside influence.”
Dani glared at the man. “You’re right, he wasn’t innocent. He did… kill those people, but it wasn’t all on him.”
As if he hadn’t heard her, he proffered, “Perhaps he thought that discipline saved him, or that pain was purifying.”
“No,” Dani refuted. “It broke him into someone useful for a manipulator. The pain made him easier to control.”
Damn girl, I thought. Can you be a little more blunt please?
“He chose judgement,” Razvan decreed with finality.
Dani’s stance straightened. “He was taught that love had to hurt first. But just because someone survives suffering doesn’t mean that the suffering was good or necessary. Pain is not automatically noble. His suffering wounded him, and the… whoever influenced him turned those wounds into a system.”
Shit, she nearly slipped.
Razvan stroked his chin with one hand, his arms folded. “An interesting theory, though I suppose there’s no way to prove it.” He gave Dani an assessing gaze, as if he was reading her.
Antun stepped in, saying, “I believe that was all you needed here, Dani. Would you like an escort to the morgue?”
She looked over at him and nodded. I didn’t know if she felt desperate to get out of there, but I did.
“If you don’t mind, may I contact you about some follow up questions? I want to understand Jared completely before we put the case away,” Razvan asked Dani as we walked toward the door.
She nodded, and with a final goodbye to the detective and doctor, we all left the station.
“I hate the feeling I get from that guy,” Antun said as we drove away. “It’s like he can read a person’s past like a book and say just the right thing to make you feel the most guilty.”
“You too?” I asked. I’d had no idea the others got that feeling from him as well; I had thought it was just me. Whenever he looked at me or spoke to me, it felt as if he already knew all of my sins and misdeeds.
He nodded, “Definitely. Even if we’re not working on a case with him anymore, I want to keep an eye on him.”
I agreed one hundred percent with him.
❖ 🩸 ❖
Dani had opted for Jared’s remains to be cremated, and when we got to the morgue, his ashes were ready to be picked up. Now, they were sitting in a nondescript cardboard box on her lap.
“I want to get him a proper urn, he deserves better than cardboard,” Dani muttered to me in the car as we drove back to Antun’s.
I responded quietly, “We can do that. Why don’t we go online when we get to the house, and we can look some up?”
She nodded, then set her gaze out the window at nothing. Her phone started ringing and she answered, “Hello?”
With my vampire hearing, I could hear Razvan on the other end just fine as he said, “Hello, Ms. Sorenson. With your expeditious exit, I didn’t get a chance to schedule a time to talk with you.”
“Oh,” Dani gasped, “I’m sorry about that.” Her eyes darted around, eventually landing on mine. She held my gaze as she held the phone to her ear.
“No worries. Would you mind meeting me at The Bean café, say, tonight around 8:00?”
“I’m sure I can make that happen,” she replied as I nodded.
“See you tonight then. Have a good rest of your day,” and he ended the call.
Dani swallowed before asking uncertainly, “I’m not sure I want to go alone. Do you think you can come with me?”
I nodded, “Of course I can. I’m actually thinking maybe we should have one of the guys waiting for us in the car as well if that’s alright.” I didn’t know why I wanted to make sure we had plenty of people aware of the situation, but I did. Something about Razvan had felt off from the very beginning, and that discomforting feeling hadn’t changed with time.
From the front seat, Antun spoke up. “I overheard. I can’t tonight, but we can ask Michael. If all else fails, you can always reschedule with him.”
“Yeah,” Dani murmured. She stared at the box in her lap, fingers tightening around it. She clenched her jaw and looked out the window again, tears silvering her eyes. I knew she didn’t want attention, so I looked out my own window, my mind already on the meeting ahead of us.
When we got home, Michael was scrolling on his phone while Syla baked in the kitchen. He looked up as I topped the stairs and he grinned, standing up. He met me halfway across the room, giving me a short, sweet kiss. “How’d it go?”
I turned around to see Dani reaching the top of the stairs with the box in hand. “She’s got him.” Turning back around, I said, “We’re going to look for a better resting place for him, search for an urn or something.”
He nodded and rested his chin on the top of my head. I leaned into him, his scent the best welcome home. Along with the smell of Syla’s cookies. The aroma coming from the kitchen was mouthwatering.
As I turned toward the kitchen, Syla’s head popped out of the doorway. “Be out in a moment, the cookies need another minute or so to cool.” I could tell from the scent that she had made the classic chocolate chip, and I already wanted a glass of milk to go with it.
“You wait for them to cool?” Michael asked.
“I prefer to keep my mouth intact instead of burning it to bits. You can wait another minute or two for them to cool, Mr. Impatient,” she replied.
He gave a comical frown, shoulders drooping as he slumped away back to his seat.
I watched as Dani sat down on the couch, keeping the box in her lap instead of setting it down. “Do you want me to bring the laptop over so we can look up urns for Jared?” I asked her gently.
She nodded, her face still flat. I went over to my bag, retrieving my laptop and going to sit beside her. “Do you want to control the laptop or should I?” I wanted to give her the chance to set the ashes down.
She looked down at the box, her fingers tightening as if she’d never let go. Shaking her head, she murmured, “Do you mind?”
I didn’t, so I went ahead and began searching for cremation urns. After narrowing down her preferences, she selected a simple black urn with golden veining throughout it. “It reminds me of kintsugi, from Japanese culture. When something breaks, they repair it with gold in the adhesive. It shows that something can still be beautiful even after it’s been broken,” Dani explained in a small voice.
That seemed appropriate, so I clicked “Add to Cart.” After the payment went through, Dani sighed and set the box down on the coffee table. It was almost like she literally couldn’t let him go until his resting place was figured out.
I yawned, stretching my arms above my head. “I think I’m gonna go take a nap.”
“Mind if I join?” Michael perked up.
I smiled widely at his antics and held out my hand. He clasped it, and we went up the stairs to the couch-bed together.
