Detective Marco Cruz sat in the unmarked Crown Royal at the
edge of the road, not far from the dorm where he had dropped off Devon earlier
that night. The campus was as uneventful
as he had expected. The kids were pretty
quiet, although he spotted a few stumbling drunks heading back to their dorm
rooms, their hook ups under arm and equally as buzzed.
This was nothing like he remembered when he went to college,
although he didn’t go anywhere nearly as nice as Hartford. No, it was community college, then state
school and finally the academy. He
hadn’t exactly taken any time to party either.
When he was younger he had one goal, and that goal was to do the exact
opposite of his father. His dad was a
petty criminal, spending most of his time in and out of lock up, putting the
burden of raising three kids on Marco’s mother.
He yawned, stretching out.
“These kids have no idea how good they have it,” he
whispered to himself.
Well, had it. Now
they all probably had the fear of God struck into them by today’s
discovery. Parents sent their kids to
places like Hartford to avoid things like violence and murder, and yet, it
still managed to rear its ugly head. It always did.
His eyes wandered the sidewalks, and finally made their way
to Devon’s dorm.
Devon…
He had seemed like a nice guy. How long had it been since Marco had been
with a nice guy? Had he ever? For a cop,
he sure had a taste for the bad boys.
None of the guys were ever into anything too serious, but every single
one of them expected him to risk his career to save them, and he did, every
time.
He watched as the double doors at the front of the dorm
opened, and Devon walked out. He was
wearing a black jacket over a gray T-shirt and jeans that hugged his long,
muscular legs. Not even the distance
could hide how puffy his cheeks were.
Must have cried his
eyes out, thought Marco.
He started up the car and headed towards dorm, towards
Devon.
“Hey,” he called out, stopping the car across the street
from him. “Sure you should be wandering
around at night?”
Devon looked at him, squinting through the darkness. Marco could see a smile when he finally
recognized him. That was a good
sign. Devon made his way across the
street, stopping in front of Marco’s driver’s side window.
“On patrol?” He smiled, thrusting his hands into the pockets
of his jacket.
“Not officially.”
“So, you’re off duty?” Devon cocked his head to the side, a
sly smile on his face.
Marco nodded.
“Well, would you mind giving me a ride? I mean, if you don’t
think I should be out, wandering around.”
“Where to?”
Marco knew this was a bad idea, or at least against
regulation. Devon was involved in his
current case, and for all he knew, he could be the killer. Honestly, Marco didn’t think he was, but
still…
Devon walked around the car, pulling open the passenger side
door and slipped into the front seat.
“Retro. It’s a little dance hall
on the edge of campus.”
“In the mood for dancing?” Marco gave him an odd look.
“In the mood to not think.”
Marco could understand that.
He put the car in drive, pulled a U-turn in the middle of
the street and headed out in the direction that Devon had told him.
Marco could do with a little empty headedness himself.
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