We All Fall Down, Chapter 10
I typed this one handed *G*
As we almost reach the end of the story
She had held the cold metal to other suspects but she had never pushed it against their chest. She saw the fear in his eyes and could sense the quickened beating of this heart. She had finally taken back the power, the control. He had stole that from her by having sex in her bed in her apartment and then staying there the next morning touching her things. Danny’s voice was barely audible on the cell phone that laid on the floor. She knew she could pick it up and talk to him but Jack was on his way , she had her gun and she was determined to make the bastard confess.
“You killed Laura Traskin,” Samantha said pushing the gun into his sweatshirt material.
He swallowed. “No I didn’t.”
“Then why Josh did you just happen to find the body, hmmm? Why did it have to be you?”
“I don’t think anyone would call it luck, it just happened.”
“I ran the same path that you supposedly did this morning. The crime scene is far away from your apartment you didn’t just stumble onto the body.” She glared at him. The wetness from her hair was making drip drops on his wooden floor.
“I was with you the night she went missing, remember that? How could I be in two places at once?”
“Maybe you didn’t find her until yesterday and then decided to kill her. I don’t know. You tell me, Josh.”
“There’s nothing to tell. I didn’t kill Laura Traskin, Sam. Look I didn’t tell the truth about the run okay. I was upset and I ended up just running and running. I felt like I was on fire and then all of the sudden I ran through this bush and tripped over something. It was her. That’s how I got the scratches, Sam, from running through Central Park’s bushes.” His breath was uneven but he acted like it was the most normal thing in the world for an ex-lover to hold a gun on him.
“What upset you so much? The phone call with Jack?”
His eyes lowered. “Not completely. I was thinking about someone dear to me.”
“Okay Josh, say someone believes this wild tale your spinning, why then did Danny describe you as crazy?”
His eyes met hers. “The therapist I have to go see, I’ve seen her before. Several times.” He swallowed hard but his voice still broke. “My sister Emily has been missing for the last twelve years. She....she rode her bicycle to a friend’s house but then they...her friend was having a party and they were making fun of her. She had just got braces. So she left on her own. But she never made it home.”
Samantha felt everything dropped from under her. Could he possibly be telling the truth? Why hadn’t he mentioned that his sister was a missing person long ago when they would grab drinks together? “Why do you have her clothes?”
“In case she returns home.” He was crying now, his whole body shaking. “Some days everything is good and sometimes everything goes to hell. I’m not always on an even keel.”
“Was it a bad day yesterday when you killed Laura Traskin?”
“I didn’t kill her!” Josh Dugan yelled.
“Danny was right, you are crazy and crazy people kill, Josh.”
“Why are you doing this?”
Samantha pushed the gun harder. “Because I’m not going to let a murderer get away with his crime.”
“No Sam, why are you holding a gun to my chest when you could have already grabbed my handcuffs, locked me up, and just waited for the rest of your team to show? If Jack comes here right now, you are going to look like the crazy one.”
“I have a right to defend myself.”
“In what handbook does it say to repetitively push a gun barrel into a suspect’s chest? You’re going off the deep end too.”
“I’m perfectly sane, Josh.”
“Right,” he said nodding his head in a mocking tone. “Perfectly sane people get all upset when a guy is nice to them. Upset to a point that they have to leave an interview. Upset that they spend a night drunk out of their mind with their married boss playing babysitter. Doesn’t that sound a little crazy to you?”
It was Sam’s turn to swallow. She could see herself cleaning everything in a frenzy to wipe the existence of Josh away. But she wasn’t crazy, she knew that. She just had experienced a bad day- the same words Josh had used. “Shut up!” she yelled at him.
“I think I hit a nerve.” He slowly put his hands behind his back. “My handcuffs are hanging up behind you, lock me up and then when Jack interrogates me you’ll know whether or not you can believe me. Now please let me slowly turn around.”
“No, you stay right where you are.”
“Samantha you need help.”
“Oh that’s a laugh coming from you.”
“Think about it. We dated and then once we made love you just...”
“First off Josh we were never dating and secondly we didn’t make love, it was just sex.”
“Thanks for the clarification. It would have been nice to inform me of this earlier.”
“Yeah Josh put the blame on me. I offered you nothing, I told you nothing, you came to wrong conclusions all on your own.”
“Did I miss some master hint?” he threw at her.
“The fact that I wasn’t there when you woke up should have told you something.”
“Wow, now I see the real you. The cold, heartless bitch.”
“It’s always smart to insult the person holding a gun to you. But I actually take it as a compliment.”
“Do you think Jack will leave his wife for you?” He suddenly asked.
“What?”
“Is that what your hoping?”
“Jack is my boss.”
“I’ve seen the way you look at him. Everyone knows Sam that there is something going on between you two.”
“There is nothing going on.” Not that she wouldn’t have wanted it to.
“Maybe you’re just kidding yourself. He’ll never leave her. He has children with her. You’re not the type of woman he would want children with. Even if you sleep with him it would just be a meaningless fling.”
“Meaningless flings are kind of fun Joshua.”
“Jack knows your crazy. That’s why he stayed and watched over you because he doesn’t trust you.”
“That’s not true.” Now he had finally done it, hurt her back.
“Think about it. He didn’t want you to go to work because he couldn’t trust you, he usually works with you, why? I betcha he’s afraid what an unstable person like you will do. I’m sure he keeps you around not because you’re a good agent but because you will be willing to have a meaningless fling with him. And then, then you can be discarded.”
“Shut the fuck up.”
“So you do care what Jack thinks of you. I wondering what he must be thinking now. Sam will have sex with anyone maybe I’ll get lucky if I hang around her.”
“Shut up Josh.”
“Do you think he thinks you’re smart. That’s a laugh. Please. He has you around for only one reason because that’s all you’re good for.”
She could hear the footsteps up the stairs, softly approaching. She backed away slightly from Josh, ready to open the door.
“Jack doesn’t respect you Samantha. No one does.”
It was as if a red flash, a warning light went off in her mind. She was sweating now and her heart was beating uncontrollably in her ears.
“Jack would never love you.”
“Shut up!” she yelled and her finger involuntarily pushed the trigger button.
To be continued...
As we almost reach the end of the story
She had held the cold metal to other suspects but she had never pushed it against their chest. She saw the fear in his eyes and could sense the quickened beating of this heart. She had finally taken back the power, the control. He had stole that from her by having sex in her bed in her apartment and then staying there the next morning touching her things. Danny’s voice was barely audible on the cell phone that laid on the floor. She knew she could pick it up and talk to him but Jack was on his way , she had her gun and she was determined to make the bastard confess.
“You killed Laura Traskin,” Samantha said pushing the gun into his sweatshirt material.
He swallowed. “No I didn’t.”
“Then why Josh did you just happen to find the body, hmmm? Why did it have to be you?”
“I don’t think anyone would call it luck, it just happened.”
“I ran the same path that you supposedly did this morning. The crime scene is far away from your apartment you didn’t just stumble onto the body.” She glared at him. The wetness from her hair was making drip drops on his wooden floor.
“I was with you the night she went missing, remember that? How could I be in two places at once?”
“Maybe you didn’t find her until yesterday and then decided to kill her. I don’t know. You tell me, Josh.”
“There’s nothing to tell. I didn’t kill Laura Traskin, Sam. Look I didn’t tell the truth about the run okay. I was upset and I ended up just running and running. I felt like I was on fire and then all of the sudden I ran through this bush and tripped over something. It was her. That’s how I got the scratches, Sam, from running through Central Park’s bushes.” His breath was uneven but he acted like it was the most normal thing in the world for an ex-lover to hold a gun on him.
“What upset you so much? The phone call with Jack?”
His eyes lowered. “Not completely. I was thinking about someone dear to me.”
“Okay Josh, say someone believes this wild tale your spinning, why then did Danny describe you as crazy?”
His eyes met hers. “The therapist I have to go see, I’ve seen her before. Several times.” He swallowed hard but his voice still broke. “My sister Emily has been missing for the last twelve years. She....she rode her bicycle to a friend’s house but then they...her friend was having a party and they were making fun of her. She had just got braces. So she left on her own. But she never made it home.”
Samantha felt everything dropped from under her. Could he possibly be telling the truth? Why hadn’t he mentioned that his sister was a missing person long ago when they would grab drinks together? “Why do you have her clothes?”
“In case she returns home.” He was crying now, his whole body shaking. “Some days everything is good and sometimes everything goes to hell. I’m not always on an even keel.”
“Was it a bad day yesterday when you killed Laura Traskin?”
“I didn’t kill her!” Josh Dugan yelled.
“Danny was right, you are crazy and crazy people kill, Josh.”
“Why are you doing this?”
Samantha pushed the gun harder. “Because I’m not going to let a murderer get away with his crime.”
“No Sam, why are you holding a gun to my chest when you could have already grabbed my handcuffs, locked me up, and just waited for the rest of your team to show? If Jack comes here right now, you are going to look like the crazy one.”
“I have a right to defend myself.”
“In what handbook does it say to repetitively push a gun barrel into a suspect’s chest? You’re going off the deep end too.”
“I’m perfectly sane, Josh.”
“Right,” he said nodding his head in a mocking tone. “Perfectly sane people get all upset when a guy is nice to them. Upset to a point that they have to leave an interview. Upset that they spend a night drunk out of their mind with their married boss playing babysitter. Doesn’t that sound a little crazy to you?”
It was Sam’s turn to swallow. She could see herself cleaning everything in a frenzy to wipe the existence of Josh away. But she wasn’t crazy, she knew that. She just had experienced a bad day- the same words Josh had used. “Shut up!” she yelled at him.
“I think I hit a nerve.” He slowly put his hands behind his back. “My handcuffs are hanging up behind you, lock me up and then when Jack interrogates me you’ll know whether or not you can believe me. Now please let me slowly turn around.”
“No, you stay right where you are.”
“Samantha you need help.”
“Oh that’s a laugh coming from you.”
“Think about it. We dated and then once we made love you just...”
“First off Josh we were never dating and secondly we didn’t make love, it was just sex.”
“Thanks for the clarification. It would have been nice to inform me of this earlier.”
“Yeah Josh put the blame on me. I offered you nothing, I told you nothing, you came to wrong conclusions all on your own.”
“Did I miss some master hint?” he threw at her.
“The fact that I wasn’t there when you woke up should have told you something.”
“Wow, now I see the real you. The cold, heartless bitch.”
“It’s always smart to insult the person holding a gun to you. But I actually take it as a compliment.”
“Do you think Jack will leave his wife for you?” He suddenly asked.
“What?”
“Is that what your hoping?”
“Jack is my boss.”
“I’ve seen the way you look at him. Everyone knows Sam that there is something going on between you two.”
“There is nothing going on.” Not that she wouldn’t have wanted it to.
“Maybe you’re just kidding yourself. He’ll never leave her. He has children with her. You’re not the type of woman he would want children with. Even if you sleep with him it would just be a meaningless fling.”
“Meaningless flings are kind of fun Joshua.”
“Jack knows your crazy. That’s why he stayed and watched over you because he doesn’t trust you.”
“That’s not true.” Now he had finally done it, hurt her back.
“Think about it. He didn’t want you to go to work because he couldn’t trust you, he usually works with you, why? I betcha he’s afraid what an unstable person like you will do. I’m sure he keeps you around not because you’re a good agent but because you will be willing to have a meaningless fling with him. And then, then you can be discarded.”
“Shut the fuck up.”
“So you do care what Jack thinks of you. I wondering what he must be thinking now. Sam will have sex with anyone maybe I’ll get lucky if I hang around her.”
“Shut up Josh.”
“Do you think he thinks you’re smart. That’s a laugh. Please. He has you around for only one reason because that’s all you’re good for.”
She could hear the footsteps up the stairs, softly approaching. She backed away slightly from Josh, ready to open the door.
“Jack doesn’t respect you Samantha. No one does.”
It was as if a red flash, a warning light went off in her mind. She was sweating now and her heart was beating uncontrollably in her ears.
“Jack would never love you.”
“Shut up!” she yelled and her finger involuntarily pushed the trigger button.
To be continued...