Afterlife by Joey W. Hill

didn’t know
    she wasn’t one of the guests.”
    “Goddamn it, Cyrus, we’ve
    discussed this before. You
    guys take way too many fucking risks.
    She has every right
    to bring assault charges against you
    and anyone else in
    that club who manhandled her, and it
    would serve you right.
    I’d love to throw your asses in that
    jail cel .”
    “I don’t w-want…I j-just w-want t-t-
    to go…” She was fast
    losing the ability to talk, and the
    policeman seemed to
    realize it, because he curled a strong
    arm around her,
    rubbing her back in easy, firm
    strokes.
    “You’re going to come with me, calm
    down and then we’l
    talk and see what you want to do,
    miss. For right now, you
    take it easy.” He threw a glower at
    Cyrus. “You tel Natasha
    to keep her floor show inside from
    now on. She damn wel
    better have an acceptable vetting
    process at her door by
    tomorrow night, or I’l find every
    possible freaking code
    violation in this cesspool. I suppose
    if someone’s
    grandmother had pul ed up asking for
    directions, you’d
    have mauled her as wel ?”
    “Fuck, she was dressed for it, Kel er.
    Maybe not as
    blatantly as—”
    Rachel had her forehead pressed into
    Officer Kel er’s
    lapel, so she felt a hardening of
    impressive chest muscles
    that matched the sudden, deadly tone
    in the cop’s voice.
    “Trust me, Cyrus. Don’t go down the
    ‘she was asking for
    it because of the way she was
    dressed’ road. I’l run your
    ass over.”
    He didn’t wait for a response, not
    that she ever heard
    Cyrus give one. Though her teeth
    were chattering, she was
    cognizant of Cyrus thankful y
    retreating to the door,
    muttering. The officer helped her to
    her feet, keeping a
    supportive arm around her.
    “Here we go.” He was directing her
    toward her car.
    “Ma’am, my name is Sergeant Leland
    Kel er. I don’t have a
    vehicle here because I just got off
    shift. We’re near my
    place, and I was picking up dinner at
    that corner deli over
    there. But I tel you what we’re going
    to do. We’re going to
    take your car to our precinct and I’m
    going to get a cup of
    coffee into you. We’l let you clean
    yourself up and then we’l
    talk, al right? And if you want a
    female officer, we have
    plenty of those.”
    She shook her head. “Want to go h-
    home.”
    “Wel , you’re not doing that until I’m
    sure you’re okay, so
    there’s not going to be any arguing on
    that point, al right?”
    With that unrelenting assertion, he
    took her keys from her,
    stil somehow clenched in her fist, so
    tight the metal had left
    impressions in her palm. Opening the
    passenger side, he
    folded her into the seat, secured her
    seatbelt around her
    and then closed the door. As he
    maneuvered his long
    frame into the driver’s side, sliding
    back the seat to
    accommodate him in the little
    compact, he gave her a
    penetrating glance. “Besides, I don’t
    think you want to go
    home to your husband looking like
    that.”
    “Husband?” She fol owed his look to
    her left hand, the
    pale band of pigment that stood out
    so starkly there. She
    hadn’t put the ring back on once Jon
    had taken it off, a
    significant statement of its own.
    However, at the sergeant’s
    assumption, a hard spike of sobs
    tried to choke her breath
    again. “I’m not…married. Long
    story…but not married. No
    one. I have no one.”
    It sounded so pathetic, said like that,
    but she laid her
    head back against the seat, too tired
    to say anything else.
    She didn’t want anything now except
    numbness.
    Mission accomplished, right? In
    spades.
    As Sergeant Kel er put the car into
    drive, she stared into
    the side mirror at the retreating club.
    It looked like a demon
    crouched underneath a moonless sky,
    satisfied that it had
    devoured another soul.
    * * * * *
    The police precinct was as cheerless
    as she expected.
    Dingy tile, fluorescent lighting.
    Sidelong glances from jaded
    eyes that had seen it al . Sergeant Kel
    er continued to be
    kind and