Elisa

I was nervous. Tonight was the night Jackson would be coming for dinner. I still hadn’t told Elizabeth, I was worried about what her reaction would be. Ever since her father died she’s had a hard time meeting new people, sometimes the introductions ended terribly. Right now I was helping Elizabeth braid her hair. Maybe right now would be the best time to tell her.

“Hey, Elizabeth, can I tell you something?” She looked up to me and I turned her back facing forward. “Keep still so I can get straight braids, okay?” “Okay sis, but what is it?” I gulped. “Well, I invited a co-worker over for dinner tonight.” She was silent, my heart was racing. ‘I hope this doesn’t end badly.’ “I’m glad you’re finally making friends sis.” Her response shocked me. “What do you mean? Aren’t you upset? I know that you hate meeting people.” “I know, but I’ve never seen you have an actual friend before. I care more about you having someone than me being uncomfortable meeting them.” I bit my lip. I couldn’t help but feel bad.

“When did you get to be so mature? You’re only eleven.” She hummed. “Mommy always talked about how she wished you had friends so you weren’t so alone. When mommy died I thought I could try and look out for you if you ever wanted friends.” My heart had felt like it could melt. “When will your friend be coming over sis?” I paused. I wasn’t exactly sure myself. “I’ll find out once I get to work, okay? I’ll text your babysitter and tell her to let you know when he’ll be coming over.” I finished her braids and she turned to face me. “Okay sis, just be safe today, okay?” I nodded. “Of course I will be Elizabeth.” Looking into her eyes I could see that she was worried.

“Okay, I’m leaving now.” It hadn’t taken me long to get ready for work. I felt so giddy that I hadn’t even realized I was in my work uniform until I was already at the door, about to walk out. Elizabeth stood behind me, rubbing her hands together. “I love you, Elisa, please come home safe.” I looked back at her. “I love you too, Elizabeth, I promise to come home safe.” I looked over at the babysitter. “Please take care of my sister.”

Jackson was at my desk, waiting for me. He was looking down at papers he held in his hand. My heart skipped a beat as I approached him. “Oh, good morning Elisa,” He looked up from the paper and smiled at me, but his smile didn’t meet his eyes. He appeared exhausted. “Good morning, Jackson, are you alright?” I questioned. He grimaced. “Yeah, I will be. Don’t worry about me. Are you alright?” I nodded. “Good. Are you ready to get started?” I nodded again. “I’m always ready. I want to catch this guy.”

“So to start today off, before you got to the department a call had come in about a suspicious-looking man hanging around someone’s house, the description sounded similar to our suspect, so I thought we could go check it out,” Jackson spoke through a yawn. I could tell he hadn’t slept too well the night before, I couldn’t help but worry. I wanted to question him about it but decided against it. “Okay, let’s go then.”

The house we arrived at was a block away from the house that the murder had taken place. “It looks like they’re trying to stay close to where they first killed,” I said as we got out of the car. Jackson nodded in agreement. “It seems like it.” We approached the front door, I knocked.

An elder man stood in the doorway, staring at us with beady eyes. “You two the ones they sent about my call?” I nodded. “Yes sir, I’m officer Reynolds and this is Officer Bridges. Will you please tell us what happened?” The old man tsked. “Yeah, come in.” We followed him inside.

He had us sit down at his kitchen table. I looked around and noticed dishes were broken on the floor. The old man caught me staring and shook his head. “I didn’t pick it up in case whoever came wanted to check it out. Anyways, my wife and I got up around 5 o’clock this morning. My wife had an appointment this morning at 7 o’clock so she wanted to get up a bit earlier to get ready. With old age, it takes longer to get ready. When I get up in the mornings I’ll go stand on my porch for a few minutes and watch the sunrise. This morning when I went outside, I noticed there was this dark blue-colored van in front of our house. Someone was in the driver’s seat, they noticed me watching them and they drove off. Eventually, my wife left for her appointment.” He sighed. “While she was gone I thought I should clean up a bit. I had taken the trash out and hadn’t locked the door behind me.” He pointed towards the door beside his cabinets that led to the side of his house. “I started washing dishes and when I was putting them away, there was some guy standing right there beside of me. He had a gray hoodie and he had it over his head, trying to cover his face. He had black jeans that were kind of cut up. His hoodie had a dark stain on the front. He had lunged at me and I dropped the dish in my hand and it shattered. Luckily we keep guns in every room of the house. I grabbed the gun we have in the kitchen and pointed it at him. It scared him enough that he ran.”

I frowned. ‘First a family, now an elderly couple?’ “When he drove away did you catch his licenses plate?” The old man shook his head. “He didn’t have one.” I felt defeated. “Well, we don’t need the dish, but let me get it cleaned up for you.” The old man frowned. “It’s my mess, I can get it.” I shook my head, standing up. “No, I insist. You’ve been through a bad experience. So let me do this.” He gave in. “Alright. Thank you.”

After cleaning up the broken glass, we left his house. “I can’t believe he would try and attack when he knows it’s during the day and that he was asleep,” Jackson muttered, more to himself. “I agree. Maybe he thought he could take the old man though. Or maybe he wasn’t expecting the old man to be home and that he was trying to get into the house to stake out the house so he could come back later to do them in.” I said.

“That might be true,” Jackson said, holding open my door, closing it behind me once I was inside the car. He got in a few seconds left and rubbed his face. “Are you alright with going to a coffee shop so I can grab a cup? I could use a pick me up.” He sounded tired. “Of course, I could actually use a cup myself.”

The coffee shop was a small building off on a side road that was rarely used. It was obvious the place didn’t get much business, besides what was needed to keep their building open. The smell in the building was sweet. Jackson placed his order once we reached the front. “What do you want Elisa?” I opened my mouth to argue, only to be stopped. “Nope, it’s my treat. So order whatever you want.” I ordered a large iced coffee and we found a booth off in an empty corner to sit.

Jackson laid a folder on the table and flipped it open, sipping on his coffee. “What’s that?” I questioned. He looked at me with a half-smile. “It’s your stepfather’s case and our current one. I’m looking to see if there had been any reports made by your stepfather or anyone in the family that was killed.” I looked around the shop and frowned. “Are you sure we should be going over this here?” He nodded. “Yeah, this is where I usually come to get away from the desk to go over my cases without so many distractions. There is rarely anyone here during this time.”

He started skimming the pages, flipping through them as he tried to find what he wanted. “Ah-ha!” He took a paper out from the folder, “This says there was a report made the day before his murder. Apparently, the call was about someone following him at work. This person was apparently following him around for a week before he reported it.” I was shocked. “He never told us about this. We had no idea. If… If he had just told us we could have done more to help him!” I could feel tears prickling in my eyes.

I felt a hand on my hand. “I’m so sorry Elisa. He probably didn’t say anything to make sure you, your sister, or your mother didn’t worry. I’m sure he didn’t think it would end up the way it did.” I sighed. “I know, it just hurts to know that something was going on beforehand and I could have done something about it.” I bit my bottom lip. Jackson squeezed my hand. “Hey, it’s not you’re fault, so don’t beat yourself up. We’ll catch the one who did this, okay?” I nodded, trying to give a slight smile.

“Considering the report is saying that he was being followed at work, I think we should go give his old workplace a visit, and ask whoever is in charge if anyone that worked there back then still is there and to see if we can ask them some questions. Do you know where he was working?” “I actually don’t remember. I can find out by the end of the day though.” Jackson nodded. “Well until we go visit I don’t want to get ahead of ourselves. So let’s call it a day here and continue on tomorrow.” I couldn’t help but be glad. Finding out my stepfather was being followed before he was murdered was emotionally taking its toll on me.

We finally got in the car, heading back to the department to put the files back up. “So, Jackson, when are you wanting to come over for dinner?” He contemplated for a second. “How about… As soon as we leave work?” I couldn’t stop myself from blushing. “Are you sure?” I questioned. He smiled and nodded. “Yeah, I’m sure.”

“Elizabeth, I’m home!” I shouted out as I walked into my front door. I held the door open for Jackson. “Hey, sis!!” Elizabeth came out running at me with her arms wide open, throwing herself at me for a hug. I hug her tightly and smile. “I told you I would come home safely, didn’t I?” She smiled up at me. Her brunette hair was in a complete mess compared to the neat braids I had put it in that morning. She looked past me and stared at Jackson. “Who is he, Elisa?” I rubbed the back of my neck.

“Elizabeth, this is Jackson. Jackson, this is my younger sister Elizabeth. This is the friend that I told you was going to come over for dinner tonight, remember?” She nodded slowly, still staring at him. “You were supposed to let me know when he was coming Elisa.” I let out a nervous laugh. “I’m sorry Elizabeth, it slipped my mind. You aren’t upset, are you?” She shook her head and let go of me. “Can I help with dinner?” She questioned. “Of course, just let me get Jackson settled in, and then we can start, okay?” Jackson smiled. “Actually, could I help as well?” I looked at Elizabeth. “Are you okay with that?” She nodded. “Then let’s start.”

Jackson ended up making all of dinner. We had grilled steaks and they had turned out delicious. Elizabeth seemed to really enjoy Jackson’s company, which made me happy. “So, Elizabeth, I had a question.” She hummed as she took the last bite of her steak. “By any chance do you remember where daddy used to work?” She looked up, her eyes practically shining. “Yeah! He worked at that phone agency place, remember? I got to go with him one time! It was so fun!”

After dinner, Jackson helped me put her to bed. “She looks so peaceful when she sleeps,” Jackson muttered. I couldn’t agree more. “She really does. Anyways, I guess this means it’s time for you to start heading home, right?” He looked defeated. “Yeah, it is.” I patted his back. “I’ll see you out, okay?”

At the front door, we said our goodbyes. Part of me didn’t want him to go, but that wasn’t allowed, right? Whatever I was feeling, I needed to stop feeling that way, and fast. I couldn’t allow any personal feelings towards Jackson to get in the way of our case.