The Body In The Ditch - A Murder Mystery (Hashi & Manic) IC

[Manic]

Allison eyed the badge. Her eyes were clearer than they had been before, so she could make out the eagle's head and wings that made up the top, the point on the bottom, the bold black letters that no doubt read 'Detective.'

"I know your a cop." Allison muttered, trying - failing - to inconspicuously wipe the tears out of her eyes. She pushed herself into a standing position but didn't dare move any closer towards him. The urge to run into the kitchen and through the back door into the alley was crippling. She wanted to get away from him, but there was no Mary to shoo him out this time. She could faint and run off when he went to get help, but he'd probably run over to check on her first, and it might result in her actually fainting, which was...bad.

He was thinking about...video games? Allison had never been a fan, but she could tell from the little health bars and the digitalization on the hands and sword it was some sort of fighting game. The images switched to a gun shooting a digital cyclops monster with a glowing red eye, and Allison wanted to scream at him to stop being such a guy and just leave her alone. She may have been a recluse, but she was never rude, so she licked her dry lips and was about to ask him again what he needed, when his mind went completely blank for a moment. She blinked in surprise and took a deep breath. And then he was picturing Anna, the nice lady who was married to the man who owned Elmira's down the street, placing a steak pot pie in front of him.

She knew from experience how amazing they were. She'd wandered into the diner one night a half hour before closing, deeming it safe since there was only Mary sitting at the counter with the older gentleman who ran the general store. Mary always seemed to be flirting with him, though Allison would never dare ask her about it. She'd taken a seat in the far corner, and Anna had stomped over.

"I hate men. Don't you just hate them sometimes? They can be so goddamn infuriating!" Allison opened her mouth, though she had no idea how to respond. She didn't know if she even could have, with the images coming off of the woman. Her and a man - her husband? - arguing in the kitchen over...something. "Sorry, I'm venting and I shouldn't be. What can I get you?"

"I, um... What's...good?"

"I knew I didn't recognize you. Your new to town?" Allison nodded. "You bought the little yellow house between the McGregor and the Hennessy farms, right?" Allison nodded again, thankful that the woman seemed to be calming down, the images fading. "Well, the steak pot pie seems to be popular. It's new, like you."

"Okay. One, please."

Ann scribbled on her pad of paper. "Anything to drink?"

"No, thank you."

Allison had sat quietly while she waited. When Anna set the pie down in front of her, her eyes had bugged out. The thing was huge. She knew she'd be taking some home for later. But, it had turned out she hadn't. The pot pie was amazing. She wasn't able to set the fork down until it was gone.

That was how it was with everything at Elmira's. It was why she was so glad that Anna was nice enough to run orders across the street for her on nights Allison didn't feel like going home and cooking something after a day of baking.

Allison licked her shaking lips again and muttered, despite her better judgement, "I like Anna's pot pies, too."

[Hashibaarrow]

Locke was a little surprised, but not much. He was more surprised that she had admitted herself so quickly. He smiled as he put his badge away in the inside breast pocket of his coat. Now that he had it figured out, it was just a task of keeping his mind from wondering too much when he talked to her. When he spoke next he kept his speech slow and deliberate, being careful of what he thought about as he spoke. He tried to keep his mind as clear as possible. "So that was what happened this morning. You could see what I was thinking about." He ran a hand through his hair, "I'd heard about people who could do that, but I'd never met one before. I didn't mean to scare you like that. I'm sorry."

As pleased as he was that he had figured out the mystery surrounding Allison Brimley, he was disappointed that the only real lead he'd gotten in the case had just evaporated away. Tomorrow would mark 1 week since Rebecca had been found and he had nothing. He had promised Julia that he'd find the killer, but he had no idea how he'd ever be able to fulfill that promise.

His mind was starting to slip back to the case. Quickly he shook his head and thought about something else so not to overwhelm Allison with it. Something pleasant. Bunnies. What was more pleasant than white fluffy bunnies? God damn this was hard!

"I've taken enough of your time," he said at last, stepping backwards towards the door. "I'm sure you just want to close up and go home. I'm sorry to have bothered you." He turned towards the door, pausing and saying over his shoulder, "and again, I uh, I'm sorry about this morning."

[Manic]

Someone knew. It was the strangest feeling, to have someone that...knew.

"You don't have to think of bunnies." She said quietly as he turned to leave. She swallowed the knot of fear in her throat and took a deep breath. "You just...have to keep your mind and body calm. Strong emotions cause strong memories, strong images, and I can't keep them out of my mind. If people aren't...thinking too loudly, then I'm okay as long as I don't touch anyone." Allison had never explained this to anyone before, so she struggled with how exactly to put it into words. "So just...calm your mind, okay?" But as the images flowed, more pictures of bunnies and puppies and flowers, she studied his breathing. He was calm.

"I can still see what your thinking." She said, brows creasing. The more intently she stared at him, the weirder she felt, like there was something keeping them connected.

And then, suddenly, she saw it. "Oh, my..." She breathed, reaching out toward the thin glowing cord that stretched across the shop, starting in the middle of his chest and ending in the middle of her own. "Do you see that?" She asked breathlessly. As her fingertips brushed the cord, it felt like little tendrils of electricity danced up her fingers. When she pulled away quickly, the light dimmed and went out.

There was a strange tingling in her chest and all over her skull. "Did you feel that?" She asked Locke, starring at him intently. She hadn't realized it at the time, but she'd moved closer and closer, until she could reach out and touch him if she wanted to. And then, suddenly, a smile broke out on her face. "I can't see your mind anymore." She said, almost laughing. Hesitantly, and for a reason she couldn't quite comprehend, she reached out and grasped his arm. Nothing. Pure, blissful silence. "I can't see!" Giggles were escaping her lips, and she pressed her other hand against her mouth to stop her gleeful hysteria, forgetting that she was still clutching him. "What just happened?" She asked him, eyes wide with wonder.

[Hashibaarrow]

All Locke could feel was her grasp on his arm through his coat. She was hanging on to him tightly and giggling. He couldn't see what she saw, didn't feel what she felt. He really didn't understand what was going on.

"I don't know what happened. Something happened?" He tried wedging his fingers in between her hand and his arm since she was squeezing him a little too tightly. He didn't try to pry her off him since as far as he knew, this was the first human contact she'd had in a long time.

Maybe her ability was something like a curse. The way she described it it certainly sounded like a curse. Perhaps just his knowing about it and acknowledging it had somehow broken that curse. After a moment he dismissed that idea. Curses in fairy tales were never broken that easily.

He glanced at the clock on the wall behind the counter near the door that lead back to the kitchen. It was getting close to 9:00. "Its getting late," he told her. "Why don't I give you a ride home? Maybe we can figure it out on the way?"

[Manic]

Tears of joy were forming in the corners of her eyes, Allison was so elated. "It's amazing. I can't believe this!" She realized, as Locke tried to loosen her grip, that she was squeezing his arm tightly. She relaxed her hand, but couldn't bring herself to pull it away completely.

It wasn't as though she'd never had contact with anyone before. She'd brushed against them on the street, and people had touched her before, like Mary had earlier that day when she'd pulled her away from Locke. But this was different. Allison had never once dared to touch someone else, for fear that the images would be overpowering. She ran her hand up his forearm, staring at it as she moved. "This is incredible."

Allison barely registered the words as Locke spoke. Late...ride home... "Hm? Oh yes. I suppose it is late." She murmured, still too amazed to really form a coherent response. her hands moved from his arm to his chest, fingers splaying over the breast of his coat. A small voice in the back of her mind whispered that touching him like this was highly inappropriate. Allison pulled her hand away, tucking them into her chest. "I..." She cleared her throat and stepped back. "I'm sorry." What had he been saying, again? Oh, right. A ride home. "My car is in the parking lot of the warehouse on the edge of town. I park there so that I don't take up room on the street. But...you could walk me there, if it's not too much trouble."

[Hashibaarrow]

Locke had watched her as she ran her hand up and down his arm. The next thing he knew she had put her hands on his chest. His coat was still buttoned up, but he could feel the pressure of her as she touched him. He knew that there was nothing sexual to her touch. She was simply reveling in an action that she hadn't been able to do in a long time. However, to anyone else who would see the scene out of context, it was all highly suggestive. It made the tops of his ears and cheeks flush a little bit with the awkwardness of it all. Finally, she removed her hands from him and stepped back, looking up at him a little sheepishly, as if she knew that this was highly inappropriate.

"I'm sorry," she said. "My car is in the parking lot of the warehouse on the edge of town. I park there so that I don't take up room on the street. But...you could walk me there, if it's not too much trouble."

Locke shook his head, "No. No trouble." He grinned at her, "I am a cop. To protect and serve, that's my thing." He winced inwardly. God, could he sound anymore like a dork?

He waited in the front of the bakery as Allison finished tidying up and closing for the night. She locked the door behind them before they both stepped out onto the sidewalk. Much to Locke's relief, there was no strange I'm-being-watched feelings. They started walking.

They'd only gone a few steps when Allison suddenly reached out and grabbed his arm again. He stopped walking to look at her. She was staring wide eyed up at him. "Detecti...ve...." her eyes slid shut and her knees went out from under her as she feinted.

"Miss Brimley!" He caught her before she hit the ground. "Miss Brimley?" But she didn't respond. She was completely limp, like a rag doll. For a few moments he stood with her awkwardly in his arms.. He looked around for a moment before hefting her up to carry her. His car wasn't that far away, thankfully. He managed to get the backdoors opened and bundled her in. He then quickly got in the driver's seat and started the car. The street was still empty of vehicles, so it was easy for Locke to race from his spot and up Main Street.

Stoneyvale had a handful of squad cars. The cars used by its detectives were not owned by the city government, but the detectives themselves. Locke's car had been outfitted with police lights mounted on the dashboard and in the grill. He flipped on the lights as he sped through town. He arrived at Stoneyvale Memorial Hospital in a matter of minutes.

The hospital itself was relatively new, only having been built in the last 10 years. Before that, all medical emergencies had to be rushed to Manchester. Stoneyvale was just large enough a town to justify having a small hospital, and Locke was thankful for that.

He drove around the back of the hospital to the emergency room entrance and got out of his car. He pulled Allison out of the back and leaving the doors open, rushed inside.

"Hello!" He shouted in the ER lobby. "Hello! I need some help!"

The ER was basically empty. The triage nurse hurried from behind her counter when she heard Locke. "Oh my goodness!" She gasped when she saw Allison in his arms. "Quickly, bring her this way!"

The nurse lead him to an exam room quickly. She had Locke set Allison down on the bed and quickly went about checking her vitals. "What happened?" She asked as she did.

"I don't know," Locke shook his head. "I was walking her to her car when she just went down."

The nurse frowned a little as she took Allison's blood pressure and listened to her pulse. She shook her head, "her pulse and BP are both normal." She looked over at Locke, "I'll send the doctor in right away." And then she hurried out of the room.

Locke let out a breath he hadn't realized he'd been holding tightly in his chest. He sat down heavily in a chair, the only other piece of furniture in the cramped room. He leaned his elbows on his knees and reached up to rub his hand over his face. He had stopped shaving when the case had started and had the beginnings of a beard on his cheeks and chin. He didn't really know how much he liked it. He knew his mother would definatley disapprove. Which, in his opinion, was good enough reason to keep it.

The doctor was taking a while. Locke got to his feet and was about to look out into the hall when he heard a noise from the bed. Allison had started to stir. He went back over to the bed and took her hand. "Allison?" He stooped down a little, "are you alright?"

-------

Just up the hall, the doctor on duty had been summoned from his dinner. Grumpily he was making his way from the cafeteria down towards the ER. Tonight was his anniversary. 3 years. It wasn't so bad that he had to be on call that night. It was bad that he had completely forgotten the date. He had made no reservations, bought no presents. He was seriously in the dog house. He was grumbling about silly sentimental women when he entered the ER and found the triage nurse waiting for him. She was an attractive young thing. Dark chocolate hair and large doe eyes. She always wore the perfect amount of make-up and had a body that even looked hot in the frumpy pink nurse's uniform.

"I'm sorry to pull you away from dinner, Doctor," she smiled at him, reaching out and lightly touching his arm. "A man came in just now with a woman. He tells me that she passed out as he was walking her home."

"I see," the middle aged doctor nodded his head, looking into the nurses eyes and wishing she would touch him in other places. "I'd better go take a look then."

"Of course, Doctor," her sultry suggestive voice followed him down the hall.

Dammit! She was constantly flirting with him. Touching him like that, throwing suggestive looks his way. Taunting him, knowing she was forbidden fruit. It was maddening. However, after he had spent the evening arguing with his wife about the importance of remembering sentimental dates, he was more inclined to pick that fruit.

These were the thoughts the doctor was loudly broadcasting in his mind as he entered the exam room.

"Ahh," he said seeing Allison's eyes were open. "I see our patient has woken up."

[Manic]

The last thing Allison remembered was Locke's face, and then so many images had flown into her brain at once that she'd gotten dizzy and... Fainted, apparently. Her eyes tried to focused on the white ceiling, the white walls with the poster of animated germs, but there was too much else going on in her head. A woman in pink was touching the arm of a man in a lab coat, thinking about him naked. The man in the coat switched from picturing his wife's angry face to thinking about the woman naked.

"Allison?" Locke's face appeared and her mind momentarily cleared, "are you alright?"

"Hospital," she managed as she struggled to push away the thoughts of the doctor and nurse and sit up. "Bad. very...bad." She pressed her palms against her temples and squinted her eyes, trying not to cry out as the doctor entered the room.

"Ahh, I see our patient has woken up."

She could barely hear him over the blood pumping in her ears. She needed to get out of there, and fast. The Doctor was still thinking about the nurse with nothing on, and was she watched from his vantage point, his eyes trailed down her chest and suddenly his little fantasy became a threesome.

Allison's arms instinctively went around her chest and she hoped off the hospital bed, wobbling. "You," she tried to get her eyes to focus on him, but he was just a blurry outline with a human shape, "are a pig!" She snapped, stumbling into the door jamb in her haste to get the hell out of there.

She could feel Locke behind her - in a clearer state of mind, she may have given that some deliberation, as it was odd - but she couldn't see him. "Got to…get out of here." She stuttered.

Whichever way she was headed, be it toward the exit or not, it was the wrong way for her to go. There must have been more people there, and there had definitely been a recent death. The images were so fierce now that they clouded her vision completely, only falling to the wayside so she could see a person's memory of being in a car crash, waking up before the paramedics arrived to find a piece of twisted metal pining him to the ground by the stomach.

The imprint faded away, and the images returned. Naked nurses and somewhere, someone was thinking about a clown, another about a car. Everything was so loud as it pierced through her skull, despite it not having any sound. Each image arrived like a slap in the face, until finally it was just too much again and she felt her head swimming.

Before Allison’s vision when black, she was sure she saw the faint outline of an old woman in a night gown with a short mop of curly white hair smiling down at her sweetly. And then, nothing.

[Hashibaarrow]

Locke had made a terrible mistake, that much was obvious. With her jacket over his arm, he followed Allison as she stumbled from the exam room and down the hall. He found her where she had fallen to her knees and then slumped the rest of the way to the floor.

"Well, crap." Locke stooped down and placed her jacket around her shoulders. Then he picked her up for the second time that night. Once he had her, he turned and started up the hall towards the ER doors.

"Hey!" The doctor called after him, "where do you think you're going?"

"Home," Locke called back over his shoulder.

"You can't take a patient from a hospital!" The doctor shouted.

"No one admitted her," Locke answered. He looked over his shoulder at the man. "You shouldn't be fantasizing about your patients anyway."

The doctor's jaw dropped. Locke smiled faintly and adjusted Allison in his arms. He walked with her out of the Emergency Room to where his car was still waiting. "Ok," he muttered as he bundled Allison in the backseat again, "Hospitals bad. Got it." Once he had gotten her in the backseat, he got in the car himself and left the hospital and headed home.

Locke lived in a small 2-story house that had been built some time in the 1940's. It sat up from the road on a small flat plateau of land. A set of concrete steps lead up to the front walk from the sidewalk and constantly looked as though the hill were trying to take them over. Locke drove into the small driveway that ran up along side of the house and parked his car outside the garage. Unless it was threatening to snow, Locke never parked in the garage.

He got out and circled around to get Allison out of the backseat as well. He didn't carry her as he had earlier that night. Locke was in good physical shape, but carrying the dead weight of another human being could be murder on one's forearms. So, he put one of her arms around his shoulders and half carried, half dragged her into his house through the side door.

The two of them entered the kitchen and Locke made his way carefully through the dark through the kitchen to the stairs that lead up to the second floor. Navigating the stairs with Allison was a little more difficult than Locke had originally thought, but he managed to get her up to the guest bedroom. Locke had bought the house about 6 months ago and Allison was the first guest he'd had.

He managed to flip on the light in the room before he put her on the bed. He took off her shoes and found a blanket to put over her. She looked as though she was sleeping peacefully, and after the evening she'd had, Locke decided it was best to let her wake up on her own. He turned out the light, but left the door open just enough so that the light from the hall could cast a shaft of light near the foot of the bed. Then he made his way down the hall to his room.

Once there he traded his suit and tie for a pair of loose sweat pants and a grey t-shirt with Aperture Science on the front. He then made his way down stairs again to the living room where he flopped onto the couch. Seamus the Cat looked up from where he was curled up in the recliner. He acknowledged Locke's presence with a yawn before going back to sleep again.

Locke leaned his head back and rubbed his eyes. What a fucking night. His stomach was telling him he was hungry again and there was a bag of chips in the pantry that would satiate it. However, before Locke could send the command to his legs to get up and go to the kitchen, he had fallen asleep.

[Manic]

Allison's consciousness broke like waves of the sea, and suddenly she was aware of a pressure on her chest and a strangeness in the air around her. Her eyes flipped open to reveal a rather grumpy face starring back in the dim light. The big fluffy cat gave her a meow and stood, hoping to the floor.

“So sorry to wake you.” Allison muttered to the cat as she sat up in the bed and touched her head. It wasn’t aching now, as it had been in the hospital – the hospital! She knew she’d fainted again, and hoped she hadn’t scared that old woman too much. She took in the room before her. Unless they were running severely low on space and had put her in a storage room, she was no longer in the hospital. That left…Locke’s home? She had a moment of unease as she pushed the covers aside, though after starring at the dark boxes casting shadows in the dawn light coming in from the window, she realized the strange feeling she’d had since waking was coming off whatever was inside. It was like a low, steady buzzing that she could feel more than hear. Imprints.

Standing, Allison tucked her arms against herself and was careful not to touch anything as she weaved through the boxes, following the cats flicking tail to the door. “Hello, cat.” She whispered, doubting Locke would be awake so early. In the hallways, she passed two doors. One sat ajar, and a quick peek revealed it to be a bathroom. The other door was closed, and she assumesdLocke lay beyond it, asleep in his bed.

Slipping into the bathroom she used the facilities and then washed her hands, splashing some cool water into her face. She used the hair tie she always kept on her wrist to pull her hair back and carefully opened the cabinet under the sink. No extra tooth brushed that she could find, but at least a bottle of mouthwash sat atop the counter. She poured a small amount into the cap and let it drain into her mouth, careful to keep the plastic from touching her lips. She swished, spit, and felt a little more awake.

Allison crept down the stairs, hoping the few squeaks wouldn’t wake Locke. Downstairs, she peered through the faint light and could barely make out a dining room set, beyond it, an entrance to the kitchen where morning light streamed in through a window over the sink. She headed in that direction, stomach growling.

The fridge presented no form of sustenance whatsoever. There were ketchup packets in the door, bottles of beer on the shelves, and when she dug, she produced a half empty cartoon of eggs from the back that had expired two months before. Alison wondered how he sustained himself, until she shut the fridge and noticed the take-out menu’s held onto its front by magnets. Not a big fan of cooking, apparently.
The shelves didn’t have much else, a few boxes of almost stale cereal, basically useless without any milk. The bag of chips seemed her best option, so she grabbed it.

Ruffles in hand, Allison headed toward the other end of the house, into the living room. The cat had curled up on a large recliner, and was staring at something on the couch. As she came around it, she realized Locke was not upstairs asleep in his bed. He was passed out on the couch in sweat pants, his head leaning back against the cushions. A small trickle of drool was escaping his mouth, and Allison’s hand flew to her lips to stifle her giggle. The man had seemed so straight laced the first time they’d met, flashing his badge as she screamed bloody murder. But like this, face peaceful and calm, he looked so...handsome.

The thought almost made Allison drop breakfast, it was so unlike her. It wasn’t as though she’d never seen a handsome man before; she’d just never stopped to care. She couldn’t exactly have a normal relationship. A husband and children just weren’t in her cards. But then she thought back to how she’d been able to touch him before and gotten nothing but silence. Allison realized her hand was extending toward him, her fingers wanting to brush the stubble along his cheeks and chin, and a part of her screamed that it was a terrible idea, What if you can hear him again? but she didn’t listen. She almost wanted to be able to hear him again, to see what he was dreaming. Her fingers made contact with the rough hair on his face and she felt a tingle again in her head and chest. The cord she’d seen before blazed to life, and as she ran her fingers down his jawline, Allison looked into Detective Locke DeCine’s mind.
=

[Hashibaarrow]

There would be no fluffy white bunnies for Allison that morning. Instead Allison was treated to a view of a field. Dark black clouds hovering over head. There was nothing around for miles, just endless stretch of grass, tall and brown, deadened by some unknown force.

A fire

The thought came to her because that was the logic in the dream. A fire had destroyed this place. There didn't seem to be anyone around either, although it felt as though other people were around. Shadowy figures would appear just out of Allison's-though-Locke's vision, however, when he turned to look, nothing was there. Then again, a shadowy figure caught his attention, but would vanish when he turned to look.

Locke felt taunted. She heard his voice call out "Hello?" There was no response. She heard him call out again. Again, there was no answer. Allison could now hear a low hum in the air. Just off in the distance, at the horizon there appeared to be a city. As Locke looked at it, though, it became apparent that the city had been destroyed. Plumes of smoke rose out of an inferno.

Panic was welling in Locke now, his hands going to his head. Though, the name of the city didn't come to mind, it was important. Home. He whirled from the sight of the burning metropolis and shouted at those he knew to be out there in the grass with him, but couldn't see. Pleading with them for help. Just as before, there was no answer. Panic gave way to desperation. He was shouting so loudly and so forcefully he would have gone horse. Finally he turned around and standing there in front of him was a young woman with long blonde hair and a long white dress that billowed in the wind.

Rebecca.

Locke just stared at her as she walked towards him reaching out one hand. tangled in her fingers was a silver chain, of of which was hanging a silver locket. She closed the gap between them with a few short gliding steps. Her hand reached to touch his cheek, to trace her fingers down his jaw. The moment her finger tips touched his skin, Locke jerked awake.

His eyes flew open, sucking in a breath loudly. He stared up at her, panting just a little bit. "Allison?" His brows furrowed as though he couldn't understand why she was there, "what are you doing?!"