Morbid

The night guard at the police station didn't look up from his cell phone as the police officer signed in and showed his ID. He just waved him through and hit the buzzer to let him in. It was two in the morning and whoever it was this late at night, he assumed that they needed to get in for something important.

That police officer knew exactly where to go to avoid the cameras and didn't show his face to any of them. The jacket and hat hid almost everything and he made his way down to the holding cells. He wasn't surprised there was no one on duty to sit there and guard people that were secured in cells. He thought they had better things to do, then he heard a door open and the sound of a flushing toilet.

Before the man in the bathroom could react, he was subdued and his neck broken. He didn't die right away, since it wasn't really a killing blow, only an immobilizing one. He could only gurgle a little as he was 'walked' to his desk and sat down at the monitor station, then the officer that assaulted him hit several buttons to change the camera settings. The officer grabbed the keys from his belt and found the right one and left.

The paralyzed man watched the monitors as the officer walked by two cameras, then he entered one of the cells. He was in there for several minutes and then he came out, passed by both cameras again, and went back to the monitoring desk. He gave him the keys back for some reason, then leaned over him to hit the buttons to return the cameras back to their normal positions. The one thing the crippled man saw was the police officer's ID tag flop out of his jacket.

Officer Charlie Hallman! The man thought in surprise, then he was all alone. He took a small breath, which was all he could manage right then, and thanked his lucky stars that Charlie had only snapped his neck and hadn't killed him. He knew people healed from broken necks and he hoped that he would be one of them.

*

The courthouse was visited next and Officer Arnold had no trouble getting in. There were no guards and no one to check his ID. It wasn't until he made it up to the District Attorney's office that he met some resistance. A keypad and a swipe space for ID. He used the DA's ID and entered the code, opened the door, and saw it was an outer office that led to the main one.

He entered the main office and sat down at the computer. After a quick search, he found what he wanted and copied the data. He was tempted to copy everything and realized the storage device he had wasn't sufficient for that. He also couldn't take the computer with him, because that would be giving himself away.

“I'm so glad you're still here and working late, Sandra.” A man's voice said as he opened the door to the outer office. “I knew appointing you as the temporary DA was the right choice.” He walked towards the inner office and opened the door. “I really need to talk to you about...” He started to say as he walked into the office and approached the desk, only to see that no one was there. “Sandra? Are you in h-UGH!”

A hard blow from a nightstick hit him in the back of the head and he collapsed to the floor, unconscious.

Officer Arnold checked the man's wallet and read who it was. “You just saved me from trying to get to you at home.” He said and had to check the computer. The file copying was done and he took the USB from it and went back to the man on the floor. He picked him up in a fireman's carry over his shoulder and left the DA's office and carried the man back to his own office. He was sure there would be something incriminating on there, too.

*

The newspaper reporter had been having a banner year for her news stories and exposing corruption in the bank. Several people had been fired over it and she took that as proof that the truth always came to light and you had to face the consequences eventually. She believed that, because she had been celebrating an award for journalism earlier that night and was now paying for it as she hovered next to her toilet at four in the morning and expelled said celebrations. They didn't taste anywhere near as good coming back up.

Her cell phone beeped at her and she thought about ignoring it, especially considering her head was starting to throb with a headache. It beeped again and she let out a groan. She left her bathroom, fully prepared to run back in at a moment's notice, and picked up her phone from the nightstand.

“Jesus Christ!” The reporter exclaimed, her hangover and headache forgotten. On her cell phone were two texts. 'I'm a horrible person' and 'I'm going to end it all'. That wasn't really the shocking part. What was shocking was that it was from the senior judge at the courthouse. How did he get my number?

Her phone beeped again and she looked at the file transfer. It was going to take a couple of minutes, so she walked to her kitchen and put the phone down, made some instant coffee, and drank it before the transfer was done. She caught her breath when the files popped up on her screen and it was all official documents that concerned city zoning, legislation, and hefty, hefty bribes from local businessmen.

“Thank you, thank you, THANK YOU!” The reporter said and kissed her phone. “I love you!”

*

Arnold parked the van in his spot and he climbed into the back after locking the doors. He laid down on the bed and set his watch for the morning. It was to give him enough time to go in before everyone woke up, to have a shower, return the van keys, and get his school things. He went to sleep with his hand beside his ear to ensure that he would hear the beep as soon as it went off.

*

Janet was having the most wonderful dream, then she felt her bed move and woke up to see the dream was there in front of her. “I love you, Arnold.” She whispered and took him into her arms and made love to him. She was surprisingly quiet this time as she poured her heart out and told him all of the things she loved about him.

“I'm really sorry to interrupt.” Pam said in a whisper twenty minutes later. “You're both going to need a shower if we're going to make it to class on time.”

“Oh! This isn't a mutual class day.” Janet said in realization and looked down at Arnold. “What are you doing here so early?”

“Making love to you.” Arnold said.

Janet's heart didn't need more of an excuse than that. “Thank you.” She said and kissed him.

“You can finish in the shower.” Pam said and pointed.

“Okay.” Arnold said and hugged Janet as he sat up, then he stood and walked to the bathroom with himself still inside of her.

“Wow.” Pam said. “You're doing that to me tomorrow!”

“Okay.” Arnold said and took a shower with Janet after he finished making love to her.

*

“Oh, fuck no!” Detective Olivia Tanner nearly yelled when she showed up for work that morning and saw the ambulance instead of the prisoner transfer bus. She went inside the precinct and it was like the inside of a stirred up hornet's nest. Everyone was talking at once and running around, as if that was going to help at all. She made her way through the squad room and knocked on the chief's door.

There was a loud sigh and then a low grumble. “Come in.”

“I'm sorry to disturb you, Chief.” Detective Tanner said as she entered and shut the door.

“You're a horrible liar.” The chief said.

“So, it really happened?” Detective Tanner asked. “He's dead?”

“Which one do you mean?” The chief asked.

“Huh?”

“More than one person died last night.”

“No!” Detective Tanner exclaimed. “Who else did Arnold kill? How many officers did we lose?”

“Arnold?” The chief asked. “I thought I told you to drop that.”

“IA thinks differently.” Detective Tanner said.

“Fuck them and their idiocy.” The chief spat. “It was Charlie!”

“WHAT?” Detective Tanner yelled.

“His ID was shown, he signed in, and he's seen on no less than five cameras.”

“No, he... why...”

“The duty officer on the cells also saw his name tag after having his neck broken.”

Detective Tanner sat down in the visitor's chair in front of the chief's desk. “No, it can't be Charlie. He loved the force. He would never...”

“He didn't kill him, thank god.” The chief said. “He did just enough to immobilize and not murder. That takes precision, especially considering the circumstances.”

“What about the kid?” Detective Tanner asked.

“Hung by his bed sheet from the top of the bars.” The chief said. “It was a stupid move to keep out of prison.”

“He didn't commit suicide.” Detective Tanner said. “What are the odds that Charlie would come here and just talk with him? It has to be murder.”

“The only prints in the cell are Kevin's and the knot was a slip knot. Tension had to be kept on it to hold the body up. That's not a slow process.”

“He would have lost his grip long before he died! He wouldn't be hanging there and...”

“Who said he was still hanging? We found him on the floor, cloth marks on his neck and hands, consistent with holding and sliding cloth.”

Detective Tanner sighed and closed her eyes. “Chief, it's murder.”

“I don't want to attribute another death to the rogue cop, as the papers dubbed him.” The chief said.

“You can't just dismiss...”

“If we say he was killed in our custody by a police officer, even if we had some kind of evidence that showed it, we will still be crucified in the press.” The chief said. “Of course, his parents are still going to crucify us for letting their son die, no matter the circumstances.”

Detective Tanner thought about protesting and she couldn't. That would be how it was portrayed and handled, no matter what the actual evidence was. The whole department would be seen as incompetent.

“I won't be giving you the case, since you're biased against the evidence.” The chief said.

“I'm not! I just... I know Arnold is somehow responsible.”

“Well, you can relax now. There are no more victims left for him.”

“Chief!” Detective Tanner exclaimed.

“I'm trying to see the bright side here.” The chief said. “If the deaths stop, that's a good thing, right?”

Detective Tanner sighed again and had to nod in agreement.

“I do have another case for you, though.” The chief said and handed her a manila folder. “I need you to get over to the courthouse right away.”

“The courthouse?” Detective Tanner asked and opened the folder. “NO!”

“What is it?” The chief asked.

“This... no, you...” Detective Tanner shook her head. “I can't take this case.”

“Why not?” The chief asked, a little angrily.

“Because that's the judge that let those vandals off in the Strickland case. They only had community service when they should have been in jail.” Detective Tanner said as she closed the folder and put it back on the chief's desk. “If I can't have Kevin's murder, I can't have this one, either.”

“It wasn't murder. He jumped from the top of the courthouse.”

“He WHAT?!?”

“Suicide. He killed himself. He also sent a bunch of evidence to a reporter before he did, too.”

“Oh, fuck.” Detective Tanner said in a defeated tone.

“Exactly.” The chief almost sighed himself. “This is going to be a circus. A three ring circus.”

“I'm sorry I can't be the lead on this.” Detective Tanner said.

“Well, at least you didn't screw the department over by not telling me your connection with the judge.” The chief said. “If it came out that you were even partially involved and hadn't recused yourself...”

Detective Tanner nodded. “IA is my friend right now; but, it wasn't always that way.”

The chief nodded as well. “You might as well take the day off, since there's nothing you can do here.”

“Chief, I'm sure that there's...”

“...nothing that can't wait until tomorrow.” The chief finished for her. “I'll give your rookie the day off, too. Go have fun and enjoy it.”

“My rookie?” Detective Tanner asked, then she understood. “Oh.”

“Go on. You can't do anyone any good here today.” The chief said.

Detective Tanner nodded and left the office. She took out her cell phone and messaged Mark to see where he was, then let him know that the chief ordered them both to take the day off. She left the precinct and got back in her car to go and pick him up. For the first time in a while, she had an entire day off and the Chief of Police's blessing on her relationship with a coworker. That wasn't something that she was going to squander when it was pretty much handed to her.

Plus, it would give her a chance to talk things out with Mark while they had fun. She always seemed to think better and also relax after they had sex. She wasn't sure why. At the moment, it didn't matter and she drove to where Mark had said to meet.

*

“Hi, Arnold!” Leann said happily as she and Tanya walked into the physics classroom. “Francine said she wants us to get together this weekend, if you're free.” She said and gave him a three second kiss. “I know you love hanging out with your mom during the day, so we were thinking we can pick you up Saturday night at around seven for a late supper.”

“Okay.” Arnold said.

“Great!” Leann said and typed up a quick message on her phone. “We're all set.” She said and turned off her phone as she sat down. “Thank you, Arnold.” She leaned in and gave him another kiss. “We both appreciate spending time with you.”

Tanya sat down on Arnold's other side and she wondered when her friend had changed so much that she barely recognized her. She wore more expensive clothes and her attitude and demeanor were more of a higher class than it had been. Or she thought so. She wasn't sure about it and she couldn't pinpoint when the changes became so pronounced. She shrugged and turned to look at the physics professor when he came into the room.

Now there's a hunk of a man. Tanya secretly thought. She would never admit that smart guys turned her on, which was why she had such a crush on Arnold in high school. She knew it was just a crush and wouldn't lead to anything, though. That wasn't what she wanted. She was looking for a long term relationship and not just fun... and Arnold since he broke up with Kelly was just all fun and wasn't worth the risk of losing a steady boyfriend over.

*

Arnold finished the classes that day and changed into one of his suits. Dalla commented that he looked sexy like that and he thanked her and gave her a ten second kiss. He left her stunned and Ida surprised, said he was staying out for the night and picked up his bag, and went down the elevator.

A different woman was at the reception desk and he waved to her as he passed, then he left the dorm room and walked off of campus and down the street. He had a date with Doris and she had missed him a lot the last couple of weeks. Arnold rang the doorbell and the door opened to reveal a scantily clad black woman in a dress that was more of a wish than an actual covering.

“You look wonderful, Arnold.” Doris said and licked her lips at the handsome young man.

“You look delicious.” Arnold opened his bag, took out a handful of roses, and handed them to her.

“Thank you very much.” Doris said and gave him a deep and passionate kiss. “Please, come in. Supper is almost ready.”

Arnold nodded and shut the door behind him.