Cade was irritated that he had been brushed off and told to 'canvas', and not just because it was ridiculously hot. It had been his arrest, his show until Dunleavey decided to stick his nose in. Dunleavey seemed to always be sticking his nose in ever since that bachelor party. The bachelor party where Dunleavey had offered the stripper $200 for a blowjob and she had laughed at him, then turned around twenty minutes later and asked Cade to take her for a walk. She'd sucked him off for free out on the balcony.
Cade was used to women hitting on him, used to girls jumping on his cock. They'd been doing it long before he put a uniform on, but since he put the uniform on, he could hardly beat them off with a stick. It was fun for a while, but now it was just a little boring.
He didn't know why Dunleavey had held such a grudge and been such a prick about it, but the man had been up his ass ever since. Like it was his fault Dunleavey was a middle aged balding man with a pudge and he wasn't.
Prick.
7 out of the 8 houses he had gone to so far there was no answer. The one old man who had answered had griped about his show being interrupted. This whole neighborhood was one of those upper middle class neighborhoods where no one was ever home because all the dads were working and the moms were running their kids around to 15 different activities and volunteering everywhere.
No one saw anything and it wasn't like it really mattered. He had literally caught the kid loading a flatscreen into his car from the open garage when he had responded to the call. Dunleavey wanted to 'make sure the kids didn't have accomplices who had run off'.
Asshole.
He knocked at the second to last house, ready to turn and leave almost immediately.
To his surprise, it opened and he looked down at the girl peeking out.
"Hello, I'm Officer Westmoreland. Are your parents home?"
She blinked up at him, her neutral expression turning into a wary look. "I'm the head of household," she spoke softly. "What do you need?"
"Oh, pardon me ma'am, it's kind of hard to see you. I wanted to ask a few questions," he smiled, but the girl looked terrified as she mostly hid behind the door. It made him both wary and suspicious. "Do you think I could come in?" he asked with another smile, wondering why she was so stressed.
She looked around, eyed the cruisers across and down the street a bit, then stepped back and opened the door slightly as she moved back.
Cade stepped in warily, his hand near his weapon as his eyes took in the room quickly. The girl shut the door, then crossed her arms and stepped back, hunching in on herself.
It was a very normal house if a bit outdated as far as furnishings. It seemed quiet and empty besides her, with a book sitting on the arm of a chair across the room. She'd been reading.
He took her in again and reassessed her. She was in pajamas and a flannel shirt that was several sizes too big for her, despite the fact that it was almost 100 degrees outside. The house itself was unusually cool, though, the AC having to have been running full throttle. She was a woman under all those baggy clothes, if a very small one.
She was also sort of attractive in an 'I just woke up and haven't had my coffee yet' kind of way. If you liked sloppy girls who didn't try at all. He did not, but he could see how some guys would think she was adorable.
"Like I said, I'm Officer Westmoreland. Your neighbor across the street had a break in and I was wondering if you maybe saw anything?"
She shook her head quickly, not looking at him.
"What's your name?" he asked her softly, trying not to spook her.
"Bliss."
"Bliss? That's actually a really lovely name. Do you have a last name, Bliss?"
"Monroe."
"Bliss Monroe. Have you lived here long, Bliss?"
"My whole life."
"Do you know your neighbors well?"
"No."
"Do you know your neighbors who were robbed?"
"No,"
"I see. Bliss, are you alright? You seem upset."
"Fine," she breathed, the question seeming to agitate her a lot.
"Bliss, do you live here with someone? A husband, or..."
"No," she answered quickly, cutting him off.
"You live alone?"
"Yes."
"I see. Do you think I could use your restroom?" he asked with a fake, professional smile as he watched her look around nervously.
"Down the hall, first door on the right."
"Thanks," he offered, moving to the hall, then going down it slowly.
The bathroom was a normal bathroom, though the medicine cabinet was full of prescription pills, all for Bliss R. Monroe. He peeked across the hall and it was a bedroom with a twin bed and a desk and a LOT of books laying around. Next to that room was a larger room that was an office with bookshelves full of books and a desk with an older desktop computer that looked like it hadn't been turned on in 10 years.
Across the hall was the master bedroom and it smelled musty and stale. Like the door hadn't been open in years. Inside was a hospital bed that looked abandoned and the dresser was full of old perfume bottles and costume jewelry. There were clothes laying over the hamper and on the stool for the vanity and there was a coat of dust on everything. The room hadn't been touched in years, but an older lady used to live in this room.
Bliss slept in the smaller room across the hall.
He went back out front and Bliss was sitting in the old rocking recliner, hugging a granny square afghan as she stared at her hands nervously. Cade looked her over, then leaned in and looked in the kitchen, then the dining room. As he came back through the dining room, he saw a picture on the wall. It was Bliss when she was younger with an older woman, probably her grandmother.
Cade looked back at Bliss. "Ma'am?"
"Yes?"
"I need to ask you, do you feel safe here?"
She looked at him finally, her look confused. "Why would you ask that?"
"I'm sorry, you just really seem spooked. Are you sure you're alone? Is anyone coming over? Are you in some sort of trouble?"
"No! I live alone, no one else comes here."
"Alright. Do you think you could tell me what's wrong?"
"Nothing. I didn't see anything... and I haven't done anything wrong, can you go now?"
"Of course, Ma'am, I'm sorry to have troubled you. If you see anything, here. This is my name and number if you ever need anything, alright?"
"I'm fine," she breathed, keeping her distance as he went to the door, but ready to hurry to it and lock it as soon as he left.
Cade paused, looking her over again. She looked so frightened and vulnerable, he didn't feel right leaving. "Ma'am? Do you need anything at all? Do you have someone you can call, or...?"
"No! No, I'm fine. Thanks. Bye."
Cade stood looking her over, not understanding why she was so upset. She was almost in tears now. He turned and pulled his notepad out. "You know what? Can I go ahead and get your information real quick? Name and phone number. Do you have your driver's license?"
"I don't drive."
"Any state issued ID."
"I don't have one."
"You don't have one? No ID at all, no way to prove who you are?"
"No."
"Ma'am... you understand why I'm a little cautious, right? Why don't you have an ID?"
"I didn't do anything!" she whispered, half in a panic now as her eyes did well up in tears.
"I'm not saying you did, Bliss, I am just asking a question. Why don't you have any sort of ID? Do you have a social security card?"
"I just want you to go now!"
"Alright, Bliss. I do need your name and home number first though, alright?"
She mumbled her number, all the while looking hunted and on the verge of panic.
Cade left, but he felt like something was wrong. He hated leaving her in that condition. Something was scaring her, she was terrified of something. She had to have been lying to him.
He found himself thinking about her all day. When he looked her up, she wasn't in the system, but her name did come up on search engines.
Obituary for Estelle Priscilla Monroe, survived by her grandaughter, Bliss Rhiannon Monroe, dated 5 years ago.
News article about a double murder/suicide, the husband killing his wife and her lover, then himself. He had dropped his daughter, Bliss R. Monroe age 4, off with his mother before going and doing it.
She stayed in his head and he couldn't stop thinking about her. She had been hot in that adorable, vulnerable way. Something was wrong, he was sure of it. Maybe he could stop back in and check on her? Ask her if she was busy Friday night? If he fucked her, he would get her out of his system, it worked every time.
He continued to think about her even after he got off shift, wondering if he should go and check on her tonight. It was dark when he parked across the street, and her house was dark as well. No lights on, not even the glow of a TV from a crack in the curtains. He knew that her room faced the backyard though, so he got out and slipped around, the heat after dark even almost more than he could bear.
There was a sliver of dim light from the closed curtains and he peeked in.
She was curled up on her bed, piled in a nest of blankets and pillows, reading a book. Ever so often she would look up and look towards the door nervously.
He looked at his watch. 10:13 PM. Not too late.