Dark Explorations

(Alan POV)

Not to be dramatic, but it’s been a busy week. Ever since Sofia moved in, the apartment had gotten a lot louder. I had been busy creating the Roxane video and trying to pinpoint her location. Before I knew it, a week had passed and I found myself staring into an empty refrigerator this morning. This time I didn’t make an event of the process and went by myself. Sofia was more than happy to stay at home and catch up on some sleep she’s been missing. She rattled off a short list of things; jerky, potato chips, popcorn were the priorities this time. She offered me her little baggie of stolen credit cards as well, but I chose instead to bite the financial bullet instead of the possibility of a stolen credit card crime. The paycheck for the video just came in so I felt I could afford the extra cost.

It was noon when I reached home. I parked just outside of my apartment and began the back and forth. Disappointedly, I could not finish it all in one trip, a minor bruise to my ego. Sofia was still sleeping though so I decided to just leave her be rather than ask for help and get made fun of for not finishing in a single trip. By the end, only two light bags waited for me and I locked my car and began to walk back, except I heard an unexpected voice.

“Hey Alan!”

I heard someone call my name behind me and looked over my shoulder with a raised eyebrow. My first thought was that it would be a neighbor coming to complain about some noise Sofia had been making at night. I slept through everything, so I could only imagine what she was doing when I wasn’t aware. It took me a moment to figure out who spoke as I saw a woman in her late twenties approaching me. I hadn’t immediately recognized her, primarily due to her lacking her uniform. Her straight auburn hair was hanging loose rather than in a work ponytail. Her tight black cotton t-shirt was paired with military green colored cargo pants and an open blue and yellow plaid flannel with the WVU athletic logo on its breast pocket. My brain buffered for a moment trying to recognize this individual. It was only when she reached that it clicked that we met last Monday.

“Officer Gartner? Can I help you?”

My pulse immediately rose and I could feel a bit of sweat grow on my forehead. The summer heat was beginning so it wasn’t obvious, but my mind immediately began rushing to figure out why a plain clothes police officer was here. Did Sofia leave some kind of evidence that led her to me? There had been no solid news about the murder at the frat house, it had only been a week though. There was also that old woman who was killed at the gas station by my apartment. I suspected Sofia, but had yet to ask. Did she leave carpet fibers or something? The next question that rose in my mind was why she was in plain clothes. If this was simply to question or arrest me, she would not be alone and would be with other officers. Something else was going on. She stopped a few feet from me as I waited by my truck. She gave me a friendly smile and I immediately looked towards her belt. She was carrying a taser and what was likely pepper spray, but not a firearm.

“Afternoon Alan, hope I’m not arriving at a bad time.”

Her voice was calm and almost cheerful in tone. I shook my head and lifted the grocery bags in my hand.

“No, you’re good, just got back from the store. What can I do for you, officer?”

She shook her head and chuckled.

“No need for the formalities, I’m off-duty right now. You can call me Sam while I’m not in uniform.”

Despite her harmless smile and casual approach, my body still remained on defense. I slipped my free hand into my pocket, trying to wipe away any sweat forming on my palm without her noticing.

“Okay Sam, so what brings you here?”

After my third time asking, Sam finally relented. Her eyebrow momentarily twitched and I watched as her smile briefly broke. She managed to hide whatever she was thinking behind the emotional mask she wore. Her smile returned as if it never left. It was clear that it was genuine by the look in her eyes, yet something was going on in her head which made me unable to read her. I for a second thought of booking it and trying to get Sofia’s assistance. Sam wasn’t armed though, not with anything lethal or that she could use to restrain me. I decided to trust her intentions for now as she began to explain herself.

“I wanted to ask you about your work. About how you research killers.”

I was taken aback at her answer and found myself pulling away unconsciously. She didn’t seem that impressed with my work last time, even ignoring the infohazard impairing her ability to believe in Sofia’s survival.

“What brought this about?”

She hesitated for a second before speaking. She looked down and seemed to consider how to answer the question.

“Well, I was impressed by your videos and thought you could help out the department.”

I raised an eyebrow at her suggestion. For one, I was surprised she went home and watched my videos. The idea of real law enforcement members watching my videos all of sudden made me self-conscious on videos I had previously thought were pretty accurate. The second surprise was asking me to assist the police. What did I know that their own detective didn’t?

“Um… thanks for watching them, but what can I do that the police don’t already have?”

“Your ability to connect crimes.”

“What?”

She met my eyes again and I found them with a burning intensity as she answered. I recoiled from the sudden heat I felt from her stare and could only muster a confused monosyllabic answer. She elaborated as she continued her stare, moving her hands as if to further advocate her argument.

“You can connect crimes to a suspect. You did that with Sofia Bercowisz. I want to see if you can do it with some we’ve been looking at.”

I raised an eyebrow suspiciously.

“I can’t make two unrelated crimes related. There needs to be an actual possible connection. Which crimes do you even have in mind?”

“The frat house deaths from last Monday and the gas station murder from Sunday.”

I immediately shook my head. I could definitely point out to her that Sofia did both of them, but it was pointless. Not only would they never be able to arrest Sofia, they would likely never be able to find any evidence to begin with. If they did, they could never see the connection.

“Nope, if there were a connection you would be able to find it. I can’t help you there.”

She seemed shocked by how quickly I rejected her. She blinked a few times before protesting.

“What? You at least have to look!”

She stepped forward as she raised her voice. Her eyes were wide in shock and seemingly panic. I was surprised by how aggressive she became and I held up my hands defensively. She seemed to realize what she did and stepped back.

“I’m sorry, I just really want you to look at it.”

I cocked my head to the side, baffled by her actions.

“Why?”

She looked down and seemed to think for a moment. Her eyes winced every few thoughts as if something behind them was causing pain.

“There’s something connecting these cases. I just know it. The detectives working on the case don’t agree. I want you to look at it because you have the skills to find it.”

“What makes you so confident?”

She hesitated as I asked that question. This was extremely odd. I thought she would be unable to make the connection that Sofia committed both crimes. From what I understand, theoretically the infohazard wouldn’t prevent her from realizing the two crimes are connected, just that Sofia was the suspect she was looking for. There were a lot of holes in my knowledge of how these contracts work. She managed to answer, but couldn’t make eye contact, as she seemed to understand how she sounded.

“I don’t know. There’s so many odd things going on that I feel they must be connected. I can’t put it together though. I’m hoping with your expertise you’ll be able to uncover what even the FBI can’t.”

She was almost pleading as she explained. I found myself looking down in thought. There was little I could gain and a lot of harm I would be putting myself in front of for interfering. I could never bring them to a conclusion other than a false one, and I don’t want it to include me in whoever gets pinned. Yet she’s asking me to do what the FBI could not. I could almost hear a younger me laugh at the idea, a fantasy of being like a modern Sherlock Holmes or Bruce Wayne. The young detective outshines even the Bureau. It was a bad idea to intervene. Yet something in me couldn’t say no to such an offer. I met her eyes again.

“Fine, I’ll do…”

I stopped when I noticed she wasn’t looking back at me anymore, but instead behind me. Her eyes were practically shaking inside her skull as a familiar fog covered her eyes as she failed to process whatever thoughts were happening in her mind. I turned around and saw the door to my apartment open. The familiar pale muscular figure walked out in her white hoodie and black sweats, hair unbrushed and face showing a bit of confusion as she closed the door behind her. She walked up to me yawning.

“Who you talking to?”

She scratched at the back of her head as she stretched. Her eyes craned in the noon sunlight. I motioned towards Sam.

“Just got a visit from Officer Gartner, I think you two met when you arrived into town. You remember my friend Sofia, right Sam?”

Sofia’s eyes immediately focused as she realized who I was talking to. Her wide eyes locked on to Sam’s who were only just beginning to recover from the infohazard. I noticed as Sam moved her hands into her pockets. Sofia took a step forward, as if to create distance between Sam and I.

“Oh yeah, I didn’t recognize you out of uniform, Sam.”

Sofia put evidence on her name, almost like it was an insult. Sam took a moment to stabilize herself before giving Sofia the same innocent smile she gave me. Could she tell something was wrong with Sofia? Every few seconds, I could see smoke cover her pupils, erasing something that was meant to be there in her mind.

“Hey Sofia, enjoying Morgantown?”

Sofia laughed out loud at Sam’s question.

“Ha! Nope, this place is boring as hell.”

Sam’s smile vanished and she pursed her lips in reaction to Sofia’s harsh criticism. She looked back towards me, who was now partially behind Sofia, as she spoke to the both of us.

“Oh, well I was just asking Alan for some assistance because of his investigation skills.”

Sofia looked over her shoulder and raised an eyebrow. She seemed to be asking me, ‘Is she for real?’ I nodded and mouthed back ‘it’s fine’. Sofia lowered her guarded expression and faced Sam again. She took a step aside, letting me be seen.

“Yeah, I’ll help you. We can swap numbers and you can reach out to me when you’re next available.

The smile returned to Sam’s face and she quickly grabbed her phone, opened it, and held it out to me.

“Awesome! Here! Text your number and I’ll reach out when I can show you what I have.”

I took it and searched up my own number and texted ‘Alan’ into it. I felt the notification in my pocket and handed her phone back. Sofia eyed this interaction cautiously, like Sam would yell surprise at any moment and attempt to arrest me. Sofia was safe of course, but there was always the threat that her crimes would be pinned on me as I had stated over and over to her. Sam pocketed her phone and looked up towards Sofia then me.

“Thanks for your help. I’ll reach out soon.”

She spoke quickly, like she wanted to escape this conversation as soon as possible. She turned around and dashed away to wherever she had parked her car. I spun and Sofia followed me as we entered my apartment. Once Sofia closed the door behind her, she finally spoke. She wasn’t annoyed, just confused.

“Okay, what the hell was that about?”

I put the final bag of groceries on the counter and began to unbag them so I could start putting them.

“She wanted me to help her investigate the murders you committed this week.”

Sofia walked over to the countertop and began to help, seeing what all I had bought.

“Seriously? Why you?”

“I think it’s because the infohazard is doing a number on her and the entire Monongalia county sheriff’s department. Did you see the way she looked at you? She was on the edge of a panic attack if that misty-eyed look ever disappeared. She saw something and is struggling with it.”

I grabbed the bag of jerky and tossed it to her. She caught it mid-air and immediately opened it up and grabbed a piece to eat. I continued.

“I accepted, because this way I can keep track of what they know about your crimes and make sure I stay out of the line of sight. And also…”

I reached into my pocket and pulled out my phone. As soon as I was holding it it began to ring, the contact reading ‘Alice Hsu’. I answered and placed it on speaker as I sat it down on the counter.

“You heard all that, right Alice?”

“Y-yep!”

“Perfect, track Sam’s phone and emails. I want us to make sure the police stay far from our trail and you’re the perfect person to make sure that happens.”

Alice happily responded.

“I-I can do that!”

She hung up afterwards as I finished putting away the groceries for today. Sofia was beginning to learn where everything was and put a few things she cared about away.