Page 89 of Day Break

“No!” she cried out, seeing the answers in my eyes. “No!” she said again, her face buried in Byron’s face. “No.” She continued to cry.

Hearing her anguish, I pulled out my cell phone and dialed 911.

Four hours later we were sitting on the sofa in the front room sipping coffee that Chloe had made. The first to arrive was officer Oliver Whitlock and a younger officer I didn’t know.

They took one look in the house, and the younger man turned and rushed to the bushes outside the kitchen window and threw up. Officer Whitlock shook his head and removed his hat. Then his eyes fell on Chloe, who was sitting under the porch, still holding Byron. Both still covered in blood.

“Who’s this?” Officer Whitlock had said, laying his hand on the weapon on his belt.

“She was with me all day, in the city,” I said firmly.

Still, Officer Whitlock didn’t relax. “I said, who is this?” He turned to me.

“Chloe Dawn, a family friend, and my father’s caregiver. As I said, we were in the city all day. We left around nine. Returned moments before finding my grandfather.” I saw Chloe tense at my tone. “The dog was covered in blood. Some of it transferred to Chloe while she was holding him to keep him from going inside.”

“What were you doing in the city?” Officer Whitlock asked.

“Later. We’ll answer questions later. For now, call S.P.D. Detective Malory. She’ll vouch that we were with her all day. Do your job,” I growled out. I turned around. “We’re going to head up and get cleaned up first, then we’ll talk.”

“Hang on.” The younger cop rushed over to us. “Let me snap some pictures. Just… in case. For the file.” He held up his phone.

I looked at Chloe and then back to Officer Whitlock, who nodded.

“It might help. You never know,” he said.

I nodded and then stood by while the younger officer photographed both Chloe and Byron. They both sat stone still and stared at the back door while the officer moved around taking more than a dozen photos.

When he was done, I took Chloe’s blood-soaked hand in mine and led her up the stairs with Byron following us.

While more officers arrived, including Alex Everette, Chloe showered and changed into some dry clothes while I tried my best to give Byron a bath. Since the dog was wet and would get under foot, we left him upstairs and headed back down.

We were interviewed by detective Langford, a man roughly my parents’ age. We sat in the front room, answering each of his questions more than three times.

Chloe, being herself, made several pots of coffee for the officers coming and going. She even pulled out a pan of cinnamon rolls she had made and had sitting in the freezer.

It was in her nature to feed others. To serve them. I wanted to break her of it, to tell her that she no longer had to wait on anyone. That she was free from the horrors of her past. But in truth, she appeared to enjoy the tasks.

Keeping busy seemed to keep her mind off the fact that the coroner was taking my grandfather’s body away.

My mind, however, was stuck on the scene just inside the back door. On what someone had done to the only man I had ever looked up to. The only man I trusted. The only one I’d ever loved and the only one who had ever loved me.

The house was photographed, and flashes from the camera mixed with the lightning outside while the rain continued to fall.

Once the storm had passed and both the coroner and the detective had disappeared, Chloe asked Officer Whitlock if we could clean up.

It was strange, thinking about cleaning my grandfather’s blood from the floors. I had never really thought of what happened after someone was killed. I’d watched a bunch of CSI type shows with one of my ex-girlfriends, but none of them had mentioned what happened to the scene of the crime after the police left.

When the last of the police were gone, leaving us all alone, we stood there in silence for a long time.

“Do they really think it was a robber who did this?” Chloe asked in a sober tone.

I put my arm around her shoulder, looking down at the now-clean floor.

“No,” I answered. “But they’re labeling it as a home invasion for now.”

Looking outside and seeing the sun coming up, I pulled her into my arms.

“Let’s head up and shut down for a while,” I suggested.