Baby Burnett Part One

No 1 of 💯/Fiction

A cold breeze blew across my face when the door shut behind him and a tear fell from my eyes and splashed my black sweater. I had lied and now that lie was known and his reaction was exactly what I feared.

I hated coming to the suburbs. For starters, it was a long drive from the city and there was nothing out there. I couldn’t imagine growing up in a place like this, I probably would have died of boredom. Just like any suburb the green lawns were perfectly mowed and each house had flowerbeds. How weren’t these people miserable?

Unfortunately, this is where the best jobs come from. There was always a spouse wanting to know if their partner was cheating or a scandal that needed to be covered up and I was the one who was called to do it. It's good money and money is always a motivation for the drive.

I finally pulled up to the house and cut my GPS off. The house was medium-sized and painted pale green. I stepped out of the car and hit the lock button. Just because I was in the suburbs didn’t mean I trusted the neighborhood, I knew the type of people who lived there. I walked up the red brick stairs and rang the doorbell.

When the door opened a tall man with short hair and dark brown skin stood in front of me.

“Hello, I’m Dallas Harvey and you must be Darius Burnett,” I said and extended my hand to him.

“Yes, thank you for coming. Come on inside I will get us some coffee,” when he shook my hand his hand swallowed mine.

“Coffee is how I make it through the day so I appreciate that,” I stepped through the front door and was greeted by a wall of family pictures. He led me to the living room and I sat down in one of the armchairs. As I waited for my coffee I looked around the home. It wasn’t like the normal modern homes I’d been in which looked like magazine covers.

This home was cozy. It reminded me of the homes you see in family sitcoms. There were family photos on every surface, this family did a lot together. I’ve never had a real family and wondered if my life would have been like this if I had. Darius walked back into the room carrying a tray with two cups of steaming coffee.

“I hope you don’t mind that I kept your coffee black. I didn’t know if you took anything in your coffee but I have sugar and creamer if you want some,” he set the tray on the coffee table.

“I take it black but thank you,” I picked up the coffee and blew on it, and took a sip. It tasted like hazelnut which was one of my favorite flavors.

“mmm yes, this doesn’t need creamer. Now, let’s get to business. Your email seemed very urgent. Do you want to tell me what you’re hiring me for? Give as much detail as you can it will help with the process,” I said putting my cup down and taking out my notebook and pen.

“Okay, well, when I was 15 my mother and little sister who was 2 at the time were murdered. It was said to have been a break-in but I don’t believe it because the investigation wasn’t opened long. I have always felt that there was more to the story. I don’t believe that they were murdered. Something about it has never sat right with me,” He was now sitting straight up and holding the cup with both of his hands.

“What makes you think they aren’t dead?”

“Although there was a lot of blood in the house, their bodies were never found. If it was robbery, why would the person go through the trouble of taking the bodies out of the house? I don’t doubt that they were hurt because they tested the blood and it came back as theirs, but I don’t think they were murdered I believe they were taken.”

“Do you have any proof that you could provide that I could use?”

“Yes, my mom’s purse was still there with her money, nothing of value was taken, and the detective who was on the case suddenly left the department and there was no way to contact him. He knows something I know he does I can just feel it. My wife has been a trooper allowing me to continue to investigate this our whole time knowing each other. She was the one who suggested you because she heard that you were good at your job. It’s been said that you can find anyone. If you can find that detective then he is your best lead.”

I paused and smiled because if there’s one thing I pride myself on it’s doing my job well, so it felt good to know that people speak highly of my work, “Thank you, Do you remember the detective’s name?”

“His name was Detective Hugo Gast. how long do you think it will take for you to find him?”

“Give me a few days, two weeks top. People who disappear forcefully don’t erase every trace of themselves, there are always breadcrumbs,” I finished my coffee and stood. He stood up and walked me to the front door.

“Dallas, thank you so much for this. My father stopped talking to me years ago because of this search and died angry at me, I need to know that I’m not crazy.”

“We will walk this journey together,” I stepped out of the house and back in the sunlight.

The search for detective Gast took me exactly five days. He was now living in North Carolina as a private detective under the name Frank Huss. Once a detective always a detective. I debated if I wanted to tell Darius or drive up to North Carolina to talk to him myself and see what he had to say. Usually, I like to get all of my information first, it helps weed out things that can be harmful to the client, but this client felt different. I picked up my cell and dialed his number.

“Hello,” He sounded sleepy and I realized it was six in the morning.

“I’m so sorry, I always forget how early I get up. I have some news if you are up to hearing it or I can call you back.”

“No, I want to hear it hold on,” I heard him calling his wife’s name and telling her to wake up, “Okay, I have you on speakerphone.”

“Perfect! Well, I found the detective. He lives in North Carolina now as a private detective. Do you want to me go speak with him or did you two want to drive down there with me?”

“Honey, you should go. someone should stay here with Audrey,” I heard his wife say.

“Okay, when do we leave?” He eagerly asked.

“Is tomorrow good? I don’t like to seat on my leads for too long.”

“Yes, see you then.”

“Be ready by 9:00 am.” I ended the call. The next thing I needed to do was study this detective. I needed to learn as much about him as I could so that when we spoke with him I knew exactly how to approach the conversation.

To be continued…………

Thank you for reading! Continue the series here.

Thank you Christine Graves as always for your prompts. So glad your prompt was the first one I used at the start of the year.