The Second Booth at Horseshoe Diner

"I know, but we can't do anything. It happened twenty years ago," I say to convince him to stop taking it so hard. Chase is not one to like it when he cannot punish someone he knows is guilty.

"There has to be something. He planted evidence on a murder case. If he hadn't done that, Fredrick Aimer wouldn't have felt like he had a point to make. We can't even ask him anymore. I don't even know how or if he killed Jonah Maxwell, or what his uncle's involvement in this entire thing was. By the way, lab report came back. They tested the blood in the truck from Lake Erie to the semen in Stella Archer. Match. We filed a motion to vacate the judgement. Lance died, but justice is justice."

Chase just needs to vent. He needs someone to hear his frustrations.

"I'm doing all the talking. What was your day like?" he asks.

"First real day as Homicide LT. Wrapping up the loose ends with the Aimer case, but it's nice getting back in the saddle," I say as the coffee arrives. We both take a moment to cream and sugar it. "You and Doll?"

"Twenty-twelve case review," he says, and I laugh.

"Please do not find any more shit," I say, and he says he cannot promise that.

"I'll be right back, bathroom," Chase says, and I lean over to watch him enter the restroom. I pick up my menu, looking at the Horseshoe on the cover.

"You get all that?" I ask over my shoulder. I hear someone leave their seat. Tilting my head, I see Joshua Winters a moment later. I have been a news source for years. Never paid, it just helps sometimes.

"Why am I in a different booth?" Joshua asks, and I take a sip of my coffee. "Your boyfriend doesn't know he's telling me this, does he?"

"I get your protegee this story, and Silverlake gets a firm dicking in the media. Win, win," I say.

"You're sucking his dick, not me," Joshua says, then returns to his seat before Chase comes back.

-

Thursday - August 20, 2026

-Chase Kramner-

Summer Pillsbury published an article this morning about Hank Silverlake framing Lance Aimer for the murder of Stella Archer. It is accurate, and full of information never released to the public. Including our speculation regarding the disappearance of Jonah Maxwell, and the implication about his uncle. Someone within the inner circle talked.

After lunch, our day resumes with Captain Queen giving all of us the same ass reaming he gave me when I called Jill a cunt. Of course, no one is coughing up to the fact they talked, and I do not expect anyone will. In the end, I am glad someone did. The public has the right to know their mayor is a piece of shit.

Doll asks me point blank if I know who talked, and I say I honestly do not. Nor do I care. Someone needed to air that out. She lets me know Queen is on the warpath. Loose lips sink ships is his go to phrase.

"What if someone didn't do it intentionally?" Doll asks.

"Possible," I say. "It could have been the FBI."

"That's true too," Doll says. That was the depth of our concern about it.

I finish my workday and drive home. After I find street parking who do I see at my door but Hank Silverlake. He makes eye contact with me after I shut my car door.

"That was a real bitch move," Hank says with his arms crossed over his chest.

"Wasn't me," I say and walk around my car.

"At least be a fucking man and admit it," Hank says. I snap. I lose it in an instant. I grab him by his shirt and walk him to the side of my building.

"I don't need to admit shit to a fucking dirty cop who planted evidence. You're not a man, you're a coward," I say, and he tries to shove me off him, but he realizes I am much stronger than I look. Or he is not as strong as he believed. "But hey, it's like you said. Sometimes we gotta do what we gotta do."

I let him go and wait for him to leave. Once he is in his car and gone, I walk to my door and let myself in.

-

Monday- October 12, 2026

-Chase Kramner-

Today is the day. Opening statements for Marlene's murder trial. I still cannot believe we got this far. Amanda is going to get justice. Justice for everything that happened to her. I have been told I am not testifying until next month, and the trial is scheduled to last until late November. Daniel told me to stay away until my number is called. I will listen. I just want to watch her take that walk of shame into the courthouse.

I could not sleep last night, and I still full of energy this morning. My anxiousness annoyed Jenn until I used that energy in a productive way. Productive meaning, I fucked her silly and blew a juicy load into her. Practicing is so much fun. Jenn wakes up with me then returns to her apartment to change while I get dressed. Atticus is fed, and we leave the building together, but depart in the separate vehicles.

The street around the courthouse is quiet. This is not a huge case, so nearly no one is here for it. No crowd of news media, nothing like that. One journalist is here, and that is Summer Pillsbury. She sees me camped out and approaches me.

"Comment?" she asks.

"Media liaison," I say.

"Is it true, Marlene Black is your ex-girlfriend?" she asks. I feel like I owe her for Silverlake.

"Yes, she was," I say, and she scrambles for a pen because I answered the question. "Anything else?"

"Does this, make this case personal to you?" she asks.

"I'm not a journalist, but here is a tip. If you get someone to talk, don't ask questions you can speculate about without the witness present," I say, and I think she understands what I mean by that.

"What was Marlene's relationship with Amanda Hopkins?"

Summer asks, and I answer for five minutes before I see two SUVs pull up. I see the lawyers leave the first vehicle, then drag a document box on wheels behind them. Marlene exits the second vehicle with Hank Silverlake. They hired him on as the PI shortly after we ruined him. They both see me, and I raise my coffee to them tauntingly.

The SUVs pull away and the group starts to walk toward the courthouse. The lawyers are shoulder to shoulder with Marlene, while Silverlake is carrying his own large bag. Hugh Willard opens the door to the courthouse, and gestures for the ladies to enter first. Marlene stops to look at me, and Zillah puts her hand on her back to push her through the door.

"Hi Marlene," I say, trying my best not to smile.

Marlene opens her mouth to say something, but it is interrupted by the crack of a rifle echoing down the street, the glass of the door shattering, and Marlene's body flopping to the ground in a wet, dead, splat.

-

To be continued,

Thanks again to Francois101.

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