Lost Time

I wake up to the sound of ringing in my ears. My first thought is “Ugh work,” but that would be a misconception about how I feel about being a detective because I love it just not right now since my head is pounding. My eyes are clinging to the only dark corner in the room thanks to the morning sun. I give myself time to adjust to the harsh light and get up to go to the bathroom only this isn’t my house. It takes me a second to realize that I’m in my partner Ash’s room. I turn to look at the bed to make sure he isn’t there and thank god he’s not because I would never want him to see me as such a mess. I get to the bathroom since I have been here before so I know where it is and tidy myself.

“Did you sleep well?” I turn to see Ash sitting on the couch with a hot cup of coffee. “Yeah I think I did, but my head is killing me.” “That’s probably because you were partying all night,” he says with a slight chuckle. “Really? I don’t remember” “It’s probably better that way, you did some awful singing.” “Did I? Oh gosh, I didn’t sing Brittney Spears again did I?” I can feel my cheeks fill with color due to all the disturbing thoughts I have running in my head about how I acted last night. “Yeah you did,” said Ash. “Is there any for me?” I say eyeing the coffee in his hands. “Yup there’s a cup right behind you.” “Thanks, I appreciate you bringing me here hopefully before I did anything worse.” “Yup, no worries at all, but you might wanna drink that quick we gotta get to a crime scene, there’s been a murder.” I can’t deal with this right now. “Ok just let me get my phone. Do we have time to stop by my apartment, I’d rather not go to work looking like this.” I say pointing at my dress which is stained with god knows what. “Uh yeah, but you're gonna have to make it quick otherwise we won’t get the case.” I nod. “Ok go get your phone and I’ll meet you in the car.” I grab my phone and shut the door behind me. 

When we get to the crime scene it’s flooded with a bunch of news crews and journalists trying to get the “newest hit story” so they can finally get their big break in their career. Ash and I show our badges to the officers and we pass the tape to get to the alley where the body is. “Male, in his early 30’s, so far the cause of death looks to be a stab to the chest, as you can see,” said our commanding officer in a cold voice. “And he also has a laceration on his head, not too deep so there’s no way it could have killed him, but it suggests a struggle.” From what I can tell this guy died from a stab to his chest considering the huge knife in his heart. “No ID yet, but we’re still running him through facial recognition and still no prints.” I can’t help but feel like I recognize this man yet I've never seen him before in my life. “Are you ok?” Ash can see the look of confusion on my face. “Yeah, I’m fine.” That wasn’t a lie I am fine, I’ve been through this more times than I can count, but something just feels off. “Ok Phoenix and I will go through the scene for ourselves then head back to the precinct to wait for lab results,” Ash told him. Yes, Ash calls me Phoenix instead of my first name, Jennifer, but only because I was born in Phoenix, and ever since I told him he’s been calling me that. Now everyone in the precinct calls me Phoenix, which I don’t mind at all really, I kinda like it. We search the crime scene for any details we might have missed and head to the precinct. 

When we get to the precinct our forensics lab tech, Barry, comes running up to us with news. “Guys they found prints on the murder weapon.” I guess this case won't be so hard after all. “That’s great, do we have a match yet?” Ash asked before I could. “No not yet, but we should get a match on the prints pretty soon.” We both nod at Barry and thank him for letting us know. We get to our desk and start going over everything we found which wasn’t much except two sets of footprints and some throw-up. Nasty I know. “We should look into the footprints to see if we can identify the shoe size and model, maybe from there we can find a manufacturer,” I tell Ash and he smiles as if that’s exactly what he was gonna say. “Ok, I’ll go ask Barry maybe he’s already started looking for that.” “Probably, Barry somehow manages to guess exactly what we need him to do.”

 I go to get some more coffee since I didn’t get to finish my cup in the morning. As I’m getting my coffee I hear a bunch of commotion outside of the break room. I walk out. “PUT YOUR HANDS UP PHOENIX.” I drop my coffee and put my hands up since I don't wanna get shot by any of the 10 cops aiming at me. “What’s going on.” “Keep your hands where I can see them.” I feel the shame pouring out of all of the officers onto me. “You're under arrest for the murder of Adam Smith, you,” I interrupt him. “What are you talking about? I didn’t kill anyone, and who’s Adam Smith.” “Adam Smith is the guy you stuck a knife into last night and don’t even try to argue your prints were found on the murder weapon.” He starts reading me my rights. “You have the right to remain silent, anything you say can and will be used against you…” The voices start fading, I can’t hear anything except ringing in my ears, same as when I woke up this morning. I’m not sure what happened, but I was on the floor looking at Ash while the officers tried to pick me up. Everything goes blurry so I close my eyes as I get up to avoid making eye contact with Ash and Barry. I feel the cold steel on my wrists snap on. The officers escort me to a room with a large rectangle mirror that I know all too well. Is this even real? This has to be some kind of prank. 

They sit me down and handcuff me to the table, this time I’m on the wrong side of it. The officers leave the room leaving only Ash and I. He sits down in front of me and I stare at the chair next to him. I’m supposed to be there, not here. “What did you do Phoenix?” Ash asks me with the worst look in his eyes. It’s disappointment and something else I can’t quite read. “Please Ash, you have to believe me I didn’t kill him. I was with you all night last night right?” I can’t even remember. “Most of the night, yes but you took an extra long bathroom break exactly at the time of death.” Is this what I did last night? Maybe the reason I can’t remember is because I don’t want to. “I would never kill anyone Ash you know this.” “I want to believe you, I really do, but your prints and the times matching. That can’t be a coincidence.” I hate this. “ Why’d you do it?” “I don’t know because I can’t even remember last night. Ash sighs. “Look, I’ve been your partner for 3 years, I know when you're lying to me.” “I’m not, I swear please.” “You don’t have an alibi either and you expect me to believe that you didn’t kill him. I’m sorry Phoenix, but you're going to prison for a long time.” 

Prison. A place I thought I would never end up, yet here I am. I changed into the uniform I’ve only ever seen on people I’ve put in here. I put on the white shoes and walk out of the room. A couple of the guards take me to my cell. I sit down and stare at the walls of the small box I’m in. There’s only a metal-framed bed and a toilet in here. Comfy right? I lay down and stare at the ceiling till I eventually fall asleep.

“WAKE UP.” The guard yells at me as he unlocks the door. “What’s going on?” “C, mon you have a visitor.” He puts on my cuffs and grabs me by the arm to take me to see my visitor. I don’t know who could want to visit me already. I just got here a few hours ago. I enter the room with 5 different spots for prisoners to sit and talk to their visitors through phones. I sit at the middle one and wait. I hear the buzzer go off and the door opens. Ash. Ash is my visitor. 

The officer unlocks my handcuffs and I pick up the phone at the same time as Ash. We don’t say anything for a minute, I’m just staring at him through the clear glass in between us. “How are you settling in.” I don’t answer him. “Look Phoenix I’m sorry you're in here, but there's nothing you could do.” It takes me a second, but I realize what he just said. “What do you mean you’re sorry, and what do you mean there was nothing I could do.” I look at him confused. “Well, I’m sorry you're in here for something you didn’t do. I do feel bad for making you take the blame. You know you really should be more careful about what you drink.” “What are you talking about. You know it wasn’t me? How?” My head is ringing again. “Of course it wasn’t you silly. I should know I’m the one that killed him.” He’s laughing now. “WHAT, you killed Adam Smith?” “Yeah, you were there don’t you remember. Oh wait, you don’t.” The ringing is getting louder and my hand hurts from gripping onto the phone so hard. “Why don’t I remember?” “Probably because of that “special drink” I offered you and you so graciously took.” I drop the phone and I’m holding my hands over my ears. The room is spinning and I can feel myself about to fall. I’m on the floor and before I close my eyes I see Ash smile at me. His mouth moves and reads “Sorry”. 

Ash. It was Ash.