An Early Morning

The room was uncomfortably warm. The detectives were pretending not to notice. But, sweat was appearing on their brows. I took off my hoodie and stretched my arms. I leaned back to relax, it had been a long morning already. But, I finally made it. 

“You want a coffee?” one detective asked another.

“Nah, the ice machine is broken. I can’t have a hot coffee now.”

“A hot drink will cool you down. Your body will react to the heat and actually cool you down.”

“Whatever, I’m sweating already, I don’t want a hot drink. What about the kid?” the male detective gestured towards me.

“He took his sweater off, he’ll cool down. But, his morning was longer than ours. You want one kid?”

“Yes please, one sug-”

“Actually, get me a hot chocolate Lane. There’s some in the cupboard leftover from the holiday brunch." The male detective perked up a bit when mentioning hot chocolate.

“Oh, now you want a hot drink? I only have two hands, so one for my coffee, one for the kid. You’re out of luck this time.”

“Come on, you used to be a server. You can juggle a third, I’ll grab the door and get you back for lunch.” He opened the door ceremoniously.

“Done.” she shook her partner’s hand and scurried out the door.

“Let’s go over it again.” Detective Leedo sat on the edge of the counter rubbing his eyes.

I woke up at 4:30 am when it was still pitch dark out. I heard breaking glass outside and grabbed my metal bat before going to look at the window. The sound came from the back of the house. There was a motion light that usually turned on with any motion in the backyard, but it was not on. Luckily, the street light nearby shined enough light to reveal the backyard. 

I didn’t see anything out of place or moving. I grabbed a flashlight and opened the back door, I could see broken glass on the ground below the motion light. The bulb had fallen out and shattered on the ground. Shining the flashlight on the bulb socket, I saw the empty slot. 

I heard the glass shift on the ground below me. My eyes moved before the flashlight. I could barely make out a hand lunge out at me. It covered my face and mouth with a powerful grip. I dropped the bat and flashlight in surprise. I couldn’t see and I could barely breathe. My head was like a basketball in the palm of this strange hand. The hand turned my head to the right. After a moment, it relaxed its grip, releasing my face, but leaving one rough finger over my lips. My eyes slowly focused revealing a man standing in front of me. The man had a fur cap on and a big scraggly gray beard. He wore a patchwork jacket with fur patches and had a loose fish tied to his belt hanging off his hip. He had one finger to his lips signing “Shhhh”. I quickly ducked down to grab the bat. My hand started bleeding as my hands raked shards of glass grasping for the bat. As I looked back up to swing, the night air hit my face and nothing but the dark morning was in front of me.The stranger was gone. Not even any scuff marks on the ground to see which direction he went. That’s when I called the police. 

The beverages came and the detectives continued chatting. I took a few deep breaths and enjoyed the coffee. It tasted like sweet magic, I could feel my mind clear as the caffeine kicked in. 

They told me the sketch artist was coming in soon, so she could listen to the story and get a description down. The detectives seemed very nonchalant when hearing the story. After hearing my initial description of the man, they stopped asking questions and told me we were going to wait for the sketch artist. 

“This white hot chocolate sucks. I was looking forward to a nice chocolatey drink, this is just warm milk with extra sugar.” Detective Leedo complained, but still drank heartily from his cup.

“Yeah, we drank all the ‘choco-chocolate’ at brunch. Use that sugar rush to perk up for the rest of the shift. Tyla is here. I saw her car while I was getting the coffee. Let’s go grab her before she gets roped into another case.” Detective Lane motioned for us to get up and head out of the room.

The detectives seemed to have more energy with the drinks in their hands. We walked across the office to another room. One person was standing at the coffee machine, staring at the coffee brewing. One officer was sitting on their phone at the front desk facing the main door. Otherwise, the office was empty. 

Tyla was wearing a black blazer and pants with a scarlet red scarf that stood out distinctly. There was a mural of a dragon and colorful flames on the back wall of the room, sketch pads and canvases were scattered throughout the room. Her work desk was neat and organized among the mess sprawled on the other 2 tables in the room. 

“Bright and early today guys! What can I do for you this fine morning?” Tyla was chipper and fully awake.

“Hey Tyla, we got kind of a strange one. Can you create a sketch of the suspect? Winston here had a strange man confront him at his home. I’ll let him tell the full story to you.” Detective Leedo took a sip of his hot chocolate and left a milk foam mustache on his face. 

“Ha ha! You got it Leedo Mustachio! Take a seat Winston.” Tyla cleared off one of the chairs for me and went to set up her work desk.

Detective Leedo blushed and wiped his face with a handkerchief from his pocket as he and Detective Lane left the room. Tyla set up her work desk with a new canvas and a cup of freshly sharpened pencils. I was a little nervous to go over the scenario again, but I knew this would be the best way for the police to help. I gave my description to Tyla, she took in the details, asking some followup questions and sketched on her canvas the whole time. I described the man’s fur clothing, fish hooks and the ominous gesture he made. 

Tyla finished her sketch and glanced back at me. Her face changed briefly, then she returned focus back to her canvas. She lifted her head and nodded at something behind me. The detectives came back into the room. They looked at me, then walked over to Tyla at the desk. The detectives exchanged glances.

“His belongings…”

“We heard the story, but…” they both trailed off as they looked at me.

I brought one finger up to my lips. “Shhhh”.

“Thanks fo-” My words cut off as I vanished from the chair out of the room. Coffee run complete.