V

November 7, 2016

1914 Hours

James knew Dan was crying. It didn’t matter how hard he tried to hide it, James always knew. It was always the way he drove and the absence of silence that really tipped it off. He would usually drive as straight as a line, but when he cried, he swayed and swerved a tad bit. Not enough for it to be dangerous, but enough for James to notice. The absence of silence was due to the fact that Dan didn’t want to open his mouth, in fear of something coming out he couldn’t control.

Dan turned on the high beams as it slowly got darker. The motel was about an hour out of town. It was the cheapest one the brothers could afford in a two mile radius of the town they were investigating in. The town being Hemingway, Texas.

James wanted to talk to Dan about this case, but he didn’t know if now was the best time or not. Dan was crying and being emotional for God knows what reason, yet this case needed to be discussed. They drove in silence for a few more minutes before James had the courage to speak up.

“Hey, we need to talk.” James stated. Dan gripped the wheel, turning his knuckles white.

“Yeah, I guess,” Dan said hesitantly.

“Look, I know you don’t care about it, but I do.” James stated. Dan couldn’t believe what he just heard. His brain made a quick conclusion to the kind of “talk” James was going to have with him. Opening with that statement made Dan furious.

“I don’t CARE about it?” Dan yelled. James jumped a little at the sudden outburst of anger Dan was exhibiting. “YOU DON’T THINK I CARE!”

“Dude! Stop yelling!” James exclaimed. Dan was breathing heavily, and James considered taking the wheel. Then decided against it in retrospect to Dan’s seemingly uncotroballbe rage. “It’s just a case, and you were behaving like it didn’t really matter to you.” Dan’s heavy breathing slowed significantly, and his driving got less reckless.

“You were talking about the case?” Dan asked, almost breathless from his short burst of anger. His voice was also occupied with regret, so James knew he was sorry.

“Yeah… yeah, I was. I’m assuming you weren’t... What’s going on?” James asked, concern in his voice for his brother. Dan closed his eyes for four seconds, and took deep breaths. During this time, James tried to quickly think of what was bothering him. Nothing came to mind.

“I saw Chelsea again,” He said, gripping the wheel hard for the second time in the past ten minutes. James sighed silently and bit his lip. Chelsea was always a sore subject with Dan, and James didn’t know how to talk about it to him. It’s been a couple of years, so saying “I’m sorry” won’t cut it, and saying “Everything is going to be alright” isn’t going to do it either. Because every time someone says that, it doesn’t get alright. In fact, it gets worse.

James found it odd though that Dan saw Chelsea again. It’s been a year since the last sighting of his haunting daughter, and that was during the case where a little kid paid them three bucks to spy on a girl he liked. James thought it was cute, and he made Dan come with him. Once they got to the park, they saw the little girl matching the boy’s description. Turns out, she looked just like Chelsea. Dan started going mental, and was escorted by nearby police officers. Luckily they weren’t charged of stalking a minor.

The first time this happened (to James’ knowledge) was two weeks after Chelsea’s funeral. James walked in on Dan in some motel, and found Dan screaming on the ground. James went to go up to him to help him, but Dan kicked James out of the way. He flew into the corner of a wooden table and ended up with a big piece of wood in his back, just to the right of his spine. They ended up paying for damages to the room, and giving a little extra for the noise at 3 am in the morning. More money ended up going down the drain fixing up James’ back. A scar now inhibits that area, part of it being surgical, the other part just from the sheer penetration of the wooden corner.

“Do you… wanna talk about it?” James asked, hoping Dan wouldn’t get mad again. Dan was silent as he stared out onto the road in front of him.

“The motel is just up ahead, put all of your trash in the bag.” Dan commanded. James nodded his head, not surprised, and gathered up all the trash. Which included McDonald's cheeseburger wrappers, Sonic slushy cups, and candy bar wrappers littering the floorboards.

As James gathered the trash, he wanted to get back onto the conversation from earlier. “We have to talk about this case Dan. It’s a choice between being lazy and not trying, and just… doing the right thing.” James said, hoping Dan would talk about it.

“Fine, let’s talk about it.” Dan stated as he pulled into the motel parking lot. Dan got out of the car, and made his way to their room. It was obvious he didn’t want to, but James was surprisingly stubborn, and Dan knew this well.

“Okay, great! Look, I don’t think the wife did do it, it might be a possibility, but I’m not going to look into it,” James said as he got out of the car. Dan unlocked their room, and went inside. James followed in pursuit.

“Then what are you going to do with this case?” Dan asked.

“I’m going to investigate the other areas of this case, and it’s we, Dan. What are we going to do with this case.”

“I never said I wanted to do it.

“You never said you didn’t want to do it!”

“You know what I me-” Dan stopped, and sighed. It was evident he was trying to control his anger, and James took note of it. “What other areas of this case?”

“Um, well for example... The stolen PS3.”

“For God’s sakes James, the guy stole a kid’s console! Get over it!”

“It just doesn’t make any sense! Why would this guy kill someone, a child mind you, then take their game console, and then hide it. Then, after all that, go and get arrested! You’re telling me that makes sense?” Dan’s demeanor changed as he got up and made his way to the kitchen. He seemed like a child looking for some candy.

Dan pondered that as he went to the fridge, “Hmmmm. On second thought…” Dan grabbed a grape, and popped it in his mouth. He then grabbed a few more, and put them into the palm of his hand.

“Yes.” Dan said. He made his way to his bed, and started eating the grapes.

“How!” James half-screamed. He was tired of his brother’s incompetence. He didn’t care anymore that Dan was trying to “control his anger”, James was losing it.

“Because people are cra-”

“Don’t you say it,” James warned. Dan looked at James from the corner of his eye, and a grape halfway in his mouth. Dan slowly dropped the grape into his mouth, and chewed it slowly.

“Okay. Okay then,” Dan said. James flopped on his bed, but was still tense. All his mind could think of was this case, and just how strange it all was. James was glad Dan got over his little emotional breakdown, but now Dan was acting like a child. Grinning whenever James got a little upset, and just doing things children would do.

Dan was flipping through the channels when he said, “How about this baby brother. How about we go the prison tomorrow, and talk to this murderer-thief guy, okay? Will that make you feel better?” James crossed his arms, and laid down to stare at the ceiling.

“Yes, actually. It would,” James admitted. He knew Dan was talking to him like a child on purpose, but it’s better to go with it than to fight it.

“Good then,” Dan said as he rested on Channel 46. National Treasure was on, and it was one of Dan’s favorite movies. James was content with the conclusion of the next step for this case, until he thought of something else.

“Wait. How do we figure out who killed Braydon?” James asked. Dan paused the movie, and looked towards his brother.

“You didn’t get the name of the killer?” Dan asked incredulously. James shrugged in response to Dan’s question. “Why not? You were talking to the mom!”

“I didn’t want to ask her! Okay? It’s bad enough she lost her child, I didn’t want to ask her, ‘Hey, sorry for your loss. Mind if I ask, who exactly killed your son?’ A full description of this man would be just lovely!” Dan rolled his eyes and brought out his phone.

“Fine, I’ll call the police station where he’s being held at then,” Dan said, opening up his phone. He was going to dial the police station when he realized he didn’t know the number. He cussed under his breath, and stared at the phone. Like that was going to help him know a number he didn’t previously know.

“I’m going to go and relax outside. Here,” James threw a yellow pages book at Dan, and walked out. He heard a thud, and a grunt of pain as James closed the door. The thought of that hitting Dan made him slightly smile.

James looked around at the empty motel, and breathed in and out the semi-fresh air for a few seconds. Eyes closed, deep breath in, and deep breath out. James opened his eyes and saw an old lady sitting near the murky pool in a lawn chair. She was just staring at the water, facing away from James. He felt a strong force telling him to go sit with her and talk, so he started walking over there.

James was five feet from the lady when he was caught off guard by her saying, “Hey there sonny.”

“He-hey,” James said, confused on how she knew he was there. He was being silent so she didn’t have to turn around to see who it was. Guess she didn’t need to see him to know he was there. “How did you know I was walking up?” James asked. The old lady chuckled, and turned around to face James. She was definitely old, as she had wrinkles everywhere. What was her hair was the biggest afro James had ever seen, and a pair of dark sunglasses covering her eyes. James noticed she was looking in the direction over James’ shoulders. He looked behind him, and saw nothing but the roof for the motel. Nothing interesting at all.

“I felt ya,” she said, shrugging slightly.

James nodded slowly as he said, “Okay… Miss, it’s dark. Why are you wearing glas- Oh!” The sudden realization that the old lady was blind hit James, and he felt embarrassed immediately. The old lady chuckled a hearty chuckle, and patted the seat right next to her.

“Yes, I’m blind. It’s not like that’s the first time you noticed,” The old lady said, laughing. James was taken back immediately.

“Wait, that wasn’t the first time I- First time? I met you before?” James asked. The old lady smiled, and waved her hand in front of James.

“Come, sit down!” She said. James plopped down, and forgot all about her statement earlier. “What’s troubling you sonny?” James didn’t know why, but he felt comfortable with this lady. It’s like he can talk to her about anything and everything. James’ figured he would never see this lady again, and eventually forget about her anyways.

“My brother is stubborn. Well, first I should start out with: we’re detectives, and we’re working on this case �" I should say kinda-working. We haven’t officially taken the case yet -, and he doesn’t want to take the case. I mean, I want to take the case, it’s just so weird! Considering there’s enough evidence to prove that something is fishy. But no, he has to go and be a… a… freaking… brat!” James said, huffing from slight anger. During this time, he had calmed down significantly from Dan’s attitude from earlier.

“I see you don’t cuss,” the old lady said, smiling. James chuckled lightly at the simple response.

“I try not to, makes my job easier because I don’t feel attempted to let one ‘slip’, you know?” James explained. The old lady nodded. “Anyways. We’re going to go to the prison, hopefully tomorrow, and talk to this murderer, and ask him why he did what he did. Dan offered the idea, but he did it in a way where it was like, ‘Alright you big baby, here’s something to make you happy’. And, quite frankly, I don’t appreciate that.” James felt something lift off his shoulders, and he felt better.

“Sounds like you know that Dan does this kind of behavior. So why does it always surprise, and anger when this expected behavior come around?” the old lady asked. James stared at the murky pool, contemplating that comment.

“I… um… I mean… I-I do. But that doesn’t…” James was flustered at the hidden truth about him. He knew that Dan would react this way. He would always resort to childish antics when something isn’t going his way, and James would just get angrier at Dan, causing Dan to become even more childish.

“You know that he acts this way, I know you do. So what you need to start doing is not being angry when he does it. Be logical and be the better man. You always tell yourself that you’re the bigger man out of you two, but when the need for it arises, you don’t step up to the standard you set up for yourself. That, sonny, needs to change, and it needs to change soon.”

“Yeah… Yeah, you’re right.” James said, realizing he didn’t need to get that mad at Dan. The old lady suddenly got up, and started moving towards the pool. James followed the old lady with his eyes, wondering what she was going to do.

“You should check up on your brother in about a minute before he starts screaming.” She got to the edge of the pool, and she looked back at James. “Oh, and go easy on the boy,” she finished. One swan dive later, and she was in the pool fully clothed. The splash of the dive obstructing James’ view.

“Whoa!” James exclaimed. He rushed to the pool, and tried to look inside it. The old lady seemed to be gone. The water was still, and everything was calm. No bubbles rose to the top indicating she was under the water.

What the heck. James thought. He looked around him, and then down back at the pool. Wh-what. Where did she go? Why would Dan scream? He lied down on the lawn chair, closed his eyes, and breathed some more. James heard a splash, and he immediately shot up from his seat.

“What was that?” James said to himself as he went to the pool to check if she was there. Nothing. James was about to dive in, just to check if he wasn’t going insane, when he saw some kids at the other side of the pool entering. Behind them was a mother who was screaming for the kids to get out of the dirty pool. They didn’t hear her, or chose not to hear her.

“They’re pretty quiet for kids,” James commented, and went to go sit down again. Before he even reached the chair, he heard a scream from the back of the motel rooms.

“Dan!” James yelled instantly, and ran towards their motel room. James was afraid Dan was seeing Chelsea again. With that thought, the spot to the right of his spine tingled from the memory.

He busted through the door, and saw Dan on the bed screaming. James covered his ears, and noticed Dan’s phone in pieces on the floor.

“Dan! Calm down!” James yelled, yet Dan kept screaming. James ran up to Dan and slapped him.

“What has gotten into you?” James said loudly. Dan punched his brother in the face, making him crumple to the ground in agony. The sudden act of violence snapped Dan out of his state. Looking down, he saw James on the ground holding his nose with blood pouring from in between his fingers.

“James! I’m so sorry!” Dan said as he got off the bed and tried to help James up. James swatted Dan’s hand away, and made his way to the front of the room to get tissues.

“What the hell was that?” James said, covering his nose with a napkin. The general area of where Dan landed the punch was already starting to swell; however, this hasn’t been the first time Dan punched James in the face, so it would go away soon enough.

“I’m not going to the prison tomorrow.” Dan stated. James scoffed at Dan.

“Are you kidding me? Seriously?” James said, anger slowly taking over him again. James was about to go off when something stopped him. It was a tug inside of him that told him “Go easy”. He drew in a deep breath, and let it out slowly, along with the upwelling anger. “I’m sorry I snapped.” He apologized, “Why aren’t you going?”

“Because he’s there.” Dan said, tears forming in his eyes. James couldn’t think of one single person that affected his brother this way. There was no one in this world who could do that.

“Who killed Braydon?” James asked, very curious now. Dan just stared at the treasure on screen that was being shown. By now in the show, the main character found the secret treasure hidden by the founding fathers, and it was a lot.

“Dan, who killed Braydon?” James asked again, trying not to get irritated. Dan grunted, then cleared his throat. Dan said something that sounded like “washers”.

“Washers?” James asked. Dan tightened his mouth, then released it.

“It’s Rogers. Rogers Harv,” Dan said.

Oh. James thought. He didn’t know what to say, so he just laid down on his bed. Silence overtook them for a few minutes as the movie played on the TV. James felt bad about not saying anything more, but he couldn’t think of anything to say. Dan was still standing up, his chest heaving in and out. After a while, Dan sat down on his bed and stared at the end of National Treasure.

“You sure took your time out there,” Dan said, his voice slightly relaxed but his body was still alert and tense.

“Yeah, no I was just… relaxing?” James forgot what he did outside.

“You sound hesitant,” Dan said.

“Yeah… I don’t quite remember… I guess I was that relaxed, huh?” James said, and turned over in his bed. He was exhausted, and his nose was pulsing now. The blood stopped flowing, but he had tissues there just in case. Dan turned off the TV, and turned in his bed, facing away from James.

“Night,” Dan said as he turned off the lamp next to his bed. The hostility was still in his voice, but it was more controlled now.

“Night,” James said. He turned off his lamp and closed his eyes. He didn’t go to sleep for the next hour. He was too worried about his brother.

He’s just… so unstable. James thought as he drifted off to the peaceful ignorance of sleep.