To Tell a Tale (Season One)

“So, she led you to one of her visions.” Captain Dish rubbed his chin.

“Why are you so sure it was a vision? What if she set it up?” Nash asked, watching his captain.

The captain snorted. “Non-believers,” he grumbled, still rubbing his chin.

Nash rolled his eyes. He wasn’t a non-believer; he just needed more proof.

‘What more proof do you need, asshole?’

Nash grumbled to himself. Even his thoughts were against him.

“Do you really think someone so sweet and innocent would set something like that up?” Smitty asked, looking at Nash.

Nash looked at his partner. Seriously? She even has his partner enthralled…

“Her great-great-grandmother saved my great-grandmother’s life when she was five. If not for the Williams Seers, I wouldn’t be sitting here today.”

Nash’s head jerked to his boss. Really? But back then, wouldn’t it have been considered witchcraft?

“Did they try to hang her for witchcraft?” Smitty asked, reading Nash’s mind.

Captain Dish chuckled, “my family didn’t let anyone else know what the woman had done. All everyone knew was my great-grandmother was saved by a woman passing by. But my family knew the truth. The Williams Seers were well known, and many wanted them hung. But my family believed they were sent to us by God. Why else would the woman have saved their little girl from a run-away stagecoach?”

“Maybe she was there by coincidence.” Nash shrugged.

Michael Dish grinned, “my great-great-grandfather saw the painting the woman painted of his daughter being stomped to death by the horses leading the stagecoach.”

“I knew it was all real.” Smitty grinned. “But it’s going to be hard to convince this one,” he said, pointing to Nash.

Nash rolled his eyes.

“Tell me, Detective. Why is it so hard for you to believe in a seer?”

“Because my mother was told by a psychic that she would find her fortune at the bottom of the ocean. The only thing she found was death.”

Smitty turned to Nash, a shocked look on his face.

Nash looked away from his partner. He hasn’t spoken of his mother in years.

“That’s a fake psychic, not a seer. She will not tell you to risk your life for a nonexistent treasure,” Dish assured Nash.

Nash looked at his captain. “Oh, it existed all right. They followed my mother to the ocean’s depths until she found the treasure they were seeking, then killed her for it.”

“Fuck,” Smitty grumbled.

“Your mother was a scuba instructor, wasn’t she?” Dish asked Nash.

Nash nodded, “she was, and it destroyed my family when she was killed. It’s why I became a detective. They never caught the woman who sent my mother to her grave.”

Captain Dish sighed, “I understand what you went through, but you can’t condemn everyone because your mother believed in a psychic….”

“I don’t condemn Miss Williams. But I won’t believe her until she shows me proof she saw it and didn’t set it up….”

“You’re a real dick,” Smitty snorted. “She proved to me she’s for real.”

“You just have the hots for her,” Nash accused.

“So do you,” Smitty smirked.

“Not even….”

“You may be able to lie to yourself, but you can’t lie to me.”

“Okay, that’s enough. I know the girl and her father said no this time, but I don’t want you to give up. She can help us; I feel it in my gut,” the captain said dismissively.

Nash headed to his desk and stopped when he saw a woman sitting in the empty seat next to his desk. He knew it wasn’t Airianna; this woman had blond hair. He walked to his desk and stopped behind his chair.

“Can I help….” He stopped talking when the woman looked up at him. “Maribelle.”

“Hello, Nash. So good to see you again.”

“What are you doing here?”

“I have a problem that only you can solve,” she said, watching him.

“I’m not at your beck and call, Maribelle.”

“No, of course not. But… Nash, he was your best friend.”

Nash sat in his chair and leaned forward. She may be his cheating ex-fiancée, but she was right. Her husband had been his best friend since kindergarten. Until that asshole stole his girl away from him on the day of their wedding, of all days.

“What happened?” he asked, watching her.

A tear slid down her cheek. “Daemen didn’t come home last night.”

“Maybe he found someone….” He stopped talking when he saw the look on her face. Fuck, he can’t be cruel to her, no matter how much he wanted to be. “When did you see him last?”

She sniffled, “yesterday morning. We had breakfast together, then he left for work. He called me at lunch like he does every day and called when he got off work. He should have come straight home, but he never showed. Nash, I think something happened to him. I-I think someone has kidnapped him.”

Nash watched her for a moment, then shook his head. That was ridiculous. “Why would someone kidnap Daemen? It’s not like you have money to pay for ransom. Or do you?”

“No, of course not. But… but he does know secrets….”

“What kind of secrets?”

She shrugged, “I don’t know. I only know he found something in the files at the company that made him nervous. Nash, you know Daemen, he doesn’t get nervous.”

Yeah, Nash knows the man. He had no problems telling Nash he was in love with Maribelle and couldn’t hold it back any longer…

“Okay, Maribelle, let’s start from the beginning.”

~🔮~

“Airianna?”

Jeremy Williams stopped in the doorway to his daughter’s art room. She was standing at an easel, her eyes cloudy as she painted. He silently moved into the room and looked at the painting. It was a man on his side, his eyes covered with a blindfold and a gag in his mouth. He noticed the bullet hole in the middle of the man’s forehead and looked at his daughter.

“Can we stop this one?” he whispered, asking his ancestors for help.

Airianna’s eyes cleared, and she stared at the painting.

“Papa,” she said without looking at him.

Jeremy smiled. He knows she’s used to finding him beside her when she comes to. He will always be there for her.

“I have a feeling about this one,” she whispered as she looked over her painting.

He pulled out his pad and pen, wrote a note, and held it in front of the painting. Airianna looked down and read it. He was asking how he could help.

“I don’t think you can. I think this is for someone else. He will know what to do.”

Jeremy turned his daughter to face him. “Please don’t say what I think you’re going to say.”

She nodded. “I need to call Detective Jackman. He knows this man and will know what to do to help. We don’t have much time.”

Jeremy shook his head. “You can’t trust the law.”

“But I must, Papa. I need to show this to the detectives.”

“Please, dear one, don’t do this.”

“I must, Papa. This man’s life depends on me.”

Jeremy watched his little girl pack up the painting and head out to her car. He has a feeling that things aren’t going to go the way his daughter hoped they would.

~🔮~

Airianna walked into the police station, her painting in hand.

“Can I help you?” the officer at the front desk asked.

She read the officer’s lips and smiled. “I’m looking for Detective Nash Jackman.”

The officer looked her over as he picked up the phone.

Airianna felt off; the way the officer looked at her had her blood temperature slightly cooler than usual.

“Airianna?”

Airianna turned when the officer looked behind her and smiled at Nash’s partner. “Detective Smitt.”

Smitty smiled at the girl. She remembered him.

“Did you need Nash?” he asked, ensuring she could read his lips as he spoke. He waved off the officer at the front desk as he moved closer to Airianna Williams.

Airianna nodded. “I need to show him my painting.”

Smitty looked at the back of the painting the girl held close to her chest—but not too close. She seemed to not want to smear the paint. Which meant it was a new painting.

“Of course.” He motioned for her to follow him.

Airianna followed Nash’s partner, her nerves on a tight wire. When she saw Nash talking to a woman, her stomach fell to her feet, and her head started to spin.

‘This is no time for jealousy!’ she screeched at herself.

“Wait here,” Smitty ordered, motioning for her to stay where she was.

Airianna nodded and watched him walk over to Nash’s desk. He leaned in and whispered something to Nash. Nash’s head whipped to her, and she watched him watch her. Nash got to his feet, pointed to the woman in the chair before his desk as he said something to Smitty, then turned and headed her way.

Airianna’s nerves were so raw she didn’t even feel Nash take hold of her arm and lead her into another room.

Nash tried not to sneer as he led Airianna Williams into an investigation room. Why hadn’t she called him? What was so important she had to come down here? She could have called him.

“What is so damn important, Miss Williams?” he demanded as he closed the door and turned to her.

The look on her face had his heart pounding in his chest. He cleared his throat and calmed himself. He repeated his question, making sure she could read his lips.

The disappearance of his best friend isn’t her fault; he needed to not take it out on the poor girl. He looked at the painting clutched in her hands, then at her face. She was nervous. But why?

Airianna’s heart pounded in her chest. Maybe her father was right; maybe she shouldn’t have brought it here. Perhaps she should have…

‘What, Airianna? What should you have done? Let the man die?’

“I-I painted a new painting today. And something told me you would know what to do with it. That, it… it’s connected to you.” She turned the painting around so he could see it.

The look on his face wasn’t quite what she had expected.

“What the fuck?!” Nash yelled, yanking the painting out of Airianna’s hands. “Where is he?” he asked, looking up at her. “Where is he, Airianna?” he growled.

Airianna felt the blood leave her face. She’d hoped he would know the answer to that question. He looked at her as if he blamed her for the man’s death.

“Where is he!?” he yelled, slamming the painting onto the table.

Airianna whimpered as she looked from Nash’s angry face to the painting on the table.

“I-I paint them; I don’t see where they are….” Airianna screamed as she was shoved against the wall.

“Where the fuck is he, Airianna? There is no fucking way you just now saw this in a dream!”

Airianna started to shiver. She never thought this man would ever hurt her. But he has—more than he will ever know.

“I just paint what I see. I can’t see anything but what I have painted….”

“Bull shit!” he yelled, shaking her arms, making her head whip back.

Her head hit the wall, but she ignored it as she looked into the fire in his eyes. He was angry with her. But why did this painting mean so much to him when the others he had seen meant nothing?

“If you don’t tell me where he is, I’m going to lock you up and charge you as an accomplice to murder.”

Airianna whimpered; her father was correct. She should not have trusted the law.

“I don’t know anything but what I painted!” she cried out.

He growled as he turned her to face the wall. “Airianna Williams, you are under arrest for murder,” he growled, placing his handcuffs on her wrists. He spun her to face him and repeated his words so she could read them.

Airianna cried. Why did the fates send her to him? He’s just like the rest of them. And she will spend the rest of her life in jail because he doesn’t believe her.

“I didn’t do anything,” she cried. “I only painted what I saw in my dream and knew I needed to bring it to you.”

He sneered in her face, “tell it to the judge.” He yanked her away from the wall and led her out of the room.

“Book her,” he said, pushing her to an officer passing the room.

The officer stared at the detective as he took Airianna from him. “What for?” he asked, looking from the detective to the girl in the cuffs.

“Murder,” Nash growled, then slammed the door to the investigation room.

Airianna whimpered as the officer pulled her down the hall.

“What are you doing?” Detective Smitt asked when he saw the officer dragging Miss Williams.

“Detective Jackman told me to book her for murder.” The officer looked from the detective to the girl and back again.

Smitty grumbled. What the fuck is wrong with his partner? The captain is going to kill him.

“Give her to me. I’ll take her.”

The officer shrugged and handed the girl over to the detective. Less paperwork for him.

“What happened in there?” Smitty asked Airianna as he unlocked his partner’s handcuffs from her wrists. He looked at her and noticed she didn’t hear or understand him. He repeated his question slower so she could read his lips.

Airianna broke down in tears. “He thinks I killed the man in my painting. Or, at the very least, I’m an accomplice.”

Smitty grumbled as he held the woman in his arms. He pulled back and looked down into her tear-stained face.

“Did he read you your rights?”

She shook her head.

Smitty thought about it for a moment. What in the world could have made his partner so angry to arrest her and not read her her rights? Unless he knew he was in the wrong and wanted to give her an easy way out…

“What the fuck is she doing not locked away in a cell?”

Smitty turned to Nash’s voice, Airianna still in his arms.

“You didn’t read her her rights,” Smitty said as he stood up straighter.

Airianna moved away from Smitty, hoping maybe Nash would listen to her.

“I swear, I don’t know where he is….” She squealed as Nash grabbed her roughly by the arm.

“When I tell people to do something, I expect it to get done and not passed on to another,” he growled as he pulled Airianna down the hall.

“Nash!” Smitty shouted as he chased Nash and the girl down the hall. “Don’t do this, man. You’re going to regret it.”

“I already regret ever meeting her,” Nash sneered, shoving Airianna into a cell. “You have the right to remain silent; anything you say can and will be used against you….”

Airianna drowned the rest of the detective’s words out as her brain fought to keep her standing.

‘Don’t pass out, don’t pass out.’

She repeated the words over and over, even after the detectives left her there in the cell to rot.