To Tell a Tale (Season One)

“This looks familiar,” Smitty whispered as they

came up on the scene at the address Wallawits had given them.

Nash watched the men standing around a trashcan, a fire flickering out of the top. They talked and walked back and forth as if they were waiting for someone to tell them what to do next—which they probably were. Nash grinned. They weren’t getting a call from Wallawits any time soon.

“Look,” Smitty whispered, pointing past the men standing around the trash can.

Nash looked, and his heart skipped a beat. Daemen knelt on the ground, a blindfold covering his eyes, a gag in his mouth. His hands were tied behind his back, and Nash could tell the man had been beaten pretty bad.

“He’s alive,” Nash whispered.

“Looks like she was telling the truth.” Smitty grinned.

Nash grunted. The scene before them was identical to the painting, right up to the gag and blindfold. Only Daemen wasn’t lying on his side, a bullet in his forehead. He was kneeling, waiting to be rescued. Had he been wrong about Airianna? Was she the real deal?

Nash shook his head. No time to think about that now. They needed to move quickly—before the seer’s painting comes to life.

“I’ll go that way; you go that way,” Nash said, pointing his partner to the left of the group of men.

Smitty grinned at his partner. “Now you owe the girl an apology….”

“Can’t rule out that she may still have been involved. How else would she have known what the surroundings around Daemen looked like?”

Smitty punched Nash hard in the arm.

“Fuck you,” Smitty growled.

Nash ignored the throbbing in his arm and pointed to their left.

“Just go, dipweed.”

Smitty chuckled. “Okay, Batman.”

“If I’m Batman, that makes you Robin,” Nash sneered.

Smitty shrugged. “At least Robin gets a break once in a while.”

Nash rolled his eyes and grumbled as he headed to their right. Smitty snickered as he went off to the left.

Nash snuck up behind the man closest to him and hit him in the back of the head with his gun. The man fell like a sack of bricks. The other men in the group stopped talking and turned to their fallen comrade. They stared at the man standing over the limp form.

Another man went down on the other side of the group, making the men turn from Nash. Which was a big mistake. Nash took the opportunity and attacked. He had three men down before his partner made it to him and the group.

Nash kicked one of the men in the balls, sending him keeling over, moaning. Then turned and kicked another in the chest, sending him flying backward.

Smitty punched his attacker in the jaw twice before the guy fell over. He shook his hand and looked up to watch his partner in action. Nash was a storm when he was set loose to destroy and conquer.

“Watch out!” Nash hollered.

Smitty turned just in time to get a fist in the chin. He slammed into the man with a growl, knocking them both to the ground.

Nash sneered as he kicked another man in the groins, then headed to the three men on top of his partner. He lifted two of them off Smitty and tossed them against the side of a building. Both men fell to the ground out cold. He then stood back and watched his partner deal with the man, trying to punch him in the face.

“A little help?” Smitty growled, looking up at Nash.

Nash shrugged. “I thought you might like to take this one on yourself.”

Smitty grunted. “I can’t breathe; the fucker broke my ribs.”

Nash shrugged and yanked the man off Smitty, then tossed him where the others were still unconscious.

Smitty gasped as he sat up.

“Take it easy, partner.” Nash squatted in front of him. “Can you stand?”

Smitty nodded.

Nash helped his partner to his feet. The man groaned and wheezed.

“Who’s there?” Daemen asked, trying to look around him.

He’d managed to push his gag out of his mouth with his tongue and teeth. It took him what felt like days to do it, and he hadn’t wanted his captors to know. He’d heard the fighting but didn’t know if it was a good or bad thing. Maybe they killed each other, or perhaps someone else wants him dead.

Nash moved over to his friend and removed the blindfold.

“Nash?” Daemen whispered, his eyes wide in surprise.

Nash smiled. “You have a woman waiting for you to return home.”

Daemen fought the tears that were welling in his eyes. He had thought he would never see Maribelle’s beautiful face again.

His childhood friend, who he’d stabbed in the back by taking his fiancée, was here, saving his ass. What do you say to a man who can save your ass after you’ve destroyed his heart?

“Why did you help me?” Daemen asked as his old friend untied his wrists.

“Your wife came to me for help, and I couldn’t turn her down. Even if I am still angry with the two of you, you’re my brother.”

Daemen laughed, remembering the day—when they were twelve—and became blood brothers.

“I need a hospital,” Smitty wheezed.

Daemen looked at Nash’s partner, his new best friend. The man was holding his ribs and wheezing. He looked at Nash once he was on his feet.

“I think your partner needs help.”

Nash looked at Smitty and nodded. He pulled out his phone and called his captain. Told him what had gone down and where to find them. They hung up, and Nash smiled at Daemen.

“You could use a doctor too.”

Daemen laughed and coughed. “Can I use your phone to call my wife?”

Nash smiled as they walked toward their cruiser. Sirens were in the distance, and soon this place would be swarming with cops.

“She was with the captain; she knows and will meet us at the hospital.”

~🔮~

Airianna smiled as the captain finished his story. It was a wonderful story, and she was happy that her ancestor was able to save his.

“That is a wonderful story. I wish you could tell it to my father.”

The captain smiled. “I tried to. He said he didn’t want to hear a fairy tale.”

Airianna chuckled. “Many people have tried to tell him about something that supposedly happened but was a false story.”

“I am sorry to hear that.”

She shrugged. She really liked Captain Michael Dish. He was sweet and handsome and made sure to talk so she could read his lips easily through the whole story. Between reading lips and the few words she’d caught with her hearing aids, she was able to follow his story easily.

“I am sorry about what my detective did to you today.”

Airianna frowned. She hadn’t thought about Detective Nash Jackman through the captain’s whole story, which was about fifteen minutes long. Now he wanted to talk about it… she wasn’t sure she wanted to.

“Please understand that his family has been through hell because of a false psychic. I can’t tell you the whole story, except that he was enraged by the thought of his childhood friend being killed, and the woman he is falling for may be involved with his murder….”

“Falling for? I can guarantee you that he does not give a shit….”

Captain Dish placed his hand over her.

Airianna looked down at his hand on hers and swallowed. When nothing happened, she smiled up at him. He is a good man. But isn’t Nash a good man too? And look what he did to her.

“Nash has issues, but don’t we all?”

Airianna thought about that statement for a minute. The captain was right, but she’d rather walk through a pit of snakes than admit it to anyone.

“Captain Dish.”

Airianna and Captain Dish looked up at the woman standing at their table.

“Maribelle,” Dish said as he got to his feet to shake the woman’s hand. “Are you doing all right?”

Maribelle shrugged. “Nash and Smitty took the evidence I found and are searching for Daemen now.”

Dish nodded. He’d read the text message on his phone when he and Airianna first sat at the table.

“Oh, how rude of me,” Dish said when he noticed the two women eyeing each other. “Maribelle, this is Airianna. Airianna, Maribelle. Her husband is the man in your painting,” Dish said, looking Airianna straight in the eyes.

Airianna’s eyes opened wide as she shook Maribelle’s hand.

“I am so sorry about your husband,” Airianna whispered.

“What painting?” Maribelle asked as she pulled a chair from another table to sit facing them.

Dish told Maribelle of the painting, and Maribelle stared at Airianna.

“You’re a seer.”

Airianna stared at the other woman. “You believe me?” She has never had anyone believe her so easily.

“But of course, I do. My aunt reads palms and tarot cards.”

Airianna read the woman’s lips and nodded, a frown on her face.

“Nash doesn’t believe me.”

Maribelle looked at the captain. There was a longing in the girl’s voice that said she really wished Nash would believe her.

Captain Dish leaned forward and told Maribelle what had happened today.

Maribelle sucked in a shocked breath.

“Why would he behave so horribly?” she wondered.

“Because the dead man in the painting is Daemen,” the captain answered.

Maribelle blinked, a tear sliding down her cheek. She looked at Airianna.

“I don’t think you killed my husband.” She leaned in closer to the girl. “Tell me more about the painting and your gift.”

Airianna has never been happier to tell someone about her gift. Maybe because this woman truly believed her.

“He should have seen that it was the future you were seeing, not something you did.” Maribelle frowned. “That man is a complete fool if he lets you get away.”

Airianna misunderstood Maribelle’s words once she got the gist of what she’d said and jumped to her feet. Are they going to lock her up again? This time for good?

“Sit down.” Maribelle pulled Airianna back into her seat. “So, you think fate has dragged you into Nash’s life?”

Airianna stared at the woman. She hadn’t caught all her words.

“Airianna is deaf. Sometimes you need to slow your words for her to catch what you’re saying,” Captain Dish informed Maribelle.

“Oh, I would never have guessed.” Maribelle smiled and slowly repeated her words to Airianna.

“I guess so,” Airianna answered, unsure what else to say about the question.

“Nash has been through a lot in his life.”

“I don’t care,” Airianna hissed.

Maribelle chuckled. She likes this woman. She will give Nash a run for his money, and the man deserves every bit of happiness this woman can give him.

“Why do you think fate brought you two together?”

Airianna shrugged. “To torment me.”

Maribelle shook her head. “I don’t think that’s it. I think you should talk to him. Let him tell you why he has a hard time believing you….”

“I really don’t care.” Airianna shrugged.

She really didn’t want to have this conversation right now. Nash Jackman is a foul creature fate can take back.

The captain’s phone rang, bringing Maribelle’s attention to the man.

Airianna looked at the captain’s phone as he answered it. She couldn’t hear what was being said on the other line, but she could read the captain’s lips.

“You found him, thank god,” the captain breathed.

Airianna breathed a sigh of relief when the captain told Maribelle that her husband was alive.

Maribelle broke down, the tears she’d been holding back finally flowing freely as she laid her head on the table.

Airianna smiled as she stroked the woman’s hair. She was happy for the woman. If only the man she liked would… Would what?

Believe in her, that’s what.

“Okay, Nash, I’ll bring Maribelle to the hospital with me. See you there soon.” The captain hung up and smiled at the women. “Guess this case is closed.”

He dialed a number and called backup for his detectives.