'Til Death Do Us Part - Part 13

“What is all the ruckus goin' on out here?” Emma demanded as she planted her hands on her hips.

“Sorry Emma,” Roger said. “It's all my fault, I just got back and-”

“You need to be more quiet. Some of us go to bed at a decent hour,” Emma scolded. “Why I never...” Shirley Sue felt her eyes glaze over as she listened to Emma continue to scold them for being noisy. She looked from Buck to Roger, both of whom kept apologizing to her, telling her that it wouldn't happen again. After about ten minutes of lecturing, Emma finally left the living room and returned to her bedroom.

After Emma left, Roger and Sarah began to regale Shirley Sue and Buck with the day's events. Couldn't this wait until tomorrow? Shirley Sue's foot bounced up and down against the floor as she waited for Sarah to finish so she could get back to cuddling with Buck. They were supposed to be having a romantic getaway, but this entire trip so far she had hardly spent five minutes alone with him.

“... murdered in his home,” Sarah's voice cut through Shirley Sue's thoughts.

“Wait, what?” Shirley Sue asked.

“Officer Brady's partner, Officer Johnson was murdered in his own home,” Sarah said. “His throat was slit like Jack's. Tomorrow I'm going to see if I can find reports of similar cases to this one. I think we might have a serial killer on our hands. The four of us will meet up at the hotel tomorrow morning at eight and we'll figure out what to do from there.”

“What room are you in?” Roger asked.

“Oh, I think it's 203 or something like that, let me see...” Sarah pulled a notepad from her pocket. A small, rectangular piece of paper fell out and bounced in front of Shirley Sue. “Ya, it's 203.”

Shirley Sue picked up the business card and saw a line which read 'Robert Brady, Police Officer' printed across the middle of the card. She felt the air rush out of her lungs and her mouth grew slack. “Robert Brady?” she asked.

“What's wrong?” Sarah asked as she took the card from Shirley Sue's outstretched hand.

“We saw Ben Jackson at Patty's today. He said he was up visiting his cousin Rob, a police officer.” said Buck.

“Hmm, that's strange,” Sarah said. “I reckon it's all probably a coincidence, but I'll keep my eye out for anything suspicious.”

After a few more minutes of conversation, Sarah said her goodbyes and snuck out the front door. Shirley Sue listened as Roger and Buck argued about cars. She felt her eyes grow heavy, with each blink bringing her closer to the brink of sleep. She leaned her head against the back of the couch and drifted off to sleep with the sound of Buck's and Roger's voices echoing through her head.