Opioids

Graciela’s POV

Early that morning I decided to stop by John’s house before calling into work.

It was a quiet Tuesday morning and I was enjoying my drive on those empty streets. 7 am is the best time to drive. Less traffic and I could get to places as quickly as I wanted to. Maybe getting up this early and driving to work could work. The radio started to play, Back in Black by AC/DC and I couldn’t have felt any more cooler! 

When I turned left to get onto John’s street, I was surprised to see the police car parked in his driveway. 

What could have possibly happened? 

On top of my head, the worst case scenario plays. He was murdered and that would make this case even more unsolvable. He was one of our prime suspects after all. 

We would never know if he was lying or if Quince was lying. 

Oh god, I hope he wasn’t killed. 

Logic starts to kick in and I reason with myself there isn’t any ambulance or any paramedics on the scene. The yellow tag to demarcate the scene wasn’t there either. The usual chaos and hub-ub surrounding the crime scene was nowhere to be seen.

I park behind the car and walk into John Gavish’s house. 

The man is a frantic mess and could barely form coherent sentences. The only word clearly heard was dog. The cops were having a tough time getting him to call down. 

Lucky for me, the detective in charge, Luke Thorne and I were on great terms. 

I gently tap on his shoulder,”Hey Chief, can I have a private word with you?”

” Aye aye Captain Grace”, he replies with a wide grin. 

“Thank you for saving me from that. What are you doing here anyway?”

“I just came to speak to John. Just a precinct matter, you know?”

“Yeah. I know how Ellie runs that place. When it comes to giving around orders and following precinct rules she does not hesitate.”

I’m surprised that he doesn’t know but I just flash him a knowing smile and don’t bother telling him anything else.

“What’s up with John though?”

“Imagine getting your first call early in the morning only to find a frantic cop going on about his dog”

“That’s it? His dog is missing?”

As if on cue, a young boy walks in with a golden retriever to his heel. He feels super intimated by the cop car and the cops. It shows in the way he speaks. 

“Go- Good morning Officer,

I, I am just here to, to give Mr. John his Theo, I mean, his Theo dog, I mean his dog, Theo back.”

” Theo, back?” Luke questions. 

“Ye, yes sir.  I walk Theo everyday, one-once in the morning and evening.”

“Thank you, you may go now. I’ll give John his dog.”

“Th-thank you sir. Good day.”

I waited till the boy was out of earshot and before Luke could say anything, “Seriously? He’s panicking over a dog that isn’t even missing??”

I don’t even know why but this is frustrating me. Luke can see it on my face. When did I get so expressive? Damn, Ellie must have rubbed off on me after all. 

Ellie. *Sighs*

“Grace, calm down. Breathe. It’s okay.  There is a reasonable explanation for all this.”

 “There is?”

” I felt the exact same way you felt when I could not fully understand what John was referring to. He didn’t even say anything over the call. He just yelled emergency and gave his address and before my partner could respond he had hung up. 

When we showed up, it took us about 30 minutes to figure out what he was trying to say. 

Sensing that something is definitely isn’t right. I snooped around the house while my partner was trying to calm him down. 

And guess what I found!”

I was listening intently to this utmost peculiar behaviour of John and exclaimed, “What!?”

“Heroin. Loads of it. Stashed in his cereal boxes. 

He’s definitely on it right now.”

Geez, who could have seen this coming.

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