Vampires Are Not Real

[Guest]

The sun was high in the eastern sky, causing glistening reflections to bounce off the black and silver Buick as it pulled to a stop next to the marked police cars. The engine grumbled in aggressive contentment before it was silenced and the door opened with a crisp click, a blonde man of medium build emerging from the driver's side. Detective Robert Dillinger glanced around the parking lot in the middle of the run-down apartment complex, sunlight shining on his thin, black sunglasses and a cigarette dangling from between his thin lips. Three egg crate buildings, at least 16 stories high each, surrounded him, peach and dark beige colored and all shat out of the same mold.

He was focused on the one in the middle, uniforms at different levels of hierarchy and each with their own special units and functions buzzing about the front of the building, streaming in and out of the front doors. His attention was momentarily diverted to the dark uniformed police officers who cautioned and held back the snoopy civilians at the perimeters, kept at bay by the yellow tape fence. Puffs of smoke exited the corner of his lips as he let out a heavy sigh, thinking once again how mundane today was going to be.

It had been 3 months since his old partner had been reassigned and he still had yet to get over it. It didn't help that the new partners that had circulated through had ranged from the too sensitive to the too stupid and were not only intolerable on the job, but were also miserable excuses for human beings. To say that Robert was bitter and hard to work with would be an understatement. He wasn't expecting a fucking miracle; all he asked was for someone smart enough and good enough company to fill his old partner's shoes. It wasn't his fault that the department had to screw with a good team by splitting them apart.

Now he was saddled with yet another partner and was cautioned that this was the last chance. If he didn't try to make this work - technically, the threat was "if another one of your partners requests to be reassigned" - then that was it for him. He had to be a team player or risk losing what he had left of this job. He was only 30 and still had plenty of good years left to give to the Major Crimes Unit. It would be a tragedy for himself and the Department to lose him as a detective in the field.

And of course, "being a team player" translated for him as "ignoring the schmuck who was paired with him". So, he barely waited to hear the passenger side door open before tossing his cigarette away and sauntering towards the building and the fresh crime scene within.