Detective Martinez – Minna Hong

Out of Sight, Into Mind; chapter nine, part three

Posted on February 18, 2021 by Minna Hong • 0 Comments

In my room, I halted before my closet, deciding to see if I could contact Danny again. I sat on my bed and closed my eyes, willing his image to come to me. I breathed deeply, knowing I couldn’t force anything. Danny had to be willing to have me in his head in the first place. Normally, he most likely wouldn’t have a problem with that, but these were not normal conditions. I let those thoughts float through my brain without attaching any importance to them whatsoever. I put my hands on my midsection, knowing that usually calmed me enough to focus on what I had to do. Suddenly, a picture of poor Danny in only his underwear popped into my mind. I stiffened, worried that his captors were taking things to a different level.

“Danny, can you hear me?” I kept my voice low so I wouldn’t freak Danny out too much. I didn’t want him to scream and alert someone that something was amiss. Instead, Danny smiled at the sound of my voice, looking happier than he had two seconds ago. There was a bruise around his right eye which suggested that his captors were getting frustrated. That didn’t bode well for his future.

“Auntie! You….back….scared….now!” Danny was on the floor of the closet, huddled in the corner. There was a strong stench pervading from the corner opposite, probably where Danny voided his bowels if his captors didn’t come in time to take him to the bathroom. Poor Danny, having to sit with that foul smell every day! They could at least clean it up from time to time.

Out of Sight, Into Mind; chapter seven, part two

Posted on January 28, 2021 by Minna Hong • 0 Comments

“What about Digger?” I asked, more to shake her up than because I thought it was him.

“No, why, what? Why would Digger???” Kayla couldn’t finish the sentence with the proper amount of indignation it called for, possibly since she remembered that I had her packet of blackmail material.

“Tosca,” I said softly, watching Kayla’s face. It drained of what little color she had retained, and I knew I’d scored a palpable hit. I also knew, however, that if Digger was involved in this, Tosca wasn’t in on it. Why? Because Mob didn’t do namby-pamby kidnappings with little to no real pain involved. If Tosca had ordered the pick-up, well, let’s just say that Danny would have been more of a mess than he’d sounded on the tape.

“Um, Italy?” Kayla’s laugh rang hollow, and not even she looked convinced by it.

“That’s it, I’m leaving,” I said, standing up abruptly. As much as I wanted to help Danny, I couldn’t deal with this coked-up, strung-out bitch.

“Wait, um, Scar.” Kayla made a grabbed my arm and nearly tumbled again. As she would have taken me with her, it behooved me to help her stay on her feet. “Please don’t go. I know I’ve been a pain in the ass, but I really need your help.” A Girl Scout couldn’t have looked more sincere, but I trusted Kayla as much as I’d trust Jet with a cute boyfriend.

“Give me one reason I shouldn’t walk out of this house and never come back.” I was steaming, and I wasn’t going to come cheap. “From the start, you’ve been outright lying and lying by omission. You’ve been more of an obstacle than a help, and I have to wonder what else you have to hide.”

“Sit down, please?” Kayla’s tone was normal rather than whiney or like a little girl’s, which was probably why I sat back down. Matt sat next to me on the couch, and the two of us looked expectantly at Kayla. She sat on the hardback chair opposite, not quite able to meet either of our eyes.

“Well?” I said impatiently when Kayla continued to do her impression of a statue.

“I’ve done some things I don’t feel very good about,” Kayla said softly, looking down at the ground. “You know about some of them from what I’ve told you but also what’s in the packet. I swear, I didn’t mean to hurt anyone—well, not really, and it all just got out of hand.” I forbore from pointing out that blackmailing people hurt them even if they may deserve some of that pain. I knew that nothing I said would dent Kayla’s world view of herself. I was just grateful to have her talking, so I kept my big mouth shut for once. “But, um, there was this incident…” Her voice trailed off as she looked more uncomfortable than I’d ever seen her before. I took that as a good sign.

Out of Sight, Into Mind; chapter seven, part one

Posted on January 26, 2021 by Minna Hong • 0 Comments

“Where the hell have you been?” Matt snapped the minute I walked into the apartment. I took a long look at him before turning around and leaving again. I re-entered the room and held up a hand to forestall him from repeating his question.

“Hello, Matt. It’s good to be home. How are you?” I didn’t expect him to reply, but I had to let him know that he couldn’t treat me that way. To his credit, he backed down immediately.

“Sorry, Scar. I’m just going out of my mind. I shouldn’t take it out on you, though. How are you doing?” Matt allowed me to walk into the apartment and take off my shoes before we headed for the living room where we always had our confabs.

“Julia’s ex, Banana’s father, has AIDS,” I said without preamble. “Julia had to talk about it a bit, plus she wanted to know if I’d look after Banana this weekend. I said yes, of course.”

“That’s horrible,” Matt said, meaning it. “Of course we’ll look after Banana.” How like him to include himself in the promise even though he had nothing to do with it. What a guy. “Hey, Kayla wants us to go over. Did you talk to the cops?”

Out of Sight, Into Mind; chapter five, part two

Posted on January 7, 2021 by Minna Hong • 0 Comments

“I’ll see Danny room now,” I said, abruptly standing up. Kayla got up as well, dashing her eyes with her arm. I followed her down a hallway until we reached the very last door.

“Here it is,” she said, opening the door. I blinked in amazement at what I saw. There was a big-screen television as well as a DVD player and a CD player, more expensive than the ones I had. Every toy known to kidkind seemed to be on the floor while there were very few books on the bookshelf. Not even two rows were filled, which was sad to me as I was an avid reader. A three-foot long stuffed pig sat in the corner of the room. “That’s Reggie,” Kayla said, pointing at the gigantic pig which looked as if it was about to jump up and play. “That’s Beans,” she added, pointing to another pig which was slightly smaller but just as spry. “And that’s Corkscrew.” Another pig. Unlike the other two, this pig was brown with a white stomach. “Danny liked—likes pigs.” That was obvious as there were roughly fifty pigs in the room—made of all kinds of material—including clay, porcelain. and plastic. I recalled the pig I saw Danny holding while in captivity, and it made sense seeing his room. I also noted that Kayla had used the past tense when talking about Danny—not a good sign.

“I need a few minutes alone,” I said, not glancing at Kayla. I was too busy scanning the room to pay her any attention.

“Ok,” Kayla said meekly, stepping out of the room. Immediately, the air around me expanded so I could breathe freely again. I looked at the pigs, wondering how a boy of two came about a pig-obsession. Perhaps he saw Babe one too many times; it certainly wasn’t because Kayla read Charlotte’s Web to him. The walls were a light green which gave a cozy feeling to the room. There was a crib—what the hell was Kayla thinking leaving her boy outside alone? He’s hardly more than a baby—certainly too young to be alone even for a few minutes. A scene flashed before my eyes, but it went by too quickly for me to grab it. I vaguely recalled Kayla looking at her watch, but that was it. Wait, what was she looking at her watch for? It happened while she was outside with Danny, right before she went back in. Chances were, she was just checking to see how long it’d been since her last fix. Even junkies had rules, as fucked up as those rules might be.

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