LOST
To Protect and Serve

Marie usually ate lunch with her partner, but she knew he would ask her about Wiz and she wasn’t prepared with an answer for him yet—about Wiz or why she didn’t have much of an appetite. A half-eaten sub sandwich lay on the breakfast bar as she sat on a stool in front of it and stared at the coffee cup that Wiz made appear out of nothing the day before. She thought about the tree that went through all four seasons in the palm of his hand. A sudden urge to close her eyes overwhelmed her and the blackness was quickly filled with strange images—raven wings flapping, feathers flying, Faustini’s lifeless face among the feathers, blood. She opened her eyes and, though everything was clear—Di Corvo, Zachary, the raven, Faustini murdered—she had never been more confused. There was one thing she did feel pretty sure about and that was that she could trust Wiz.

She picked up her cell phone and dialed. After three rings, someone answered. “Alex? Hi. It’s Detective Alderman. I just wanted to give you a heads up on Wiz. Yeah, he was locked up for vagrancy the other night but the jailbreak thing was just a mix-up. They released him without completely processing him out in the computer. And he didn’t stay at the crime scene because he was afraid he would be picked up for vagrancy again. No, I would wait a little while before taking him to see Stew. I know, but with police guarding the door, I don’t think it would be a good idea right now. He’s just not comfortable around police. Once Stew gets out. All right? Good.

“No, I don’t think he wants any attention like that. A simple handshake from Stew will suffice when the time comes. Umm… yeah. I think that would be very nice of you. He might not accept your offer, but you can trust him. He’s clean and I don’t think he drinks or does any drugs. As long as you’re okay with having a dog stay there, too.

“Is Stew doing okay? Good. Listen—just so you know, we’ve got a name for our third suspect, Zachary Di Corvo. An anonymous tip came in earlier today. We don’t have much of a description other than he’s about five-six with probable dark hair. Thanks. We’ll need it. Listen. If I leave something at your apartment, can you get it to Wiz? Great. I’ll slide it under the door. What’s the address? Got it. You let me know if you need anything. Okay? Bye, Alex.”

Once she hung up the phone, her face became flush with guilt over lying, but she justified it by focusing on the ‘protect the innocent’ part of her job. She felt that she had to ease Alex’s mind, as well as Stew’s. Wiz said they weren’t ready for this and Marie had to agree. It seemed as though Stew and Alex had the beginnings of a relationship and it didn’t need to get anymore complicated that it already was.

Standing outside Alex’s apartment, she took a manila envelope out of her purse and bent down to slide it beneath the door. “Hopefully,” she said quietly and to herself, “he can replace out whatever he needs. He better let me in on it, though.”

On the way to the police station, Marie tried to think of a way to get her fellow police to stop looking for Wiz, or at least reduce their effort. She knew that his pre-trial escape made the warrant for his arrest indefinite but she hoped he could do what he said and stay out of trouble. “Maybe,” she thought, “if they have a new suspect to look for, Wiz won’t be as fresh in their minds.”

Marie pulled into her parking space behind the station and got out of her car. As she walked towards the door, she saw her partner, Robles, walking from his car.

“Too good to eat lunch with me, now, eh?” he said as he held the door open for her.

“Sorry. I had some errands to run.”

“It’s okay. I was just kidding. My wife wanted to have lunch with me today, anyway. You weren’t able to replace that Wiz guy, whatever his name is?”

“No. I’m sure he’s long gone by now. I’m not worrying about him right now.” She could feel her face get flush again. Luckily, Robles didn’t notice. “We’ve got a new lead. I have a name for the third perp. Zachary Di Corvo. And I have the names of two café employees who might be able to give me a better description than what I have.”

“Awesome. You voted yet?”

“Hell. I forgot about that.”

“You forgot?! It’s only the biggest election in decades. I voted before I came in today. Do you not watch TV?”

“I watch TV, Derek. I just have a lot on my mind, right now. I’m working really hard on this case. One of those employees is going to be there at four. The other one is off until tomorrow, so, I have some time this afternoon to go to the polling site… that is, if you can do some database research for Zachary Di Corvo.”

“Sure. I can do that. Go. Vote. Call me when you’re done and I’ll tell you what I’ve found out.”

“All right. Hopefully, it won’t take too long.”