Dream Catcher

Chapter 21

"Billy? Did you just call me Billy?"

Dani rubbed her eyes and looked again. He was a young guy wearing a baseball cap, some beats, glasses, and a backpack...but it wasn't Billy.

"I-I'm sorry. I don't know why I..."

Dani looked desperately at Jax who was shaking his head and cursing under his breath about bad ideas.

"Just ignore her. I caught her dumpster-diving. It's why I'm here. I think she's a drunk," Jax explained, flashing his badge.

"Yeah I've seen her walking around the neighborhood at all hours of the day. I think she's homeless so don't be too hard on her," the young man whispered to Jax.

"Homeless? I'm not homeless! I live here too!"

"You're right. She's really drunk," the man told Jax. He looked back at Dani, "Drinking alcohol won't solve all of your problems."

He walked away before Dani could reply.

"What is wrong with you?" Jax wanted to yell. Instead it came out as a loud whisper. "You can't just say stuff like that to strangers. It's weird enough that you're digging through the trash."

"He really looked like Billy to me," she explained before yawning.

"Let's just go. This was a waste of time."

"No wait! I have one more bag to look through. I think this one's it!" Jax was keeping watch when a trash bag hit his back.

"I told you I didn't want garbage juice to touch me."

Dani rolled her eyes, "Stop acting like a baby and look inside. I'm going to try and get out of this dumpster."

Jax pulled out some thin gloves and began untying the knot that held the bag closed. Inside, he found a disposable razor, a soap wrapper, and a shirt with blood on it.

"It's here," Jax called out.

He looked up to see Dani hefting herself over the side of the large waste receptacle, her shirt riding up her torso.

He grinned before teasing, "Nice view from here Panda Eyes."

"Pervert!" the words were muffled as she fell back, landing on her bottom.

Jax was laughing when he held out a hand that she ignored. She picked herself up and dusted herself off.

"I'll send the shirt to the lab and see if it matches the DNA on the John Doe from the woods. In the meantime, you need to be careful. If your neighbor really is dangerous and finds out you've been snooping around him, I wouldn't put it past him to hurt you."

"How can you be so sure?"

"If I were him, it's what I would do."

"You're really creepy sometimes. You know that?"

"Yeah," Jax answered. "But I'm a cop so maybe it's a good thing that I can think like a criminal. By the way...what the hell was that back there? Why did you call that kid Billy?"

Dani squeezed her eyes to fight them from closing due to exhaustion.

"He looked like Billy, didn't he? He was around the same age and glasses. I don't know. I guess I'm just tired."

"Did you know him?" Jax asked.

"Know who?"

"The guy with the book bag. He said he's seen you around. You don't know him?"

"Obviously not if I thought he was Billy. I didn't get a good look at his face. Besides, it's not like this is Sesame Street. I don't know everyone that lives around me," Dani said defensively.