Mind Games

Chapter Twenty: Sober Thoughts

Kanas straightened from his hunched position at his desk, and looked at the time displayed on the clock on the nearby wall. It was just now passing the eleventh hour, and despite the strain her could feel in his eyes from focusing on the detail of his sketch, the exhaustion of a long day had yet to catch up to of him.

It was unsurprising. Whatever routine he'd managed to slip into over the last few weeks had been disturbed in the last few days, since he'd rocked the boat with Lucca. He'd been castrating himself for days now. For deciding to open up his mouth when he know whatever relationship he held with Lucca wasn't strong enough. When he should have stayed silent.

As silent as the echo in his home in that moment.

Or at least as silent as his home would usually remain if his phone didn't choose that opportunity to ring.

He looked to where he had set his phone face-down on the corner of his desk, not so much out of sight as it was out of mind.

For a moment he debated letting it go to voicemail. The hour was late and inappropriate and he was sure that whoever it was would call back if it were important enough or they'd leave a message and he'd get back to them when he was ready. Like tomorrow morning. When the sun was high in the sky.

The ringing continued as he reached for his phone, turned the screen to face him and discovered Lucca's name across the top of the screen.

Which was surprising, because they hadn't spoken in several days. The most he had heard from Lucca was the recording she had on her voicemail.

He knew the reason for her silence. Knew that he had overstepped several unwritten rules and bounds that they had laid down for each other during their talks. He'd broken the rules. Stepped over the line. He had done it.

Unlike Lucca, who knew how to balance on the line as though it were a tightrope, while Kanas was still learning. He'd failed. Fallen off the tightrope and was in the process of learning a valuable lesson. The result of which meant that she wasn't speaking to him.

And it was frustrating.

And now, here she was, calling him within an hour of what would have been the beginning of a brand new day. He debated letting the call ring through, a taste of her own medicine, but the temptation to speak to her was a little too great and he answered the call quickly, the phone pressed to his ear.

He was met with silence. Resolved to knowing that she likely hadn't been expecting him to answer.

"Lucca?" he asked.

A derivative laugh carried through the line. Definitely not belonging to Lucca, but a man. The notion of which had Kanas's back straightening when he heard it. Could feel every muscle in his body suddenly tense.

"No," came the response, and the man sounded relieved. "Is this Dr Kanas?"

"To whom am I speaking?" he asked tersely. His voice cold and sharp. Clinical, and leaving no room for an argument.

If it wasn't Lucca that had called him, then where was she? Why was he being called? And why was he being called from her phone?

"Oh, sorry," the voice, while gruff, sounded sincere. "I'm Detective Simon Garrison with Seattle P.D. Homicide."

A chill gripped Kanas's spine at the mention of homicide. His mind jumping to the possibility of something having happened to Lucca. To what that something would have been. If she had been killed, or if she had done the killing.

"Homicide?" he questioned.

"Nothing's happened with Miss DeMarco, sorry to have alarmed you," the detective was quick to amend. "And sorry for the late night call. I hope I'm not disturbing you."