Chapter Six

At the gun range, Detective Avery Dexter uses the range as a form of self-punishment or catharsis. Each shot is an explosion of pent-up anger or grief. Their mind drifts to a botched case and a victim's face—his sister Mackenna. The booming noise drowns out their internal demons, but only for a moment. After they empty a magazine, the sudden silence is deafening, and their anxieties come flooding back. Avery notices their hands trembling slightly as they reload their gun. Avery was upset, and he was still getting over the situation of him and his mother arguing the other day when Emma showed up at his house. His mother still blamed him for his sexual assault and was still trying to convince Avery that his father is not a rapist and is a good man.

But Avery refused to listen to his mother—because he knows that she's lying and he isn't going to get away with it. It was sad, but true. Avery's only family member was Mackenna, who has always treated him with love and affection, but now that Mackenna is no longer alive, Avery still blames himself for her death. So at the gun range, he was very upset. He was keeping his emotions of anger being held inside him—but it was making him even more vulnerable. So after Avery reloaded his gun, he was using his Glock 19 gun to shoot at the target. After Avery starts shooting, he has a flashback of Mackenna again. Lately, Avery has been having flashbacks and is drinking and coming to work late. As Captain Jonson tells Avery, she hears him being sick every morning in the bathroom, and she's concerned for Avery's job.

But Avery continues to have second thoughts about his job. He thought about quitting working as a cop multiple times. Avery was nothing like his father, and he knew that instantly. After Avery finished shooting as soon as his flashback had ended, he sighed. Avery takes his gun and reloads it once again. But right before Avery was about to aim his gun at the target, Hunter walked up to Avery, telling him that Conrad, the guy who Avery and his mother used to work for when he was a boy and who Avery and Hunter had questioned about the incident that happened to Mackenna Dexter and Emelia Joy, was the one who purchased the gun at the time they both started to investigate the case of Emelia Joy's death, and ballistics had finally come up with the name of the person who purchased the gun.

Avery asked Hunter as soon as he turned, facing him while unloading his gun and reloading it, and Hunter could tell that Avery was a bit in distress when he was holding his gun. "Are you okay?" Hunter asked. "I'm fine." Avery answered, annoyed. "Why does everyone keep asking me that?" Avery asked, annoyed once again. Hunter takes a deep breath and says, "Well, it seems like ballistics had finally come up with a solution for who purchased this Glock from Gary's Guns. Conrad Miller. The guy who literally said that he doesn't know anything about the death of Emelia Joy." Hunter explained. Avery sighed, and he was done with the shooting.

"Okay, so um. We go back to his house and have a talk with him. Bring him down to the station." Avery said, sighing and putting his gun back into his holster that was attached to the left side of his pants.

"Yeah. But I tried to track down Conrad, and he's now at the museum with his little sister." Hunter said, putting away his phone back into his pocket.

"Okay, then let's go." Avery said, walking past Hunter and leaving the gun range. Hunter follows Avery to the entrance of the building.

As Avery and his partner Hunter were headed back to the car, they were walking around the parking lot, and Hunter, as he was following Avery around the parking lot, was trying to convince Avery that Conrad was also at a restaurant meeting with a man who they traded with—using money. Avery and Hunter opened their doors of the unmarked car, and they sat inside before they even shut their doors. "I don't know, but I went to spy on Conrad. This guy made me a bit suspicious." Hunter said.

"So what about when Conrad told us about the van? He said that the van was used as a rental, and now he's swapping cash with someone." Avery said. "Yeah, and that's not normal behavior for him," Hunter replied, glancing around the parking lot as if expecting someone to emerge from the shadows. "We need to figure out who this guy is and what their plan really is before it gets messy." Avery nodded, his mind racing with possibilities.

"Maybe we should follow him and see where he goes next," he suggested, Avery's voice barely above a whisper, filled with urgency. "Let's be careful, though," Hunter replied, his heart pounding at the thought of confrontation.

"Okay." Avery said, nodding his head, before he also turned the car on.

Avery and Hunter left the gun range and headed to another location of where Connor could be meeting with this guy who traded cash with him. After arriving at the museum, Avery and Hunter were parked outside of the museum. They were watching Conrad's every move. Detective Avery Dexter uses rugged laptops, usually running specialized software on ruggedized operating systems, to access law enforcement databases for information about drivers, vehicles, and warrants while seated in an unmarked vehicle. Similar to standard computers, these Mobile Data Terminals (MDTs) are made to last and are intended to work with GPS, communication, and automatic license plate recognition (ALPR) systems to provide real-time data access and reporting.

This feature improves detectives' situational awareness and decision-making by enabling them to swiftly obtain crucial information during ongoing investigations or traffic stops. Officers like Dexter are able to react to situations more skillfully as a result, enhancing both operational effectiveness and public safety in general.

"Okay so, Conrad Miller has a few records on him. Witness tampering, armed robbery, drug possession and of course firearm possession. He was acquitted on all charges." Avery said, looking at the laptop.

"Hm. Well how about we just wait here and see what does. Watch him go up to this guy and see what he does." Hunter explained.

"Yeah." Avery said, sighing, before looking back at Conrad. Conrad was spotted outside and he sees Conrad walking up to this guy wearing a baseball hat and wearing a t-shirt and some skinny jeans and shining shoes. Avery from afar and across the street can tell who that person Conrad was talking to.

"What the?" Avery said, trying to get a closer look at the guy who was handing him over a bag of something to Conrad and Avery knows it is loads of money. Until Avery sees his brother Alex Dexter talking to Conrad Millet and Avery scoffed.

"You don't think Conrad Miller would be our suspect do you?" Hunter wondered.

Avery takes a deep breath and says, "I think I know who this other person may be who Conrad has been talking to."

Hunter said, "Really? Who?"

Avery watches Alex every move and he and Conrad went different directions after Alex handed Conrad loads of money. "Why is my brother handing Conrad Miller a stack of money? And how does he know him?" Avery said.

"Wait, what? This may be your brother Conrad has been talking to." Hunter said.

"Yeah." says Avery.

"Avery you're gonna have to stop investigating this case. You seem a bit more concerned about your sisters case then Emelia Joy's case." Hunter said.

Avery thinks for a moment and he continues to watch Alex walking around town in Manhattan. Alex crosses the street and he walks to a different direction headed to Times Square. Avery cranks up his car and he pulls the gear in drive, steps on the gas pedal and he turned the steering wheel a little before pulling out of the driveway and he follows Alex walking in Manhattan.

As Alex continues to walk away, Avery continues to drive as he follows his brother Alex. Once reaching Alex's house, he sees Alex getting out of his car before turning around and walking towards his house. Avery parked beside the sidewalk of Alex's house and he watches Alex unlock the door before entering into his house. After Alex enters the house, he turns around once again and shuts the door. Avery doesn't know if he should have a talk with his brother or just let him be.

But Mackenna's death was so tragic that Avery could not ignore the fact his brother may be involved in a murder investigation. Until he sees Mrs. Joy pull up in the driveway at Alex's house and Avery asked Hunter why Mrs. Joy was at his brother's house. Avery watched Mrs. Joy walked to Alex's house and she knocked on the door before Avery answered the door. Avery was wondering why he hasn't heard from Alex since Mackenna died and he watched Mrs. Joy walks into Alex's house.

"I need to go find out what's going on." Avery said, before grabbing the door handle—but Hunter stopped him.

"Wait. I'll go with you. But are you sure that's a good idea? You haven't seen Alex in years. At least what you told me." Hunter said.

"I know. But I have to know what's going on." Avery said.

Avery was beginning to get all tense. Therefore, Avery opened the door and he immediately turned to the door and he grabbed the door handle before in a tense moment as he got out of the car and then shutting the door. Once Avery and Hunter got out of the car, they shut their doors. Once Avery and Hunter had walked up to Alex's back porch of Alex's house, Avery frustratedly sighed as he knocked on the door of Alex's home. So after Avery had knocked on the door, footsteps approached the door.

Avery could hear Alex yelling at Mrs. Joy while headed to the door telling her to quiet the dogs as they barked. Avery has been wondering all these years if Alex has ever been married and had two kids as he mentioned to Hunter. When Alex opened the door, he sees Avery and Hunter standing at the doorway on his back porch and Avery took a deep breath and shakily said, "Alex?"

Alex looked at Avery and didn't know who he thought he was talking to. Until he said, "Avery?" Alex said. He was in shock to see that Avery was a cop and a police officer before he could ask him what he was doing at his home. Avery scoffed and said, "Well, I am here to talk to you." Avery said, folding his arms together, and Avery was very furious and unhappy with Alex.

"About what?" Alex wondered.

"I'd think you know," answered Avery.

Alex nods his head and understood Avery before he said, "Why?" Alex said, as he knew his brother was a bit upset with him. Alex folds his arms together this time and leaned against the door frame. Avery chuckled and said, "Well Alex, I don't know. You just ran away from home and I hadn't been able to get in contact with you all these years." Avery said, getting a bit more upset.

"Well uh, Avery? I think you should know I had a reason to." Alex said.

Alex was being smart to his brother. "Why? Why did you run from home?" Avery wondered.

"We needed you, we needed you to come to the funeral! So all these years you're just gonna ignore me?!" Avery wondered, but this time, he actually got even a bit more serious.

"I don't know Avery, maybe because you would just understand that you are the reason why dad turned on us! You're the reason I never got to be able to talk to him because he is always paying more attention to you!" Alex shouted.

"Oh what? Like what kind of attention, Alex? The fact that you knew he raped me?!" Avery shouted, angrily.

"You know what, why did you even come here? Is this about what dad did to you? Because he's a good person, Avery! Dad would never ever hurt anyone! And you know what, you are also the reason mom had to file for a divorce! But I'm glad it has never been finalized! So yeah, and mom did get back together with dad! He's now living with mom again! So get this Avery, you are the main reason I had to also run away from home!" Alex shouted.

Avery nods his head no and he was in shock and angry and he was beginning to pant. "Why did you even run away from home?! Alex, you could have still come to Mackenna's funeral!" Avery said, angrily.

"She's also the reason why I ran from home and dad went to prison! I'm glad I never did come to the funeral because there was always a good relationship between you two and I was always left out. I was also trying to get a relationship with my sister—but she refused. She said she likes you so much better. How wonderful of a brother you were. But I think you were a terrible person to me and to mom, and to dad. And I'm so unbelievably sorry that you didn't see that, Avery." Alex said, trying to calm himself down but he felt more rage building up inside his chest.

Alex was also panting because he was angry. Avery scoffed and said, "Well at least I cared about what happened to my sister. At least I'm the one who showed up to her funeral. I'm sorry you can't see the fact dad was also a bad person and that you think him raping me was my fault." Avery said, panting, because he was still feeling angry and tensed up.

"You know you did put your own work before your own family, Avery! And you think I'm selfish for not going to the funeral?" Alex said.

Avery took a deep breath and said, "You make me want to throw up," Avery said, trying to calm himself down, but once again he was still angry.

"Goodbye, Avery!" Alex said, slamming the door in front of Avery's face.

Avery continued to stand where he was and he angrily turned around slowly before he walked up to the rail and he leaned over the railing, looking down at the ground trying to calm himself down. He was breathing really hard because he was angry at Alex. Avery closed his eyes and he was focusing his breathing. Hunter walked to Avery and stood next to him. He gently laid a hand on Avery's back and he rubbed it.

Avery swallowed hard and he was very angry still. He was still furious at Alex. Avery opened his eyes and Hunter was feeling sorry for his partner for what he just witnessed. Avery then began to breathe even deeper and more deeply as his emotions got more intense.

"Breathe," Hunter said.

Avery leaned up and he stroked his hair to the side using his hand and fingers before looking at Hunter. "Are you okay?" Hunter asked.

"Yeah." Avery said. Avery sighed and Hunter could still hear Avery panting and he nods his head understanding Avery. "Come on." Hunter said. Avery and Hunter leave the porch together and they head back to the car.

After Avery and Hunter had walked back to the car—Avery finally had calmed down. Alex was taking a peek out the window watching Avery and Hunter leave the driveway. Alex turned around before walking away from the window to head to the basement. After Alex stepped into the basement, he turned on the lights before he could look around the basement.

Mrs. Joy stood next to Alex and they both looked at each other before they started walking towards the living room in the basement. Mrs. Joy and Alex were bad people and what does Mr. Joy (Mrs. Joy's husband) even thinks about the fact his wife isn't home most of the time.