76- Holiday Bear

There was a strange eerie silence that filled the room as all eyes focused on Garren, who was waiting with his arms crossed for a proper explanation from either of the detectives.

"Well then, out with it! I haven't got all night!" Garren spoke gruffly, but with a reasonable amount of frustration given the hour had now passed his normal bedtime.

"With all due respect, I'd rather just get right to the point of why we came here," Mazurka remarked.

"That would be nice," Quayleigh replied, staring daggers in Yechiel's direction.

"There's a camera somewhere on your property, Mr. Liebman, and we would like your permission to search for it."

"What? Absolutely not! I'd turn my back for a minute, and you would miraculously find something to force me to close down, wouldn't you? Get out and come back with a warrant!"

"Garren, please," Quayleigh sighed as she took his hand, "Yechiel showed me proof. There are pictures, from inside my room. Three, he planted a camera somewhere in there. What they really want is your permission to access the boxes in the closet."

"We believe it was hiding inside something that had been placed up high and would have gone unnoticed when her belongings were packed away," Mazurka responded as he handed the pictures to Garren.

Garren took the pictures and looked them over with a keen eye.

"Quays, that's the old quilt from when you first moved in," Garren remarked as he pointed to the bed in the picture. "They are from well over a year ago. Why would you think the camera would still be here?"

"Even though it can be turned on remotely, it currently shows nothing but a black screen. Skye, our precinct's tech, she traced the cameras signal to this building. That's why we believe it's packed away, maybe in a box that was left behind from her move," Kavak further explained as Garren handed the photos back to Mazurka.

"I left my holiday bear collection in the boxes in the closet. I didn't want to move them until I had a proper place to put them, and I knew they would be safe here. Will you allow them to come back to the room with me?" she asked Garren, giving his hand a pleading squeeze.

"Fine, but just that room. I don't want any funny business from that one," he stated as he pointed directly at Yechiel. "There's been nothing but trouble since the day I first met you."

"I do sincerely apologize about all of this," Mazurka replied with an incredibly defeated smile as he bowed from his waist.

"He really isn't as bad as he appears to be," Tau remarked calmly as he stood up and offered Quayleigh his hand. "When it comes to his work, he tends to leap before he looks, so to speak."

Taking his offered hand, Quayleigh stood up and motioned for Mazurka to follow her.

"It's this way," she said as she showed him to the room.

Opening the door, she turned on the light and stepped inside, Tau keeping close to her side, although she felt far more stable on her legs now. It had been months, since she had last entered that space, but Garren had been keeping it well cleaned. The beige carpet still had the imprint from where her bed once stood, and the pile had compressed in clear paths from years of travel. Tau stayed by the door as Quayleigh went to the closet and opened it.

"These are the boxes you're looking for," she said as she moved out of Mazurka's way.

Pulling out the four boxes, he set them into the center of the room before pulling his phone out, dialing a number, and putting it on speaker before setting it on the floor.

Kneeling down next to the boxes, Quayleigh carefully removed the lids on two of them, as Mazurka worked on the others.

"Hey, Yechi, you ready?"

"Yeah, turn on the camera and tell me what you see."

"Okay, I have an image. It looks like, maybe some fur of some sort. There's a bit of light coming from above and behind but it's faint."

"To your right, Yechiel," Quayleigh said pointing to the box with the large, fuzzy, white bears.

Reaching over, he pulled one of the bears out of the box, and the woman on the phone shouted, "That's it! You're looking right at it!"

"Ah, okay, but I don't see anything. It just looks like a normal bear," he replied as he ran his hand over its face.

"It's in whatever you just touched," she told him. "Just bring the entire bear to me. I'll cut it out when you get here."

"Hey! You can't just do that!" Quayleigh shouted as she pulled the bear away from Mazurka. "He does not get to take this from me too!"

"Oh, sorry. You must be Ms. Vershinin. I'm Skye. Thanks for helping us locate the camera, but we ready do need that bear. I'm afraid, we don't have much of a choice. I'll be really gentle extracting it though, and I'll make sure Yech… I mean Detective Mazurka, gets it back to you."

"You only want the camera, right?"

"Well, yes."

Standing up she turned to Tau and said, "Keep him in here," before marching into the kitchen and grabbing a paring knife from the drawer.

Setting the bear on the counter, she could hear Tau and Yechiel arguing in the back room, as she checked over the seams.

"If you think for a moment, I'm going to WILLINGLY let some stranger hack into my bear, you've fucking lost it Yechiel!" she yelled back as he was calling for Kavak to help him out of the room. "You came for the camera, you can have the camera, but you CANNOT have my bear!"

It was a beautifully crafted bear with fuzzy, snow-white fur, done up in winter festival attire; a shiny green vest with embroidered wreaths and silver-plated buttons, and a matching Tryolean hat, decorated with a braid of green leather, artificial sprig of pine and a bright red feather. She had adored this bear more than the others she had because although this one wasn't the original, it was identical to the last one her father had given to her when she was a child. It pained her, made her heart ache, when she noticed the off-color thread that had been used to poorly tack the Tryolean back into place, now white, instead of the original green as the others were. Carefully cutting the stitch away, she pulled the hat forward to reveal a crude cut across the top of her bear's head.

"That fucking disrespectful piece of shit," she sneered as she cut through the terrible sewing job that Three had left behind.

Pulling out a handful of cotton, she reached in and after a couple of seconds of fiddling around, unscrewed the bear's artificial left eye, the camera attached to the inside gasket, along with a surprisingly lightweight battery pack and receiver that had been connected to it.

"He altered his eye, and I didn't even notice," she said as she turned around to see Tau and Mazurka standing behind her.

"He's just a little blind now, like you." Tau offered her a tender smile as he set his palm over her eyepatch, his fingers sinking into her hair.

Quayleigh laughed, even though it hurt, tears freely escaping her eyes, rolling down her cheeks and dripping from her chin as she held the camera out to Mazurka.

"I hope this helps you find the others."

"Thank you, Ms. Vershinin," Skye's voice echoed from the phone as Mazurka held it up towards her.

"Tell me Skye, what he recorded, is it as bad as I think it is?"

"I'm sorry, but yes, it is."

"And you can't erase it, can you?"

"No. I'm afraid I can't, at least not from the hard drive we have as evidence. I am going to scrub the net and removed as many digital copies as possible though, but so you know, there is always the possibility that someone has made private copies."

"I'm aware but thank you. Now if that's everything, please leave," Quayleigh said as she turned around and began to gather the bits of cotton from the counter, and delicately stuffed it back into the bear's head.

She didn't much give a shit about what was going on behind her. She was busying herself with trying to get every strand of cotton to sit perfectly inside the bear's head to notice anything else around her.

"Quayleigh," Tau whispered in her ear as he set his hands on the upper parts of her arms.

"Yes?" she replied, feeling half dazed, as she leaned back against him, making him the only thing that felt even remotely real to her.

"Can you leave that for a moment and come and sit down with me?"

"But I've almost fixed him. I just need to find his eye, and my sewing kit," she muttered as Tau shifted his position to her side.

Setting his hand over hers, she looked up at him.

"Please, for me."

"Quayleigh, my dear, you can fiddle with the bear after. Come and sit down," Garren spoke up as he waved them towards the couch. "Those two incompetent detectives are gone now. It's safe to come join me."

Turning her around, Tau brought her over to the couch and sat her down.

"I'm sorry for the bother. They should have waited until tomorrow."

"Don't apologize for their dimwitted behavior," Garren said as he reached out and took her hands. "Besides, there's nothing you can do about what's happened. All you can do is keep moving forward. Nothing of what that bastard did has affected you to this point, and knowing about it now, shouldn't change that. I realize you need time to come to terms with all of this, so I'll arrange for Shane to take your next two shifts."

"Thank you," she replied as she lowered her eyes to their hands.

"I'd give you more, but I know what you make, and I know it's coming into winter, and you won't take my help. Not that you'd consider moving back in here with me now anyways," Garren said as he looked up to Tau who had been silently standing at Quayleigh's side.

"Right, I'm sorry. I should have introduced you. Garren, this is Dylan. Dylan, this is Garren. He's the man who took me in and helped me get back on my feet. He saved my life."

"To you, I am sincerely grateful," Tau remarked as he bowed to Garren. "If there is ever a way for me to repay you for your kindness, please ask."

"While I appreciate the offer, there's only one thing to be done. I ask that you treat her with the greatest of kindness, and based on what I have witnessed tonight, I don't believe I have anything to worry about."

"If that is all you require of me, then it is done. I would have protected her from this, had it been possible," Tau remarked, setting his arm over her shoulder as she rested her head against his side.

"There was nothing anyone could have done," she said as she wiped her eyes again. "I'm sorry Garren, but it's late. We should go, I'm exhausted and would like to get some sleep. If you can't get a hold of Shane to take my shifts, don't worry about it. Just call and let me know."

"Of course, dear," Garren replied as she stood up and returned to the kitchen.

Grabbing a plastic bag from under the sink, she wrapped up the bear with the greatest of care.

"Thank you, for keeping them safe," she remarked with a soft smile, tears continuing to fall, ever silent. "I've been trying to convince myself that I was too old for them, and that I should let you just give them away. But even after so long, all I feel is guilty for leaving them behind, and yet grateful that I have, otherwise who knows what he would have recorded."

"No need to feel guilty about anything. You just haven't gotten around to setting up the perfect place for them yet. I was certain once you had, you would be back for them. And when you're ready, they will all still be here."

"Thank you, Garren," she whispered as he stood up and walked towards her. "Are we still on for Sunday night?"

"You know I wouldn't dream of canceling over something like this! I'll not let some piece of dead trash steal a moment of our happiness. We're family Quayleigh, and we'll get through this like family. You can uninvite that slow fella though. I'm back to wanting to see him being stripped of his badge."

"Will do. But I never got around to inviting him anyways. There's someone else I'd much prefer for us to share our table with, but I'll leave that as a surprise for you."

"I look forward to it, my girl. Now take off before it gets any later and enjoy your evening with your man."

"I will," she replied attempting to dawn a genuine smile as she hugged him tight.

"It was nice to meet you, Dylan. Oh, I don't think I caught your last name though. Pardon me if you already told me, but my memory isn't as good as it used to be."

"It's Kirkwood. And it was a pleasure to meet you as well."

"Kirkwood? You aren't related to the DKL corporation, Kirkwood's, are you?"

"Garren," Quayleigh spoke up causing him to turn in her direction as she wiped her eyes, "Dylan is Sayer Kirkwood's youngest son. But before you get upset, he is not his father. He doesn't even remember who his father is."

Garren groaned as his brow knit, "I'm not upset Quayleigh, just disappointed that you thought you had to hide that from me. If you think, for some reason, he's worth your time, I'm willing to give him a fair chance. Especially when it's so obvious that he really cares about you."

"You can't blame me for being cautious," she replied as his face relaxed.

"No, I suppose I can't. And for the record, young man, your father's a right two-faced bastard. I pray that you will never be anything like him."

"You and me both," Tau replied with a firm nod. "If my brother's behavior is any indication of the type of human he is, I'll be keeping my distance from him also. All I want is to keep Quayleigh safe and as happy as possible, and now, with that said, I'd like to take her home."