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A few weeks after the hit and run case was declared cold, Cole and Stefan were driving to the nearest bar to relax. Well, Stefan was going to relax, but Cole wanted to look over his notes for the case they were currently on, a stolen car case that he felt they were close to cracking. They just needed one piece of evidence and they could charge their prime suspect . He just needed to figure out what evidence they needed. Stefan was currently driving after he'd joked that they'd be the prime suspects in several hit and runs if Cole drove, but that was just fine with Cole; it gave him more time to look over his notes. As they drove, they passed through the intersection in the hit and run case and he just happened to look out the window in time to see something under a bush.
“Stefan, stop!” he called out and Stefan had to practically slam on the brakes, spinning the car out. Cole was opening the door and stepping out before the car was completely stopped. Running over to the bush, his mind flashed back to that case...the one they couldn't solve. He had a feeling what he just saw had something to do with that case.
Stefan, now a little worried about his partner, ran behind Cole. “What is it, Cole?” he called out. By then Cole had reached the bush and was crouched next to it, looking around, Spotting something, he crawled halfway into the bush, and, when he crawled back out, he was holding a ladies' handbag. He'd seen the sun glinting off the metal clasp. Stefan stopped dead in his tracks when he saw the handbag.
“Cole...is that...?” he began and Cole nodded in response.
“Yeah...I think so. It must have been thrown from the car when they were hit. Considering the car was on that side of the intersection, the person that hit them must have been racing through the intersection...and we'll never find out why, but we can at least give a family some closure,” Cole replied before opening the handbag and got out the mother's wallet. He opened the wallet and saw the ID, as well as a photo of her family.
“She was married and had two other children,” he said with a sigh before standing.
“But now we can at least let them know what happened. The address is a couple of blocks from here, I'll drive.”
As they headed back toward the car, Stefan found himself putting his hand on his partner's shoulder just to let him know he was there for him. He'd seen what that case had done to him. Cole wasn't one to cry, but, when he was silent, Stefan knew he was upset, and Cole was silent as they walked back to their car. They got into the car and Cole drove toward the address.
As they pulled up to the house, Cole checked the address on the ID to confirm that it was the correct one. The only thing worse than what they were about to do was informing the wrong family.
“This is it,” he said as he shut off the car and got out to walk up to the front door, Stefan falling into step beside him as he knocked on the door. He'd seen one of the children peeking out at them through a window.
“Mr. Lopez?” he asked when a man answered the door.
“Yes? That's me,” Mr. Lopez replied, clearly getting a bad feeling about what the two detectives were there for.
“We're Detectives Phelps and Bekowski of the LAPD. I'm afraid that we have some bad news. May we come in? I'd rather we talk about this in private,” Cole said, keeping his tone even. Stefan recognized that tone as the one his partner used when he was keeping a tight hold on his emotions.
“Yes, of course, come on in, Detectives,” Mr. Lopez replied as he shut the door behind them.
“You're gonna need to sit down for this, sir,” Cole said before they were led to the living room.
Letting out a soft sigh as he sat down in the chair across from the sofa, Stefan standing behind him as a reassuring presence, Cole decided to just say it.
“I'm sorry to inform you that your wife, Maria, and your daughter are dead. They were killed in a hit and run collision a few weeks back. We were the detectives on scene and from what we saw, I believe they didn't suffer,” he said, using that even tone again.
“Oh, god...why didn't you tell me sooner?!” Mr. Lopez cried out.
“We just found her handbag a little bit ago,” Cole replied, handing the bag over to the distraught man.
“May I use your phone? I need to make a call,” he added, getting a sad nod in response as the husband pointed to the phone.
“Thank you, sir, and I'm truly sorry for your loss and even more sorry we couldn't let you know until now,” Cole said before he stood and headed over to the phone.
“Operator, message to KGPL.”
“Phelps, badge 1247”
“How may I help you, Detective?”
“Tell the coroner we finally have an ID for one of the vics of that hit and run a few weeks ago. We're with the husband right now. I need to know if it's still possible for him to ID the bodies.”
As Cole spoke, he lowered his voice out of respect for the now grieving husband who now had to explain to his young children that their mother and sister were gone.
“I'll let him know.”
It took a couple of minutes for the woman on the other end of the line to get back.
“He says the bodies were too badly mangled for positive identification.”
“Okay, then tell him to release the bodies to the family for proper burial. I'll let the husband know.”
With that, Cole set the receiver down and walked back into the living room.
“I just told the coroner to release your wife and daughter's bodies to you. Is there a specific funeral home you want them sent to?” Cole asked and the husband gave him the name of the funeral home.
“I'll make sure this gets to him. Again, we're very sorry for your loss,” Cole added before he and Stefan left the house and got into the car.Before Cole could start the car, Stefan reached over and pulled his partner into a hug.
“What're you doing, Bekowski?”
“Giving you a hug. You looked like you needed one, Phelps,” Stefan replied.
“I need a drink...but thanks anyway, partner.”
END