A Surprise Visitor Ch. 1 (Izombie)
Dale was awoken by a loud banging on her door. She blindly reached for her phone until her fingers touched cold metal. She grabbed it without thinking and felt the charger pull out of the socket. “Damn it” She pulled the end of the charger out of her phone and placed it on the nightstand. She’d deal with it later. “Hey siri, call Clive.”
“Calling Clive.” The monotonous voice replied. While the phone rang she felt along the wall for the light switch. She found it quickly and the room was bathed in light.
“Dale?” She heard her husband’s voice through the phone.”
“It’s three in the morning what’s going on?” She’d clearly woken him up.
She was probably overreacting. Most likely it was just a couple teenagers playing a prank. But she’d been working a pretty intense case and Clive was at a conference on the other side of the city. It was less than half an hour away, but the commissioner paid for the room, so he decided to stay in the hotel for the weekend.
“Babe?” He asked again, Sounding concerned.
“There’s someone at the door.” She whispered
“Ok, did you see them? Did they say anything?”
“No I’m still in the bedroom. They just keep banging on the door. It’s
“Ok. It’s probably nothing, but take your gun and keep me on speaker and answer the door.”
She opened her nightstand drawer and wrapped her fingers around the pistol, but kept the safety on. She took a breath and walked out of her bedroom phone in one hand and gun in the other. The banging on the door continued at the same intensity as it had started. If it were teenagers wouldn’t they have given up by now? She thought. Finally she reached the door and stared through the peephole and…
“I’m gonna call you back Everything’s fine.” She said to her husband.
“Yeah, I’ll explain everything later. Love you.”
“Love you too.” He repeated, but sounded hesitant.
She hung up the phone and opened the door. She would’ve known that white hair anywhere. At the moment it was messily hanging in front of the young women’s face. The dark eye makeup she always wore was smeared and Dale couldn’t tell if the red stain around her mouth was lipstick or wine.
“Where’s clive” she hiccuped.
“He’s at that conference remember? He said he texted you.”
“Oh, right.” She got an embarrassed look on her face. “Shit. I’m sorry. I should go.” She started to turn around, but Dale grabbed her arm.
“Hey, It’s pouring and you’re in no shape to walk home by yourself. Come in and for a minute. I’ll call you an Uber.”
She bit her lip in thought, but didn’t move.
“Olivia, come inside.” She said somewhat sternly. She was actually only 50% sure that was her name. What else would it be short for? Hadn’t she seen it on some paperwork? Well anyway, it seemed to work because Liv started to walk towards her. However, she had only made a few steps when she must have slipped on the wet porch and all Dale saw was her fall backwards over the steps and a tumble of arms and legs.
“Shit!.” Dale ran to the top step where she could see the younger girl laying face down. She tried to figure out the best way to get down the stairs without stepping on Liv. Suddenly she heard laughing.
The other girl sat up and continued laughing until she saw Dale’s face.
“It’s ok. I’m a zombie, remember?”
“Christ, Moore. You’re gonna give me a heart attack.”
“Sorry.” Liv replied guilty. She hiccuped again.
Dale sighed and reached for her. She grabbed her gently by the arms and pulled her to her feet. Dale refused to let go until they were safely inside. She looked the girl up and down. She was a mess. Now, her clothes were not only soaked but she was covered in mud. Some of it had even smeared on her face and in her hair.
“Why don’t you take a shower. It’s the third door on the left and I can throw your clothes in the washer.”
“Ok.” Another hiccup. “Where’d you say it was again?”
Dale chuckled “Come on. I’ll show you.”
She kept her hand on Liv’s back just in case she fell again. They got to the door and Dale walked in with her. It was a small room with two sinks, a mirror and a door at the back.
“So the shower is just through there, turn the handle left for hot and right for cold and you can move it up or down to adjust the pressure.” Liv nodded, but didn’t say anything. “There’s shampoo and soap and everything just use whatever you want. oh, and I have makeup remover in the cabinet.”
“Look I know you’re a zombie and all, but try not to slip or anything in there. I don’t wanna have to explain to Clive why you’re naked and unconscious in our bathtub.” The girl smiled. “But, for real be careful.”
“I will.” they stood in awkward silence for a minute.
“Is there anything else you need?”
“Ok, well I’m just down the hall. If you need me just yell.”
Dale left and shut the door behind her. She took out her phone and called her husband. While it rang she walked into their shared room and put the phone on speaker.
“Dale, thank God. What happened is everything ok?” He sounded borderline frantic. He was probably sat by the phone, worrying this whole time.
“It’s fine. Well other than the drunk zombie in our shower.” she placed the phone on the dresser.
“Unfortunately, not. Your partner decided to make a surprise visit.”
“Oh my God. Is she okay?”
“I don’t know. I mean she was a mess. And with everything that’s happened lately.” she trailed off.
“It would be hard for anyone. Do you want me to come home.”
“I didn’t ask if it was fine I asked what you wanted.”
“How soon can you get here?”
“It’ll take a while to check out and I’m on the other side of the city. Maybe an hour. Think you can handle her ‘til then?”
“Yeah I think we'll be ok. Thank you. I love you.”
“Love you too. I’ll text you when I’m on my way.”
He hung up and Dale went back to the task at hand. She grabbed some comfy clothes and walked back to the bathroom. She knocked on the door “Liv, I have some clothes for you.” no answer, she probably couldn’t hear over the water. Dale tried the doorknob and it turned easily. she walked in and placed them on the counter. She was about to leave when she heard a crash and a “shit” from behind the door.
“Liv? Everything Ok in there?” She didn’t answer. Damn it, Liv. She tried the door, but it wouldn’t budge. “Liv?” She was about ready to break down the door when it swung open. Liv was standing there clad in a towel
“I dropped the shampoo.” The pale girl said completely seriously.
Dale broke out in laughter. “Jesus, Liv. I thought you were dead.” the girl opened her mouth to speak. “Don’t say it.” Dale interrupted.
“What were you doing in here anyway.” Liv asked.
“I brought you some clothes.”
“No problem. I’ll leave you to it.”
It had been about ten minutes when Liv finally emerged, clad in sweats with her platinum locks thrown in a messy bun. Dale had claimed Clive’s old police academy sweatshirt pretty much as soon as she’d moved in. It had always been a little big, but it looked almost comical on the Much shorter woman and her sweatpants were rolled up so she wouldn’t step on them.
“Hey, you look like you’re feeling better.”
“Yeah, mortified, but better.”
“Don’t worry about it.” The hot shower had definitely sobered the other girl significantly, but she still seemed a bit dazed. “Why don’t make us some coffee.” Dale stated as she walked toward the kitchen. “ How do you take it.
“Really? We have everything. Cream, sugar.”
“If you’re sure, but it’s no…” Dale suddenly realized what she meant. “Oh my god. I’m an idiot. You can’t taste it.”
“It’s really not a big deal.”
“I think we still have some hot sauce.”
“It’s fine. Just leave it black.”
Dale finally gave up and brought the coffee over to the couch. Liv was laying with her head on the armrest and her legs folded behind her leaving just enough room for Dale to sit next to her. She placed the coffee on the table.
“Sure. So why did you want to talk to Clive.”
“Right. Umm I was kind of hoping he could give me a case.”
“Oh. I thought you were taking a break from work.”
“Not by choice,” she sighed. The detective stared at her expectantly “I shouldn’t have said that. Awhile back, before you came to Seattle my boyfriend died. I wanted to keep coming to work, and everyone let me. At least until they figured out.” She paused. “I ate an alcoholic. And I came to work drunk. And I know how that makes tonight seem, but it’s not like that. Anyway when I tried to come back to work Ravi wouldn’t let me. He said I could either take time off or he would give me a suspension.”
“Is that why you’re not at his place right now? I mean I don’t mean to overstep, but it seems like maybe getting a case wasn’t the only reason you came here.”
“That’s fair. But Ravi and are fine. I was mad at first, but I understand. It’s he and Peyton’s anniversary. They rented a hotel room. and yeah, I guess I didn’t want to go home to an empty apartment. And Major and I are on good terms, but he’s still my ex, being alone with him might not be the best idea. So I walked here.”
“Well I’m glad you came and you’re safe. And hold on, you walked here, that drunk?”
“I got lost a couple times.”
They both laughed but it didn’t reach Liv’s eyes.
Dale sighed “Again I don’t want to overstep, but have you seen anyone. You know, about what happened. I can’t imagine how hard that would be. I mean that guy…”
“Right. Were you two close. I mean I know he worked for you.”
“We were. We were very close.”
It took a second for Dale to understand what she was saying. “Oh my god. Liv, I’m so sorry. I had no idea.”
“We didn’t really tell people. Even if we lied about how we knew each other, it was just too risky.”
Looked deep in thought for a moment. “You know when I first got to Seattle I took this side case. And it was as open and shut as you can get. I had this guy for double homicide, first degree. We had DNA evidence, witnesses, a clear motive. I mean no jury was letting this guy off. Anyway I ended up in a car chase with him. Then he turned onto this side street, and it’s a dead end. He has about 20 feet ahead before a solid brick wall and I’m behind him. I figure I got the guy. But instead of stopping he just sped up.” She swallowed. And before I could do anything he crashed into the wall at about 100 miles an hour. He was dead on impact. It was the first time anything like that had ever happened to me.”
“It’s ok. I didn’t tell you that so you would feel sorry for me. I saw someone. She’s really great and she doesn’t charge much. I can text you her number.”
Liv said nothing but looked hesitant.
“Look, Liv I had to look into you when Major was found a suspect for the meet cute explosion. You being his ex fiancé. I know a lot about you and after all of that, plus what I’ve seen myself, you are one of the strongest people I know. But no one should have to deal with all that by themselves.”
Liv bit her lip“I’ll think about it.”
The younger girl smirked “You know it’s funny. I was never really sure if you liked me.”
“Come on, Moore. Of course I do. But you know I’m a hardass.” That got a grin.
“Yeah, I guess that’s it. Could I get a glass of water?”
“Course.” Dale got up and went to the kitchen, but by the time she had gotten back to the couch the zombie was fast asleep, her coffee untouched. Dale shook her head and placed a blanket over her. Even though she knew zombies don’t get cold.
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