Page 53 of Shameless

My phone rings in my pocket, distracting me from my thoughts.

“One sec, it’s my mom. Let me take this.”

Speaking of the devil, Mom tells me that the sheriff just called her to let her know that Rikki has been released. “The gun residue test was negative,” I tell Jules and Stefan. “Rikki has been cleared, his story that he touched Trevor trying to help, checks out.”

Lula

The family is all gathered to welcome Rikki home when Scott Larson comes to drop him off, accompanied by his daughters and Sheriff Pullin.

Tilly runs to hug her youngest son, her eyes brimming with tears. “Oh baby,” she cups Rikki’s gaunt face with both hands. “You look so tired.”

Rikki looks haggard, the dark tattoos that cover most of his arms and hands make him look even paler than usual.

“Yeah Mom,” Rikki says, running a shaky hand through his bleach blond hair. “Sleeping at the police station wasn’t easy.”

Arianna sighs, addressing the sheriff. “Kirk, was it necessary to hold Rikki at the police station? Like the tests confirmed, he told the truth.”

“I understand your concern, Arianna. But Rikki was detained for just over twenty-four hours, and while not ideal, it was legal.” The sheriff explains. “He wasn’t under arrest or in a cell by the way, even though maybe that would have been more comfortable than the interrogation room where he was kept.”

Rikki nods, fidgeting with his lip ring. “Yeah, I think those chairs are designed to make you feel uncomfortable so you confess. The trouble is, I had nothing to confess.”

London immediately laces her fingers through Rikki’s. “I’m so glad they know you were telling the truth, babe. No one who knows you even a little bit could ever believe that you’d do something like that. All that blood, I still have nightmares about it.” She says with a shudder.

I agree with London. Rikki is a sweetheart and it doesn’t matter how mad he must have been at Eddie or even Trevor, I don’t think he would have shot them in cold blood.

I’m glad the police ruled it out though, because while I would vouch for a sober Rikki, last weekend he was definitely high at some point and in need of a fix by the time we saw him at the stables. I’ve been in his shoes and high Lula would consider doing a number of things that I would never do when sober.

The tremor of his hands tells me that his night at the police station didn’t help the situation. I seriously hope Crew and Tilly can convince Rikki to check himself back into rehab.

Arianna and Tilly are both fawning over Rikki, offering him dinner and a place to crash if he doesn’t want to endure the drive all the way home to the other side of town.

“Kirk,” Jules addresses the sheriff. “How are things progressing with the investigation?”

The sheriff looks tired too. “We’re still at the beginning and it was a very complicated, very messy crime scene. The fact that it had been tampered with when forensics showed up,” he says with a glare in Rikki’s direction. “Didn’t help matters. We just got a preliminary report and we have more questions rather than answers.”

Dad has always been a true crime buff, just like me, so his question doesn’t surprise me. “Is there anything you can tell us at this stage?”

The sheriff looks around the room. “Yes and no. I’m sure you can understand how I am not at liberty to discuss certain aspects of the investigation, at the same time we have more questions than answers. And I would like to start asking you all a few questions if you don’t mind. My counterpart in Berry Point is doing the same with Mr. Andrews’s staff and the other guests who were present at the quail hunt. I’m going to have to speak to everyone at Star Thunders and to the people who stayed in Star Cove until we can start clearing people off our suspect list.”

He’s obviously referring to Tiffany and Evan.

“I can tell you that the deaths have been ruled a homicide and that the only weapon at the scene has been confirmed as the murder weapon.”

Dad sighs. “That isn’t a surprise. Is there anything I can do concerning the shotgun?”

The sheriff shakes his head. “No, thanks Tom. I was a witness to the fact that it was missing in the morning and you had to borrow a shotgun from George Andrews to join the hunt. I received the copies of the gun permit you had for that weapon this morning, thank you for emailing it to me. The main thing wearen’t certain about is the connection between the three victims. I mean, Branagh and Braverman were co-workers, but why was Maura Andrews at the scene? Right now the only explanation is that Maura might have been Braverman’s client.”

That’s the only thing that makes sense, that Maura was there to buy drugs.

Arianna intervenes. “So you’re thinking of a drug deal gone wrong?”

The sheriff explains. “That would make sense if there was at least a second weapon at the scene. Even though I can’t imagine why Maura would shoot those two men. No, one weapon means they were all targeted by someone else. Maybe someone who walked in on the drug deal? I must admit the fact that Trevor Braverman side gig with illegal substances is what makes the most sense as a motive. If that’s the case, Trevor could have been the target and Maura would have just been unlucky to have found herself in the wrong place at the wrong time. But that bears the question of why Branagh was at the scene? Was he a part of the drug deal? We have no evidence to support that. We’re looking for answers and it would be helpful if we could locate the victims’ cell phones. They’re all missing.”

Jules asks the next question. “Can’t you ask for phone records? That could help you regardless of finding the actual phones.”

Scott provides the answer to that question. “It’s a little more complicated than that. We tried obtaining everyone’s phone records but last night’s storm interfered with the cell towers in the area and there are no data available until later on in the morning, unfortunately well after the murders. Mr. Andrews’s WiFi network was down. If any texts or calls were exchanged during those hours, we don’t know how they traveled and theonly answer would be in the actual devices. The point is that all the victims’ phones are missing and we’d like to find them.”

For a moment the only noise in the room is the ticking of Napoleon’s paws on the hardwood floor as he circles Jules, jumping repeatedly into his side.

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