Polar (Book 2): Polar Day (2 page)

Chapter 3

June 21, 2013

“Can you stop thinking about work for one minute?” Tessa Washington took a sip of her Coke and pushed her sunglasses up on her nose. “We’re here to watch the game,” she said.

“How do you know I’m thinking about work?” Danny Fitzpatrick asked.

“Because it’s obvious. I asked you if you wanted me to get you a Frito pie at the concession stand and you didn’t even respond. Then I noticed Sox was pawing at your leg and you ignored him. I know perfectly well you’re going over our case in your head.”

Danny glanced down at his dog, a medium-sized black mutt with the face of a spaniel and the body of a poodle. “You need something, Sox?” he asked. The dog responded by thumping his tail on the grass.

“Sox is fine,” he said, returning his attention to Tessa. “But God knows I don’t want to miss out on the Frito pie.”

Danny leaned forward in his lawn chair and grabbed his wallet out of the back pocket of his khaki shorts. He took a ten-dollar bill out and held it up to Tessa, a petite African-American woman with a pile of dark brown braids on her head. Dressed to the nines as always, Tessa managed to look stylish whether she was working, going out on the town or sitting on a lawn chair at a baseball game. Tonight she wore a white sheath dress with matching gladiator sandals and a pair of oversized sunglasses.

“I’ll pay since you’re sparing me the torture of standing in line over there,” Danny said, gesturing to the group of children and adults gathered around the stand. “Will this cover it?”

Tessa nodded and grabbed the bill as she stood up from her chair. “Do you want a beer too?”

Danny shook his head. “No, just a Coke.”

Danny had cut back on his drinking in the past few months, but he couldn't deny there were still plenty of days when all he wanted to do after work was go home and drink himself into a stupor. The responsibility of caring for his dog was often the only thing that stopped him. He reached down and scratched Sox’s ears as Tessa walked off towards the stand. “I wasn’t ignoring you, buddy. What’s up?”

Sox licked his hand and rolled onto his back, offering his stomach for Danny to rub.

“I should have guessed it was a belly rub you wanted. What else?”

The dog wiggled in the grass and continued to thump his tail on the ground as Danny scratched his belly.

“I wonder if they sell any dog treats here,” Danny mused. “I should have told Tessa to get you something. Maybe a hot dog.”

Danny was a tall and thin man, with large brown eyes and a mop of matching hair that was in a constantly unkempt state regardless of how often he combed it. In the past year he had taken to wearing a perpetual layer of stubble on his pale face, something he had decided gave him a sophisticated air of masculinity. It was also very convenient since he had hated to shave ever since he hit puberty. Danny had a long nose and wore the strain of his job and the grief of his past on his face, giving him a drawn and melancholy expression. He was a loner who preferred the company of his dog to that of most people.

Danny looked around Growden Memorial Park and had to remind himself that it was already 10:15 at night. The sun remained high in the cloudless blue sky as players for the Alaska Goldpanners and the Chugiak Chinooks prepared for the upcoming game. The temperature was a scorching 85 degrees, as Fairbanks was experiencing a record heat wave that showed no signs of letting up with the arrival of the official summer season.

Tessa had talked Danny into coming with her to this year’s Midnight Sun Baseball Game, a tradition he had heard about ever since moving to Fairbanks. The first pitch would be thrown out in just about 20 minutes and, according to the experts, the sun would set and rise again before the game was over. The game had never required any artificial lighting, as the twilight provided enough light even during the brief time that the sunset.

Danny had completely ignored everything about the game and the Goldpanners, Fairbanks’ semi-professional team, last summer, which had been his first in Alaska. When he’d impulsively moved to Fairbanks from his hometown of Chicago following the murder of his wife, Caroline, Danny had made every effort to ignore anything and everything that could bring him some element of joy. Everything, except alcohol at least.

Baseball had been one of those things he'd ignored. He’d loved the game for as long as he could remember and had been a White Sox fan since childhood. While Caroline had been a Cubs fan, she’d still reluctantly agreed to celebrate the Sox’s 2005 World Series win with him, a win he’d never expected he’d see and which could still make him smile.

Fairbanks, and, for that matter, the state of Alaska, didn’t have any major league sports to call their own. But residents embraced the Goldpanners, a member of the Western Semi-Pro Baseball Association, and regularly filled the stands of Growden Park to cheer them on during the all-too brief Alaskan summer.

Tessa Washington was his closest friend in Fairbanks and now also his partner since he’d left cold cases behind and joined her in homicide following the retirement of her former partner the previous month. Danny had spent most of his adult life as a homicide detective in Chicago but after Caroline's death he swore he'd never work homicide again. He'd changed his mind after growing weary of sifting through cold cases, the majority of which he knew would never be solved and when he had the chance to partner with Tessa. He respected her as a cop as much as he liked her as a person.

Tessa was a baseball fanatic like him and her enthusiasm for the Goldpanners had gradually worn off on Danny. They’d never replace the White Sox for him, but they were fun to watch and provided a great way to enjoy the long summer days and the warm weather that never lasted long enough in Alaska. As long as he remembered to use enough DEET to keep the mosquitoes at bay. Danny had dealt with plenty of mosquitoes in Chicago but he’d never seen anything like the swarms of insects that invaded Fairbanks every summer. He’d been told that Alaska’s mosquitoes were legendary and it wasn’t hard to understand why.

But while he’d grudgingly become a fan of the Goldpanners and even bought an official team t-shirt sporting their customary red and gold colors, he still remembered his beloved White Sox every time he called his dog by name. When he’d adopted the dog from the local animal shelter back in April, he’d known immediately what he’d wanted to call him. While he’d briefly considered Comiskey, after the legendary park where the White Sox had played for most of his life, both Tessa and his on-again, off-again girlfriend Amanda had convinced him of the foolishness of that choice. It hadn’t taken much convincing, and he’d named Sox before he and the dog had returned home to Danny’s apartment after leaving the shelter.

As Sox jumped up to attend to an itch on his paw by biting it with a ferocity that made Danny cringe, Danny glanced around for Tessa. He smiled as he saw her heading towards their chairs along the right field fence just in time for the playing of the National Anthem.

“Lord that line was something else,” Tessa said as she handed Danny his Coke and Frito pie. “You’re going up there next time if we decide to get anything else.”

“I’ll make sure to make my pie last then,” Danny said. “I don’t want any part of all those screaming kids. Especially not in this heat.” He shuddered as he took another look back at the line, which had only continued to grow.

Danny took a bite of his pie and set his Coke on the ground before he and Tessa stood up for the National Anthem. He knew better than to set his pie down, as Sox would down it before the first line of the song was complete.

The park erupted in cheers as the anthem completed and the umpire yelled out the customary, “Play ball!” Danny and Tessa settled back into their chairs and returned to eating their Frito pies.

“Too bad Maya didn’t come with us,” Danny said. “Sox would like the company.”

Maya was Tessa’s Siberian Husky and Sox’s best canine friend. The two dogs had immediately bonded after Danny adopted Sox and the group regularly walked together at Griffin Park.

“I told you, she hates the crowds,” Tessa said between bites of her pie. “When I brought her last year I had to leave before the third inning. And she’d never make it in this heat. She hates heat as much as you do.”

“I don’t hate heat.”

“You’ve whined about the heat wave every day this month.”

“Well it is odd, isn’t it? Having temperatures this high in Fairbanks?”

“It is. But I haven’t heard anyone else complaining. Come to think of it, I seem to remember you complaining non-stop about the cold during the winter too.”

Danny ignored his partner and finished off his pie in spite of his plan to make it last throughout the game. He wiped his mouth with a napkin and rolled up the wrapper and napkin into a ball in his lap, which immediately fell to the ground when he and Tessa and everyone else in the park stood up to cheer the Goldpanners’ first home run of the game.

Before sitting back down Danny picked up the garbage and strolled over to the nearest garbage can, causing Sox to bark and pull on his leash, which was attached to Danny’s chair.

He laughed and scratched the dog’s ears as he returned to his seat. “I was gone two seconds, buddy,” he said.

Danny tried to focus on the game in front of him, cheering once again as the Goldpanners hit another home run and took a 2-0 lead, but he found his mind wandering. Tessa was right when she said he was distracted. But not by the murder-suicide they had investigated that morning, which was as close to an open-and-shut case as any cop could expect to receive. He hadn't been thinking about that at all. Instead, he had been thinking about the thing that had occupied his mind for months now. Aleksei Nechayev.

And make no mistake; he knew without a doubt that the Nechayev who remained at large and was wanted for numerous homicides was a thing and not a person. The Russian-born vampire who had nearly killed him back in December never left Danny's thoughts for long.

It wasn't just the vampire himself who had managed to take up residence in Danny's psyche. It was the very idea that he existed. Danny had refused to believe in that possibility when Amanda, a near victim of Nechayev, had confided in him about her theories. But he'd been forced to admit she was right when he'd come face to face with Aleksei's fangs and monstrous persona himself.

Now, he was sure he saw vampires on every corner. He wondered how many others were out there and felt immense relief to be in the season of near constant daylight in Alaska. He glanced up at the sun, grateful that no vampires could possibly be on hand at tonight's game.

Danny dreaded the return of winter and the darkness that Aleksei had taught him was a vampire's best friend. But it wasn't only the vampires who played with Danny's fears. Now that he knew they existed, he knew there was a good chance that other supposedly mythological creatures existed as well. Every howling dog became a werewolf in Danny's mind. Every creak in his apartment was a ghost.

In the six months since Danny had been rescued from certain death in Aleksei's haunted asylum he had spent most of his time combing through old case files to look for unexplained events that could point to supernatural causes. Even when he had left cold cases behind for his current position in homicide he had haunted the office during the nights and weekends and searched through endless case files for signs of the paranormal.

He had found plenty to arouse his suspicions, but had nowhere to take his concerns. Not ready to become the Fox Mulder of the Fairbanks police department, Danny had not shared his late night detective work with anyone except Amanda. He already knew that no one else would believe him. Worse, he knew that divulging his new-found convictions would likely lead to a stint in a psychiatric facility.

The raucous sounds of cheering around him interrupted Danny’s thoughts. He glanced around to see that he was the only person who remained seated. The Goldpanners’ first baseman had hit a grand slam and the fans were ecstatic as the players ran around the bases. Danny stood up and joined in the cheering, which caused Sox to bark excitedly and jump at his waist.

Tessa gave him a sideways glance. “About time you joined us. Can you even try to pay attention to the game?”

“We’re cheering, aren’t we?” Danny let out a whoop, picked up Sox, and patted the dog’s paws together to simulate claps.

Tessa rolled her eyes as the cheers subsided and the two returned to their seats. Sox hopped down from Danny’s lap and returned to sniffing the grass around their chairs.

“I know you love baseball,” she said. “I thought this game would finally help you stop obsessing about our cases.”

“I wasn’t obsessing about our cases,” Danny said truthfully. “I was obsessing about other things. But I’m back in the moment now and ready to cheer on our Goldpanners to victory. So why don’t we both just focus on the game?”

Tessa happily agreed and the two cheered as the Goldpanners notched another home run and then groaned as the Chinooks drove in some runs of their own and tightened up the score. As the game progressed and the clock struck midnight, the fans all stood up from their seats in the bleachers or their chairs along the lawn.

“What’s going on?” Danny asked.

“It’s midnight. That means it’s time to sing ‘Alaska’s Flag’.”

Tessa laughed at the clueless look on Danny’s face. “It’s the state song,” she said as she started to sing.