It lies between the pit of man's fears and the summit of his knowledge
“You say that like you don’t believe me or something,” Deadblood said, staring at the back of Sheri’s head as she rummaged through the fridge. Something just didn’t seem right about her, beyond her mysterious absence that she didn’t seem to be too concerned about. Was she just angry at him, or what? “Look, I know it sounds crazy. But you know how things in CW go sometimes. Is it really that off the wall to believe me when I tell you that’s what I’ve been up to?”
“I think I’ll just make pasta. Nothing in here looks good to me.” She replied, shutting the fridge a little harder than necessary. Deadblood frowned, still trying to figure out what the hell was wrong with her. He’d expected her to yell, argue, or do something other than totally ignore the situation.
“You sure you are okay, Sheri?” He asked, as she started methodically pulling the makings for pasta salad from the pantry.
“Yeah, why do you keep asking me that Deadblood? I’m fine.” He shrugged, still watching as she started putting the ingredients together for dinner.
“Jesus, sorry for being a bit concerned Sheri. You disappear without a trace, and you come back acting like nothing is wrong. Wouldn’t you be worried if it were the other way around? What happened, anyway? How do you ‘think’ you lost your phone, and why won’t you tell me where you were all that time?” Deadblood said, a bit sharper than he intended. Sheri stopped in the middle of measuring out the dry pasta, just staring ahead for a long moment.
“I told you. I. don’t. know. Why are you still asking me all these questions, Deadblood? You want me to make something up, like maybe a vagina monster or some chick with a DIY dead dick strap-on saving the world?”
“At least I HAVE an explanation for where I was, even if it does sound crazy. Sheri, seriously, I’m just worried about you.” He shot back, growing more frustrated with the situation by the moment. He took a deep breath, trying to calm himself. “Look, whatever. If you don’t want to tell me what you were doing for some reason, that’s fine. We can leave it at that. I did find out something interesting about Biggie’s dead hookers though. I think I might know who was responsible.”
“And who would that be?” Sheri asked, aparently content with a change in subject. Deadblood reached for a pot, filling it up with water for the pasta, still watching her closely. Something was definitely not right here, he was used to Sheri arguing with him, but she’d never been like this before. He pushed all that to the side for now, and decided to stick with what he’d learned about the murders.
“I got a few copies of the police reports, and they all mention things like weird electrical scorch marks at the crime scenes. A few mentioned a chainsaw was used, and they all seem to be focused on the east side of the city,” Sheri nodded, listening as she started opening a can of olives. “I got to thinking, sure that stuff is all unusual but when I started putting it together it made me think I’d seen something like that before. And when I was dealing with all that shit at the Garden of Eden, it hit me. I think we are dealing with Red Sypder.”
“Who is that? Some CW weirdo?” Deadblood couldn’t help but chuckle slightly at that. Finally she was starting to sound somewhat like herself.
“Yeah, you could call him that I guess but weirdo would be putting it very lightly. Anyway, I think he might be the one who was killing all those hookers. I want to look into it, anyway.” She nodded, mentally pulling the pot of pasta from the burner.
“Okay. Sounds like a plan then. When did you want to go?” Sheri asked, dumping in the rest of the ingredients into the pot and sending it to the fridge to chill.
“Tomorrow night, maybe.” he answered, leaning against the kitchen counter. He’d initially wanted to go tonight, but he decided to wait a bit and see how Sheri was doing before having her accompany him out on a mission like tracking down Red Spyder.
“Fine with me. It’s going to take that pasta a while to chill out, Deadblood. We could go do the same. Or...” Sheri said teasingly, heading for the bedroom. He smirked at the insinuation but didn’t follow after her immediately, still turning the recent events over in his mind. Maybe he was just being paranoid, but it seemed safer to err on the side of caution.
Who knew, there might be a perfectly logical explanation for all of this. Women could be downright strange sometimes. Maybe she’d just gone off on a shopping binge and didn’t want to tell him just yet for some reason, or she’d been out planning something for their anniversary... shit, that WAS coming up. He’d forgotten all about himself until now, maybe that explained her weird behavior.
“Are you coming, Champ, or should I just get started without you?” She called from the bedroom. Deadblood shrugged it off, and went to join her.
He hadn’t seen her in a while, and he had missed her company in more ways than one.
*
After Sheri’s ‘welcome home’ efforts, they returned to the living room to eat dinner in front of the TV. Deadblood still found himself watching her reactions very closely, but as the meal progressed he was more convinced than whatever she’d been hiding was nothing nefarious. In a way he felt bad, both for suspecting her of something shady and for not planning anything for their anniversary himself. It had utterly slipped his mind with everything else that had been going on. He was sure she’d understand, and he did still have a little time left to go ahead and get her something or make dinner reservations somewhere...
“Hey Champ. I was thinking. I know you said you wanted to go tomorrow, but what about tonight?” Sheri asked, whisking their plates neatly from the coffee table to the sink, interupting his train of thought.
“You sure about that Sheri? I figured you might want a quiet evening at home for once, after all the craziness we have dealt with lately." Her lip twitched slightly in response before she shook her head.
“If you think you know who is killing those hookers, wouldn’t it be better to go find out sooner than later, Deadblood? Even if it isn’t who you think it is, it can’t hurt to try.”
“I guess you’re right. Yeah, if you want to, let’s go.” He replied, flipping the TV off and standing up to stretch. “Although, if you wanted to give me another round of applause and an encore for my amazing performance earlier, I won’t say no either...” Sheri snorted at that.
“I’m sure you wouldn’t. After all, I bet you have a lot of little champions that have been all pent up waiting for their shot at the title for a while now.” She teased, grabbing his hand and pulling him back down onto the couch ready to make good on that offer. Deadblood didn’t protest, after all she was right and he had to admit that being with Sheri could be as exciting as being in the ring.
*
“I’m not seeing anything out of the ordinary, Champ. Maybe your CW friend decided to take a night off. Maybe he has a hot date or something.” Sheri said as they made their way down an alleyway in a particularly sleazy portion of the eastside.
“Dammit Sheri, I’ve told you over and over none of those guys are my friends. Besides, If he had a hot date, we’d be hearing something by now. Want to head home and try again tomorrow?” Deadblood asked, turning the bike down another alleyway. Sheri shrugged, wrapping her arms around him more tightly.
“I think you just want an excuse to go home and have a shot at round three, Champ.” She gave him a mental squeeze that reminded him that yes, he wouldn’t mind that at all.
“Ha. Fine, lets go home and see if we can’t go for the record then. It’s dead out here anyway.” Deadblood turned the bike down an adjacent alley, intending to head back when they both saw the puddle of red flowing from a dumpster just up ahead.
“What the fuck... I swear we came this way earlier, Champ, and that wasn’t there,” Sheri said, as Deadblood rolled up to the dumpster. There, splayed out to the side of the receptacle was what remained of a garishly dressed young woman. Sheri hopped off the bike, and knelt beside the corpse, while Deadblood scanned the dark alley for any sign of movement. “She’s still warm... Deadblood, whoever did this can’t be far away.”
“I’m right here. I think you’ll look real nice laying next to her.” Came a taunt from the shadows, dangerously close to Sheri. Deadblood's eyes widened as he reached for his shotgun, instantly recognizing that voice from his previous exploit in the Garden of Eden.
“Sheri, move!” Deadblood hissed, leveling the shotgun in that direction, ready to fire at a moment’s notice.
“Yes, Sheri. Move. It makes the chase much more interesting!”
