bsumone | ❝ Nobody knows where you’re going ❞

"So the usual for one of those places." He was familiar with how they worked having been to more than one for work as well as having seen some when he was growing up. Looking around, he noticed that the place was not only close but that no one was working near it. His gut was telling him to suspect this place. Or rather, someone working in this place.

It was going to take more than a day to properly investigate it. Especially on his own if he didn't want to draw attention to himself. The killer could be there and he didn't want to spook whoever it was.

No, he needed a good idea of who it was and then he needed a plan. He'd check out the other places too but his gut had never led him astray so far.

"A place that actually cares. I know what you mean."

"Yeah. This one's a favorite. It's got the most space for sleepin' and they have breakfast for the people who stay." He's not sure where they get their funding from, that sort of thing never mattered to Dal. This place doesn't turn anyone away unless they're behaving erratically. They don't seem eager to put their wards in danger. Some of the other shelters don't seem to care quite as much. But this one is like a beating heart for a lot of people who live and work in this neighborhood.

"I think most of the people workin' here go to the church. You might be able to get some information about which one it is specifically." Or, you know, just check out the signage as they get closer: City Hope Fellowship.

That meant they were getting funding from someone with power. That matched with what he'd been suspecting before. So this place was a good bet for hunting grounds even if he was sure the killing grounds were somewhere else. Studying the signs, he noted the name. City Hope Fellowship. He knew where that was and it wasn't far from here. Easy for them to travel back and forth and so on. He nodded as he glanced around at people lining up for supplies and such.

Looked really organized. This was prime hunting grounds if all those lists and documents he was seeing were up to date with names. Gabriel smiled at his good luck here. He was glad he'd started talking to Dal in the first place.

"You're really amazing, Dal. This is just what I was looking for."

"I've been around here for a while. If I see someone new, 'specially someone young, I point 'em this way. It's real safe around here," comparatively. There are no drug dealers in sight! Dal's not sure how or why they stay away, but they do.

"The people who work here are real nice. They'll probably talk to you if you wanna ask 'em questions. If not, I might just pop in for a few things."

"Get what you need, Dal. I can go ask around and see what I can learn. No need to wait for me, alright? I'll be seeing you around. With more sandwiches, of course." He reached into his bag and got out that blanket. It was for Dal, after all. No point in him keeping it.

"In case your building gets cold."

A shy sort of smile curled his lips as he took the blanket. He only had one, which was hard to deal with in the winter if the heat went out. So having an extra was a good thing. Dal got cold pretty easily, someone else told him once it's because he's so skinny. He's not so sure about that, but extra warmth is always appreciated, especially in the colder months of the year.

"Thanks," he added before wandering off and disappearing through the shelter doors. Never mind that little pep in his step. He's easily moved when people are nice to him. He got what he needed -- some fresh socks and a few handfuls of condoms thrown in a plastic shopping bag -- and headed back to his room to drop the bag off before heading back out to work.

For a while, things seem pretty normal. Other than that whole serial killer thing. Dal didn't hear or see anything unusual. Until a few weeks later when he noticed a familiar face absent from his block. When he asked around and found out no one else had seen him since the day before... Dal fished out his phone to text Gabriel.

someone I knows missing
noones seen him since day before

He went on with his painfully punctuation-free typing to describe the guy and give him a name. Tommy. That's all he knew, no last name. They may have shared a block, but they didn't share personal details. Tommy was a little older than him, he figured, and they'd often chat about work and the people they see. There was quite a bit of overlap in their customers. It made for interesting chatter over coffee at four in the morning.

Surely if a new body was discovered, the word would be out by now. Dread built up in his heart, and he spent a good part of the night checking out the shelters and flop houses to see if he could find Tommy. He kept texting Gabriel updates with each stop. He started losing hope that maybe he was just sick or laid up.

Gabriel was immediately on it. He didn't have high hopes here and was sure that they weren't going to find Tommy until it was too late. What made this worse was that he knew who Tommy was. That was the young man who loved cheese on his sandwiches but hated mustard. Who didn't need a blanket because he ran hot but he'd make sure someone who needed it got the blanket. He was a good one.

Texting back he made sure that Dal knew he was looking into it. And the first thing he saw when he got to the office was a list. The list of names of those who visited the shelter regularly since the killings started.

Tommy's name was on there. As were the other names. This was the place. This was it. Immediately, he started looking further but it was too late. He got a call from the police about finding the body and the picture they sent him told him everything he needed to know. Tommy was the new victim. Drowned just like the rest.

The next day he went to the various groups to deliver the news. He was up front with them about their friend and he offered comfort to anyone who needed it. More than that he assured them that he'd found the hunting grounds and he would find the killer before anyone else fell. Gabriel's eyes swore it.

After making sure that everyone had food and water, he went to head back to his hotel. There were lists he had to look over. Volunteers to sort through to make sure that he found a list of suspects.

Tommy was one of the closest things to a friend Dal had. Losing him was like a kick in the stomach. Just hearing the news punched the air right out of his lungs. It made working tough that first night after... Everyone was on edge and Dal spent most of the night like a limp fish. Muscle memory took care of everything he needed to do while his mind went blank. Besides that, most of these guys just wanted a quick fuck in their cars, so it didn't matter much if Dal was pretending to be into it or not.

To make matters work, his heart sank as he walked up the Chinese restaurant he lived above. All the doors were gated and locked. Looks like the owners were out of town again and conveniently forgot to tell Dal beforehand. Which meant the bag with his belongings was locked up inside, too. He thought about walking the rest of the way toward the shelter when the sky opened up and started pouring. Dal was already socked by the time he found an awning to hide under.

With shaking hands, he finally reached into his inside coat pocket to contact... Gabriel. That's the only person he could think of. He just hoped the guy was awake. It wasn't even quite four in the morning yet.

hey u awake
locked out could use some help

Gabriel had been asleep but when he heard his phone he was awake right away. Grabbing his glasses, he put them on and squinted. Ah that was Dal. He knew his number now after that text to let him know about the missing friend. Reading it, he called Dal back as he grabbed his keys and room key. No way was he having him walk here.

"Dal? Where are you? Give me your cross streets and I'll pick you up."

He hit the button for the elevator to head down to the garage to get his car.

Cross streets were no problem. Dal had a good sense of this neighborhood since he'd been working it for the last eight years. Since he wasn't at his building, he didn't mind rattling off the address on the building he was at either.

Even though he's been out of the rain, he's soaked and shivering violently by the time Gabriel gets there. It's a little weird watching the headlights turn down the mostly empty street, moving a slow crawl (probably so Gabriel can see the numbers on the buildings), then pulling to a stop in front of him. Weird knowing exactly who was going to be in that car and that nothing was going to be expected of him when he got inside.

As soon as he saw him shivering, he aimed the vents at him and turned the heat up before he started to drive back down the streets to his hotel. He even shrugged off his own jacket, revealing he was just in some sleep pants and a t-shirt. A sign he'd been in bed when he'd been contacted. Handing the jacket over, Gabriel kept his eyes on the road.

"Here. It's warm at least. We'll see about getting you out of those wet clothes and into a robe when we get to my room." A shower too to warm him up.

It's almost comical how he's pouting. It looked like he might cry.

"I don't even have my toothbrush... It's all locked up," he muttered. Unlike some of his cohorts, Dal didn't keep his belongings with him while he worked. Everything he had fit into a duffle back and he kept that safely locked away in his room. His room, that he paid for and didn't have access to yet again.

He draped Gabriel's jacket over himself, nestling into the warmth of it. "I was gonna head to the shelter then the rain started." A veritable downpour! How anyone can drive in it, he had no idea.

"Did I wake you?"

"I'll get you a toothbrush and you can use my toothpaste. You can have the bed too."

Laughing softly though, Gabriel shrugged. Yeah, he'd been asleep after a late night of working on the case. But that didn't matter here. "You called and needed help. It doesn't matter if I was asleep or not."

He wasn't someone who cared about what time of day it was. If someone needed him then that was what mattered the most. "I have leftovers from my lunch that I can heat up for you to eat if you're hungry."

Once again, his stomach answered for him. Beneath Gabriel’s jacket, Dal clasped his hands over it as if to urge it to quiet. “A little hungry,” he murmured sheepishly.

For a moment, he’s silent, just staring ahead and listening to the heat humming through the vents. And grateful for Gabriel’s attentiveness. The last time he brought sandwiches, Dal noted his didn’t have crust. This guy really paid attention to others. And before he knew it, there were tears.

“He suffered, didn’t he?”

Edited 2023-03-22 09:15 (UTC)

He made a note to heat up his food in the microwave. Not gourmet but it didn't have to be. Just a leftover burrito. Nothing compared to what his mom could make but that was what he expected from all Mexican food in the city. There just wasn't anything good here and he'd come to accept that.

At the question Gabriel was quiet for a moment. Then he offered his hand over to him without looking. A way to offer him support.

"In the greater sense of the word? No. He didn't suffer." Death by drowning was never pleasant but the way things had looked the gesture had been almost...kind. It was complicated to explain and the best way to put it was just that he didn't really suffer.

His hands poked out from under Gabriel's jacket, still trembling though maybe not entirely from the chill. Those thin fingers clutched at the agent's hand while Dal tried not to lose it completely. It's one thing to hear people are going missing, getting killed. It's another entirely when it happens to someone you know. It suddenly became less of an abstract thing.

Dal couldn't stop thinking about it, though. Poor Tommy, alone and terrified in his last desperate moments. Dal always figured he'd die alone but... He shook his head and pulled one hand from Gabriel's to rub his sleeve over his eyes.

"I didn't see him leave with anyone unusual. I thought he was goin' somewhere to crash for a while. He said goodnight and headed off. And then he never came back."

And he knew now that he'd found that shelter. The favorite of everyone on those blocks. He even had a short list of people that might be the killer now. He just needed a plan to get close to those people and figure out who it was. Basically he needed bait and he hated that.

Squeezing his hand, Gabriel did his best to reassure him. He had this. He'd get it figured out and ask these people would be safe finally. As safe as they could be given their positions.

"If I can do what I need to then Tommy is the last one this killer will ever get. I swear that."

Somehow, that squeeze made him feel a little better. He believed it when Gabriel said he would find this killer and make them all that much safer. He never believed it when the cops said things like that because he'd seen too much of their disdain. When people like him were victims of anything, the cops always called it a 'no humans involved' sort of case.

"Do you know who he is? If he has anyone here?" He meant Tommy, of course. He didn't know the guy's circumstances or even his last name. Just that they exchanged small talk on the regular and worked the same block for the last couple years. "Even if he didn't get on well with 'em, if he has family they deserve to know he's gone."

"I know him. I have his file and I'm looking into who his family is and if he has anyone." Including if it would be safe and honoring him to contact them. But that was for him to figure out. He'd take care of it so Dal wouldn't have to worry.

Taking his hand back to get his key out for the parking garage, he got them parked then led them to the elevator. There he glanced at the man next to him and rested a hand on his shoulder. Giving him a smile, he nodded then led him to his room.

"Bathroom is there and there's a fresh robe in there. I'll heat up the food and you can have the bed. The couch is fine for me."

Never mind that the bed clearly showed signs that he'd been in it before he came to get Dal.

In truth, Dal was still feeling pretty numb. So he didn't say much or even look around as they made their way inside. He snapped out of his daze when Gabriel finally spoke and he directed his eyes wherever the agent indicated.

"You sure? I don't mind the couch. It looks pretty comfy."

"Well then I should sleep well on it."

Gabriel gave him another smile then went to move his things away from the bed. Thinking about it actually. "What charger does your phone use?"

He has to think about the question for a minute. "Um, one of those USB chargers... The small kinds." He meant a USB A-to-C cable. "It's a Samsung, if that helps." He fished the phone out of his pocket and held it out so Gabriel could see it.

"Um, you mind if I shower?" He was still cold and wet and wanted to warm up before wrapping himself in a dry robe and some blankets.

"If you hand me your phone I'll start charging it and you can enjoy your shower." So yes he could go shower. He didn't mind and even encouraged it. Gabriel smile and waited until he had the phone to plug in before he went to get comfortable on the couch, putting away files so that way he wasn't exposing things to Dal. That done, he got up again to microwave the food. And grab a bottle of water for his company.

Those were set on the table and he got out a book to read while he waited for the other to come back out.

Usually, Dal wasn't long in the shower. He's used to having lukewarm water, at best, so he's mastered the art of washing in just a couple of minutes. Tonight was different, though. The hotel had hot water aplenty. And Dal turned the heat up until the water beating down on him turned his skin red and steam filled the bathroom and then some.

He spent a solid twenty minutes or more in there before the water finally shut off. Dal felt a little better once he stepped out, dried off, and wrapped himself up in the fluffy hotel robe. At least the chill was out of his bones. He made certain he was wrapped up tight before he stepped out of the bathroom. The last thing he wanted was to give the impression he was trying to get a little something-something out of Gabriel.

The scent of the burrito hit him instantly. And since he wasn't working, he didn't care what was in it! His face lit up a little at the sight of it and he snatched it up before taking a seat beside Gabriel.

"Thanks for this. I'll try not to be a bother."

Setting his book aside, he shook his head. "You're not a bother, Dal. You can stay here until your place gets unlocked. I don't mind. Think of it like a friend having your back."

Letting himself relax, he turned the TV on to some random feel good late night movie. It didn't matter that it was the middle of it. This was just to let the man next to him have some semblance of safety for a little bit.

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