The four of us became extremely close. It was nice to have another couple to hang out with on the weekends. Sarah and Manda planned Friday evenings full of drunken board games. If Casey happened to be dating someone, they came too. Caleb and I later ended up being partnered together at work, and eventually, he became my best friend. Even when he and Manda were in an "off phase," Caleb would still meet me at the hole in the wall bar down the street to watch whatever sport was in season.
April 18, 2009 was the day the world came crashing down on our picture perfect little group. The four of us had decided to go out for dinner at our favorite pizza joint. Westies had the most delicious deep dish Chicago pizza you have ever tasted, and the cheap beer didn't hurt either. We went there almost weekly for years, but I've never been back since that night. Caleb and I got called away on a case, and Sarah and Manda decided to stay and finish dinner.
"Got to go, babe," I say to Sarah while nodding to Caleb across the table. "Seems they found Mrs. Reynolds alive and well, shacked up with her pool boy."
"Oh my God, Brett. Isn't she like seventy-five years old?" Manda asks in disgust from across the table.
"Seventy-eight, actually. But we need to go close this one out. It shouldn't take long, we just need to see her wrinkly face and take a statement that she was never really missing. Seven million pages of paperwork all because granny got horny."
The girls let out loud “Ewws” in unison while Caleb and I stood to leave.
"I'll meet you back at the house, sweetheart." I leaned forward, kissing Sarah's forehead while tucking a stray blonde hair behind her ear.
"Okay, y'all be careful. Love you, babe."
"I love you too."
We both kissed the girls one last time, clueless to the fact that in less than two hours one of them would be dead, and the other would be lost forever.
WE WERE talking to Mrs. Reynolds when our pagers started going off. I excused myself to the other room, while Caleb continued to take her statement. The words scrolling across the screen marked the end of what I knew to be my life, and would haunt my dreams for years to come.
Single Car accident on I290 near Damen Ave. One fatality and one seriously injured. Silver Honda, 2 women mid 20's. Det's Jones and Sharp required on scene immediately.
"Caleb!" I cry, bolting toward the car as the words one fatality flash behind my eyelids with each blink. I jump into the car dialing Sarah's number, hoping for a miracle. I am desperate to hear her sleepy voice pick up the phone, while she lays tucked safely in our bed. Her voicemail picks up and my heart drops to my stomach.
"Oh shit! This is not happening," I whisper to myself. Taking a deep breath and scrubbing my hands across my face, I try to pull myself together enough to drive.
My head starts to swirl with scenarios that would leave them both completely unharmed. Maybe they just got carried away talking and are still hanging at Westies. Maybe they went to see a movie after dinner. There's a bar just two doors down from the restaurant, maybe they went there. I pick up my phone to call her one more time, praying this time she will answer. In my gut, I know it’s just wishful thinking. One fatality and one injury. I start the car, barely slowing down as Caleb jumps inside.
"It's not them, Brett."
"Did Manda answer her phone?"
"No, but I just know it. It's not them."
"It's them. I can feel it," I say, staring straight ahead and weaving through oncoming traffic.
"Shut the fuck up, It's not them goddamn it!"
"Silver Honda, two women in their mid-twenties, on the exact route they would take home?" I say with an eerie calm to my voice.
"It's not fucking them!" Caleb screams at the top of his lungs while punching the dashboard. He then grabs his phone frantically trying to call every patrol cop he has on speed dial. But no one answers his calls.
We drive the rest of the way in silence. One fatality and one injury. A few miles out from the accident, I stop hoping that it isn't them in that car. Instead I do the most horribly selfish thing I will ever do in this lifetime. One fatality and one injury. Looking over at Caleb sitting with his head in his hands, I don't feel one bit of guilt as I start praying it's Manda who is dead.
When Caleb and I arrive at the scene, there are ambulances everywhere. I could see Sarah's car folded in half around a tree. It took everything I had not to throw up at the very sight. I'm not sure how either one of them could survive a wreck that severe.
My car barely slowed before Caleb was out running toward the mangled heap of metal. I wasn't but five steps behind him. Off in the wood line, I could see the sheet covering what I knew to be a body.
"Oh God, please. Please don't let that be her." I chant to myself making my way to the wood line.
As I squeeze between police cars and ambulances, I'm suddenly shoved from the side and fall into an open ambulance. Dave Young, a street cop I knew from the academy and the only man on the force bigger than me, shoves me the rest of the way into the empty ambulance. He quickly shuts the door and yells for the driver to go.