47. Chapter Forty-Seven

When Nicole arrived on scene, Eric was already there leaning against the hood of his squad car and writing something in his notepad. He looked up when she stepped out of her car, slamming the door shut behind her.

He shoved his notepad in the front pocket of his shirt and pushed off his car, walking towards her in a few long strides, his face breaking out in a wide grin.

“Man, it’s good to see your ugly mug.” He pulled her into a tight hug, nearly knocking her stetson off her head and into the dirt at their feet.

After tilting her stetson up on her head a bit to keep it from falling, she hugged Eric back just as tightly, burying her face in the crook of his neck, momentarily forgetting that they were at a crime scene.

He smelled of Old Spice and the terrible sludge Nedley tried to pass off as coffee at the station and Nicole didn’t realize how much she missed it, missed Eric until that moment.

She wasn’t gone that long, a little over a week but she had spent nearly every day since she moved to Purgatory with Eric by her side and not seeing him, not talking to him had felt odd.

Eric pulled out of their embrace and placed his hands on her shoulders, looking her over.

“Glad to see those stitches and brace gone,” he smiled at her.

“Yeah, Trent took the stitches out for me last night.” She rubbed at the healed but scarred cut at her hairline.

His eyes skimmed over her once more, eyebrows drawn together in confusion. “You look good, look happy but something seems off.”

Nicole rolled her eyes at him as he let go of her shoulders and stroked his chin as if thinking deeply about what seemed off about her.

“Aha!” He snapped his fingers and grinned as if he solved some big mystery. “Your uniform is buttoned all the way.”

Nicole’s right hand came up, fingers touching the top two buttons on her uniform shirt as he smirked at her. She pulled at her collar, hating how tight it felt around her neck but she knew that she had to leave it completely buttoned with the hickeys Waverly left behind.

Eric’s eyes widened as did his smirk and Nicole knew that he caught a glimpse of the marks on her neck and she groaned knowing that he would tease her endlessly for them, just like Trent had.

Thankfully Sheriff Nedley picked that exact moment to park his car in between theirs, stopping whatever Eric was about to say.

“We’re talking about this later,” Eric said pointing his index finger at her before pulling his notepad out of his pocket. “Just keep those things covered. The Sheriff may give us a lot of leeway regarding our uniforms but he hates hickeys. Which has to do with Chrissy coming home with one too many as a teenager.”

Nicole’s hand shot up to her neck again as panic coursed through her, frantically pulling at her collar to make sure it was covering the hickeys.

She was still a rookie and while Eric and Nedley had been great as well as the other guys on the force, she was still a woman in a male dominant field and the last she wanted to do was come off as unprofessional.

She wanted, needed to be the type of officer her grandpa had been. Professional and respected, tough on people when the need arises but most of all she needed, wanted to be caring and compassionate. She needed to be the officer the people of Purgatory knew they could count on for anything, that would have their backs and protect them against all odds.

In that moment Nicole made a silent promise to herself. That in uniform she would be Officer Haught, not Nicole. She would be professional and level headed, she would do her best to keep her emotions in check and she would look professional head to toe. She would be the best damn deputy Nedley has ever had.

Her panic must have shown on her face because Eric’s hands were on her shoulders, squeezing lightly and he was giving her a reassuring smile.

“They're covered, you're fine.”

Nicole fixed her stetson so it was sitting right on her head and stood up straight, squaring her shoulders as the Sheriff got out of his car and made his way over to them.

“Are you two done gossiping like a bunch of school girls? Or can we get to work?” Nedley asked, voice filled with anger, frustration that Nicole knew was more directed at whoever, whatever killed Megan Halshford more than them but that didn’t stop worry from shooting through Nicole.

“I’ve already cleared the scene Sir,” Eric said almost casually as if they were talking about nothing more than the weather. “I’ve already called the coroner, crime scene techs and even Deputy Marshal Dolls. They should all be here in the next fifteen minutes. It’s a waiting game now.”

“How about we do our job and look over the scene before they get here,” Nedley said with narrowed eyes, making a sweeping motions with his hands towards the house. “Haught, you’ll be the liaison between us and Black Badge.”

“Yes, Sir.”

This was what she wanted, working alongside BBD and helping them stop the weird and supernatural things going on in town and now that she actually had the opportunity to do so, she was nervous, scared that she’d screw up and let Sheriff Nedley down or worse get someone killed.

Eric started towards the house and before Nicole could follow him, a large hand on her shoulder stopped her.

Sheriff Nedley gave her a small smile and dropped his hand. “It’s good to have you back, Haught.”

Nicole returned his smile. “Thank you Sir, it’s good to be back.”

They walked side by side up the uneven brick walkway leading up to the porch steps, where Eric was waiting for them.

“You’ve been through a lot lately, Haught so if you need a break, a minute to collect yourself, take it,” Nedley said, lifting the crime scene tape up enough for her to duck under before following after her.

“Yes, Sir.” Nicole nodded, walking ahead off Eric and opening the front door and stepping inside.

The first thing Nicole noticed was the scarves, sheets and blankets covering every picture frame, every mirror in the front room, except for the one off to the side that Megan’s body was lying in front off with the words ‘repent sinners’ written in blood.

A shiver ran down Nicole’s spine as she took in the scene, the body. Before now David was the only dead body Nicole had ever seen and she didn’t see herself getting used to seeing them anytime soon.

She didn’t want to get used to seeing them, to seeing the people of Purgatory dying left and right, whether it be at the hands of Revenants or not.

She pulled her notebook out of her shirt pocket along with her pen, cataloging the things she saw. The lack of forced entry on the front door and front windows. The lack of blood splatter on the mirror and surrounding area. The undisturbed pool of blood around the body.

Nicole bent down next to the body to get a closer look at the cut on her neck, careful not to step in any of the blood pooling around her, careful not to contaminate the scene.

“What do you think, Haught?” Nedley asked from where he and Eric stood behind her, looking over her shoulder but allowing her to take point.

“It’s a clean cut, no hesitation marks. Just one quick cut from one side of her neck to the other. They didn’t step in any of the blood, didn’t leave any droplets of blood leading away from the body, didn’t seem to touch anything other than that mirror and her. Whoever did this knew what they were doing.”

“You’re good.”

Nicole turned her head towards the door to find Deputy Marshal Dolls standing by the door, not wearing his usual suit but instead a brown leather jacket with a red henley underneath and black jeans.

It was a weird look on him that had Nicole doing a double take. She was so used to seeing him in his suits.

“I’m observant,” Nicole said standing up and turning to face the Marshal.

“Sheriff, Officer Haught and I will take over from here. There’s civilians and reporters already outside, keep them at bay.”

Nedley mumbled something under his breath with a glare to Dolls before him and Eric left the house.

Dolls stepped in front of Nicole, looking her up and down with a look of disdain. Nicole just stood there with her head held high, unaffected by the look.

She knew that Dolls didn’t care for her and she wasn’t looking to change that at the moment. She just wanted to do her job, protect the people of Purgatory and the Earps. She didn’t need Deputy Marshal Dolls to like her, didn’t need his approval to do just that.

“You follow my lead, you take your cues from me and you do not tell Sheriff Nedley anything without running it by me first, do I make myself clear, Officer Haught?” Dolls asked, voice hard and one eyebrow raised.

“Crystal Sir.” Nicole answered, giving him a tight lipped smile.

“Then let’s get to work.”

“Repent Sinners. Written in blood. Good times.”

Nicole glanced up from the tablet she was using to take pictures with to Wynonna. “Totally.”

“Mhm,” Dolls hummed writing away in his little black notebook. “Neighbor found the body and Nedley is outside keeping the rubberneckers at bay. He’s slowly learning how this works.”

Nicole rolled her eyes but said nothing. It wasn’t so much that Nedley was learning how things with Black Badge works, it was more that he was going to do whatever it took to keep the people of his town safe even if that meant handing cases over.

And while Nicole may have orders from Dolls not to tell Nedley anything without his say so, if something came up that she thought he needed to know, she’d tell him. consequences be damned.

Dolls kneeled down next to the body, pulling back the white sheet the conor placed over it. “And I haven’t seen this much blood since Kandahar.”

“What were you doing in Iraq?” Wynonna asked, stopping her pacing to look at Dolls.

“Afghanistan,” Nicole corrected without much thought, though neither of them really paid her much attention.

She wondered if this was what Waverly felt like when working with the two of them. Invisible, unimportant, not needed. God, she hoped they didn’t make Waverly feel like that.

Waverly had spent so much of her childhood, so much of her teenage years feeling invisible, unimportant, feeling like she wasn't needed and she didn't deserve to feel that way now.

Nicole wouldn't let her, wouldn't let anyone make Waverly feel that way.

Suppressing a sigh, she closed the tablet’s cover and stood, looking around the room for anything she might have missed.

She wanted to be thorough. She wanted to do a good job and find this guy as quickly as possible before anyone else got hurt, got killed.

“I’m gonna get you a map and I’m not at liberty to discuss.”

“You brought it up.” Wynonna looked back at Nicole with a is he serious look and Nicole just shrugged in response as Wynonna pulled back the sheet to get a look at the body as well. “God Damn. Megan Halshford.”

“Friend of yours?” Dolls asked as Nicole opened up the tablet again, taking a few pictures of the covered picture frames and mirrors.

She wasn't sure why they were covered, she wasn’t even sure if it was important to the case but if it turned out it was important, if it turned out to be a detail they needed to understand what the hell happened here, to understand the person or thing that did this then she wanted to have it on hand for later.

“Hell, no. Couldn’t stand her.” Wynonna said with a shake of her head. Though her words seemed harsh, Nicole noticed her tone was not. She sounded remorseful, so different from the woman calling this ‘good times’ minutes before.

“Alright,” Dolls stood, pocketing his notebook. “We’ve learned all we can here, let’s go back to the station and regroup. See if Waverly has anything on a Revenant that kills like this.”

“Megan Halshford?” Waverly asked, palms flat on the table in front of her. “Awwww. I always loved her.”

Nicole sat down at the table, off to Waverly’s left, straightening her files and opening up the crime scene photos on the tablet as Dolls perched himself on the other side of the table, watching her from the corner of his eye.

Nicole ignored him and focused on the board of fading yellow photos behind Waverly, each with a name underneath them and some even had a brief description pinned under their names of what Nicole assumed to be how they died or the crimes they committed while still human.

It was impressive, the amount of information Waverly had uncovered on the lives of men who lived in the 1800s. Nicole couldn’t even begin to fathom how much time it had taken, how hard it must have been to track down every bit of information pinned on those boards.

Did Wynonna and Dolls realize how lucky they were to have Waverly and all of her research? Did they know that Waverly and her research not only saved them time in identifying a Revenant but also saved lives?

Did Waverly know how valuable not only her research was but s he was to BBD as well?

“You didn’t know her like I did.”

Wynonna’s voice pulled Nicole from her thoughts and she turned her attention from the boards back to the conversation at hand.

“Waverly, do you know any Revenants that leave messages like that?” Dolls mentioned for the tablet Nicole was holding and she passed it over to Waverly.

Waverly scoffed as if she couldn’t believe he was question the depth of her research and zoomed in on the photo, her face taking on a look of excitement that she always seem to have whenever she got the chance to talk about her research.

Nicole couldn’t stop herself from staring at Waverly, at the passion burning in soft eyes, at the excited grin on her face, at the way she seemed to be buzzing with excited but nervous energy.

She was in her element and she was beautiful. It left Nicole in awe and she had to fight to keep from grinning like a lovesick fool because somehow Waverly was hers, her girlfriend, her best friend, her everything .

“Do I,” Waverly sat the tablet down on the table, sliding it back over to Nicole before turning her back on them and pointing at one of the photos. “ Father Robert Malick. A hellfire revivalist known to rail against women, demanding they repent. Wyatt hung Malick for murdering his wife and his girlfriend and some hookers too.”

“Any idea where this guy is so I can shoot him in his dong?”

“Don’t know,” Waverly shrugged. “Hiding like the rest of ‘em?”

“Maybe try the trailer park,” Nicole suggested drawing random patterns on the table with her fingers. Feeling eyes on her she looked up, sitting up straight in her chair when she realized everyone was staring at her.

“Robert is in charge right? King of the Revenants or whatever he calls himself,” Nicole rubbed the back of her neck. “He’s at the trailer park, it makes sense that he’d have other Revenants around for protection or to do his bidding.”

“Robert? You call Bobo Robert?” Wynonna asked, a grin already making it's way onto her face as she reached for a powdered doughnut from the box in the middle of the table.

A box of doughnuts Nicole was pretty sure had been in the break room this morning.

“It pisses him off,” Nicole couldn't help the grin that took over but quickly fell. “Which now I realize probably isn't a good thing.”

“Oh yeah, it’s fucking stupid to piss Bobo off,” Wynonna took a bite of the doughnut, grinning around the fried dough in her mouth, powdered sugar on the tip of her nose. “But also awesome.”

Wynonna held up her hand for a high five which Nicole gladly gave her, grinning at Waverly when she rolled her eyes at the pair with a shake of her head, trying to fight off a smile but losing the battle.

Any type of good feeling Nicole felt in that moment was short lived when Dolls folded his arms across his chest and narrowed his eyes at her. His distrust for her rolling off him in waves, making Nicole shift uncomfortably in her seat.

“How do you know he’s at the trailer park?”

Nicole gave a nervous chuckle and rubbed at the back of her neck again, her left leg bouncing under the table. “I uh, I was sorta running my own investigation on the strange things happening here and it led me to the trailer park.”

There was no way she would drag Eric into this, especially since the investigation had been her idea in the first place and he had only went along with it because she was a rookie and he didn’t want her getting hurt.

“Your investigation is over and you’ll turn over any evidence you uncovered,” Dolls ordered, his tone leaving no room for any argument.

Not that Nicole was going to argue. She didn’t have that much evidence to begin with, plus she had gotten what she wanted. She was apart of the team, she knew what weird shit was going down in Purgatory and she would be able to help stop it.

“Of course,” Nicole nodded and that seemed to satisfy Dolls for now as he and Wynonna started packing up, presumably to head to the trailer park.

“You’re dismissed, Officer Haught.” Dolls said over his shoulder, not even bothering to look at her.

Nicole nodded again though he couldn’t see and stood from the table, staring to gather her stuff and doing her best to not let her disappointment show.

She foolishly thought she’d be able to go with them, be able to help them track this Father Malick down, be able to put all her training to use for once.

She should have known it wasn’t going to happen, not today, maybe not ever if she doesn’t gain Dolls’ trust.

“Oooh, hey!” Waverly said excitement running through her once more, causing her to bounce in place. “Uh, I was kind of wondering if I could tag along with you guys today.”

Nicole saw the hesitation on Wynonna’s face before Waverly even had a chance to finish her sentence.

“Uh, don’t you have to work?” Wynonna asked, her eyes cutting back and forth between Dolls and her sister.

“Well, you know it’s super slow.” Waverly looked from Wynonna to Dolls, a hopeful smile beginning to form. “And Gus said I could. Plus seeing as I’ve done all the research, you know, I know what questions to ask.”

She made some had moments at the boards beside her that smile never weavering.

Had that smile been pointed at Nicole, had those hopeful hazel eyes been directed at her, Nicole would have said yes in a heartbeat. Would have given Waverly whatever she wanted but they weren’t and she could already see Dolls getting ready to shut her down.

“I think we got this.” He gave her a tight lipped smile that looked more like a grimace to Nicole before leaving the room.

“Sure,” Waverly sighed, her disappointment coloring her features and Nicole wanted nothing more than to go over there and hug her but she didn’t.

She was in uniform and she wasn’t going to break the promise she made to herself within a few hours. Though she really, really wanted to.

“I’ll catch you guys later,” Nicole tucked her tablet and notebook under her arm, reaching for the box of doughnuts and pulling out the last sprinkled one. “Be careful out there, Earp and let me know how it goes.”

Waverly rounded the table, placing her hand at the small of Nicole’s back and pushing up on her tippy toes, beautiful full lips puckered for kiss that Nicole desperately wanted to give her but wouldn’t.

She stepped back and away from Waverly touch, swallowing down guilt at the hurt and confusion that flashed in Waverly’s eyes.

“I’m sorry,” Nicole mumbled, hightailing it out of the room, trying to shake the look on Waverly’s from her mind but she knew it was useless. That look of hurt would forever be burned in her mind.

Nicole was writing Jackie Anderson, a middle age woman Nicole had only met a few times, a speeding ticket when the call came over the radio about a body found in one of Shorty’s bathroom.

Nicole’s heart stopped beating for a few seconds, bile rose up her throat, burning every inch of the way up as she hastily finished the ticket. Her usually neat handwriting sloppy and almost unreadable as imagies of Waverly lying on the dirty bathroom floor came to mind.

She tore the ticket off her pad and thrusted it along with Jackie’s drivers license through the open window of the car, not waiting for her to grab ahold of the items before she released them and spirited back to her car.

“Dispatch, Officer Haught and Mills responding to call,” Eric spoke into the radio as Nicole slid into the driver seat, not bothering to put her seatbelt on as she put the car in drive and sped down mainstreet towards Shorty’s.

Eric gripped the handle above the passenger side door tightly and spoke through gritted teeth. “I don’t know why I always let you drive. One of these days you’re gonna kill us.”

Nicole rolled her eyes and park the squad car next to Waverly's jeep, that ball of dread and fear and worry in the pit of her stomach growing with each passing second.

Would it always be like this? Would she always think that Waverly was in danger? That she was hurt? Would she always be plagued by this uneasy, gut twisting feeling every time a call came over the wire?

Was that worry, that fear and dread, that tightness in her chest that made it feel like she couldn’t breath until she saw that Waverly was safe, was all that the price of knowing about the Earp curse, knowing about Revenants?

It was a price she was more than willing to pay but she wondered how it would wear on her sanity. Would she be able to handle the worry, the stress of it all or would it slowly drive her to her breaking point?

Nicole was out of the car as soon as it was in park, leaving the keys in the ignition and Eric behind. In that moment nothing else mattered other than getting to Waverly, seeing that Waverly was okay with her own two eyes.

She burst through the saloon doors, eyes darting to the bar for Waverly but only finding Gus.

“Gus.” She rushed forward on autopilot, her fear and anxiety making itself known in the shakiness of her voice.

The usual hard lines of Gus’ face softened as Nicole approached her, the old scratched and water spot bar the only thing separating them.

“She's fine, Nicole.” Gus said softly, squeezing Nicole’s hand softly. “She’s in the men’s bathroom with Wynonna and the Deputy Marshal.”

The weight that had been bearing down on her chest finally lifted, making it easier for her to draw a breath in.

Nicole took a few seconds to collect herself before she made her way to the men’s bathroom, pushing the door open and finding Waverly and Dolls standing over Wynonna, who was kneeling next to a body and pool of blood.

“There’s a face I didn’t want to see again,” Wynonna said standing up and moving to stand next to Waverly, nodding at Nicole in lue of a greeting. “Jay Novak, my probation officer.”

Waverly look back at her briefly, that confusion and hurt from earlier still present in her eyes and Nicole wished she could go back, stop herself from hurting Waverly.

All she could do now was find the time to get Waverly alone and apologize, explain why she had backed away, why she rejected Waverly’s kiss and hope that Waverly would understand.

“Why would your friend Henry kill him?” Dolls asked, turning away from the ‘ Repent sinners’ written on the mirror in blood.

Nicole focused on the task at hand, stepping closer to the Jay’s body and noting any similarities with the victim this morning.

Dolls nodded at her as she knelt next to the body, pulling latex gloves from her belt and slipping them on so she could get a closer look at the cut along Jay’s neck.

“He didn’t.” Wynonna argued. Her belief, her trust in ‘Henry’ clear as day.

Nicole hasn’t had the chance to meet ‘Henry’, to meet Doc Holliday. So she couldn’t say whether or not he actually did this but knowing the things he’s done, Nicole was leaning towards him being a strong suspect.

“Yeah, well he was the only one in here,” Waverly said, arms crossed over her chest, voice hard and angry.

Nicole wasn’t sure if Waverly’s anger was directed at her or if she actually believed that Doc could have done this and was pissed that Wynonna couldn’t see it.

“Yeah, but we know he’s not a revenant and the killer has to be.”

“I still don’t trust him.” Waverly mumbled but in the quiet bathroom both Nicole and Dolls heard her.

Nicole didn’t blame Waverly for not trusting Doc, not after he had taken a shot at her. Something Waverly had waited until they were far from Purgatory, far from Doc to tell Nicole.

It was a smart move on Waverly’s part because she had freaked, she had been ready to turn around and drive right back to Purgatory and kick Doc’s ass or put him in jail or something .

Time in her hometown had almost made her forget about the whole thing. Almost. There was still a part of her that wanted to nail Doc’s ass to wall for shooting at Waverly.

“Why not?” Dolls questioned, looking over Jay’s body once more. “What are you two not telling me about your friend Henry?”

When neither of the Earps answered him, Dolls turned to her. “Okay. Guess I’ll find out for myself. Officer Haught, arrest mister Henry.”