Good Cop, Dead Cop

The door opened in its entirety and Louis became aware of a sudden drop in temperature. He shuddered lightly as he noted the sudden blast of cold air cleaving through the daytime heat. Louis narrowed his eyes and focussed his eyes into the darkness beyond the doorway and watched.

Ken Parker strode out into the sunlight and walked towards the passenger side of the car. Dressed impeccably as always in uniform just as he always did, he screwed his eyes up against the sunlight and took a moment to pull a pair of sunglasses from his breast pocket. He slipped them on and reached for the door handle, quickly easing himself into his seat.

Ken turned to Louis and smiled "Morning Lou, how’ve you been keeping?"

Louis sucked in a breath and regarded his friend and partner of five years. In the brief moments he allowed himself to stare, he was bemused by the similarities and differences in his appearance.

Ken still looked like the same 32 year old man he had looked like before things had changed. He still combed his dark hair neatly in a parting to the right, his face still carried the familiar laughter lines and the slight scar under the chin which he had carried with him since the playground.

He was still Ken but for some reason he wasn’t entirely Ken. Louis always remembered him for his flushed complexion, for the beads of sweat that always appeared on his top lip even on the mildest of days. He remembered the sparkle set in eyes that at times seemed as blue as his uniform. Now Ken was pale, almost grey. His skin looked dry akin to paper and his eyes still held a sparkle but now it was one more akin to looking at pieces of broken glass.

Louis suddenly became aware that he had stared just that little bit too long. He turned back to the street and flipped the key in the ignition before clearing his throat.

"We’ve got a job downtown, looks like homicide" he said raising his voice a tone as if he was talking to someone without hearing.

Ken nodded and shot another smile. To Louis the smile seemed almost stiff, a little unyielding. "That’s fine by me Lou, let’s roll."

"Lets roll" thought Louis, that was the kind of cornball phrase you could always expect from Ken. Back in the days before the incident which had changed both of their lives forever. Those were the words of the Ken he knew, not this washed out impostor who was sitting in the seat next to him.

As the car pulled out into traffic, Louis discreetly sniffed the air. The smell of newness within the confines of the squad car with all its warm leatherette and sun baked plastic had been replaced. There was a new odour in the car now, one that was distinctly familiar to a man of his experience.

He sniffed again, as before trying to keep his inhalations to himself.

Ken caught him in the corner of his eye and spoke flatly "I’m sorry about that Lou. It’s my formaldehyde. Takes a little getting used to but it’s worse when it’s fresh. I was only topped up last night. It should wear off by this afternoon."