Who: Neil and Ty When: morning, Monday, Jan 22nd Where: the library Status: Complete
The knowledge that had washed over Ty late Saturday night had brought a certain coldness with it. He’d known he had enemies, people out there with bad intentions, but now he knew their names. Nic Castell, someone he’d once arrested. Neil Wainscott, local librarian. Jules Cooper, a high school senior who lived in Overlook. And Carson Durand, the gym cripple who hung out with Jared sometimes. Two of those at least had a loose connection to him, but the other two Ty didn’t really understand. Not that it truly mattered. He knew they were all involved, with a certainty he wasn’t used to feeling about much else. The part of him that had iced over with this revelation knew that he had to move first.
He spent most of the day Sunday thinking about what that move should be, while Jared napped on the couch. A black cop confronting a rich white teenage girl would be a stupid move. Nic Castell would know him on sight and maybe tip the others off before Ty got his point across. Carson might go whining to Jared, and Ty didn’t want to deal with that. So that left Neil Wainscott. The man didn’t have a record, nor did he apparently have much of a social media presence. But Ty knew where he worked, that was all he needed to start with. One would think that dangerous people didn’t work in libraries, but Ty knew this was a special kind of dangerous.
He showed up for his shift on Monday morning, but he was preoccupied as he set out on patrol. Ty waited until the library had just opened up, then parked his cruiser in front of it and got out. As he casually walked up the steps, Ty felt guided, like he was in the right place, doing the right thing. He didn’t really have a plan, he just knew he had to put a stop to this, so that’s what he would do.
Going to work seemed so futile and pointless these days but Neil took some comfort in it while he was there. He had so many projects piling up that he barely had time to worry about anything outside of work. There was a small staff meeting at eleven where he was going to put forth the same complaints he'd been putting forth for too damn long. It had him frustrated, but focused, and he didn't immediately connect the dots when Ty walked through the door. He didn't know the cop, but he knew of him and had met him before, namely when his apartment had been broken into. His first thought was that maybe he had some new information on that though that seemed unlikely given how long it had been since it happened.
"Good morning," he said as Ty approached the desk. Most people went straight to browsing and only came to him when they already had some books to go so he assumed Ty was there to talk to him or someone else who worked there. He'd barely said the words when he remembered Ty was one of 'them'. He'd been on Neil's list, one of the people hurt in the fog. This was probably not related but his stomach still sank a little. "Can I help you?"
Ty felt good as he walked up to the reception desk. Powerful. In control. He was in the right, and this man was not. Ty recognized his face now, beyond the ‘we live in the same small town’ level. He’d been on a call to this guy’s place before. The meek mousiness was distinctive. Ty braced both of his hands on the counter and leaned on them a bit, his eyes locked in on Neil’s face. “You Neil?” he asked after a brief pause. “Neil Wainscott?” Ty knew that he was, and his tone wasn’t really trying to hide that fact.
Something about the way he asked made Neil want to say no, which was intensely stupid because Ty already knew who he was and even if he didn't... Well, it'd be intensely stupid. "Yes," he said, though it sounded almost like a question. "You've been to my apartment." Was that relevant? Was he in trouble? Why would he be in trouble? Innocent people got pinned for random crimes all the time, what if this was just the start of some legal nightmare.
So he remembered too. Not that Ty was easy to forget, as the only black cop on the PPPD. But even if Neil knew who he was, he didn’t seem to know who he was. There was a wary aura about him, but that was familiar to Ty too. Maybe that was just how he was. “I have,” he confirmed. Ty knew where he lived, he wanted Neil to remember that. It was hard to stand in front of him, knowing what he knew, and not reach across the desk and grab him by the throat, but Ty had to have more control than that. “I know what you’re planning, you and your little friends,” he said, his tone not changing much. Ty lifted one hand and with a smooth motion, he pulled his gun out of the holster and put it down on the counter between them, his eyes never leaving Neil’s. “So do it.”
The words were shocking enough all on their own and Neil's eyes widened in apprehension even before the gun appeared and then it was there, like some doomsday device on the table and Neil was already picturing what a shootout would look like in the library. There weren't many people there to get shot but he was there and he most definitely did not want to know what taking a bullet felt like. He sputtered a bit before he found his words, his gaze fixed on the firearm even when he wanted to look at Ty. "Please put that away," he finally managed, straining to keep his voice level, his heart hammering away in his chest.
Ty had taken his hand off of the pistol when he put it down, and he only touched it with one finger again to turn it so that the grip was on Neil’s side. It flew in the face of all of his training, but Ty wasn’t thinking about that in the moment. He wasn’t thinking much of anything except putting a stop to whatever was currently a threat to him, and that was embodied in Neil. The man’s obvious fear felt good to Ty, only enhancing that sense that he was the powerful one here, the one in the right. He’d come to intimidate, and it was working. “Why?” he asked, voice still mild and flat. “You’re planning to get rid of me, right? Do it now, if you’ve got the balls.”
Neil had the briefest thought that he should reach out to the others with his mind, as if he could concentrate on anything other than that gun on the table in front of him. Clearly Ty Solomon had lost his mind but it wasn't lost on Neil that he wasn't fully wrong. Neil did kind of want to get rid of him, or at least get rid of whatever it was that was going on lately. The real question was just how much Ty knew and how, and also why he thought Neil was eager to kill him. "Rid of?" he stuttered. "No, that's not- no. Why would you think-?" The gun might not be aimed at him but he was painfully aware of how quickly that could change and there was a small part of him that wanted to grab the gun if only so he could get it away from Ty. "Please put it away." He managed to tear his gaze away from the weapon to look around a bit frantically before giving Ty a pleading look.
It was bizarre to be so sure that this meek little man was a threat to him, but Ty knew it in his bones. Obviously not an immediate physical threat, but a threat of some kind. He watched Neil’s eyes dart around like a cornered animal, and found he didn’t give a single shit if there were other people in the library, watching this happen. What could they do? Not a goddamn thing. The urge was pulsing in him to grab Neil by the neck and slam his head into the counter a few times, or pick the gun up to pistol-whip him with it, but all he did was bang both hands down on the wood as he leaned over it some more, his stare intense and a little wild. “Don’t bullshit me,” he growled, teeth bared suddenly. “Neil Wainscott, Jules Cooper, Carson Durand, Nic Castell ... I know you all. And I know where to find you. And if you think you can get away with fucking with us? You’re dead wrong.” Ty wasn’t even aware he’d used ‘us’ instead of ‘me,’ it came so naturally.
Neil wasn't sure if he was grateful or exasperated that there weren't enough people in there - or close enough - to really notice what was going on beyond Ty's imposing body language. Words like 'escalate' rushed through his head, alarming and brief. When Ty said their names, all their names in full no less, his eyes widened and he thought for a second his heart had stopped beating for good. "No," he said weakly. "No, we're not- nobody wants to... we're trying to understand what's happening, we don't want to... fuck with you." The words felt wrong, not just the cursing but the fact that they meant a lot more than that. Kill you, that's what he wanted to say. We don't want to kill you. He did want to get rid of them, the infection that seemed to be doing something to them, the dreams that had led to all of this. That didn't mean he wanted to pick up that gun and shoot Ty in the head! Even in some bizarro reality where he'd get away with it, the thought of actually using the weapon made him physically ill.
That sounded like some weak excuse to Ty, an attempt at a cover up of their real intentions. Of course Neil wasn’t going to tell him what was really going on, they had to protect themselves, didn’t they? Little fucking rats that they were. It somehow irritated him that this was such a one-sided confrontation. Ty didn’t believe him, and he wanted confirmation that he was right. Part of him wanted there to be a fight, or a quick grapple for the gun, or something like that. Something he could really sink his teeth into, because fuck, he felt like he had teeth for the first real time. And these people actually deserved to feel them. He picked the pistol up by the barrel and thunked the gun butt against the counter a couple of times, wishing it was Neil’s skull. “More bullshit. Just try something, see what happens,” he said, the threat evident in his voice. Ty switched hands so he could re-holster his weapon, his eyes boring holes into Neil all the while, then turned and walked away, back toward the exit. As he passed a display table on his way out, he swept his arm over it and knocked a bunch of books off. Petty, maybe, but it felt good.
Neil was effectively frozen through it all, certain he was about to get shot and not even necessarily fatally right away. People could suffer through all sorts of horrible injuries for a long time and that, to Neil, was worse than death. He didn't realize he'd been holding his breath until his lungs started burning and he let it out in a huff right about when the books went flying. He should be relieved that Ty was leaving but he was just left with more questions. How did he know about the four of them? Who else knew? What if someone else came in today, someone more violent, someone with less self control and how was he going to explain this? That last question came about when he looked up in time to see a bewildered co-worker staring at them from down the hallway. Neil would tell them he didn't know what the hell this was, he didn't know anything, but he needed to leave now because he was... rattled. That was it. That was all. He needed to leave and not go home and he needed to let the others know they might be in danger.