"Hey."
Brian makes his presence heard but his simple greeting doesn't seem to make the detective who is laying on her stomach on the wooden bench in the locker room moves. Two ice packs are lining across her lower back as she mumbles something as a response. She acknowledges him but to move right now is not exactly ideal for her. He approaches her and gets a good look of whatever happened to her back. He takes a peek and tries to see through the packs without touching anything but when his attempt fails, he is left with no choice but to move one of the ice packs. What he sees on her bare lower back is a huge long bruise that starts to form colors.
How is it?" Karishma asks as she removes another ice pack from her back and rolls her shirt back down without really moving up or away from the bench. It doesn't look much but it hurts in every move she makes. It happens when the elevator handrail is hard and her back is not as hard. The plus side of this is she knows now how it feels like to have Haseena in her arms; even for a second.
"What is the brightest shade of red?" Brian asks and throws the ice pack on the bench. He leans against the lockers to face Karishma who seems to be so rooted on the bench.
"Red?"
"That's how red it is. Santa Claus would be proud that you wear his color."
"Yeah." Karishma sighs as she sits up on the bench with the sore that spreads throughout her entire body. "Can you drop me off?"
"Yes." Brian says and hands Karishma the paper he has just got from their IT team who got called to examine the elevator. "But not at your apartment."
"What now?" Karishma is exhausted and all she wants to do is go home and feed her British Bulldog. She just wants a very good night sleep that will miraculously cure her bruised back. "Can I not see this until tomorrow?"
Brian crosses his arms; knowing too damn well that Karishma meant nothing of it. He knows she is too determined of what she does than to look away for a couple of hours just to suit her convenience. He knows she will take an immediate action with or without thinking it through. "The footage from the missing security cam in the elevator was completely wiped out. The LAFD people found some sort of a jammer device on top of the elevator. And. The best part. None of the elevator's cables were snapped. Someone stopped the elevator."
Karishma reads along to what Brian has summed up and the magnifying glass in her mind swiftly moves upon all the information she has had. It can be nothing else now. There is only label that fits the scenario. "This is deliberate."
"Someone hacked the elevator." Brian adds to help Karishma land on the perfectly-make-sense conclusion.
"If they can hack the elevator, they can hack Haseena's house security system." Karishma springs up on her feet and forgets all the pain on her back. She grabs her duty gun from the locker. "Have you checked with the patrol?"
"Yes. There is nothing out of the ordinary. Malik is in the house. No one has gone in. No one has come out."
"That they can see." Karishma places her gun on her waist and taps Brian's arm to rush him. "Come on. Let's go."
Brian steps on the gas but that doesn't seem to be fast enough for Karishma. She tries to dial her phone to Haseena but no one answers.
Haseena is rarely away from her phone for very long. There is always something interesting to read, to watch and to like. So when multiple rounds of calls are ignored, Karishma's mind can't find any good thoughts to fill the silence. She practically jumps out of the car as soon as it lands by the curbside near Haseena's garden gate; her usual entrance to the house. She quietly rushes her steps in the dark with her hand on the gun. She has never been afraid to use it and she is not going to start feeling so now. Brian is a few inches behind her. He is playing the perfect role of a perfect backup as he takes his steps as quietly as hers. He radios the patrol police who is on shift surveilling the neighborhood to get them in position; in case anything happens. The signals are thrown and the paces are taken into the house that has a few lights left turned on but has no individual found. Everything is in order. No signs of struggling or foul play. Then, Karishma decides to do what she has always done. She calls out.
