//Blaine//
"Be careful with those bottles Tanner, one drop of that whiskey costs more than a week of your wages," I mumble, hovering around the bar as the shelf behind it is restocked. Lexi will be here later for her first day of bar work, it's an off-peak day, fewer consumers, less pressure.
The door opens, there's no one on the door right now to stop anyone walking in, we aren't open.
"We're closed."
"I'm not here for the booze."
Moore. That squeaky voice of hers gets more annoying each time I hear it. She saunters in, the same look she always wears. As though she's more qualified to be here than me, her elven nose pointed up into the air, scrunched slightly in a way that implies even the smell of this place is beneath her.
"How's Stephanie been treating you?" I question, rhetorically, I don't want an answer, I want her to leave.
"Better than you treated her I'd say." The arrogance, the certainty is almost painful.
"Find her murderer yet?" She wouldn't be here if she had, I know that.
"Would I be here if I had?"
No, you wouldn't.
"How many times do I have to tell you it wasn't me?" Another rhetorical question, I'm not stupid enough to think she believes me, she's Olivia Moore for God sake.
"I believe you."
Oh, that's new.
"But I think you know who killed her."
Maybe I do.
"If I did I'd tell you." There's frustration in her face, she hasn't gotten anywhere since we last talked, I'm her only hope.
"Then tell me."
But it hurts.
"I can't help but feel like we are going in circles here Liv." I tap my fingers subconsciously against the bar.
"If you gave me something to go on we wouldn't have to." That's true, I suppose.
"Tell me everything you know about her death," She eyes me cautiously, critically. "I can't help you if I don't know what happened Liv." I sigh. I already know everything.
She takes a seat on the stool farthest from me.
"She was strangled, left in a little coffee shop a couple streets down from here, the owner found her when they opened up the day after. It was called something like-"
"Deja Brew." Shut up, Blaine.
"You know the place?" Now she knows for certain; I'm hiding something.
"Hard to forget a name so obnoxious." I try to brush it off.
"Well anyway, she was killed somewhere else, moved into the coffee shop postmortem. She was positioned so she was holding a mug. It was filled with her own blood, there was some in her mouth too, but she hadn't ingested any so the killer probably painted it onto her tongue. There was a cut on her ankle, likely where they got the blood from. As far as we know she didn't work there, never did." She's going to find out, she always does, I should tell her.
Liv's body seems stiff in her seat, uncomfortable, its unusual for someone so indifferent toward seeing the dead to react like this. It isn't Liv reacting, its Stephanie, turning up her nose at her own death. That's so like her. They were similar people, maybe that's why I have some deformed admiration for Liv.
"She loved that place, said it had charm. I didn't see the appeal, told her I always thought the coffee tasted too bitter, that I'd rather drink my own blood." Her eyes widen as I speak, I can understand how that may incriminate me, but she doesn't look at me as if she's trying to condemn me. She's trying to figure it out.
"Who would know, that you said that?" I know what she's thinking, wondering just how far she can push me, just how much she can get out of me. The answer is not enough.
"Anyone who knew us." I sound blasé, it's not like it matters anyway. We both know my claims won't amount to anything, true or not.
"Try being more specific."
It doesn't matter.
"Anyone who spent time with us, someone I worked with." I sound bored, I want her to know how futile this all is. She must realise.
"Someone trying to get your attention?"
Stop caring.
"And thanks to you they sure did." I sound bitter, I am. Ignorance is bliss.
"You know who it is Blaine, I can see it. Let us put away the person who did this."
She's not that stupid.
"You'd need more than my word for that Liv, come back to me when you find some evidence." My tapping loosely forms the beat of 'heart-shaped box' against the bar, I want her to know I'm disinterested.
"If finding more evidence was a possibility I wouldn't be here."
Obviously.
"Then no matter what he's going to get away with it Liv." Lexi will be here soon, I don't want her to walk in on this, we need to wrap this up.
"He? So it's a man?"
Just leave me alone, please.
"Sure." I look up at the clock, willing her to take the hint.
"Blaine, come on." She sounds defeated and I feel almost bad. Almost.
"I don't know Liv, and honestly I'd rather it stayed like that so you can go take your Detective Mason act somewhere it's useful."
"I ate the last of her brain today Blaine, it's now or never." The sincerity in her voice cuts like a dagger.
"Then it'll remain a mystery to us all, as it should." I gesture toward the door and reluctantly she stands.
"If you loved her you'd want her to be at peace." She walks toward the door. That's not fair.
"If you knew her you'd know dragging out her investigation would only cause her pain. She hated attention." I swallow hard, walking her out, the genuine sadness in my voice stands for something, I hope.
"And her murderer going free, she'd be okay with that?" She turns to look at me, her voice isn't venomous and cruel, she's given up with all that.
"She was never one to hold grudges...Apart from with me." I give her a sad smile that she returns, before leaving. She doesn't dare push that.
I'll kill him, but first, Lexi must be on her way.
A/n~ Over 1000 reads!?
That's actually insane, thank you for all the support I've been getting!
I figured some light needed to be shed on this storyline -- but it's not over just yet...
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𝑉𝐼𝐵𝑅𝛢𝑁𝑇 - B.D.
Fanfiction"He's the kind of man who would go out of his way to chase whatever he wants until he gets it, yet he never finds himself having to run far. I'd give anything to make him chase me." TW//mentions of drinking, kidnapping, murder [DISCONTINUED UNTIL F...
