It Takes Two

[1]

Anna and Joy. 2 young girls. Gone. Without a trace might I add. No evidence, the RV was a useless lead. That man Alex Jones? Forget it. He has the IQ of a 10 year old. How the hell did they just disappear one day? I was assigned the case, well me and detective y/l/n. I've solved every case I've ever worked on and yet this, this case is cold. They put the two top detectives in this place on it and yet neither one of us can find a fucking lead. I spent 10 hours in the interrogation room today with that man. I blew a fuse and got physical with him. I'm sitting at the desk now loose papers, pictures of the girls haunting me.
"Coffee Detective?" Detective y/l/n standing behind me. She is as tired as I am.
"Sure" I sigh out, gonna need it. I'm probably not leaving here for another while.
She's walking back now, two polystyrene cups in hand.
"Thanks" I give her a nod and turn straight back to my desk.
She pulls her seat up beside mine and leans back scanning the documents in her hands.
"Not a fucking thing" I hear her say frustratingly.
I just grunt at the remark. Not a fucking thing.
"I don't get how the RV came to nothing." I hear her say as she throws the papers down into her lap, takes her glasses off and rubs the bridge of her nose between her pointer finger and her thumb squinting her eyes.
I turn to her. "I spent 10 hours questioning the guy. Got an IQ of a fucking 10 year old, no way he could have pulled something like this off."
She huffs in response.
We make eye contact for just a second before her eyes are darted back down to her papers. Scanning them through, wrecking her brain. She's smart. She's methodical, not messy like I am when solving cases. I like that about her. She always has an answer for everything. We don't usually work together, but I have seen her work and spoke with her and I've got to say, I quite like her. I'm cold, too quiet and work centred. I'm not a people's person therefore I do not expect her to like me. She treats everyone with the same, "I can't be fucked dealing with you fuck off and let me do my job" attitude. I quite like it. I'm getting ahead of myself. She's a co-worker nothing more, nothing less.
The clock ticks away. Neither of us with any inclination of going home.
"I don't work well with people" I hear her pipe up.
"Neither do I" It's true. Both of us work alone 90% of the time. Bad social skills.
"How did it go with Keller yesterday?"
I hear her enquire.
"As good as it could go, grieving father blames Jones and wants to see him dead, thinks I'm not doing enough to get his daughter back." I reply back. It was exactly that. Keller pointing the finger at me. I'm not doing enough to find his daughter and it was definitely Alex Jones who did it.
"The usual then" she replies.
"The aunt have we profiled her?" She says.
"No, why you think she's of interest?" Detective y/l/n often solved cases by thinking completely outside the box. She was put on task of solving a cold case murder, no traces, nothing apart from a button of a shirt left at the crime scene. A young man, 24, strangled to death. Everyone else was pointing the finger at the girlfriend or the man she was having an affair with. But she didn't. She went through everything, found old pictures of the man and his older brother, recognised the button of the shirt. Questioned him and found out about the strange relationship with his brother, a case of sibling rivalry. The case was solved quick even though it wasn't going to look like it. She's smart.
"Possibly. I still think the crime is linked to Jones in some way. I don't know how. It just seems so strange" she replies.
"I'm going to speak tomorrow to her, if you think she's of interest you can come along." I said to her. I am intrigued now at her theory.
"I'd like to get a look at the property"
I nod in response and blink hard, a tic I've picked up on the job.
"I doubt either of us are planning on going home for a while Detective." She says glancing up at the clock indicating the time which is way past our shift.
"Doubt it" I say. Sometimes I feel bad for how I speak. I don't really try to make conversation. I'm working with a partner now so I actually have to talk to someone.
We stay for another 2 hours.
"I'm going to head home" she says. I can hear the rain and wind coming down outside.
"So am I." I get up and get my jacket to go home. Around 2 hours of sleep and back in tomorrow. Great.
We exit the building standing in the last sheltered bit before braving the weather.
"Well goodnight Detective" I hear her say and she nods.
"Goodnight" I reply.
"It's gonna be a fun walk home tonight" she says sarcastically, pulling a pack cigarettes out of her pocket.
"I'll drive you home, you can't walk in that" I say. Jesus Christ is she insane.
"I might just take you up on that offer Detective" she says exhaling the smoke of her cigarette.
I nod and we both walk over to my car she stamps her cigarette out and gets in.
The drive to her house is quiet. Not an uncomfortable silence, but we are both exhausted.
"You're work is impressive detective" I hear her genuinely say.
"Thanks, yours too" I say. I can feel my cheeks heat up a little.
"You don't have to keep calling me detective, David is fine. " I say.
"Well, David, same to you y/n is fine" she replies.
I give her a half smile and yet again a hard blink.
"This is me here" she says and indicates the small house on the left.
I stop and she goes to get out.
"Goodnight David" she says.
"Goodnight" I give her a half smile and she shuts the door. I don't know why but I waited to make sure she got in the house before I left. I waited until I could see the warm light illuminate behind her closed curtains. Just to make sure she was safe.
She's a colleague David. Nothing more, nothing less.