The Wrong Instinct

Chapter Five: Nothing To Lose

"OH NO I can't believe this," the coach of the sports association said as he held the picture of Steve in his hand. "Steve would come here every weekend. He was a good boy. I pushed him to start practising every day but he always refused. He had the potential of being a captain."

"Do you recognise this bat?" Cooper handed him the bag of bats.

"Yeah. Steve always used this one. Said it was his lucky bat."

"And who has access to the equipment?"

"Anyone. The security isn't very strong. Mr. Archer treated TASA as its own child but can't say the same about Mr. Walter. Mr. Archer was a good man. Terrible what happened to him and his wife. And his poor good. Orphaned so quickly." The coach shook his head. Alexa and Cooper shared a look. "That's life, I guess."

"How did Mr. Archer weighs into this?"

"He founded this association and named it after his kid. Ty Archer Sports Association. After Walter bought it last year, he changed it to Walter's Sports Association. We were the best before but there was a huge layoff. We lost our best coaches. The funds we get are...they are barely holding this association together. There's a rumour that Walter might sell this land or rebuild it into something else."

"That's...something." Alexa's eyebrows furrowed. She put her notepad back into the inner pocket of his jacked and gestured Cooper to step aside. He rested his hands on his hips and waited for her to talk. "You go through the logs and check if anyone checked out Steve's bat and get a list of the frequent players. If they changed the murder weapon in the middle of the kill with a bat that Steve considered lucky then it could be a crime of passion. Which also means, all those that come here are a suspect. In the meantime, I am going to pay Ty a little visit."

"Ask Ali to rush the IT guys about Steve's phone. This is getting a whole lot more interesting and twisted."

"On it."

***

"Are you getting flashbacks, detective?" Ty smiled nonchalantly as the guard pushed him on the chair in front of him. He leaned back on the chair, snapping his head back—making a few strands of his curly wet hair flip. He brushed the back of his handcuffed hand against the edge of his chin and wiped his sweat away. The guards had pulled him from between his workout. "Because I am."

"What do you know about TASA?"

Ty's thick eyebrows clenched together. "The sports club?" His voice changed into a gentle tone. Almost careful with the words he was choosing.

"Mhmm."

"Uh, my dad named it after me. He put his heart and soul into it. He wanted TASA to make room for every talent and polish every diamond in the rough. He loved sports and TASA was his way of contributing to it. It's not doing very well, is it?" He asked but his eyes suggested that he already knew the answer.

"Whoever is running your father's company sold it to Walter Productions. You can only guess what happens to a project that's mainly non-profit to someone who wasn't a founder." Alexa had no reason to contribute to this particular trajectory of the conversation but for a moment, she had looked at him as a human—even though she reminded herself what he had done. He may have killed his parents by mistake but he never showed any sign of remorse after the first day she had arrested him.

"Yeah, I knew that would happen. Fox is a good advisor but a terrible CEO. bad breath, too. Never had it in him. Choi was always the better choice. Dad never listened." He shook his head with a frown on his face. His gaze dropped to his legs, his vision blurring to somewhere more than the space between them. "Only if they both would listen to me."

"What else do you know about Van Burke?"

His eyes flicked up, chin still lowered. His chest heaved and fell. His hair drooped between his gaze again but he continued to look at her intensely. Alexa's breath hitched but her face betrayed no emotion. Her expressions remained stoic even though there were jolts of electricity running down her body.

It wasn't easy to look into his eyes when he looked at her like this.

"Not this again," he muttered in a low breath, only for her to listen.

Alexa didn't break eye contact. She still needed to have the upper hand or she would lose him. She was aware that Ty must know something. She needed every bit of evidence she could have to break this case. And he was the one standing in her way. She was not going to lose.

"You clearly know something about him and you're not telling me. You're stuck here in prison for the rest of your life. You have nothing to lose. Why the hell would you not help me?"

"You said the reason yourself. I have nothing to lose."

"It was useless coming here." She gave him a hard look and drew a defeated breath. She slouched her shoulders and closed the file in front of her. She raised her eyebrows, giving up. She rested her feet strongly on the concrete floor and

was about to push herself to get up when Ty quickly leaned forward and stretched his arm to hold her wrist. She smiled inwardly, knowing that her tactic had worked. No matter who it was, people have the urge to be needed. She simply had to pretend that she didn't require his help.

Her eyes landed on his arm tattoo. He had a long snake that stretched from his wrist up to his elbow. Following the snake was a scar that ran along with it. There was a little smudge of blood untreated near his handcuffs. "That's a fresh wound. Prison fight?"

His eyes bore into hers but he didn't answer. "I told you this already."Alexa sank into the chair again. "If Van Burke is involved then it's probably for the money. I may have been a son of a billionaire but my dad sent me to public school. I had friends from the streets. Word gets around when there's a gang to fear."

"So Van Burke's gang–The X's—are violent?"

"Petty crimes, at best but Van Burke must be in some debt to pull a hitman's job. Besides, Burke has many loyal followers. It could be anyone from his gang to kill your victim."

"All this and I still don't know if I should trust you. This feels exactly the time I arrested you. You blamed Van Burke and yet he is walking free and you're in jail. I shouldn't trust you. I really shouldn't. None of the partial prints match Van Burke either."

"As you said, I have nothing to lose."