Just Tourists ✔️

Chapter 26

"We would really appreciate that," Jacob smiles at her and I roll my eyes. He was so not helping.

"Eric I'm glad you're here but there's a lot going on right now ok?" I told him softly as I got into the cab and Bianca gets out.

"No one else is getting on right?" the driver asked with an unamused expression.

"No," Eric muttered with finality.

"Eric-" I began but he cut me off shutting my cab door.

"Just call me when you're not busy with your big case," he responds and with that the taxi sped off without giving me a chance to say goodbye to him.

"This is such a mess," I sighed, slumping into my seat. Blaire patted my shoulder.

"Why can't he come to the Embassy anyways?" she asked me carefully knowing that I was still slightly angry.

"Melody called me while we were waiting for Eric and Jacob to be released. She didn't tell me why but she told me to keep him away from the Embassy. She sounded so scared," I explained and Blaire nodded her head.

"If this is about Eric's safety then you did the right thing, even if he doesn't see it that way," she assured me.

"But what if this isn't about his safety? What could possibly be going on?" I asked her.

"I'll get to the bottom of it, I promise. But right now our main focus is to solve Marco's case. We're not even training anymore which was the whole reason for coming to Italy in the first place. Piling on relationship problems will definitely not help you. Take everything one step at a time," she smiled and I leaned my head on her shoulder.

"I think I just want to take a nap right now," I told her and she laughed.

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"I know you probably wan't to sleep or eat something right now but we need your help on something," I heard Tiffany's voice ask from the doorway of my room. I opened my eyes to see her giving me a sympathetic smile. I sighed but returned the smile. There is no room for complaint here...

"What's up?" I asked her rubbing my eyes a bit.

"You and Bianca need to look at the security footage together while I take another look at the blood sample that we found in Marco's room," she explained with an equally fatigued expression as the one I was probably sporting at the moment.

Once up stairs l joined Bianca in a small room with about twenty or thirty computers. She was already watching a clip on the computer. As soon as she spotted me she sat up and motioned me over.

"I'm sorry I didn't wait but I wasn't sure if you were coming," she told me pausing the clip.

"It's alright just put it from the beginning," I told her hoping the clip wasn't too long because I might just fall asleep.

"The thing is that there isn't much to see," she explains rewinding the video.

"What do you mean?" I ask her and she presses play.

"Alright well the video starts at around nine pm or so right? You see Marco asleep on his bed and all. Suddenly theres a shift and he's gone," she says and I raise my eyebrows in confusion.

"Out of thin air?" I ask incredulously.

"Look, he just disappears!" she says rewinding the video again. I play close attention this time and I notice she's right. The video shows Marco laying in his bed one second but suddenly in the next frame he's gone.

"That's impossible, someone must've deleted the video or edited it," I reasoned. There's no way he just disappeared like that. How did the blood get in the room?

"We'll get someone specialized in computers and editing to look at it tomorrow, everyone is asleep right now," Bianca reasoned and I nodded my head. Before leaving though, I decided to place the video on a USB I always carry around. They tend to be useful.

"What are you doing?" she asked me.

"Well if someone's editing videos who knows if they'll change this one even more. I just want to save it just in case something happens to the original," I reason and she nods her head. We head out of the security room and outside in the hallway was Tiffany, Lavender, Natalia, and Blaire all talking in hushed angry voices.

"Any luck with the blood sample?" Bianca asks as we walk over to them.

"No there's no match even with our new data but get this," Tiffany begins as she hands me the ransom note.

"Yeah what about it?" I ask.

"We tested it for DNA and the only one that we found was Giovanni's," Tiffany told me.

"So? The ransom note was for him, he must've gotten his DNA on it when he read it," I reasoned.

"But the thing is, the Prime Minister never touched the ransom note according to what he told me. He reported the ransom note yes, but he had one of his agents open it and read it to him. If his story is accurate he never touched that note and yet his DNA is on it," Lavender pointed out.

"I'm not sure how any of this adds up but one thing is for sure, the Prime Minister is lying to us," Tiffany says placing the note back into a biohazard bag.

"Why would he lie? We're trying to protect his son," Bianca muttered angrily.

"I don't know but we need to talk to your Aunt and Sara," Tiffany shrugged her shoulders.

"To Headquarters?" Blaire asked.

"Yep," Lavender smiled and I just groaned. That meant going all the way to the museum. I just want to sleep dammit. I take back the whole 'don't complain motto'

You can bet your ass I'm complaining the whole ride to Headquarters.