Ava
I hold my laptop on my lap and I continue searching on social media to try and find who Maria is. My back presses to my headboard on my bed and I lean down, slowly running my fingers through Harry's hair as he lays beside me.
All of my emotions are starting to ease back into place where opening up is getting easier. Explaining to Harry some of my childhood memories last night made me more aware that there are good ones buried deep down too. Talking about my past Christmases and reminiscing on those days felt good. It was sad at points, but Harry brought me to see it optimistically. I don't think I'll forget that.
But when he asked me to dance it was surreal. I'd never danced with anyone other than my father. School dances were never my thing so I never went to them, mainly because I was preoccupied with solving who had harmed my father. With Harry, it felt so different because of this connection we seem to have. There are feelings here now, and I'm nervous as to how I should approach them.
I email Annabella for a list of models at the designer's office she works at, as well as potential models they may have been hiring.
Harry's hand runs along my leg and I keep working, biting my lower lip as I look into various models who are in the systems around New York. There are main modelling agencies I research and I scroll through lists of models, finding a few Marias. I take note of their names and I get notified Annabella sent me an email.
Annabella: These are all the models we interviewed in the past month. Hopefully this will help.
Attached are seven files and I click through them, saving them into the case file. Then I come across one with the name Maria. Maria Leon, a twenty-five year old who has been trying to get into the modeling industry since she was eighteen.
With a name, I start looking through some media sights and I find her profile, looking through each of her prior jobs. It's not an extensive list, so I'm sure she's getting frustrated she's not getting any looks for jobs.
I press my lips together and I start searching for her social media, and I find her Instagram. She's following Emmett Oliver, but he is not following her. It makes me interested to know and so I pull up her file, taking notes.
Harry grabs my thigh and rolls onto his side, feeling over my leg. He hasn't said anything since he's started stirring in his sleep a while ago. I asked him to stay the night again because I didn't want him driving home so late, but I also really wanted to spend more time with him. Whatever our relationship is, I have grown to enjoy it. I'm embracing it while I can, because if he were to know my past, he's not going to want to be anywhere near me.
"I found a Maria," I tell him, tilting the laptop to show him. His arm extends to grab the side of the laptop and he looks over the screen, his arm moving to circle my waist.
"She looks like a bitch," he grumbles, sleep still laced in his voice. He allows me to turn the screen back to me and his hand sets on my hip, running this thumb over the skin. I'm in nothing but his shirt and panties, while he's only in his briefs.
"Did you receive word from the DNA on the autopsy yet?" he wonders, and I shake my head.
"I should be getting it today. I'm hoping there's something to give us an indication," I tell him, and he nods his head.
Harry sets his head on my arm and watches as I work, searching through files to find more about Maria Leon. I find her address and discover she lives alone on the east side of New York.
"We could try to contact her, but we have no idea if she's even a suspect. Or the right Maria," he suggests, and I sigh.
"Exactly," I breathe out, shutting the laptop. I turn my attention to him and he wraps his other arm around me, still laying as I'm seated.
"I have to go do yoga before I go into the station," I tell him, my hand resting on his cheek. My thumb runs along the scar and his green eyes look even brighter with the sun peeking through the window.
"I'll let you do that. I should probably get home. I gotta go pick up Zeus from Mitch's," he says, flexing his arms to sit up. I get out of bed and he follows, my legs walking into my closet. I grab a sports bra and pull up a pair of leggings, taking his shirt off. Harry stands in the doorway, his jeans now on his legs but the button undone.
"I gotta say this was the best Christmas ever," he says, my hand tossing his shirt to him. He catches it, raking his eyes over my half naked body.
"I'm glad," I grin, pulling my sports bra on. I situate it and walk over to him, his hand grabbing my waist.
"I'll see you in a few hours then," he says, lifting his other hand to my chin. I release my lower lip I didn't realize I was biting and he leans down, kissing me softly.
"Okay," I whisper, kissing him once more. He lets me go and lifts his shirt, putting it over his torso. My eyes watch as his muscles flex as he does so, admiring his body. He really is attractive.
I make my way downstairs and Harry follows, grabbing his coat and shrugging it on. He puts his boots on and stands straight, looking down at me.
"I'll see you later Nicks," he smiles, pulling me into him once more. His arms engulf me into him and I grab his cheek, giving him one last kiss before he goes.
My hand closes the door after he leaves and I walk into the kitchen, leaning onto the counter to look at the fish he got me.
I've never had someone gift me something as thoughtful as Harry. It was such a miniscule comment I had passed when had went to lunch together for the first time. There was no way I could have assumed he would remember it, but this is honestly screwing everything up. This just confirmed for me that Harry has feeling for me, and I have feelings for him. It's so unbelievably dangerous.
I feed it with the food that was in the box and I go upstairs to begin yoga, but my phone rings before I can do so.
"Lieutenant Nicks," I say, taking a seat on the mat.
"It's John," I hear, and I stand up immediately.
"What's the news?" I wonder, walking over to my room. I need to shower so I can get down to the station.
"There was unidentified DNA on the victim. And it was around the genitals," he explains, and my jaw drops. "My assumption was there was a sexual encounter and then whomever he had sex with, killed him."
"Holy shit," I sigh, and run my hand through my hair.
"I'll send the lab reports over so you can do your scan in the database," he says, and I thank him.
I hang up the phone and shower quickly, pulling my hair into a ponytail. Once I get my suit on, I drive to the station and rush to my desk. I'm hopeful that whoever did this is in the system, simply due to the brutality of the case. There is a possibility that whoever committed this crime has a criminal history.
The email is pulled up and I send in the DNA file to the database, and I widen my eyes when I get a hit. It's Maria Leon, and I never would have suspected her to be in the system.
She has a battery charge against her dated two years ago. It was against a fellow model. The model didn't press charges so all Ms. Leon had to do was pay a substantial fine.
"Fuck," I sigh. She needs to be questioned, and it needs to happen fast.
"Isaac," I call, his body sauntering into the office shortly after.
"Contact Maria Leon. She needs to come in for questioning. I have to make a call," I tell him, handing him the slip with her information on it.
I pick up my phone and call Annabella, hoping she'll shed insight on what she knows about Maria Leon.
"Hey Ava," she says softly, and I grab my pen.
"Hey, how are you doing?" I ask, trying to make this conversation a little less harsh than our last.
"I've been better. It's just sad," she sighs, and I press my lips together.
"I get it; I do," I sympathize.
"So what's up? Did the files help?" she wonders, and I nod.
"Yeah, I just need to follow up on one of the candidates," I explain, and she allows me to ask my questions.
"Were you in the interview with Maria Leon?" I start.
"Yeah. She wasn't all that interesting and her skills lacked tremendously. She couldn't walk in a straight line to save her life," she explains. Annabella had explained to me that she sits in on interviews so she can see how each model expresses themselves so she can connect with other designers. Her job in sales is to market to clothing stores and market the models, so she interviews to know how each model works.
"Was there anything else about her?" I wonder.
"She kept looking at Emmett. I recall that because Emmett was looking at her the same way. Because I know Emmett and had a relationship with him, he was giving her the eyes," she explains, a hint of sadness in her voice.
"You're suggesting that there was an attraction there?" I ask, and she agrees.
"I'm sorry. This probably is a touchy subject for you," I bring up and she shrugs it off.
"It's okay. We've been broken up for some time and I just observed. I hope that helps," she explains, and I thank her.
"Do you know if she was interviewing anywhere else?" I ask.
"There are a few places hiring and looking for models, so I'm unsure if she went to them. We're not big into asking if our models are interviewing with competition," she laughs, and I smile. Makes sense, after all.
"Sure. Thank you again, Annabella," I say, and we hang up.
"She didn't answer so hopefully we'll hear back. Is she a suspect?" Isaac asks, and I tell him that she is.
"Her DNA was found around Mr. Oliver's genitals so John and I are under the assumption that perhaps she killed him after sex. Motive is still unknown," I explain, and he raises his eyebrows.
"Damn, okay. Did you find anything out about her?" he continues, and I nod.
"She has a battery charge from hitting a model a few years ago. So her DNA was in the system," I explain, and I press my lips together. "She seems like she has a little aggression to her."
"I'd say," he says, grabbing the file from my hand.
"Oh she looks like a bitch," he observes, making me laugh.
"Harry said the same thing," I laugh, his eyes looking over at me.
"We could go to her house too," he suggests, and I agree.
"Do you want to go? It's your turn for questioning," I say, and he nods his head.
"Sounds good to me. Thanks Ava," he says, taking the file with him. I turn my attention back to the computer and search through a few designers' websites that are hiring models. There is Annabella's company, as well as a few others. I take note to see if I can contact any of them to potentially lead me to learn about Maria Leon. Something doesn't sit well with me, and usually my instincts are right in these situations.