Karishma uses her one hand to hang her detective badge from her neck as she rushes her steps up the stairs of the station. Captain Lanna wants to see her. It is not a big surprise that this request has finally reached her but it is a big surprise that her captain has waited this long to do this. It has been days. Normally, her captain would try to put out the fire as soon as she sees the flame. This time, it almost feels like she is afraid of the heat so she waits until the flame burns out on its own.
"Karishma." Someone calls her and that forces her to turn around when she is a few feet away from the captain's office. As soon as she sees the source of the familiar sound, she smiles out of the habit.
"Jo. Hi." Karishma greets cheerfully and quickly approaches with a hug. It hasn't been very long since they last saw each other but with everything that happened, it feels like it has been too long. "How... Hmm... How is Brian?"
"He is coming to." Joanne smiles lightly although her heart is so heavy. "The doctor said it might be another couple of days before he can go home."
"Yeah."
"Look." Joanne places her both hands on Karishma's arms as if she is trying to prevent her from getting away with what she is about to say. She puts on her serious face; the one she always uses with her boy who is a bit too energetic sometimes. "I keep hearing people say that you shot Brian."
Karishma looks at the lady in front of her with a lump that suddenly forms in her throat. She has never felt hesitated admitting to the fact but with Brian's wife asking her in person, it feels different; especially when Joanne has been nothing but wonderful to her. She has become something close to a family. "I-"
"Did he do anything?" Joanne asks without accusing Karishma of anything. She asks out of pure curiosity and confusion. Still, it is the unexpected question that stuns Karishma and forces her to avoid the sight. She tries to look away but Joanne manages to find her way to meet her eyes. "What did he do, Karishma?"
"It... is not my place to say." Karishma squeezes herself through the tiny hole that she sees as an escape. She knows she wouldn't be able to run from the question but she takes her chance with the lousy excuse.
"They asked me to come in and fill out some papers." Joanne digs into her tote bag and begins to lower her voice as she tries to take home at least one explanation. "I was finding his document when I came across this at his desk. Hidden among other things."
Karishma takes crumpled pieces of papers from Joanne and starts examining them one by one. They are information on things that Brian shouldn't have had his hands on. There are Haseena's house's house plan, details on buildings Haseena would visit, Haseena's pictures and Will Hughes's confidential criminal record. All were printed out before they knew that they had to shadow Haseena. All were intended to be shredded and destroyed after they were named the heroes.
"What is going on, Karishma?" Joanne whispers with concerns and uncertainty. What she is so certain of is that there are so much more to the story than everyone keeps on telling her.
"Karishma!" A boy shouts and runs as fast as he can towards Karishma. As soon as he reaches her, his feet are lifted from the ground and he is in Karishma's arm.
"Hey." Karishma giggles as she puts the boy back to the ground. While he possesses most of Brian's features, he still has some resemblances of his mother. He is almost like the perfect combination between the two. Karishma tousles his dark hair before looking back at his mother. She hands the papers back and smiles. "They are just for the case we were on. Brian must've accidentally taken them home."
"If he's done something-"
"I'll see what I can do, Jo. Don't worry." Karishma assures Joanne of something she doesn't know how to do but the worries and troubles that Joanne starts to wear on her face leaves her with no choice.
"Karishma, did the bad guy shoot you and dad?" The boy asks after taking a minute to stare at Karishma's sling. "Did you catch them?"
"Ah... No... But we probably will." Karishma smiles and fortunately, he is too young to notice that it is just a fake one.
"We'll have to go." Joanne announces to have the boy bid his proper goodbye. Once her kid gives Karishma a hug goodbye, she does the same. Then, she whispers. "I haven't told anyone but... I'm having a baby. So, please, Karishma, please. Whatever Brian did, help him. I can't have another kid alone."
Karishma listens without reacting anything that is over the top. Surely, she is excited for Joanne but this exciting news comes in the worst possible time. "Alright."
"Thank you." Joanne whispers with a fainted smile before taking the boy's hand and leaves Karishma in the sandpit that slowly but surely sucks her in.
Karishma watches Joanne leave with her son and when she is about to turn around to proceed with the thing she has come to do, her eyes land on a girl who reaches the top of the staircase with grace and beauty that she has never failed to hold. Their eyes meet almost right away and the magnetic field immediately works its way to pull them together. However, Karishma's words are still echoing loud and clear in Haseena's ears. They are getting louder by the distance that is shortened between them. Haseena takes her confident steps towards Captain Lanna's office and although Karishma is standing in her way, she doesn't stop. A greeting or a friendly smile from her would be considering 'dragging this longer than it should' so Haseena walks. She walks past Karishma who is as still as a statue without saying or even stealing a glance.
"Detective." Aanya stops in front of Karishma. "Captain Lanna called you in too?"
It takes a minute for Karishma to finally bring back her mind that followed Haseena so silently. She clears her throat and gathers her thoughts. "Yes."
"Do you know what it'll be about?" Aanya asks as she looks at her watch. Haseena has things to do and this cannot take any more time that she was told.
"I guess we have to find out." Karishma turns and heads towards the captain's office. She knocks although the door is half opened and once she is inside, Haseena is already occupying a chair without looking at the new guest who has just arrived in the room.
"Captain."
"Take a seat, detective." Captain Lanna gestures Karishma to the empty chair next to Haseena whose eyes are on nothing but Captain Lanna and papers in her hands.
"I'd rather stand. Thank you." Before Karishma gets to move further into the room, she is hit lightly by the door that is pushed open by another guest.
"Oh, excuse me." Haseena's lawyer whispers when he sees the medium-sized blockage that makes it hard for him to push the door open. "I'm Miss Malik's lawyer."
"I'm aware. Yes." Captain Lanna responds and nods as a gesture of allowance for him to be in the room. "Do you need your lawyer present, detective?"
"No, ma'am." Karishma answers Captain Lanna's question while her eyes are on the brown-hair girl who refuses to even glance at her. She suddenly becomes invisible for the girl who is so present on her mind.
"So everyone is here?" Haseena's lawyer asks hesitantly as he puts on his glasses.
"We're waiting-"
Karishma is hit by the open door again as she failed to move anywhere further from the door. Another guest who attempts to enter the room announces his presence with a simple apology. "Excuse me. Oh, sorry."
"Will?" Haseena finally turns when she hears the familiar voice and with the familiar face that comes along with the voice, she can't help herself but being so surprised. "Wh-What are you doing here?"
"Please come in, Mr. Hughes." Captain Lanna gestures him to sit down on the same chair that Karishma refused to take. Will closes the door behind him as soon as his lawyer makes herself in and puffs his chest to appear invincible. He sits down on the chair next to Haseena; knowing that every pair of eyes in the room are on him. He takes a quick glance at Karishma when he starts to feel that the way she looks at him sends a chill down his spine. She looks at him like he is a piece of puzzle she intends to break if she can't solve it. "So I've been having a few of my officers gathering some information concerning what happened. And. They are able to collect some footage to prove that Detective Singh had nothing to do with the kidnapping. They are not quite clear but Mr. Hughes's statement will back those up."
"Statement?" Haseena asks and suddenly feels like she has missed out a chunk of things even though she is never absent.
"Detective Park and I kind of crossed path and... I happened to acquire some information." Will explains slowly with cautions hiding in every word he says. It is not that he doesn't know what he is talking about but it is just that he doesn't want to say things that will come back and hurt him. "I didn't think anything at first but as I thought over everything, I just had to come in and told Captain Lanna of what I know."
"I-" Haseena is still confused and for a quick second, she glances at Karishma who crosses her chest tightly with her eyes locking at Will. Those scary eyes of hers make the appearance again and although it shakes her to the core, her confusion still takes the win. "How did you cross path?"
"Accidentally." Will answers with his usual charming smile before reaching over to caress Haseena's arm to hopefully distract her from all the questions she has on her mind. "It was some sort of a party."
"Anyway." Captain Lanna tries to sum up the session and figures out what she is supposed to do next. "With that being said, the main reason I invited you all here is for you to confirm Mr. Hughes's information. Mr. Hughes told us that Detective Park is the one who is behind all this incident-"
"That's exactly what I have been trying to tell your detectives, Captain, but it seems that all of your detectives lack the skill of listening and comprehending things that are happening right before their eyes." Haseena says indifferently and doesn't forget to glance over at Karishma again to make sure that Karishma knows that her statement includes her. However, when she glances again, she still doesn't meet Karishma's eyes that don't seem to know how to move away from Will. Now, she starts to feel the dark clouds forming over Karishma and it is obvious to her that an umbrella will not do anything in this rainstorm.
"Yes, I'm aware of that but Miss, you need to understand that the evident we have earlier suggested otherwise. With Mr. Hughes's statement, we're able to gather more and support yours." Captain Lanna tries to explain calmly. She knows she has messed up and she has failed Karishma; not once but twice now. "According to Mr. Hughes, there were a few other incidents that happened in the course of last week. A bugging device on your clothing. A malfunctioned elevator. Spy cams in your house. We still couldn't prove the involvement of Detective Park in all of these with concrete evident besides the messaging history Mr. Hughes has provided us but-"
"Could you prove the involvement of Detective Singh in all of those?" Haseena asks.
Captain Lanna pauses for a bit. She glances at Karishma and back at Haseena. "We could not."
Haseena looks at her lawyer who silently observes the conversation. She gestures for him to speak so he does. "So it means there won't be any charges against Detective Singh concerning kidnapping Miss Malik, is that correct?"
"That is correct." Captain Lanna answers.
"And the firearm incident?"
"That will be proceeded by our internal affairs." Captain Lanna explains.
"Even I was the one who shot him; not Detective Singh?" Haseena stands by her words and nothing will ever change the fact; not her lawyer and not Karishma.
"Haseena." Karishma says whispery. Her attempt to stop her from saying this is weakened slowly but surely.
Haseena finally turns to face Karishma who seems to be protecting the old sloppy door like someone is about to steal it and by her sight, that someone could be Will. "Don't Haseena me, detective. Your job is over, remember? You're not in a position to tell me what to say or not say."
"Good luck finding the evident that you did then." Karishma smirks like a jerk and pisses Haseena off even more. She knows enough now that it is the only way to push Haseena away. When Haseena is mad, she is mad enough to turn her back on anything and anyone.
"Detective." Captain Lanna stops Karishma from provoking anything that will dig a deeper hole for herself and for the entire department. "Anyway, we'll look into the messaging history and we'll go on from there."
"Please do what you do then." Haseena is getting up on her feet and is ready to leave. She doesn't want to be in the same room as Karishma even for a minute longer. This is not the Karishma she had spent a lot of time with. This is not Karishma she is falling so hard for. "Because I'm going to make sure that Detective Park pays for what he has done. I don't mean to be rude but I have an appointment."
"Oh, sure." Captain Lanna gets up on her feet as soon as Haseena does it. "Leave it to
us."
"Thanks, Will." Haseena whispers and leans down to give him a kiss on the cheek before he would get up on his feet and stand with his grand height.
"Thank you for your time. Miss Malik. Mr. Hughes." Captain Lanna bids her goodbye and tries to be as civil as she possibly can. "Detective Singh, you need to stay."
Karishma moves away from the door to make way for Haseena to walk past her. As she does, her scent catches Karishma's nose and wakens her knees. There are some other ways for her scent to catch her nose than this. She could bury herself into it and let it shower her entire soul; not just waste it in the air that others could appreciate it too. Haseena still holds her silence. She doesn't say a word to Karishma and once she passes the door into the hall, she waits up but not for Karishma.
"Will, thanks again for whatever you did." Haseena says as soon as Will stops by her. She lands her touch on his arm to pass on her appreciation.
"Yeah. About that." Will bends down and lowers his voice to make Haseena his one and only audience. "Now that your detective is free from the accusation, there is absolutely zero reason why you have to admit that you're dating her or such."
"Will."
"Those photos of yours. They made me look pathetic, Haseena. People love us. People love me with you. The moment you confirm that relationship of yours, ours will become phony. I will become phony or even worse; I will become a dude who tries to take someone's girlfriend. What were you thinking?" Will uses the lowest voice possible but his frustration is loud and clear. He is willing to bend all the rules if it means his reputation is not tainted.
"Will, this is not the place." Aanya steps in after seeing the exchange that is a bit heated on Will's side.
"You should know better." Will shifts his rage towards Aanya. "You and your crappy publicist allowed this bullshit."
"Will." Haseena calls his name again with the hope that he will calm down and they can leave this place in peace. While Haseena is doing so, she sees a figure moving towards them at the corner of her eye so naturally, she turns to have a good look. It's Karishma. Karishma makes her steps out of the captain office with Captain Lanna's fainted voice calling out her name. Karishma takes her steps towards them as she removes the sling from her arm and throws it on the floor. Her eyes are still the ones that she hates to see and they are not even on her. They are on the man who possibly lights up the furious flame in Karishma's eyes.
"What?" Will annoyingly exclaims when Karishma pulls him to face her. Her intention is not to say anything or hold any conversations. Words are no longer work on the man. Once he fully turns directly at her, she swings her punch right onto the bridge of his nose. Even he is taller and physically stronger, Karishma knows exactly where to aim to cause pain and blood.
"You didn't even try to stop it, you fucking turd. You knew!" Karishma is instantly held by a couple officers who act fast after the scene while everyone else is still trying to keep up with everything. Will covers his nose with both hands but still, some blood makes its escape through his fingers. "How could you even look her in the eyes?"
"Lock her up until she calms down." Captain Lanna tries to control the situation that is about to get out of hand. "And call the paramedic."
"Yes, ma'am."
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Take care
Bye'll 👋👋