"Has Marco said anything yet?" Eric asked me as we waited outside of the airport. Bianca, Blaire, Jacob, Eric and I didn't all fit in the van so we had to get a cab. This was disaster waiting to happen.
"Not that I know of, he hasn't even made a call to his father which I find weird," I explained.
"He's probably still shaken up from what happened," Blaire reasoned.
"Well yeah but what exactly did happen??" Bianca asked passive aggressively.
"We have Marco but we're not any closer to solving who was behind this and who's to say they won't do it again?"
"Well the blood we found in his room didn't match Marco but we can run it through a data base to find out who's it matches," I suggested.
"We also need to interrogate Marco, I know he's gone through a lot but we need to get to the bottom of this," Eric reminded him. I looked at him with concern.
He had worry lines on his forehead and I could already see his brain shifting gears. He was planning and thinking already, it made me worried. He had just gotten to Italy and he was already thrown into this whole mess without warning.
I reached for his hand and he looked up and met my look with a small smile.
"Get a room," Jacob coughed and I rolled my eyes but Eric just laughed. He was probably already used to Jacob's annoying ass self.
"Speaking of getting a room, I'm going to need a tour of the embassy once we get there, he smiles at me but I bite my lip. I recalled Melody's voice when she called me warning me not take Eric there. Something had to be wrong but I had no idea what.
"About that, I don't that there's enough space for you two at the moment but I'm sure we can get you a hotel," I offered and he gave me an odd look.
"Wait, you're telling me that there's no space in the Embassy for two more people whatsoever?" he asked suspiciously.
"No, the thing is that with Marco's whole disappearance and all, we aren't allowed to bring anymore people into the Embassy at the moment. You know, for security measures," I told him and I crossed my fingers hoping that he bought it.
"You know, you do this thing where you get a little crease right above your nose? Well its adorable and all but it's your tell. It always lets me know when you're lying," he said placing his finger right on my forehead. I sighed in aggravation.
"Eric, you just can't be there right now," I told him as the taxi pulled up onto the curb.
"Why can't I be there?" he asked crossing his arms over his chest.
"You just can't right now but I can get you a hotel room," I told him trying not to fight.
"So I fly all the way to Italy to be here with you but I can't actually be with you?" he asks as the girls get in the cab.
"Eric I didn't ask you to come to Italy," I respond and he scoffed.
"Well excuse me for being a good boyfriend then," he threw his hands up in the air.
"Eric don't make a scene please-" I began but he just shook his head.
"No don't worry, I get it. The only scene you need to see is a crime scene. I can see that coming here was a mistake. I'm sorry for interrupting you Agent Wynters," he muttered.
"I can take them to a hotel," Bianca offered from the cab, while the driver looked extremely pissed that he got the group of melodramatic teenagers as his clients.
"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.