The ice cold breeze bit my nose ravenously, as if it were thirsty for my flesh, stinging the pale skin turning it red. The snow had picked up by now, the warehouse had been turned into a murderous wonderland where crime scene tape was everywhere, police were keeping away anyone unauthorized to enter the scene and the mood seemed darker than the grey clouds above.
Lance's jacket was quite large on my body but it kept my torso surprisingly warm, and it also smelt good. His cologne was on it, the cologne he would always spray on himself everyday in hopes of nabbing a new girl to bring back to his place though it never proved useful until now. It wrapped me in a warm presence where I felt safe, untouchable and even concentrated. It felt as if Lance were protecting me from our apartment.
"Keith, the crime happened where Watson is, do you think you can manage to walk over there?" Natasha asked as she walked over to my side with her snow cap on, black scarf and her winter work clothing. She looked tired, bags under her eyes and the once bright iris's had become dull and unhappy.
I looked over at detective Watson who stood by an evidence marker, her black hair covered her left green eye as she quietly studied the snow for some sort of clue to surface. "I can manage to do normal people stuff, yes." I told my boss before hobbling over across the white fluffiness below me in order to approach the junior detective that belonged to another senior detective who happened to be on vacation for the moment.
Julia Watson looked up in surprise as she locked eyes with me. "Mr. Kogane, it's a pleasure to meet you sir." She smiled at me with held back excitement as she held her hand out to me, she wore a leather glove.
I accepted the invitation and shook her hand gently, regretting not taking a hat with me as I felt my ears sting slightly from the cold bite of the air around us. "Watson, the pleasure is all mine. So you know anything useful so far?" I looked down at the snow to see nothing but white, the marker had been placed down for nothing since this weather would destroy whatever evidence had been left behind.
"Well this is where it happened, I'm sorry for having to point out the details however, we found casings of an agency issued gun and we're having one of our guys try to trace it back to a direct gun to see if it belonged to Antonio or another detective." Julia avoided eye contact as she shoved her gloved hands into her jacket pockets quickly. "Either case means bad news."
"Yeah, no kidding..." I mumbled as I looked over to the warehouse to see police talking to the dealer and taking notes as the man crossed his legs and pointed his face away from the annoyed police men. If the gun were Antonio's it meant that the killer used his to commit the crime but if it is another detectives it meant Pyxis was among our ranks. Watson had the same thoughts as me, she showed signs of distress as she bit down onto her bottom lips and clenched her fists inside the black trenchcoat she sported. Her green eyes were focused onto the ground as if it had hypnotized her into a trance, my hands balled into fists as I clenched my teeth slightly. If Pyxis was truly among our ranks it meant no one around me was truly safe, Natasha could have her family killed next, Allura could be hunted down and finally be finished off and Lance could be a sitting duck within the apartment complex.
"When I was a child I used to believe that monsters were the things that hid under my bed or in my closet, the things every child feared. But now that I'm a detective I've realized something..." Watson clenched her jaw as her gaze slowly shifted up to meet mine, her eyes full of resentment and disgust.
"Humans are the only monsters on earth." I finished the sentence for her, memories of my old foster homes flooding back to me, the memories of my scars burning into my skin and even the memories of the razor caked in blood. "Monsters are created by society therefore, human nature is what brings upon these cattle that have strayed from the herd-"
"The cattle who have chosen a path of sin over a path of virtue and righteousness. They are the ones we must weed out before they taint the feeble minded." Her green eyes were blazing and her black eyebrows were pinched together in a rage fueled frown. Watson looked truly terrifying as she stood at my side.
I nodded as I pushed my glasses up my nose slowly, "Only we have the power to do it, the power of deduction is our hope in a twisted world like this isn't it?" I asked as I felt the corner of my lip pinch up slightly in a smirk, my eyes focused onto the snow where Watson had been looking moments earlier.
"Yes sir."
Something about being at the scene fueled hatred growing within my body, starting from the pit of my stomach and rising to my throat. It was time to put an end to this after all, I had allowed Pyxis to run wild for too long and now innocent souls too pure for this world were being slain for the entertainment of the corrupted. "Detective Kogane, Mr. Benning's requested a word with you." A young cop approached Watson and I with an uneasy look plastered across his youthful face.
The tense feeling in the air that had grown around the two of suddenly shattered like glass as I was snapped out of my trance, my sinister smirk that had grown onto my face seconds earlier disappeared as I was brought back to reality. "Mr. Benning's?" I asked as I met the cops brown eyes in confusion.
The cop became uncomfortable as he pointed over his shoulder with his index finger to the blonde man with golden eyes sitting in the chair where two policemen watched him with displeased looks on their faces. The man smiled as he waved to me, he seemed a little too overjoyed as he beckoned me over with his friendliness. "William Bennings, the only person at the scene who wasn't one of the agencies detectives..." The cop told me in a small voice.
He was the only other one here besides Irene and Antonio? The statement seemed suspicious to me as I stared at the man from across the snow. "What makes you think that, sir?" I asked the policeman with suspicion.
"He uh, he's the one who told me." The brown eyed man told me in confusion.
"What's wrong with the statement Mr. Kogane?" Watson asked as she looked at me quizzically.
"You should be able to figure that one out, you are named after the great John Watson aren't you?" I stated as I shoved my hands into Lance's jacket and began to cross the open area, not daring to peel my eyes off of the fedora wearing man who smiled at me.
"Hello~" William spoke cheerfully as I entered the warehouse where other workers were taking the two pieces of art that had been stolen in as evidence. "I must introduce myself to a man of such beauty. I'm William Hewitt Benning, I'm a seller of art and I do believe you fit my quota for a portrait-"
"I'm not here to be your model, I've tried it before and standing still for hours isn't really my taste." I bluntly stated, my purple eyes intense as I stared down at the blonde man.
He itched his chin awkwardly and laughed slightly, "Oh, well it was worth a shot wasn't it?"
"No, it was a waste of your breath." I grumbled as I pulled my hands out of my pockets to cross my arms over my chest slowly, "tell me everything about last night."
"Cutting right to the chase just like a normal working detective..." William sighed before he looked down at his lap and began talking. "Well it was obviously the three of us inside the warehouse, looking at art like a normal client would do whether or not they were actors. The young man had to step out to take a call and that's when the shots were fired, I was in the back so I couldn't see anything."
"Irene huh? It's interesting you know her name since she was Celestine to you a few hours ago." I stated, my muscles beginning to become tense. "You told the police it was only the three of you and you didn't say that there was anyone else, correct?"
"Right... The rookie cop told me their names by the way, Antonio and Irene." William swallowed down air as he shifted his position in his chair.
"So where was Irene during this-" vrrrt vrrrrt vrrt. My phone began to vibrate in my pocket cutting me off mid sentence. I slowly slid the mobile device out of my pocket and saw that Aerum had sent me a picture, "Excuse me William." I turned away from him and stepped outside into the cold air once more.
I looked at the attachment that my mother had sent me and frowned as I read her text below it. 'I think this should be very useful to you...' I tapped on the attachment waiting for it to load as I listened to William beginning to whistle in the building to himself.
My eyes widened slightly as I stared at the very first name that appeared on the public record access list, "Keith Kogane?" I breathed in confusion as my eyes focused onto the girlish handwriting that was clearly not mine.
Who would've forged my signature just to get access to the public records? Who would go through such a hassle for something like- The 'i' seemed faintly familiar with how the dot was nowhere to be seen, someone who didn't dot their I's had been the one to forge my name but why was it so familiar? I frowned deeply as I bit my lip trying to go through my memories of everyone's handwriting I had seen through my life, almost everybody dotted the I except for....for Irene. My blood ran cold as my eyes widened into horror, it would make sense, the way she always clung to me, how she knew exactly what belonged in the homes, how she was able to slam Antonio onto the floor when he was attacking me and even about my missing gun I hadn't told anyone about yet. Missing gun, forged name? What does this all mean? She was trying to turn the case against me, to frame me for the deaths of everyone and now she was guarding two people who meant the world to me. Lance and the young boy who reminded me of how I once was, an orphan.
I dropped the phone without thinking as my body went into a state of panic, my shoes slipped on the small patch of ice below me as I twisted around, dropped my cane and slid down over to the warehouse doors to meet Williams golden eyes. "Tell me, was it her?" I asked breathlessly, fear beginning to grip my chest the longer I stood there not knowing if I had screwed up the entire case by not realizing something so obvious earlier.
William smirked slightly as he shrugged, "You're the detective aren't you?"
Dammit! I clenched my jaw and began to run back to Watson, my phone completely forgotten and my stitches aching from the sudden movements I was doing. "Watson, get in your car now you need to do me a favor." I grabbed the woman by her upper arm and began dragging her behind me roughly as she stumbled.
"W-why?" She managed to fall into step with me and took out her phone slowly to call someone.
I snatched the phone away without thinking before dialing Lance's cell phone quickly, "Because I know who the asshole is." My voice was low and guttural, someone foreign to me. When no answer came I threw the phone into her chest and glared at her with determination, "Give me your gun when we get in the car, I'm not making the same mistake twice."
This time I will shoot her.