Suddenly the door of the office flew open. Elizabeth nearly dropped the cup of tea she had just bought. Her internal wheel of emotions kept hesitating between, shock, glee and the ever-classic "well that took you two long enough". In the end, it settled on a form of contempt and a smirk.
"Well then... I didn't expect this to work this much. But I do like that it went there : it proves that I was right. I always am, but it's reassuring to know I haven't completely lost my flair. Well, just to let you two darling lovebirds know that we got the permission a bit earlier than usual. I'll leave you two to figure out all..." She waved her hand around in their general direction. "This, on your own. Take your time while I get the cool hobo out. I'll just... Wait for you guys next to the car. Seriously, take allll the time in the world, I can wait."
She playfully finger gunned them with her free hand - a bad habit she had developed by spending too much time with Benjamin - and left the room to go get their new "friend". Playfully she opened the door to the cell.
"Out you go miss ! My two colleagues may be a bit late so if you want I can get you a coffee while we wait as a thanks for your cooperation."
-
Still in Elisabeth's office, dumbfounded behind the glass door, Alexander and Asterin' eyes remained fixed on the door. There was a moment of silence before Alexander stepped back and cleared his throat. Asterin tried her hardest to avoid his gaze as she circled her arms around herself. When she finally looked up to him, her mind went entirely blank. Alexander's black hair were a mess, his cheeks were slightly flushed and there seemed to be a spark in his steely eyes that was not there before. What was she even supposed to say ? Get ahold of yourself Black, she scolded herself. She was about to say something when Alexander saved her the embarrassment of being a stuttering mess.
"I'm sorry. "
"What for ?" Asterin said, a confused frown appearing on her face.
"For yesterday. I shouldn't have said what I said about the promotion. You deserve it more than anyone I know." he said, smiling gently at her.
"That is not true. You do too." Asterin replied very seriously. The next second she was grinning. "But do not think that us kissing changes anything, I am still getting it."
Alexander chuckled. "I wouldn't want it any other way." he said extending his hand towards her to help her straighten up.
For a second he seemed scared that she would slap it away but Asterin's smile widen as she took it.
"And about the kiss..." he drawled hesitatingly.
"It was fine and I liked it. Now we have a murder to solve." Asterin said, already feeling her face heat up as she hurried to make her way out of the room.
Alexander followed her out with a foolish smile plastered on his face.
-
"I didn't expect you to be this quick, boss."
The ginger policewoman rose an eyebrow. "Boss ?"
"Well, you're the most graded here, right? I mean, between Alex, the girl in denial of her feelings and you?"
"Why, I guess you could formulate it like that," she laughed. "Just call me Elisabeth. Anyway, back to business. Your wrists."
Aramith grunted. "Really, Lis ? It's not like I was planning to do anything behind your back such as flying away..." She rolled her eyes. "And handcuffs hurt~ Y'all police officers always put those on people but have you tried them on ? You have to feel the pain of the prisoners to be in phase with them. What, I'm serious !"
Unconcerned, the sadistic officer dragged the mistreated woman in the car, the other two officers were already seated. Something felt like... different - and by different, it wasn't only because of the presence of Lis seated next to her. The whole mood was not the same anymore. Certainly because the jealous girl wasn't annoyed anymore. However, even though the looks Alex peaked at his lover weren't filled with worry but with fondness, they were still way too frequent for her to feel safe in this car. Did they make up after the interrogation ? Oh ? Their lips were redder than before. They... made up, indeed. Well, no need to act as if she didn't know about them, then - neither to keep making her jealous. Too bad, it was fun.
"Alexander I know your girlfriend isn't pissed at you anymore and that you're so happy and so in love, but could you please look at the road sometimes ? I don't wanna die before getting rich, thanks."
Unsettled by Selwyn's comment, Alexander didn't slow down soon enough for the speed bump. Alexander who had almost banged his head on the car ceiling, winced at the thought of the damage this speed bump could have on his tires.
"Sorry about that." he mumbled.
They arrived at a red light of which he took advantage to steal yet another glance at Asterin. She was reading through the file on the homeless woman behind them. Her white hair feel over her eyes and Alexander felt the urge to smoothen them or tuck a loose strand just behind her ear. He had often wondered if they were as soft as they looked. But then the light turned green and he had to focus on the road again.
Alexander sighed. The word Selwyn had used did disturb him. Girlfriend. Is that what they were ? They hadn't talked about it and Alexander had learned to never get his hopes to high up when it came to Asterin. Although she seemed happy about the way things had turned out, he wasn't entirely sure of what she wanted. He didn't even know if she knew what she wanted. Girlfriend was a word that sounded strange next to her name.
A chuckle escaped from Asterin. "I have to admit you are pretty impressive Selwyn. Thirty-two thefts in the last six weeks and you spent no more than three nights in jail ? You could use those skill to get far more money than you do when you pickpocket, you know."
Asterin and Selwyn started chatting about what kind of carrier the later might have and soon enough they arrived to the hideout.
"So, let's get that wallet, shall we ?" Alexander said before getting out of the car.
Aramith lead the little troup to a dark and mandering street. There usually were some fellow hobos on the way, however because of her new 'friends', they all ran away. She suddenly stopped in front of a wall. A plain, ordinary looking brick wall.
"We're here !"
Alex's girlfriend raised an eyebrow, dubious. "Excuse me ?"
Aramith ignored her and pressed various bricks, so quickly that the officers didn't get the time to remember any of it. There was a blank. Then, the wall sunk in on itself swiftly to reveal a corridor. The hobo, a smug smile plastered on her face, walked in.
"Follow me."
The three officers couldn't hide their surprise to Aramith. Lis had eyes slightly wider than usual, glistening with a mix of contained excitement and wild determination. Alex and her girlfriend recoiled faintly at the sight, and even sighed. In sync, how cute. Before the four of them was an enormous yet miraculously tidied 'library' full of wallets in a mess of a basement.
"Okay so guys, this is my house, so please don't touch anything if not needed for the investigation. All the wallets are arranged by alphabetical order. Well, I'm tired so I'm going to take a nap," she declared as she took several blankets and newspapers on the floor in order to improvise a bed. "If you have any questions, figure it out. See ya !"
"There are hundreds of wallets lining these walls, how are we supposed to find the one we're looking for... Even if we had known our perp's name it would have taken us hours, I do not even want to think of how hypothetically long it would take us to find it now..."
"Well then we better get searching because we're in a hurry."
While Black and Thornhood went over to the shelves and started methodically picking wallets and opening them to check for IDs - Asterin had started with the beginning of the alphabet while Alexander had gone to the end - Blythe casually strolled around the room. She passed a finger on the top of a shelf and grimaced at the sight of the thick layer of dust that stuck to it. Clearly this place hadn't been cleaned in months. That is if it ever got clean... That would explain Asterin' incoherent mumbling and groans of disgust that punctuated her search.
"Lis, you could come help us you know ?"
"Give me a minute..."
She kept walking until she accidentally bumped into a small side table. Her left eyebrow shot up in wonder, a small wicker basket laid on top of the piece of furniture and filled with about a dozen more wallets. Once more, she passed a finger on the wooden surface. There was barely any dust. She smirked.
"Guys I think you can stop searching."
"You found it ?!"
"No but I doubt it's in any of these shelves."
"What do you mean ?"
"Does this," she gestured in the direction of the woman sleeping on the floor, "look like a woman for whom cleaning up is a priority ? There's dust everywhere in this room except here which means she moves things around often enough. I figure that's where she stocks her most recent steals until she pushes aside her laziness long enough to sort them."
"Damn Blythe. You're actually pretty smart."
Alexander smiled playfully and she answered with a simple roll of the eyes.
"Ha, Ha, Ha. Hilarious. I am laughing my jaw off."
"My comedic qualities are strongly unappreciated by you two ladies and it wounds me..."
"Zip it and start searching for that bloody wallet."
Asterin was very displeased about the state of the place they had to search. Not only was is dirty everywhere but it had the very unpleasant musty smell.
"Why must I have to search here of all places ?" she muttered under her breath.
"At least you're looking on the desk." said Alexander while lifting what appeared to look like a sweater. Or maybe it was a pair of trousers ? Either way, Asterin could not tell.
After about ten more minutes of searching the 'cleaner' corners of the place Asterin sighed in relief. If she had looked through all this filth to find nothing she would have murdered the homeless woman.
"I found it. There is an ID, the man is Gabriel Raziel. Strange name if you ask me."
She handed the wallet to Lis' extended hand and took off the plastic gloves she had put on to search through the place. She took care of profusely sanitizing her hands before putting back her usual black gloves. She smiled in satisfaction and caught Alexander's eyes when she glanced back up.
"What ? This place is disgusting."
He shrugged with a smile and rubbed his own hands together to try and get the dust off.
"Oh, just take this." Asterin said, shoving her sanitizer in his hands while rolling her eyes.
After taking it back, Asterin glanced at her watch and turned to Lis.
"It is seven a clock. We should get going if we want to get it there on time to get his address from the station's files. Are we going to do the arrest tonight or tomorrow morning ?"
"Tonight. I'm not waiting a minute more to get to that son of a .... You two take care of our new lady friend," she tightened her grip on the black leather wallet, "I'm going after him."
"Elisabeth, you do not have a car, a bike or anything for that matter, don't you think you're maybe rushing into th-"
"No ! I can handle myself. I'll call you if I find anything. And for the love of god, don't try to be heroic and follow me. For the time being you two are still under my command and this is a direct order : do not put yourselves in harm's way."
She walked out of the building before her two colleagues could say another word. Under the identity card in the wallet, there was an address, there was no need to go to the precinct for the database. Of course that allowed her to work faster but it also meant no calling for backup, no grabbing a weapon other than her service gun. And she knew that if that was the case, Black, Thornhood and the surprisingly nice homeless woman would be in danger and she couldn't allow that. There was all that but there was also the urge to have no witness if she decided to punch the man. She turned left at the end of the street, her pace still fast and energetic. The sun had slowly started setting and the winter air was getting colder by the minute, she could see her own breath as she exhaled. Everything was getting darker, but she knew every corner, every dark alley, every crossroad of the city. She would not get lost. It took her fifteen minutes to reach her destination, an old apartment building, barely habitable. The white paint was peeling off of the entrance door. The man lived on the first floor, there was no light shining from under his front door. She readied her gun and her mind and kicked the door open, ready to shoot on sight. It was empty. The apartment was empty. She made a full sweep, twice, to make sure of that. Gabriel Raziel wasn't home. In frustration she kicked the foot of a chair. She barely noticed the pain, the rage was overwhelming. She had missed him. How... How was he always two steps ahead. There had to be something in this stupid apartment that would guide her to him. Elizabeth would turn the entire place inside out if she had do but she would find it. The detective walked back into the bedroom, she searched the nightstand, the pile of clothes on the floor, she even turned over the mattress. Nothing. She threw open a closet door.
Oh god... That was... Something. The closet was void of clothes, instead there was a sort of... Shrine ? There was a list, names crossed out in red - a bit cliche but it served its purpose - and pictures. Of James, of Rob, of the first victim. And someone else. A man, long black hair, frail looking. There was an array of pictures that looked like paparazzi shots. The man driving a pizza delivery bike. The man going to the supermarket. The man dealing drugs.
"F*ck."