Asterin was annoyed and worried. They had just arrived at the station to lock Aramith Selwyn back up and she was now currently leaning on her office desk with crossed arms.
"If she does not die of sheer stubbornness and stupid recklessness, I will murder her." she said sharply before grabbing her phone to check for any reply messages from her friend.
Alexander, who was sitting in her chair, sighed and threw a tired smile her way.
"It's the third time you have said that. And no offense but you're so tiny, it's like being threatened by a kitten."
She raised an eyebrow.
"Do I need to be tall and bulky to shoot you ?."
Alexander was smirking at her when they heard a sudden knock at the door. A detective from their service opened the door, a pile of files resting in his arms.
"Hello to the both of you. Black, the captain wants to see you. Something about the DCI promotion. Now I got to get those to the storage room." The man sighed, nodding towards his pile before heading out.
Asterin straightened as she exchanged a look with Alexander and grinned. He smiled at her and got up.
"I'm happy you got it."
"Thank you. Although to be fairly honest, I thought you would get it."
The raven haired man shrugged. "I'll have other opportunities, and I don't think I wanted it nearly as much as you did. Shall I escort you ?"
"I can walk myself there, Alex." she said with a raised eyebrow.
He smiled at the nickname and got up, making an exaggerated gesture towards the door . "I'll do it anyway. After you, Tessi darling !"
She rolled her eyes before heading to their captain's office. When she got to the door, she threw a last look to Alexander who gave her a thumbs up.
Captain Johnson smiled at her as she entered and she had to struggle to keep a straight face. She had fought so hard for this promotion and now it was finally paying back.
"Ah, detective Black ! Sit down, please. Your work these last few months was very impressive and I think it is very good that you went after the Detective Chief Inspector position."
Asterin offered him a polite smiled and nodded in thanks.
"And that is why I am very sorry to say that you didn't get it."
Asterin's smile fell as she stared at the man in front of her. It took her a moment to grasp her mind around what he had just said and when she did, she was not sure she had heard him right.
"I beg your pardon ?" she finally managed to say after a few seconds.
"You didn't get the promotion, Black. Thronhood did." Johnson said with an apologetical smile. "You are very good at your work, be sure of it, but I think it's for the best. You're a bit young for the position and Thornhood has been in the service longer so he has a little more experience. And maybe this case wasn't ideal for you to get promoted, with the involvement of your brother and all that mess."
Asterin's jaw tightened. So this was it then ? Experience was probably just an excuse. Of course it would not look good to have a DCI who's brother was an addict had been a serious suspect to one of the most gruesome cases of the service.
"I hope you understand that it's nothing personal, Black. You are a valued element of our division and I have is no doubt you will go far and rise through the ranks."
"Yes, I will." Asterin said perhaps a bit to sharply. "Sir." she added with a wry smile to lessen the edge of her words. "If you will excuse me, I must go, sir."
Johnson looked like he was about to say something else but settled for a nod and a sympathetic smile.
"Please fetch Thrornhood for me please."
"Of course." she said before heading out.
Alexander was chatting animatedly with one of the members of the forensics team. Asterin looked at him for a moment. He was always so lighthearted. Grey eyes always shining with mischief and a grin always plastered on his stupid mouth. She sighed and made her way toward him. She had already a composed and distant smile on her lips when she reached him.
"Congratulations for you promotion, Thornhood. You deserve it. Johnson is waiting for you in his office."
For a second Alexander almost seemed like he would laugh at her words and tell her to stop joking. When it became clear that she was not, he stared at her in disbelief.
"Wait, you're serious ? But I thought-"
"It is getting late. I should go home. And you should go see the Captain, he is waiting for you." she said before brushing passed him, missing the flash of hurt passing through Alexander's eyes.
Once she arrived in her office Asterin closes the door and sat down at her desk. She sighed and leaned back in her chair. So all the extra night shifts and cases, the hours she had spent working on her days off was for nothing. She could not remember the last weekend, the last holiday she spent without a file or a report in front of her. She could have laughed at how ridiculous it was. Asterin got up and started to put her coat when her phone rang. It was Lis. Asterin was quick to grab the phone and bring it to her ear.
"Tell me you regret being an idiot and you are not dead. Or fatally wounded" she sighed.
"The son of a... wasn't home and he is possibly on his way to murder someone else. Can you look up the address of Richie Lound ?"
Asterin did not say her word as she logged in her computer and searched through the police records. The detective tapped her fingers on the edge of her desk as she waited for Lound's file to charge. After a few endless seconds, the address finally appeared.
"Found it. 127 Eglon street in East London. I will meet you there, and do not try to convince otherwise, it is close to the station so I'll be there soon. And I will not take any orders to stay back." she said already hurrying out of her office.
There was pause and then a sigh. "Alright."
-
Blythe was waiting near the apartment building entrance when Black parked carelessly, in a hurry, in a spot quite close to the door. Asterin almost threw herself out of the vehicle, hand on her holster. As soon as Elizabeth caught a glimpse of her colleague she rushed through the entrance, gun out.
"Come on ! Faster ! For all we know, the man could already be dead by now."
For the second time in the last hour she kicked down an apartment door. Raziel was hunched over Lound, knife in hand. He had his victim immobilised against the floor, arms pinned down and legs restrained. The man was defending himself, struggling the best he could but to no avail. Richie Lound was already bleeding, from the look of it it wasn't a lethal wound : Raziel was just toying with him, having fun. The blond man's head whipped around as the door came crashing down, his eyes were wide, like a deer in headlights. She shot a single bullet in between the two men. For a few seconds everything was still, motionless. Then Gabriel jumped back, leaving is victim panting on the ground and whimpering, he then threw himself onto the detective, forcing her to drop her gun. The two brawled for a while, none gaining the upper hand on the other, they thrashed around, pushing furniture to the side carelessly. At some point, Elizabeth found herself pinned against the wall, Raziel's knife pushed against her throat. She wasn't afraid, but she didn't exactly like the position she now found herself in.
"Hey over here, you imbecile !"
He unconsciously turned around to see who had called out to him, and that was his final mistake. A fist came crashing into his nose, and he fell backwards, hitting his head against a side table.
"Are you alright Lis ?"
She put both her hands on her throat, struggling for air, and bent in two.
"Lis ! Are you alright ?" Her friend put a hand on her shoulder. "Answer me !"
"Im fine. I'm fine." She waved dismissively. "Take care of Raziel, I'll handle Lound. Make sure he doesn't wake up before we get to the precinct.
Half an hour or so later, Elizabeth was standing next to her desk, a small band aid covering the cut the knife had made at her throat, the old beige cardigan she always left at the office thrown over her shoulders and a cup of tea in her hands. Everything had gone by in a blur : the drive to the precinct, Lound panting, crying and complaining in the front seat, gushing about the cut he had gotten on his arm, begging not to be arrested, saying he didn't deal drugs; the tense energy coming from the back seats, Asterin watching over Raziel in an ominous silence; the arrival, half the officers on duty at the time coming in waves to see what was happening, Thornhood rushing in, worried, and hurrying to throw the man in a cell, Benji, silent but stern, trying to see if anyone needed medical attention. It had all been too much, too overwhelming. She had asked for a bit of alone time while Alex and Asterin prepared for the interrogation. At some point Constable Oakden had popped in to tell her Raziel had woken up but that was all. When she finished her cup of tea, she sat at her desk and grabbed her phone.
We got him.
-
It was well past eleven thirty in the evening when Asterin found herself waiting in the queue for the coffee machine. She and Alexander had finally finished the entire procedure to get Raziel incarcerated. Of course they would have to interrogate him the next morning but it was just a formality. They had all the proof necessary to lock him up for good. After giving the files back to the captain, Asterin had managed to slip past Alexander's watch to get herself what she believed was a well deserved cup of coffee. She was still struggling to process the fact that they had actually caught him after all their trouble. Asterin stepped forward when her turn came and pressed the button to get the darkest coffee available. In the corner of her eye she saw a familiar silhouette walking towards her. Asterin instantly regretted to have started making her coffee as she now could not escape Alexander's figure.
"Hey," he said leaning on the wall next to her, his tone lacking its usual cheefulness.
"Good evening."
There was a moment of silence, filled only by the noise of the coffee machine which she suddenly began to find too loud. God, had the machine ever been this slow ?
"So it's all over now, huh ?" He said, staring at the wall ahead, his question not really sounding like a question.
The machine finally stopped and Asterin took her cup out.
"Yes. I suppose it is," she replied after a pause as she turned to look at him.
For once he was not smiling. On the contrary a frown was now decorating his facial features. His eyes somehow seemed a bit darker, replacing their clear grey shade for the color of a stormy day. For a reason Asterin could not explain to herself, it irritated her to see him in this state.
"Will you snap out of it ?"
That seemed to get his attention. "What ?"
"You mope about like a lost child. Get a grip Thornhood."
He sighed but did not answer, looking back to the wall. Now that, alarmed Asterin. It was very unusual for Alexander to not argue back. Asterin stared at him for second and leaned on the wall next to him, taking a sip of coffee.
"What is it that is disturbing you so much ?" she finally asked in a much softer tone than before.
"I don't even know where to begin. You girls facing a crazy serial killer while I was off getting cajoled or stealing your promotion ?"
Asterin sighed and set her cup on top of the coffee machine before stepping in front of Alexander to face him.
"First of all, it was not your fault Lis and I went to catch Raziel on our own. If anything I should be the one to blame for not warning you. And second of all you did not steal my promotion, Alexander."
"Yes. Yes I did." Alexander scoffed, looking straight into her eyes. "I didn't win it fairly, Johnson gave only gave it to me because your brother was a suspect. We both know that whole experience excuse is bullshit. I'm really sorry Asterin."
"And what you are going to do about that, cry ? We are not children anymore." she said in annoyance. He was about to protest but she raised a hand to silence him. "And don't you ever dare apologize for what you earned. Because you do deserve this promotion Alexander, regardless of how you got it. So stop beating yourself up for it."
Alexander stared at her in bafflement. "Aren't you even mad ?"
Asterin put her hands behind her back and offered him a teasing smile.
"Oh, fear not. I will get my revenge on you, Alex. I am fairly certain we have a bet going on, don't we ? And I believe the deadline is tomorrow, so unless you solve four cases in the next twenty minutes, I win." she said glancing at her watch before grabbing her cup of coffee and starting to walk down the corridor to join Lis in her office.
"Four ? I thought you were only three cases ahead ?" he called out after her.
"You forget the one we just solved. And I told you, when I make the arrests, they are mine, even if Lis was part of it." Asterin declared without even turning back to look at him.
The woman missed out the smile that was now playing on Alexander's lips as he watched her go.