A/N: I am really excited about this story and I will be posting new chapters on Wednesdays. Please feel free to tell me what you think! :)
Laura
March 6, 2015. 8:00 a.m. Silas City PD
Laura checked her watch. She was right on time, she wanted to make a good impression her first day at her new job. She was standing in front of the Chief of Police's door. Laura raised her hand and knocked three times.
"Enter." Laura opened the door and stepped into the office. She glanced around, taking everything in. You could usually tell a lot about a person by their office, and this space said business. There were no family pictures on the desk, or posters on the walls. The only thing that even got close to a personal touch was a potted plant in the corner that looked like it had been dead for years. The desk that dominated the room was neat and organized, but still cluttered enough that it was very clearly used. A small cough brought Laura's attention to the woman behind the desk.
"Detective Hollis, correct?" Laura nodded, she was usually a very talkative person, but the Chief's stern face and piercing gaze made her a little too intimidated to worry about small talk. Chief Karnstein didn't seem concerned by Laura's lack of audible response, instead looking casually through a small folder. Laura could see the name "Hollis, Laura" labeled on the corner.
"A bit young for a detective, but your previous employer seemed to think highly of you. You came from a very small town. Are you sure you'll be able to handle the big city?" Laura swallowed,
"Crime is crime, ma'am. I'm good at my job." The older woman raised an eyebrow,
"We'll see. Well, your transfer is complete, so I suppose we're stuck with you either way." The chief put Laura's file down and stood up,
"We have already decided on your partner. One of our best detectives was working alone, now you will work with her," Chief Karnstein opened the door, "Normally I would have your partner show you around, but she isn't here yet, so... Detective Lawrence!" at the chief's call a tall redheaded woman hurried over,
"Yes, ma'am?"
"Lawrence, this is the new girl. She will be partners with Detective Carmilla. Until Carmilla gets here, you will show her around the station." The tall woman nodded,
"Yes ma'am," she spared a smile for Laura, "Come on, first I'll show you to your desk." The chief turned and went back into her office without another word. Laura let out a breath she hadn't realized that she'd been holding. Detective Lawrence let out a small laugh,
"Yeah, she has that effect on a lot of people. I'm Danny, by the way." Danny gestured for Laura to follow her and showed her to a pair of desks. One was completely empty, except for a computer and a small nameplate with "Det. Laura Hollis" on it in bold letters. Laura dropped her purse onto this desk. Her neighbor's desk was...cluttered. Empty food packets littered the surface, despite a trashcan a mere ten steps away. The keyboard to the computer was almost completely hidden by papers. There was a small tower of books that looked like they'd come straight from a philosophy major's required reading list. On top of the books was a nameplate similar to Laura's that declared that this space belonged to "Det. Carmilla".
"No first name?" Laura asked, nodding to the trash heap that was apparently her partner's desk. Danny laughed,
"Actually, no last name. She won't tell anybody what it is. And believe me, people have tried. On all the official papers, even in court records, nothing." Laura frowned,
"Well that's...eccentric." Danny looked like she was about to choke on her own tongue.
"Eccentric? Yeah, that's Carmilla." She finally gave up on holding it in and was overcome by a fit of giggles. Laura was still waiting for it to pass so she could ask what was so funny when a blonde woman walked over,
"Danny! I was just looking for you...what's going on?" Danny regained control of herself and shook her head,
"Nothing, just showing the new girl around. Elsie, this is Laura Hollis. Laura, this is my partner, Elsie. Her last name is Elius, but she really doesn't like hearing the two together."
"Neither would you if your last name sounded almost exactly like your first. It's good to meet you Laura, welcome to the force. Did they decide on your partner yet?" Laura nodded,
"Yeah, it's Carmilla." Elsie's eyebrows rose, and Laura could swear a bit of pink came to her cheeks,
"Oh, really? Um...that's great. She's one of our best detectives, so you're really lucky to learn from her, I mean,"
"Elsie was there something you needed from me?" Danny interrupted, Elsie's cheeks were definitely pink now, but she shook her head,
"I wanted to go over something with you real quick, but it can wait until you're done showing Laura around. See you later." Elsie moved away and Laura shot a questioning look at Danny, who shrugged in response,
"Come on, I should show you the two people you'll be talking to the most."
"Evidence and forensics?" Laura ventured, Danny winked,
"You got it." Danny led Laura out of the room and down a hall,
"This place is huge. I know I'm from a small town, but are all city police Departments this big?" Laura asked, looking around, Danny shook her head,
"No, not even close, but Silas is an old city, and this actually used to be a mansion of some old, wealthy guy with too much money. He died without an heir, and the city decided to use it as a police station."
"Cool!" Laura breathed. Danny led her through a door labelled "Evidence Filing". A pretty, curly haired woman (and another redhead) was typing at a computer, but looked up when they entered.
"Danny! Good morning. Who is this?"
"Perry, meet Laura Hollis. She's a new detective who just transferred to Silas. Laura, this is Lola Perry. She's in charge of filing evidence, which I'm pretty sure is what she was put on this earth to do. She's cool, just don't mess with her obsessive organization." Perry looked mildly affronted,
"It's not obsessive, I'm just...thorough." Danny nodded,
"Of course, my mistake. Anyway, I was just showing Laura where you were. Is LaFontaine in the lab today?" Perry rolled her eyes, but her wide smile ruined the effect,
"Aren't they always? They live for their job." Danny smiled back,
"They aren't always in the lab. Sometimes they go for a visit to the basement." Perry's smile turned to a look of distaste and Laura had to ask,
"What's in the basement?"
"Dead people." Perry muttered,
"The coroner's office," Danny clarified, "there's one guy down there, he's also the pathologist. Damn good at his job, but hopefully you won't have to meet him for a while."
"Yeah, I would like to avoid that if possible." Laura confessed, Danny put a hand on her shoulder and guided her out of the room with a quick "bye" to Perry. They continued down the hallway a short way before turning into a door marked "Forensics Lab". There were several people milling around, but Danny made a beeline straight for someone with short hair examining something in a microscope, (and they had red hair too! Was there something in the water here?)
"LaFontaine, I have someone for you to meet." LaFontaine looked up at them,
"Hey, Danny! Good to see you. Who's the new person?"
"LaFontaine, this is Laura Hollis, our newest detective. Laura this is-"
"I'm LaFontaine, the head geek in charge of this lab." Laura shook their hand,
"LaFontaine is the one you want to go to if you need something done fast." Danny told Laura, LaFontaine put on a look of mock disapproval,
"Detective Lawrence, are you suggesting that I cut corners for your friend here?" Danny laughed,
"Of course not, how could you even accuse me of such a thing?" LaFontaine was about to respond, but they were called away by one of their coworkers.
"Talk to you guys later!" They called, turning around with a swish of their white lab coat. Laura followed Danny out of the lab and Danny led her back to her desk.
"Any idea when my partner will be here?" Laura asked, Danny shrugged,
"She usually shows up around ten."
"Ten? Isn't this one of your best detectives? What kind of police officer shows up at ten?" Danny smiled at her,
"If you're getting this agitated before meeting her, I'm not sure how long you're going to last."
"What do you mean?" Laura asked, Danny looked hesitant, but leaned forward and lowered her voice,
"Carmilla can be...difficult. The reason she doesn't have a partner is because she chases them off. Anybody assigned to be her partner eventually requests either a partner change or a transfer. You're the first new partner she's had in about six months, because they only assign people to her when nobody else is free." Danny grimaced, "Try to stick through it, okay? When someone new comes along, they'll probably put you with them instead."
"I'll be fine," Laura assured her, "I'm tougher than I look, and pretty stubborn. I'm not going to let anyone stop me from doing my job." Danny grinned at her,
"I'm glad to hear it. I look forward to working with you, Detective Hollis." Danny's phone beeped and she pulled it out,
"Sorry, I've got to get back to Elsie. Today's your first day, so use it to get yourself settled in. If you have any questions feel free to find me."
"Thanks, Danny, that's sweet of you." Danny smiled and turned,
"If you need me, I'll probably be either at my desk or the gym. Anyone around can show you the way to the gym if you ask." She said over her shoulder,
"Thanks!" Laura called after her.
Laura looked around for a moment before sitting down at her desk. She turned on the computer and started making it hers, changing from the default password (which was the utterly predictable silasPD), changing her background, setting up her icons the way she was used to. She was scrolling through her email when someone finally came over.
The stranger was a small woman, only an inch or two taller than Laura herself. She had dark hair and eyes, and pale skin. She was also beautiful. Not the everyday "oh, she looks nice" beautiful, but the kind of beautiful that takes you aback for a moment while your brain processes the fact that someone is actually that attractive. The woman didn't even glance in Laura's direction, moving a stack of papers from the chair to the already overflowing desk and sitting down.
Laura suppressed a sigh, it was time to meet her new partner.
"Hi! Carmilla, right? I'm Laura, your new partner." Carmilla looked at her,
"Really? I wouldn't have guessed."
"Well, I'm looking forward to working with you." Laura persevered, determined to get off to the best possible start with her new partner.
"That's only because you don't know me yet, Cutie." Carmilla told her with a small smirk, Laura laughed nervously, because that had to be a joke, right?
"So, I hear you come in at ten every day. You must have a lot of confidence if you're not worried about starting the day so late." Carmilla grabbed one of the books from the pile on her desk, disregarding the nameplate that fell off onto the surrounding pile of paper and trash. She opened it and stuck her nose in before answering,
"It's not confidence, Cupcake, I just hate waking up early."
"Okay then..." Laura was seriously running out of patience. She didn't expect this girl to like her, but could she at least be polite? How were they supposed to work together? The two of them sat in silence for a few minutes, Carmilla seemed unconcerned with anything outside of her book, and Laura was trying to think of a conversation topic that would actually get her new partner talking.
"You can go home, by the way." Carmilla said suddenly,
"What?" Laura asked, was this Carmilla's way of saying she didn't want a partner?
"It's your first day. Nobody is actually going to make you work. You can go ahead and go home."
"Wouldn't that be, I don't know, irresponsible? Not to mention it's pretty unprofessional." Carmilla shrugged,
"Suit yourself, Cupcake, it was just a suggestion. But if you are going to hang out here, you might as well at least find something better to do than sit twiddling your thumbs." Laura stood up,
"Yeah, that sounds like a slightly better idea." She huffed and walked off in the direction Danny had gone when she left. She passed by a few people before she saw Danny, who seemed to be in a heated discussion with another detective. Elsie was sitting at her desk across from the two of them, watching with a bored expression that said this was a common occurrence. Elsie's eyes met Laura's and she stood up,
"Hey, Laura, you settling in okay?" Danny turned around and, ignoring the man she had been arguing with walked over to Laura,
"Did you finally meet your partner?" Laura laughed,
"Yeah. You weren't kidding when you said she was difficult." Danny smiled sympathetically,
"Well, we're both dealing with difficult people," she shot the man she'd been arguing with a dirty look, "Want me to show you the way to the gym? We can hit stuff until we feel better." Laura giggled,
"Sure, why not?" They turned to leave, but the man came over,
"Hey Psycho, aren't you going to introduce us?" Danny sighed,
"Well, I really wasn't, but if it'll make you leave, Kirsch, this is Laura Hollis. Laura, this is Kirsch. He's another detective, but I'm pretty sure that's mostly due to a clerical error." Kirsch scowled,
"Yeah, real clever, Psycho. Good to meet you Laura, if you ever need a hand, come grab me." He walked away and Danny pulled Laura in the direction of the gym.
Danny was definitely right, too, hitting things did make Laura feel better.
Carmilla
March 7, 2015, 10:37 a.m. Silas City PD
Carmilla came over to her desk. She had showed up even later than usual today, just to see what her new partner's reaction would be. The small woman was already there, typing away at her computer. Carmilla didn't know exactly what she was doing, and didn't really care. She sat down at her own desk without a word. She could feel the new girl's eyes on her, and she would normally have ignored her, but they had to tackle a case today and the chief's orders very explicitly said that she had to work with the fresh meat.
"We have a case."
"What?"
"A case, you know, those things we solve? You are a detective, right?" Laura's face scrunched up as she frowned. Carmilla smirked, bothering this one would be fun.
"I know that, what's the case?"
"Missing Persons. I've been working on it for a few days, but now I'm supposed to play nice with you, so buckle up, Creampuff." Carmilla pulled out the relevant folder from the mess on her desk (just because it was messy doesn't mean she can't find what she needs),
"We're looking for a Betty Spielsdorf. Here's her picture, plus all the information I have." Laura leaned forward and grabbed the folder, opening it up, when she looked inside, she gasped.
"Something wrong, Cupcake?" Carmilla asked, trying to recall if there was anything particularly shocking in the file,
"I met her, a few days ago. When I first came to Silas." Laura looked at Carmilla with wide eyes,
"When was this?" Carmilla demanded,
"March first." Carmilla chewed her lip. That was the same day the girl had been reported as missing.
Well, it may just be a fluke, but at least her partner was good for something.