"You're art is grotesque."
"Thank you, that's what I was trying to achieve."
"I don't think Seb meant it as a compliment."
The three of them stood in a dim gallery with a few people walking around, looking at the paintings. They've been there for over thirty minutes, one of them was holding a tray of coffee cups in his hand.
Stefano Valentini shrugged. He had one side of his face covered by his brown hair, he wore an immaculate blue suit with red gloves covering his hands. "Either it's compliments or insults, I'm being recognized for my ambition, even how grotesque it might be."
"At least you have dignity," Sebastian Castellano's said. A detective for the KPD who happened to wander into the gallery when Stefano asked for them to come see his opening debut. He considered rejecting the man, but went nonetheless.
Stefano looked down the hall, "They are taking long, aren't they?"
"I'm sure they'll be back soon."
"Ruben is something else, isn't he? The burns make such a nice addition to his work, at least the anatomical sides of his work."
"He might take that as an insult," Joseph Oda said, he was the partner to Sebastian, and was the one holding the tray.
"When has the man ever taken anything as a compliment. Always focused on his scientific methods and not yielding to public scrutiny."
"You two are practically similar," Sebastian comments.
"Don't insult me," Ruben Victoriano said, entering the room with Leslie Withers. The man wore a simple white shirt and pants, bandages covered his face and hands, his glare deepened on the three standing in front of a portrait. Leslie Withers is a patient to Beacon Mental Hospital, he has white hair and wore the simple clothes that most patients of Beacon wore.
"Come now, this isn't the worse thing we've done," Stefano said, taking the coffee cup from Joseph. "It's quite entertaining."
"This isn't what I would consider entertaining," Ruben muttered, looking at the portraits lining the walls.
Joseph walked over to Sebastian, leaning in, "Are you sure this is the right thing to do?"
"We're on a break, Joseph," Sebastian said, taking the offered cup and bringing it to his lips.
Joseph's phone rang, taking it out of his pocket, he pressed it to his ear. His brows raised as he looked back at Sebastian, "It's Kidman, she's wondering where we are."
"Tell her to come over to the art gallery," Stefano says, placing a hand down on Joseph's shoulder, a grin pulled taut at the corners of his lips. "More the merrier."
"Jimenez is taking forever to get here." Ruben stares at the ticking clock in the corner.
"We'll take Leslie back," Sebastian offers. "Tell Kidman to meet us at Beacon."
"Mind dropping me off there as well?" Ruben asked.
Stefano frowned. "You're leaving me here?"
"Shut up, all you ever want to do is stare at your own art."
"True, I do hope you come visit soon. I'll be releasing more of my art in the following weeks."
"We'll consider it," Sebastian said, taking another sip as he turns and leads Joseph, Ruben and Leslie outside to the cop car sitting in the parking lot.
"We're not really considering it, are we?" Joseph asked as they get into the car.
Sebastian pushed the key in the ignition. "Let's not tell him that." He looked into the rear view mirror at Ruben and Leslie, "Ready?" They nodded their heads and Sebastian pulled out of the parking lot. They drove down the street, the clouds were darkening and rain began spitting on the car.
They closed in on Beacon Mental Hospital, the gates opened and they drove to the curb in front of the building. Kidman was standing outside with a nurse, they were both talking as Ruben and Leslie got out of the car.
"Where were you?" she asked, crossing her arms across her chest.
"Art gallery," Joseph said, getting out of the car.
Sebastian watched Ruben lead Leslie into the building and looked up at the nurse who wore a deadpan expression. She had long brown hair, glasses sat on her nose, and she wore a white dress with a red sweater.
"Tatiana, it's been some time," he said to her.
"It has, detective," she said.
He couldn't get a smile from her, and usually nothing amused her to warrant a smile. Maybe it was the work that got to her, he found himself not smiling when he went back to the department.
"I got someone to drop me off," Kidman said, gesturing at the cups, "you didn't buy me any?"
"We can get some on the way back to the department," Sebastian said as he opened the door to the car. "Bye Tatiana." She gave a vague wave before turning and heading back into the building.
Joseph and Kidman got into the car and Sebastian drove away from the building. They went to a coffee shop where Kidman got her own cup and then they headed to the department.
"Any signs of the serial killer?" the chief asked, his dry humor seemed to stop the three of them as they were heading to their office. "During your break, I mean."
"No, sir," Sebastian said, exhaustion washing over him, "we'll get too it right away."
The man nodded and went back to work while the three of them walked into Sebastian's office and closed the door.
"What were you doing at the art gallery?" Kidman asked, leaning against a filing cabinet.
Sebastian sat down in his seat, glancing at the reports that were on his desk. The first one was a file that held the newspaper clippings of all the evidence of a serial killer. It's been months and they still haven't found the culprit.
"Stefano called and wanted us to view his work," Joseph said, standing in front Sebastian's desk.
"And how was it?" she asked.
The art flashed before Sebastian's mind, all the strangeness of it, the blood and the gore forming into delicate features upon corpses that were layered and structured. Stefano had deemed it art, but Sebastian was a little disturbed by it. The colors looked realistic, bright, and somehow it strained.
"He'll be there for the entire week before another artist gains the gallery, you can view it any time after work," Sebastian told her.
Kidman gave him a slow nod. "I'll look into any of the reports on the serial killer, and the second serial killer that murdered the model a few weeks ago." She pushed away from the filing cabinet and left the room.
Joseph watched her leave before turning his eyes on Sebastian. "Is something bothering you?"
Sebastian sighed, shoulder relaxing, he placed his cup down and grabbed the files. "We should've found this bastard weeks ago, Joseph." He flipped through it, all the evidence, all the facts were there, the clues that lead to the murderer who created the sick machinations.
"Maybe it's right in our face," Joseph offered, "you know some people think the clues are something extremely small, unnoticeable, but when they find out it's in their face, it all makes sense. Like a puzzle piece."
Sebastian had barely heard what Joseph had said, but he caught the important bits. Looking up at him, brows furrowed, concentrating on the many times they went out looking for this bastard. The first serial killer dumped his victims in the countryside, or near churches, the second serial killer attacked his victims in the city. One was discreet, the other was bold.
"Maybe it is right in front of our faces," Sebastian said, quietly. He stared at the pictures, of the reports of what happened to each of the victims. It all didn't make sense, not fully anyway, and maybe when they caught the sick bastards, the pieces would fall into place.
He closed the files and placed them down on the desk. "I need another coffee."
Notes: I wrote this for fun, mostly because I wanted to write something simple and normal since I was reading smut between the characters. LOL.
Reviews are appreciated. No flames or bashing please.