A/N: Apologies for uploading this chapter missing the first line *facepalm*. Forgive me, enjoy :)
Chapter 4: My Boy Builds Coffins
Jace woke with a start, feeling uncomfortable and unsatisfied. Rising from his bed, he headed to the bathroom- attempting to shake the unidentifiable feeling of unease that hung around him as he climbed into the shower. He scrubbed at his body, the dial of the shower exactly halfway between hot and cold, and examined his bathroom. His walls were white tile, matching the white walls of his bedroom, living room and kitchen; despite this entire organisation, his head still felt a mess. He couldn't put his finger on what had caused his sleepless night, what was causing him to feel… guilty?
Guilty?
Clary! The girl he had met yesterday, or should he say, saved yesterday. Rubbing soap from his eyes he breathed heavily as he remembered the redhead, the fiery, broken, messed up redhead that had tried to jump off a roof then walked away from him, as if there were other things she should be concerned about.
And there were. The final cobwebs blew from his head as he remembered the purple marks on her skin. They were faint- anyone other than Jace would probably not have noticed them- however, to him, they were alarmingly obvious. Why had he let her walk away! She could be in the clutches of an abusive father right now, or a ruthless slave trade!
Then another cog turned.
It wasn't an abusive father. It wasn't a slave trade. It was him: Sebastian Verlac. Unconsciously, Jace hissed through his teeth. He had had exactly three encounters with that man: the first time they ever met was when Sebastian was moving in. The black headed man had been walking around the complex, knocking on doors trying to find the supervisor; by the time he had reached Jace's door he was in a foul mood, and managed to insult Jace's intelligence and blow up his own ego in the same sentence. Jace had not been impressed.
The second time was down at the station; Jace had been interrogating a rather well known CEO on the grounds of sexual harassment charges- Sebastian had flown through the doors, jet black eyes harsh as he snapped at the man to remain quiet whilst simultaneously throwing a pile of documents at Jace's partner Jordan Kyle; this time neither of them had been impressed. The man had gone free and both Jace and Kyle had been cautioned by the DA's assistant for antagonising Verlac.
The final time was recent and now made Jace the angriest out of all the encounters considering the fact it meant that Verlac had been cheating on Clary. He was at a popular nightclub, Pandemonium, with his adopted siblings Alec and Isabelle when he saw Sebastian exiting the club, a sleazy looking blonde wrapped up in his arms. It had made him feel sick and still made him sick now.
Climbing out of the shower and dressing for work, Jace prepared his bag then walked out of his apartment, locking the door behind him. He was part the way down the stairs when he was overwhelmed by curiosity; he couldn't. But he did- stopping at the door to the second floor; Jace pushed his way through and walked down the hallway, heading towards the elevators.
He walked slowly- he wasn't sure why. He didn't know which apartment was hers, but he wanted to. He felt drawn to this redheaded girl, in every sense possible, and craved to find out more about her. Unfortunately for him, the entire floor seemed to be silent, so he made his way- slightly deflated- to the elevator.
Jace arrived at work exactly on time- as per usual- and held two coffees in his hand. He set one unbearably creamy latte onto his partner Jordan's desk, before moving to sit opposite at his own, drinking his hot black coffee, burning his tongue.
"Morning Kyle," Jace said, opening his laptop to check his e-mails. "Anything exciting going on?"
"Well, if you count the same pigeon turning up outside my apartment every day exciting, then yes; apart from that everything is painfully normal." Jordan grinned, glancing over his laptop to look at Jace. He smirked back; glad to be around his friend, however he couldn't help but wish he had a case to distract him from a certain flame haired beauty.
Exactly five minutes passed before his wish came true.
"Kyle, Herondale, get your asses in here!" Jace and Jordan looked up startled as they heard the chief, Lucian Graymark, call for them. Jumping up, they both moved toward his office, bumping shoulders and laughing as they walked in.
"Alright boys, you're needed down at the Public Gallery, all I've heard from the call is that there has been a theft and suspicious activity, if you could head down straight away and collect some witness accounts, you can finish any paperwork at home. Off you go." Luke finished, going back to his filing. The man was a marshmallow; he was like a father to half the people in the precinct, and although he was probably the nicest guy you would ever meet, he did everything in his power to keep the law in place.
While internally fist pumping over the paperwork situation, both Jace and Jordan left the building, coats in hand as they climbed into their shared car, heading for the gallery.
"What would anyone want with a painting from that place?" Jordan asked, rubbing his hands to warm up from the crisp air. "I mean, I get that there are some great pieces in there, but from the one time Maia and I went there, the highest a painting ever sold for was two hundred dollars, not really worth the hassle of theft…" he trailed off as Jace turned a corner.
"I guess it's not worth that much. Luke said there had been suspicious activity though, maybe that's what we'll have to focus on." Pulling into the gallery's car park, they got out of the car and approached the doors. No-one was around in the front office, however all lights were on so they continued further in, hearing a dull buzz of noise from inside room toward the back.
"Stop right there!" A commanding feminine voice echoed, directed toward Jace and Jordan. They both spun round, hands on badges, to be faced with a middle aged woman, face etched with determined features. "Who are you and what are you doing in here." She spoke again, slightly scaring them. Jace however recovered quickly, and moved forwards to show her his badge.
"Sorry to startle you ma'am, I'm Detective Herondale, this is my partner, Detective Kyle, and we're here in regards to a theft?" Jace breathed out as the woman's features relaxed and she leaned forward to shake their hands, smiling slightly, however then continuing to talk in a slightly more urgent tone.
"Thank goodness you are here! Come right this way and I will show you to the scene. My name is Jia, Jia Penhallow, and I am the curator here at the gallery." She showed them into a wide room filled with bright paintings and led them to the very last antechamber, where a large white pedestal with a small golden stand sat, completely empty, in the middle of the space. "Only one piece has been stolen," She continued "However it was a very special piece, one of our finest, and Miss Fray is extremely upset by this entire situation."
Jace's attention perked up immediately at the name; Miss Fray- Clary Fray.
"Do you have any CCTV footage we can analyse?" Jordan questioned, looking around the room as Jace tried not to over excite himself.
"Yes." Jia replied, wringing her hands together. "However, I feel as if it will be no use to you; it has been tampered with, somehow. It stopped recording at midnight, and began again at eight when I came in with Miss Fray to open up." Jordan began to scribble in a notepad, continuing to ask the curator questions.
"Would it be alright if I spoke to Miss Fray?" Jace blurted out, impatient to see the girl again. Jia looked up, and then nodded, pointing out of the door.
"Out of this door, then two to the right and you will find her in the staff room. She's still slightly upset her work is gone, however I haven't talked to her yet." She replied. Jace nodded in thanks, then set off towards Clary, following the instructions he'd been given; he ended up in front of a door decorated creatively in tribal designs labelled "PARTY ROOM- STAFF ONLY". Chuckling to himself, he pushed open the door- only to be met with the person he was most anxious to see, back to him and sniffling onto her hand.
"Miss Fray?" Jace said, as gently as possible, trying to keep his voice from shaking with anticipation. She jumped slightly at his voice, and then turned to face him.
Her beauty startled him, and he stared at her face, memorizing it so that he never forgot, then composed himself.
"Jace?" She replied, shock modelling her voice. "What are you doing here?"
He chuckled, before smirking and replying. "I'm actually a Detective, here to save the day."
Clary rolled her eyes, however she blushed slightly; he was pretty damn attractive. "Well then, I guess it's nice to see you, what can I do to help, do you know how to catch the guy?" Her previous look of worry returned to her face, and she pulled her lip into her mouth and crumpling the piece of paper in her hand harder.
Jace noticed two things while she did this: one was that her lip was split in the left hand corner; the other was that there was a piece of paper in her hand. Deciding to mention the latter, he spoke up.
"With my partner and I here, of course we'll catch the guy. What's that in your hand?" He pointed, letting his professional instincts takeover and dropping the asshole act.
Clary squeezed her eyes shut before replying, obvious anxiety lacing her tone.
"You can't tell Jia. I found it where the painting was stolen, I picked it up, and she can't know, I don't want her to think me a liability and fire me- this job is the only thing I love." She held out the paper.
As long as you don't love Sebastian, Jace thought.
Taking the paper, he opened it up, smoothing out the lines from where Clary had been clutching it tightly in her palm. Reading it through, his eyes widened slightly, and he got his phone out to text Jordan. Typing out a message, he looked back at the piece of paper that had caused Clary to put her head in her hands.
In perfect, elegant handwriting, the note was written in blood red:
My darling Clarissa,
How I have missed you. You're painting is lovely; I shall be keeping it to remind me of you- though I wish I could have some photographs instead.
One day we will be together again… Until then, I will be waiting for you.
-M.