Chapter 7
Finding Aerith
Leon was working on a trivial report at the police station. This city was peaceful and the regular crime involved mostly theft, but of course there were exceptions like the smuggler's murder case and the case of Vincent's missing sister, the trails for which were already getting cold. And since Leon suspected these both cases to be linked, he had asked Hunnigan to get the summary of the missing case. And until she gets it, he had his hands full with paper work.
Leon felt a presence and he looked up to see Vincent standing in front of his desk and looking at him, "Did you talk to Kate?", he asked Leon.
"Yeah", Leon kept his reply short.
"I talked to her too and she advised me to take your help; so maybe you could point out what I am missing", Vincent said to him.
"Alright we can work on that case", Leon agreed to it. He wanted to know his sister's case anyway, it doesn't matter where the information came from.
"So after work at my place, we can discuss it", Vincent said to him.
"Alright!", Leon gave him a nod.
With that Vincent walked back to his desk and started working on his share of paper work. Leon looked at him for while, something seemed off about him. It didn't seem he wanted Leon to work on the case just because Kate had asked him. He didn't seem like a person who was easily influenced, and Leon had his fair share of experience to prove that he wasn't. Leon wanted to know the details of his sister's case but he decided to be cautious of Vincent.
Claire and her friend were riding a taxi back to the hotel, after shopping some souvenirs for their respective family. The two days had been really busy for them with a meeting with the mayor and seminar about bio-terrorism was just tiring but of course all women have a different storehouse of stamina when it came to shopping. Both the women were talking trivially about some random stuff when the taxi driver stopped his car and Claire got alarmed at the suspicious behavior.
"What happened?", Claire's friend asked the driver.
"There's a kid lying on the road", the driver told them.
"What?!", Claire said surprised leaning in a bit so she could see through the windshield and sure enough there was girl lying on the middle of the secluded road, "Let's check it out!"
"What if it's a trap or something", her friend spoke out her concern.
"You two stay in; I'll go an check", Claire exiting the vehicle.
Claire looked around totally cautious about any trouble and very slowly and carefully made her way to the girl. She bent down to check her and again looked around for anybody. She turned the girl, who was lying face down and found out that she was unconscious. She didn't have any major injuries but she seemed to be running a high fever. She signaled the driver to help her and they both got her in the taxi.
They immediately took her to a hospital and doctors admitted her immediately. Claire wanted to find out who did this to the girl and also her parents or guardians, who were possibly careless about her. She took out the slip Vincent gave her, which had the emergency number of the police station of this city, to inform the police about this anonymous girl.
Vincent unlocked the door to his apartment and both him and Leon stepped inside. It was the first time Leon had been in his home and he could see that Vincent had a odd fondness for the color yellow, almost everything in his place was a shade of yellow. The only thing that was messy was the coffee table, which seemed to be like his temporary workplace with maps and anything related to his sister's case.
"Please take a seat", Vincent said being polite, "I'll get coffee for us."
"Alright", Leon said taking the couch.
"You go read the pink file, while I brew the coffee", Vincent said to him while moving to the kitchen area. Leon reached for the file and started studying the case details of it, "Here", Vincent drew his attention as he held two coffee cups in front of him and there was something about the look in his eyes that Leon felt unsettling. He reached for the cup that was on his left and Vincent spoke even before he could take it, "That's sugarless."
"I don't like sugar in my coffee", Leon told him, eyeing him suspiciously.
"I am diabetic, so I insist that you take the right one", Vincent said persistently, "I don't like to waste stuff."
"I see", Leon said and took the coffee cup to his right.
Vincent settled with his coffee on the single sofa chair and Leon set his coffee on the coffee table. He got back to studying the case getting an ominous feeling about being in this place. He observed Vincent from the corners of his eyes, he wasn't showing any interest in discussing the details of the case, inconsistent to what Kate had told him. For a woman who openly admitted her fears, Leon didn't think that she was lying but he couldn't understand what was more important for Vincent than finding his sister.
"Your coffee is getting cold", Vincent commented and Leon looked at his coffee and immediately knew that this coffee was bad news for him. He suspected it from the beginning but now he was more than confirmed.
"Ah yeah right!", Leon pretended to reach for the coffee and deliberately knocked it down on the floor, "Oh shit! Sorry man!", Leon bent to get the broken pieces of cup.
"You're very smart!", Vincent said in an icy tone keeping a gun against Leon's temple.
"So you were the one, who shot at me last night", Leon said it slowly not making any move, "Didn't you think twice about your friend, Kate."
"I did think about her and that's why you lived", Vincent told him in a matter-of-fact tone.
"Why are you doing this?", Leon asked him looking for an opening, "You're not a bad guy!"
"I have my reasons Kennedy, so forgive me", Vincent said readying himself to shoot, "I cannot afford to let you live any longer."
"Think about your sister", Leon said seriously, "she wouldn't want a murderer for a brother", and that broke the iron wall defense of his.
Leon managed to slap the gun with the file he was holding, off of Vincent's grip and it slid under the couch. Vincent threw a punch at him but Leon dodged it standing up and withdrew his gun but Vincent kicked it off his hand and it flew to the main door. They both tried to reach for it first, grabbing each other from the back of their collars. Leon tried to punch Vincent but he blocked it and threw a punch at Leon with his other hand, which Leon blocked it. Vincent succeeded in holding Leon in a sleep hold but he got out of it by elbowing Vincent in stomach.
Leon tried to hurry to his gun but in his attempt to stop him Vincent tackled him to the floor and they struggled with each other. While Leon tried to get to his gun, Vincent tried to restrain him, he couldn't let Leon go. He had to get rid of Leon at any cost, even if it meant going to jail or being on the run, he had no other option. His eyes clouded with tears as he remembered his sister.
"Vin, I am coming in", both men looked up at main door as it open to reveal Kate but she was not alone, she had Claire with her, "Oops… wrong time!", she said to Claire, "Eww… you're doing it on the floor", she commented seeing them in yet another awkward position. And then she stepped on Leon's gun and froze for a moment.
"What are you guys doing?", Claire asked them as they both stood up and Kate picked the gun off the floor.
"All of a sudden Kennedy attacked me", Vincent lied to her as she looked at him in concern, "hand me the gun Kate."
"He's lying", Leon said to her and she turned to give him the same look, "he tried to kill me, you know it you were there too."
"He's the one lying, you know I can't kill anyone", Vincent said moving to her, "I am your best friend!"
"Kate, trust me!", Leon said sincerely and both the men tried to get her to hand them the gun.
Kate fired the gun and it didn't look like she was firing it for the first time, "Shut it, both of you!", she yelled at them,"Vin, you were never a good liar", she scolded him with tears in her eyes, "And Leon please, Vin must have a good reason for it", she addressed Leon, "Vin, why are you doing this?"
"Yeah, you seemed to be a great guy", Claire said supporting Kate; it seemed she had met Vincent before, "I thought you loved kids!"
"That's what I want to know as well", Leon said looking at Vincent intently.
"Its because of my sister", Vincent yelled dropping to his knees.
"Aerith?!", Kate repeated puzzled.
"You know where she is?", Leon asked him, he knew that this guy was compelled to act this way.
"No", Vincent shook his head, "but they'll kill her if I didn't kill Kennedy!", he looked at Kate hopefully.
"Who's is this Aerith?", Claire asked them puzzled.
When Claire called the police, their line was dead so she came here to meet Leon, so he could help her speed up the process as the cop in this city. But he wasn't home and as she was leaving, his neighbor told her that his partner would know about it. And they got here, she found out that Vincent was Leon's partner, as if that wasn't surprising enough both the men were fighting about something and now Vincent is mentioning that someone is going to kill his sister, if he lets Leon live.
"It's his missing sister", Kate told her and she seemed to be shaken a little too.
"Can I see a picture of her", Claire said suspecting that the girl she found could be Vincent's sister.
"It's there on the table", Leon told her and Claire moved to the table to get it.
"Oh my god!", Claire exclaimed recognizing the girl, "I know where she is."
"You do?", Vincent said to her doubtfully.
"Yeah I… I found her while we were heading back to hotel and she was in a bad shape so we took her to the hospital. I tried to contact police but emergency number you gave me came up dead and then I thought I could ask Leon for help and…", she explained to them speaking fast.
"Oh thank god!", Kate said relaxing finally taking Leon and Vincent off the gun point.
"You sure, it's her?", Vincent asked in confirmation.
"Yeah I am positive", Claire told him nodding, "She was a mess but it's alright!"
"Kate, we finally found her", Vincent said in happiness and Kate smiled through her tears, "I have to go see her", he moved to get out of the house, "but I have to bring her fresh clothes right?"
"You just go see her. I'll get her clothes", Kate said to him.
"Thanks I owe you one", Vincent said happily to her, "Let's go Claire, show me where she is."
"Yeah", she said and followed him as they hurried out of the house.
