Laura
March 19, 2015, 8:32 a.m. Silas City PD
Laura came into the office with high hopes. The search party had combed the limestone caves thoroughly, every nook and cranny had been searched. LaFontaine was back, and had texted Laura the night before, promising that they would be in the next day. This case was starting to crack wide open.
Her spirits sank, however, when she came in and saw Danny. Kirsch was hovering over her protectively, and for once, they weren't bickering. She hurried over to them,
"They... didn't find Elsie, did they?" She knew the answer before she asked, but she still felt a pang when they both shook their heads. Danny got up abruptly,
"I'm going to the gym. I think I need to blow off some steam." Kirsch bounced up,
"Hey, maybe-" Before he could finish his sentence, Danny turned on him,
"Kirsch, I swear if you're trying to stop me because you think I'm delicate, or some other nonsense, I will destroy you. I don't need you trying to be the big strong hero helping the damsel in distress. I can take care of myself!" Kirsch looked taken aback for a moment,
So much for not bickering, Laura thought in dismay,
"Dude, if you think I'm helping you because you're a hottie, don't be a dumbass. I'm helping you because you're you. I mean, you're kind of like a bro sometimes. And I wasn't going to tell you not to go, I was going to come with you, cause you always do more when you got competition." Danny glared at him for a moment, then deflated,
"Sorry. I...thanks. Company might be good, I guess." Kirsch grinned proudly,
"No hard feelings, come on, bet I can do more push-ups than you." That did get a response out of Danny, but it lacked her usual venom. Despite everything, Laura smiled. It was good to see them getting along for once. She went to her desk to wait for Carmilla (hopefully it wouldn't be too long today). She was spared from agonizing boredom by LaFontaine limping into the room. Perry followed them closely, watching them with an expression that showed both concern, and relief. Laura stood up and went to meet them,
"LaFontaine! How are you feeling?" LaFontaine grinned,
"I'm fine, my ankle is sprained, but it beats getting sliced up and murdered, right?"
"LaFontaine!" Perry scolded. They looked slightly chagrined,
"Sorry, Perr." they turned back to Laura, "Anyway, I just came to check in with you. I'm working on that fingerprint we lifted from Sarah-Jane, it might take a day or two, but I'll tell you the second I get a match." Laura nodded,
"Hurry!" She called as Perry helped LaFontaine out, "Elsie's got three days! That's how long we have to solve the case!"
"Great. No pressure!" LaFontaine yelled back, before Perry ushered them out of the room. Laura sat back down and groaned.
Right. No pressure.
Carmilla
March 19, 2015, 9:47 a.m. Silas City PD
Carmilla came into the office a little early that day. She had decided that it was certainly not because she was looking forward to seeing Laura. She just wanted to solve this case as soon as possible. Perfectly normal. She looked down at the drink tray in her hands. It had her usual black coffee in it, alongside a hot chocolate for Laura. That was a little harder to explain to herself. She went over to their desks and deposited the drink in front of Laura. The blonde looked up in surprise,
"Thanks." She said, taking a sip, she frowned as she put it down,
"Something wrong, Cutie?" Carmilla asked her,
"How did you know hot chocolate was my favourite?"
"You got it the first day we worked together."
"You... remembered that?" Laura seemed surprised, Carmilla shrugged and tried not to look self-conscious,
"I'm a detective, Creampuff. It's my job to notice things. Speaking of jobs, any progress on ours?"
"Well, Elsie's still missing, but LaFontaine is working on that fingerprint they lifted from Sarah-Jane's body. Hopefully we can figure out who's doing this before they hurt her." Carmilla swallowed hard. She thought they would have found Elsie yesterday. She took several deep breaths.
"Carm? What should we do now? Should we keep looking, or wait until LaFontaine is done?" Laura looked a little concerned, which was sweet, but unnecessary.
"The Lab-Rat is good, but fingerprints take time. We need to look elsewhere for now."
"Where? We thought the limestone caves were our big breakthrough, but Elsie wasn't there. That print might be the only lead we have."
"Let's look over the case from the beginning, look for something we missed, or something that still doesn't fit." Laura nodded and grabbed the case file. Carmilla looked at her desk where there was usually a notepad. It was still clean and bare from Perry's stress-cleaning. She gritted her teeth. How was she supposed to find anything?
She finally found it in one of her desk drawers, neatly stacked on top of other notepads. She looked over everything she'd written about the case, searching for something, anything.
"Hey..." Laura's voice brought her head snapping up,
"Did you find something?"
"Maybe. I was just thinking, we know that the victims were being kept in the limestone caves, right? But they all went missing from the train station. Then they turned up at the Lustig. Do you think maybe the caves connect the buildings, or something?" Carmilla nodded,
"Maybe... so someone at the theatre still might be involved. If they can get into the caves without leaving the building, they might have gotten back without anybody noticing." Carmilla drummed her fingers on her desk as she thought,
"Okay, grab the notes you took from when we questioned the theatre workers. We're going back." Laura nodded and got up to follow.
Laura
March 19, 2015, 12:42 p.m. Lustig Theatre
Laura moved on to the next person to question. The people in the theatre had been very cooperative and they were almost finished. The only people left were a couple of actors. Carmilla was in another room, they had decided that divide and conquer was their best bet. She looked at the name at the end of her list and smiled, just one more, then she could go get lunch. She felt a stab of guilt. Her questions hadn't really gotten her anywhere, and she knew that she should feel bad, but then again, she was hungry.
The last man came into the room. He certainly had presence. He sauntered right up to the chair across from her and sat down. Laura glanced down at the notes. Carmilla had questioned him last time, and right at the top of his page in her lazy scrawl was "Deus Fisk: Maybe his mother should have named him Narcissus" Laura giggled and hurriedly composed herself when he raised an eyebrow.
"So, you're name is uh... Deus Fisk? That's unique." He smiled wide,
"Deus is Latin for god. And just look at this body! I do believe my mother was able to predict the future." Laura raised an eyebrow. Yeah, he was handsome, but she didn't really have any sudden desire to bow down and worship him.
She started asking him questions, but didn't have any more luck than with everyone else. He answered fully, but his egotism was starting to grate on her nerves. When she was finally done, she let him go. As soon as he left, Carmilla came in.
"Did you give me him on purpose?" She asked, Carmilla smirked,
"I may have. Even my patience isn't endless." Laura snorted and got up,
"Want to pick up some sandwiches and go over these notes back at the station?"
"Might as well."
Carmilla
March 19, 2015, 1:09 p.m. Silas City PD
Carmilla and Laura sat at their desks with their sandwiches. They had agreed to put their work on hold while they ate, Carmilla pointing out that they deserved a break. They chewed in silence until Laura pointed to the name tag on Carmilla's desk,
"I've been wondering, what's with the whole no-last-name thing?" Carmilla shrugged,
"I legally changed my name. I don't have a last name."
"Why would you get rid of your last name?" This was starting to go into dangerous territory, time to put her off,
"Well, I have to keep some of my secrets. Otherwise I'll lose my air of mystery, won't I?" Laura smiled,
"Oh yeah, that really would be terrible." Carmilla leaned forward, she'd (sort of) answered Laura's question. She figured she was entitled to one now. Although why she even cared was something she hadn't actually figured out yet.
"So... why'd you become a detective, anyway?" Laura lit up, and Carmilla didn't know why her partner was so excited, but it was cute.
"Well, I used to want to be a journalist, but they really just record events, you know? I mean, that's really important too, but I decided it was a little too passive. I wanted to actually go out and help people. I mean, when you help people, it feels really good and-" Laura suddenly bit her lip nervously, "But... You probably think that's stupid." Carmilla shook her head and didn't even think before answering,
"Actually, Lois Lane, it's kind of sweet."
Where the hell did that come from? She wondered, thoroughly appalled at herself.
She was a little less annoyed at herself when she saw Laura's smile.
