Chapter 9
Ema had refused visitors until Daryan came by two days later. She had requested for an early discharge and though Lana was initially against it, the older Skye would never be able to deny her younger sibling any of her demands - no matter how selfish or immature they can be. And so with a heavy heart, she arranged for Ema's discharge at ten that morning before she left for work. Ema had insisted that Daryan will be there to pick her up – though Lana was still very wary of him, Ema had assured her otherwise - and had reluctantly allowed her to be accompanied back home by the frivolous detective.
"Remember to get some rest," Lana ordered and pecked lightly on her baby sister forehead before continuing, "Don't even think of getting back to work, I'm sure whatever it is, it can wait."
Ema frowned slightly, allowing her sister to draw her into a tight hug. "Gee, I'm not fifteen anymore sis, I can take good care of myself." She replied in mild irritation and spun around to fumble around her sports bag, ensuring that she had all her necessities packed up before zipping it up in one smooth motion.
"Get back to work sis before your clients make a fuss again." It was true; Lana's phone had not stopped vibrating since Ema saw her that morning.
Folding her arms, Lana leveled her eyes sternly and said, "If you can indeed take good care of yourself, can you explain why you end up being hospitalised Miss Skye? You know how worried I am with your profession; my heart literally stopped beating the moment I receive the call from Gumshoe. He was bawling into the phone going 'Ema's dead! Ema's dead!." Ema chuckled weakly at her sister's impersonation of Gumshoe's panic phone call, wondering to herself if she did indeed gave Gumshoe a scare of his life when she landed, unconscious, on the safety mat provided by the members of the force who received Klavier's distress message earlier that night. She chewed her lip distractedly at the thought of the glimmerous fop. Closing her eyes as tight as she could, Ema took in a deep breath and willed herself to push the thought back into the deepest part of her mind before turning innocent eyes on Lana with feigned cheeriness.
"Seriously sis, all the lectures can wait. Your work comes first, all right?" She cheered with all her might and flexed her fingers over Lana's shoulder, reeling her towards the exit of the room.
"Ema-"
Lana tried to turn around but eventually gave up as Ema continued to push her out of the room and into the bustling corridor of the hospital on a Saturday morning. She walked through the door and looked back at Ema contemplatively; her smouldering eyes gleaming with concern. "Call me the first thing you reach home, do you understand? I still don't trust what's his face," she insisted blatantly.
Ema arched a brow, amused by the name calling. "Sure sis, now off you go," she chirped and pointed at the direction of the elevator. Lana gave her a brief hug and departed swiftly after receiving yet another call from her client, leaving Ema all to herself as she watched her dearest sister disappearing around the corner of the hallway.
It was then when Daryan finally decided to show up in his casual attires.
"Aww, isn't that sweet?" He asked playfully, leaning against the wall to the entrance of the room.
Ema turned her gaze on him, clearly not amused. "You're here," she stated a-matter-of-factly.
He instantly raised his brow at that statement and gave her a mischievous smirk. "Hm, not happy to see me?"
Ema rolled her eyes, slipped past him and walked hastily towards the bed to retrieve her bag. "Not really," she replied sourly and reached for the bag but was promptly interrupted by Daryan's fast moving hand. She subtly grimaced at the hand contact.
"Stop treating me like I'm a helpless baby." She growled.
"Forgive me for trying to help." He replied mockingly and swung the bag over his shoulder and started marching for the door.
Ema pretended to be patronized by his comment and continued teasingly from behind, "Forgive me for not expecting it then."
He paused momentarily and turned around, "You're hard to handle at times, you know that? Now give me a smile."
"Hmph," Ema grumbled, clearly not having the energy to counter his optimism, walked past him and out of the room.
"Why the long face? Were you expecting Klavier then hmm?"
"Why would I?"
"Why wouldn't you?"
She shrugged, though her difficulty in restraining her emotions at the mention of the fop's name proved to be harder than she expected, she quickly saved herself by changing the direction of the conversation.
"How's your arm?" She asked softly with an incline of her head as both of them walked towards the elevator.
"Never been better," He replied while flexing both his arm in a circular motion.
"Good, and your knee?"
"Seriously woman, what are you getting at?" Daryan replied her question with another, his voice warm and affectionate, as he held upon the door and mentioned, "Ladies first," urging for Ema to enter the elevator before him. He then punched the button that led them down to the ground floor.
"I want to get back investigating the Shangri-la case," said Ema frankly as the elevator began its descend.
Daryan opened his mouth to retaliate but Ema cut across expertly with her quick wits.
"The longer we put it off, the harder it is to catch the culprit, and more victims will emerge from it. From what I gather last time, I think we're dealing with quite a large syndicate here."
The male detective shook his head and frowned in reply. "I don't like the sound of this. Your sister insisted that I bring you home right away and she said, and I quote, 'no fooling around'. I don't want to get on the wrong side of your sis okay? She's scary." He tensed visibly at the thought of being the receiving end of the older Skye's fury. He had seen what it did with to the rest of the Gavinners, it wasn't a pretty sight.
Ema pursed her lips and went on confidently, "I'll never speak a word to her regarding this."
Daryan's brows remained knotted in sight.
"For a friend?" Ema asked, almost begging.
Daryan heaved a huge sigh and resigned himself the moment the elevator's door opened."I can't say no to that," He conceded with a small smile, holding onto the exit once more to allow Ema to step off first. "We need to get everything wrap up before dinner though, or whenever your sis gets home."
At once, Ema's eyes brightened and she complied with a quick nod. "Consider it done."
"Good. Though you're not going to run away with the evidence this time, will you?" He quipped again in his usual skeptical tone.
"Hm..." Ema paused as they walked along side by side past the cafeteria and the reception and out into the courtyard. "Hard to say."
"Give me a break woman."
And Ema laughed. All her qualms and uncertainties seemed to fade away like the autumn leaves whenever she was in the company of the perky detective. Even her issues with Klavier from before felt insignificant compared to the time they spent together. She had to admit, despite his infuriating behaviour at times, Daryan was fast becoming an indispensable friend as well as an ally she can fully trust.
Daryan continued to let them forward into the courtyard where the entrance to the car park was just around the corner. Ema however seemed preoccupied and halted in her track, signaling for his attention.
"Hm, could you pass me the bag?"
"What are you doing?" He inquired warily as Ema dug into it and started pulling random things out as she continued fervently in her attempt to search for something undoubtedly important in value within the bag.
Shortly after, Ema seemed to found whatever it was that captivated her to crouch down low on the ground and she raised it up, high enough for Daryan to distinguish the leathery surface of the long forgotten journal. "Recognise this?"
"I thought I lost that in the fire." His tone was brimmed with disbelief though his face was a notable scowl.
Ema smiled wryly and stood up with both her hands on her waist. "Mind telling me how you got your hands on this first?"
Daryan shrugged hesitantly and heaved the bag up with utmost ease. "Long story…let's get into the car first. I don't think we should hang around anymore than we should."
"Why not?" She echoed anxiously but soon found the reason to Daryan uneasiness as she looked over his shoulder, poised on her toes, to the suspicious couple lurking about in the bushes who she knew could only well be the bothersome reporters wanting a slice of juicy gossip. "Oh."
Daryan stepped forward, "Right this way, princess. And act naturally - don't let them know that we've noticed their presence."
"Hm." Ema tried to make herself looked vaguely interested at her fingers as they trudged along the edges of the courtyard opening and into the car park. "How long have they been following you?"
"Us you mean." He replied with a smile whilst watching the habitual frown etching across Ema's forehead. "A couple of days to be honest. I first noticed them the second day when I was lounging around in the cafeteria; news travel fast you know, especially in the showbiz world. Our fall from the seventh floor seemed to have caused quite an uproar."
Ema looked unhappy at that statement but ignored it nonetheless and added apathetically as she let herself into the black metallic Porsche, "I better text Lana now just in case she got suspicious."
Daryan took the wheels after tossing the piece of luggage behind in the passenger seat, igniting the engine swiftly as he turned to her, "Where to?"
"Anywhere but here."
"Roger."
It was about fifteen minutes later when Daryan decided that they have completely lost the reporters that he parked his car in the corner of a quiet alley and turned off the engine. He tilted his head to reaffirm that they were indeed in a safe location before sighing and said, "Damn, they are getting smarter."
Ema studied him for a moment before interjecting, "You're really paranoid. You're making me think that there's more than just paparazzi chasing us."
Daryan inclined the driver's seat a little and ran a hand over his wildly styled hair. "I assure you; you have yet to see the worse. These bastardswill go to all ends to make sure that they get what they want. You don't want to get yourself tangled up in these mess, trust me."
Ema considered his statement with a healthy cynicism, "Sure."
That made him laughed a little. "So, where were we before we got interrupted by those pestering flies?"
"What went on in that fire? I think you owe me quite an explanation." Ema started in her customary professional tone.
"It was all rather hazy," he began, flicking a sideway glace at Ema uneasily before continuing, "After you went off, everything sort of happened in a span of two to three minutes. It took me a while to break down the door and when I did, there was no one left in the room. I saw a shadow around the balcony and while I closed in, that bastard chucked a grenade at me and I did all I could to duck away on time."
Ema studied her companion more closely now as she tried to make sense of his explanation. "So you didn't see the face of your attacker?"
"No." He replied leadenly but his face soon alighted with solemn intent as he added on irately, "Though I would love to give him a good bash." Ema could feel herself shuddering at the tone of his voice but kept her eyes rooted at the tiny leather book for the longest time before inquiring furthermore.
"How did you come across this book then?"
"It was left behind, I supposed - pick it off the floor. I haven't got the chance to read its content though."
Ema, hanging onto his every word, fell into deep thought as her thumb began to trail a circular pattern over the book.
"And what about Walter Smithz, was he there in the apartment?" She pressed on.
Daryan responded with a certain mocking skepticism. "Didn't see him at all. Funny though, the guards said he never left the building. From what I gathered, he has a rather sickly body and is quite timid in nature. I don't think he dare pull such a stunt, so it's either the boys weren't doing a good enough job or something had happened to him during their watch."
"Ever considered that he disguised himself and fled before any of them caught hold of his sight?" Ema suggested as she met his eyes firmly.
He merely shrugged. "Maybe... we checked the surveillance camera, nothing came up though."
"Hm." Ema couldn't help but feeling something is amiss in this case. There was barely any clue left by the culprit to begin with and the evidence in their possession was not leading them anywhere either. Sighing deeply while trying to restrain the impatience from showing on her face, she began to flip the journal once more; hoping to find some sort of clue that she might have missed before.
"What's written in that journal?" Daryan's attention perked up that instant as Ema pulled a long face.
"Gibberish, I can't make out what it says except some weird equations and numbers." She muttered dryly, her expression darkened with each page.
Daryan regarded her with a smile and held his hand forward. "Here, let me see." Ema reluctantly handed the journal over and sunk deeper into her seat.
"Some of the pages have weird crevices in them." Daryan stated briefly and handed it back to Ema as she inspected them with keen eyes. For a long second, she merely stared at that one particular page.
"You're right, I don't know why I didn't pay any attention to them before."
Daryan snickered. "Because half the time you're contemplating on how to get the criminal acquitted by charging head straight into the case without side-stepping first to look at the picture as a whole. Seriously this habit of yours will get you killed one day."
Ema lolled her head to her left, "Wouldn't you like that?"
"Perhaps, it would save me the trouble of fishing you back out again."
A moment later, heavy rock-metal ringtone (instrumental version of 'Guilty Love'), rung loudly from the deep pockets of the Gavinner's guitarist, startling Ema from her deep thoughts, causing the journal to tip over from her lap. It took all her self-discipline to not snort into the journal - she had no appreciation for loud music after all. Common courtesy then re-asserted itself when Daryan answered the phone call and Ema hesitantly looked out of the window of the elegant sporty car but the first word muttered by the guitarist caught her interest almost immediately.
"Yo, Klav."
Ema's heart skipped a beat.
"How's it going?"
She remained stiffed in her seat; her eyes blind to the boring view outside the car; as she listened covertly at the conversation.
"No – I know. Trust me on this. I'll be there in fifteen, although –"there was a pause as he glanced sideways at Ema, "You don't mind me bringing over a guest would you?"
For a second time, Ema's heart jumped for all the wrong reasons; her grip on the safety belt felt ever tighter, for her mind was caught between the conflicting and irrational impulses. She managed to hold her emotions in when Daryan turned query eyes on her, which she responded with an uninterested, muted expression.
"I'll be responsible for her course of action, don't you worry about that. See you soon," Daryan ended the conversation with a quick slide on the phone's screen and strapped himself before re-igniting the engine.
"What was that?" Ema asked lightly, feeling the anticipation and dreadfulness jerking within her like a savage beast wanting to tear her apart.
The car entered the busy street of Uptown once more as he inclined his head to answer her question, his mouth curled downwards in a genuine scowl. "The boys found the guy we are after."
"Walter?" Ema asked in disbelief. "Where did they find him?"
"He turned himself in but Klav has yet to fill me in with the details." Daryan answered grimly, his gaze transfixed at the heavy traffic before them.
"You don't sound too happy about it," she pointed out reasonably and casted a sidelong glance at him. "What's up?"
"You're not going to like it."
Ema frowned considerably at his reply. "What did I do this time?" She folded her arms firmly, looking unimpressed. "Or better – what did the fop do this time?"
Daryan tapped lightly on the wheels with his right fingers while allowing his left arm to rest on the edge of the windowpane. "You have been permanently removed from this case and reassigned to another by the order of Prosecutor Gavin."
"Excuse me?" Ema exploded; if it wasn't for the safety belt strapped around her slender figure, she would have jumped off her seat in blind fury and demanded for an explanation from her fellow colleague. "What right does he has to remove me from the case?"
Daryan sighed in response. "Every right, m'dear," he insisted calmly as the car rounded a corner. "He's still technically your supervisor."
"I still don't see why he has the right to; he should have at least confide in me about it," Ema replied bitterly as she returned to survey the blurred sceneries with a sour expression.
"Well you were hospitalized for an entire week; we were already short on numbers and there was no saying when you were going to recover. No offence but I'm with Klav on this one." Daryan reasoned evenly.
Ema stared back at him, her expression dead-set. "… And I am removed from my first case without a warning, whatsoever."
"Did you honestly not see it coming?"
She had to resist throwing her head back in childlike rebellion and bit down her anger with all the restraint she could muster. "I can't say I haven't but still -" She hesitated sullenly without trying to sound exceedingly annoyed or childish even. "- a heads-up would have been nice. Surely now I will be the laughing stock of the entire department: First week into the force – hospitalised, got reassigned into a different team, and my boss hates me. Great," Ema said with a bitter sneer, "Just great."
The younger Gavinner might have laughed if not for the seriousness of the situation. "Klav doesn't hate you. If anything, I think he cares quite a bit for you."
Ema snapped back with a toss of her head. "Like hell he is! Stop taking his side in this matter!"
"I am not taking anyone's side," Daryan mused. "Even if he's my best mate," he added on thoughtfully.
"Save your breath fop. You're no better than him," Ema scoffed in an unimpressed tone.
"Gee, stop being unreasonable princess." Daryan rolled his eyes. "Look, what about this?" He proposed stealthily whilst still concentrating hard on the road, "Discuss this issue with Klav when you see him, don't argue – " Ema made a face, " – discuss – " Ema bit her lip and looked away hesitantly while Daryan continued, "I'll back you up if he's being unreasonable, all right?"
"Fine." Her voice was soft but it held a note of displeasure; Daryan could not help but smiled at this.
"Gracias." He answered suavely as they came to a halt in front of the headquarters and Ema let herself out of the car in a slow, dawdling manner; fearing the worst has yet to come.
"Fetch me case file 0119. I want every bit of information including the classified data. Also don't forget my usual – black; two sugars and no creamer."
Klavier hang up on the poor girl without further instruction. It was a tad hard for him to be pleasant (for it was not his norm to be harsh) when he had being awake for the last 36 hours; working long and hard without any hint of rest. It was wearing his health away (especially when he had just recovered not too long ago) - his shoulders were already sore; his back aching from all the slouching; his eyelids heavy from fatigue… and yet whenever new information was presented to him, he felt rejuvenated, even for just a small period of time, knowing that he was one step closer to solving the mystery and another step closer to the truth. All things considered, he felt liked he was finally on the right track and as far he was concerned, nothing would have been able to ruin his already dreadful weekend albeit having to work all through Friday night and into the wee hours of what supposed to be a relaxing Saturday. It was ridiculous, really, when the missing suspect decided to show up at about half past eight that morning, pleading hard for his innocence; insisting for a good ninety minutes that they were tracking the wrong man and then imploring for protection. He did not believe his story; there was just no room for sympathy; for he had seen his share of follies when dealing with criminals. One lesson he learned was to never, ever give them the benefit of the doubt. Only believes in what you see and what the evidence tells you.
Setting aside another stack of paper, Klavier busied himself with his computer, scouring through old cases his assistant had just sent to him as zealously as his tired mind would allow him to. He had dispatched his reliable men back home an hour ago, allowing them to catch up on their well-deserved sleeps while he stayed behind to finish up the rest of the paperwork. Since his discharge from the hospital, he had barely any time for any other pursuits. Band practices were scarce these days, with two out of five members out of the country, two in the process of recovering from their injuries and another who was constantly unreachable by any means. They would gather periodically to practice as a whole but as members of the force, their tight schedules were unforgiving. There was already an unsettling rumour speculated amongst the fans regarding possible disbandment; and truth be told, he had personally given it some thought as well.
Klavier stared into the screen, deep in thought. 'Wekcome to Shangri-La' – these words truly did not settle well with Klavier. Before he even had the chance to deduce the meaning behind these writings, the boys had managed to uncover two more bodies the last Thursday; both were reported to have died from excessive blood loss – similar to the one brought in by Gumshoe and Ema; except this time one was found in the basement of a carpark, the other in a nearby park by the children's playground. The same message was found in both crime scene and undoubtedly linked all three homicide cases to the same suspect – Walter Smithz; the general physician the victims went to.
Klavier heard a soft creaked from the door and the sound of footsteps ambling towards his direction. He paid no attention to the intruder and continued studying the case with intense concentration; brushing his palm lightly against his forehead as he did. A pile of documents were unloaded ruthlessly upon his desk but his focus remained glued to the computer screen as he said the following words:
"Thank you Amelia, would you be so kind to fetch me the Gants autopsy report from ?"
"Absolutely not, fop."
Klavier did not budge; he was not completely surprise. He was expecting the female detective to barge into his room uninvited, (angry and unhappy naturally) concerning the proposition which he was about to finalise. He did not reply immediately, he wasn't going to lose at his own game. Instead, he maintained his professionalism and carried on with his work as if he failed to hear her the first time, allowing a whole minute to pass between them both before he finally spoke again.
"What matter of urgency would bring our dear fräulein to my room at quarter past eleven on a beautiful day such as this?"
Ema leaned in forward; her palm slapped the desk with a force of exigency and she demanded in her coldest tone. "You owe me an explanation."
Klavier did not flinch, instead spoke calmly. "Hm, is it regarding the transfer? I thought Daryan made it clear to you when I inform him to over the phone; on my behalf of course."
Ema grew impatient at his tone of voice. "Am I incompetent in anyway? Did I do something wrong? I know I didn't handle the situation as well as I could. I panicked and got all flustered but –" Klavier knew she was referring to the fire incident, "- I am prepared to redeem myself but you never gave me the chance too!" Ema pounded her fist hard on the table to prove her point. Klavier however, simply sank casually into his seat, folded his arms over his chest and studied the young detective with unsympathetic eyes.
"Nonsense. Trust me when I tell you it hasn't got anything to do with your competence at all, fräulein," he assured adequately. "The only reason you're out of the team is because we're heavily understaffed at the moment. Once the bank robbery case is solved," by which it meant stuck behind the desk with mountains of paperwork and no investigation at all, "-I'll arrange for your reallocation. Now -" Klavier dropped his smile and leaned forward, "- if that's your only concern for the time being, I am afraid I must let you go because I am rather busy at the moment."
Ema did not like the direction of this conversation but she could not find fault with his reasoning. Any further argument was obviously out of the question since it would only serve to infuriate both parties more. She did feel somewhat disconcerted by the prosecutor's apparent lack of interest concerning her current predicament and was compelled to voice her thought before she was once again rendered speechless by the blonde man.
"Is there anything else left un-discussed?" Klavier queried in a finalizing tone of voice; his expression inscrutable and Ema involuntarily refrained herself from further self-mortification.
She regarded the prosecutor very keenly before replying, "No."
"Very well, I will see you on Monday."
With that, Ema was about to dismiss herself from the company of the glimmerous fop when a familiar head popped in from the door, announcing the arrival of yet another detective. Ema stopped to frown at her friend, where did he bloody run off to when she needed him the most?
ryan however, wore a look of utter complacent and in his arms, he held three bottles of chilled beverages.
"Coffee, anyone?"
Ema did not answer him and walked out of the door.
A/N: Please bear with my lack of update as I have been writing 500 words of nonsensical throughout my holiday and it was rather hard to string them all together. Hopefully the next chapter would shed more light on the case they are all working on.
