14.
People often described her for being quite brave, facing dangerous situations no matter what, which was why there probably wasn't many things in this world that she was scared off, but that didn't mean she was fearless. Once Four told her that everybody is afraid of something, but what makes the difference was to be brave and face your fears. More correctly he told her that fear doesn't shut you down, but wakes you. Still it was one of those advices that she had taken to the heart and remembered every time she had to deal with something she was afraid of or scared to deal with. Unfortunately she was currently forced to deal with one of her fears at a moment she honestly wished she didn't have to at all since she had more important things to do than being trapped inside a room with a dead body. However due to her fear of being weak and unable to escape, she tried everything to get out of there including slamming the side of her arm against the door with hope that brute force would help. Of course it didn't work, especially since her attacks had not even made a scratch or a dent at the door, which frustrated her even more.
"Tris? Are you okay in there?" Uriah said agitated on the other side, trying desperately to catch the control over the situation. Tris rubbed his painful and numb arm and answered with a groan, "Yeah, somewhat. Although I personally want to get out of here, care to help me out with that?"
Uriah was quiet for moment, most likely talking to the housekeeper or someone who knew the victim well enough to know why in the world someone would build a bank vault in their own bedroom, before he said straight forwardly, "According to the housekeeper, our victim had panic room built inside his bedroom since he was an eccentric as well a paranoid man who felt that he needed to feel safe inside his bedroom."
Tris looked at the dead body that was lying on the floor behind her in his own blood pool before she said dryly, "I'm sure he had a lot of female visitors in here. Chicks just love to be trapped inside a room that reminds them of a prison cell."
Uriah chuckled awkwardly about her comment before he returned back to the seriousness of the situation.
"Anyways based on what she knew the room was time set from nine last night till six-thirty this morning, but because it has been activated manually the room thinks there is an intruder and that our victim was the only one who knew the combination how to unlock the door," Uriah explained. Tris ran a frustrated hand through her hair, things were only becoming worse by the minute and she wanted nothing more to punch whoever had come up with the idea of making a panic room inside someone's bedroom. Instead she sighed annoyed before she asked, "Okay, call a locksmith. Whoever made and helped build up this has to know how to get our dead victim and me out of here. And make it fast because I have no intention of staying here overnight."
Uriah agreed and told her that he had sent one of the officers on it and that things should be getting under control soon, which was good enough for now in Tris's opinion. However that was when Uriah asked her a question that caught her totally off guard, "Should I call Four and inform him what is going on here, you know with you being trapped alone inside a room with a corpse and no other exits other than main entrance?"
Tris thought about it. She didn't have to be a psychic to know that when Four heard what was going on that he would immediately come over, hovering and stressing everyone in the room to get her out of there, which was not going to be helpful at all. However if they didn't tell him and he found out about the truth later, both she and Uriah were in big trouble and in for a reprimanding of a life time, which would lead to them losing his trust and that was worst than anything else. Neither of her options seemed good or right, but the consequences were weighed differently so in the end her decision weren't surprising.
She sighed heavily, "Call him and tell him what is going on, but please try and stop him from coming over. I'm okay and he doesn't need to be here since I'm a big girl and besides I probably wouldn't be here longer than an hour anyways. So there is no need for him or Zeke to be here since we got it covered."
"Right, wish me good luck," Uriah said. "Knowing Four, there is no way he is going to sit and stay on the sidelines once he hears about this. But you are right we can deal with this on our own."
She thanked him and then the conversation was over. So without anything else to do other than wait for the cavalry to get there she sat down on the empty floor right in front of the door that was keeping her locked inside. Using her arms as support, she leaned back and stared at the ceiling in deep thought. She honestly hoped that should things turn out with Four coming down here that he wouldn't try and do something stupid or reckless in order just to come for her, but knowing him the possibly that he would was huge considering that it was her.
"I guess it could be worse, at least Caleb is currently out of town to do a lecture, so he wouldn't be here as well causing more trouble than what its worth," Tris muttered to herself before she once again slipped into her own thoughts, thinking about how she was glad she was going to be once she was out of here and wrapped around Four's warm and protective arms again.
Four was overlooking and comparing the old cold case with their recent crimes scene, trying to find similarities or any kind of MO that could determine if the same murderer did both these crimes. Meanwhile Zeke was going through unsolved homicide through the last twelve years that was remotely similar and was located in the same location where their crime scene was. However their work was suddenly halted when Four heard his phone ringing like crazy, and when he turned to look at the screen to see who was calling he was surprised to see Uriah calling. His first thought was immediately that something must have happened to Tris otherwise he wouldn't be calling him since both Uriah and Tris could handle a case on their own just fine. So it was no surprise that he jumped straight to it and asked hastily, "What happened? Is Tris okay?"
He didn't have to see Uriah to know that he was flustered and caught off guard with his sudden rant of questions regarding Tris well being, but then again his assumptions must be correct since the younger man reacted the way he did.
"O-okay…um…Tris is fine, everything is fine," Uriah tried to make a calm and reasonable explanation. "Well…it depends on how define the word 'fine' that is."
He sighed frustrated and answered, "I define it as she is physically, mentally and emotionally fine, and that I expect to see this with my own eyes soon when you arrive back at the station. Now let's skip the small talk. Tell me what is going on Uriah before I figure out how to deal with your punishment regarding this troublesome situation."
Uriah didn't waste any more time when he began explaining he and Tris being called out to another case, which escalated to how Tris ended up being locked and trapped inside a panic room with no entrance code and any other exit along with a dead body. Hearing that his girlfriend was in a dangerous situation like that, to be frank it caused his rational and sensible mind to be thrown out the window and to be replaced by erratic emotions.
"Are you sure she is fine?" Once those words left his mouth he almost immediately shook his head, thinking that it was a stupid question. "You know what, never mind. I'm coming over there right now, just send me the address and I'll be there in max. ten minutes."
He was already up his seat, while receiving an odd look from Zeke who was honestly wondering what was going on, and holding his jacket and was pretty much ready to run out the door. However Uriah desperately tried to maintain control and told him that his assistance was unnecessary and that everything was under control. Four didn't find mush reassurance in his words and was planning on going, no matter what Uriah said or what Tris wished him to do, but Uriah made a point that she wasn't in any danger and that she was most likely to be out of there in an hour. So there was no need to come and should things change from the way that they were now he would inform him and allow him to come over. He was still not convinced, but then Uriah pointed out that he still had a case he was working on and needed to focus on that since his emotional state would be any use to them right now.
Four halted in his movements, almost now remembering what he and Zeke have been doing for a few hours now along with Christina's aid with these murders. He turned to look at Zeke for moment before he began weighing his options more reasonable rather than emotionally. Though he hated to admit it, Uriah had a point and it would be foolish to make impulsive decisions when the situation didn't call upon it. And also should things escalate to the worse then there would be nothing left to hold him back anyways. So he scoffed for a moment before he replied slightly annoyed, "Fine. I'll let you run things for now, as long as you keep me in the loop. However should things turn for the worse, even the slightest, I will come down there myself to get her back and nothing is going to keep from doing it now. Is that understood?"
Uriah responded with pleased affirmation before he told him that he needed hang up since the locksmith had just arrived and if things went smoothly Tris should be out of there as soon as possible. He nodded, but really didn't reveal his feelings at the moment since things weren't over yet and he wouldn't be pleased about it until Tris and Uriah came back here at the station safe and sound.
Without anything much to say they hung up the phone and he went back to his seat next to Zeke, who was finally unable to keep his curiosity at bay and almost shot him down with millions of questions what was going on and why his brother was involved in it. Four gave him a small smile, not as a reassurance rather a sad one, and gave him the short version of what Uriah had told him. Over the course of the explanation Zeke nodded and became more and more glum, which was unusual for him, and once he was done Zeke patted his shoulder reassuringly and said softly, "Everything is going to be fine. Tris is a tough and brave woman. She will handle it and besides she has my brother and the others as back up back at the scene. And let's not forget she has you and me as well."
He nodded, still not feeling convinced, but he tried to shove it away and instead wanted to try focus on the case. At least with the case he would be distracted from worrying too much about her as well not driving Zeke crazy with his agitated demeanor. So he and Zeke went back to the case, however his thoughts still lingered on his strong and beautiful girlfriend and how he couldn't help thinking that something was not right.
"You have got to be kidding with me," Tris exclaimed exasperated. "Please tell me you are kidding with me right now, because I believed I heard you guys say that I wouldn't get out of here before in twelve hours."
The locksmith showed up, a guy named Jerry, and explained to Uriah as well to her by talking to the door told them that there was no master code, which meant that he would have to take out the system by the source. And because doing so would require much work and remove the electricity in the room, she would be stuck inside there for at least twelve hours in room that was going to be very hot and hard to breathe. In other words she was screwed and when she thought things couldn't get worse Uriah proved her wrong when he said, "Sorry, Tris. You better get to work and process the scene in the meantime."
"What! But Uriah I'm not a crime scene investigator. I don't collect evidence and process it, and even if I did right now I don't have a kit to do it either," Tris argued. She threw her hands out in the air in exasperation. "What you are suggesting for me to do is crazy."
Uriah yelled back, "Look, we are going to lose evidence due to trying to getting you out. And that would lead to letting a murderer walk free, which is something that I'm not willing to happen if I can help it."
She scoffed and ran a hand through her hair. He was right. If she didn't try and work the case they were going to lose evidence, which would lead to solving and even catching the guy who did it even harder or impossible to do, and she was as well unwilling to let that happen especially since they still had a shot in doing this. So she sighed tiredly and said, "What do you suggest I have to do in order to collect evidence and not compromise it in the process?"
"Word of the day, improvise," Uriah said lightly, which was for the first time in this entire conversation that he sounded like his usual self instead of the more serious counterpart. "Find something in that room to collect and gather evidence while I'll work from this side and try to connect the dots together."
"Okay," Tris nodded, though not entirely convinced by the whole improvising part, but she got to at least try to work through it. "Improvise, I got it. Please find Matthew to first kick him in his shins for being late and then get him to me in order to at least make an autopsy without cutting or disturbing the body."
Uriah agreed, on both parts, and told her he was on it. However the lightness in the conversation shifted slightly when he mentioned that he had to inform Four what was going on with the situation and that most likely he would be done here to help get her out of there, or rather he was going to come either way.
Tris groaned at the thought that her boyfriend had come down here and be a smothering hen from the other side of a door and once she got out there was a huge chance that he wasn't going to let her out of his sight for a long time. Though in a normal world that would have been fine, but she was far too strong and independent to be babysat by her boyfriend. Nonetheless there wasn't much she could do about it, considering her current situation, so instead she jumped to work and searched for some latex gloves in the bathroom. Even though she wasn't sure why a guy would keep gloves in his bathroom, especially considering his occupation, but she didn't make more time thinking about it when she put the gloves on and returned to the bedroom and began taking pictures with her camera phone. That way she could document her findings and the defense lawyers wouldn't claim tapering of crime scene evidence or something, even though the quality of the photos were to be discussed since it was taken from her phone, but either way it was the only thing they had at the moment seeing as the CSU hadn't arrived when she and Uriah showed up. Once she was done taking the photos she began examining the crime scene thoroughly. She wasn't going to waste time and evidence on her current situation, especially when Uriah counted on her to keep her mind calm and do her job, which is exactly what she was going to do even though she honestly didn't like her current situation and even less so once Four showed up.
Once he heard the recent development from Uriah regarding Tris and the case, he did like he promised. He was out of the station with nothing holding him back from doing so, even though he told Zeke to continue working on the case and call him to keep him in the loop as well as informing him about anything Christina could them about the bodies. When he arrived at the crime scene he found himself in a living room filled with uniformed-officers, taking statements of the staff that worked for the victim, meanwhile Uriah was sitting in front of a metal door with his portable computer on a table. Right next to him he recognized the familiar face of the other medical examiner, Matthew, talking to the phone most likely to Tris from what he gathered since the ME was pretty useless to have at the scene unless there was a body for him to look at. Anyways he approached them and made his presence known by leaning over Uriah's side in order to see what he was working on and said straight forwardly, "How are things going?"
"Slow," Uriah said deadpanned. "According to his staff's statements, he was eccentric and paranoid to a fault, but otherwise generally liked and didn't have any enemies known to them. His business was doing well based on his financial records, so money problems are definitely not motive to kill. His personal life were pretty much private, so they wouldn't know much about it."
"Family? Friends? Anyone personally closed to him listed or known?" Four asked, wondering if there was anyone out there who missed and would grieve over the death of Jonathan Hawkes. Maybe they would know something about the victim that they didn't at the moment.
Uriah shook his head and replied slightly frustrated, "Nope, parents died in a plane accident fifteen years ago. No siblings or close relatives alive. As for friends…well no one has seemed to been stepping up to share their relations to the police or the media as far as I can tell."
Four nodded, not expression that he too was now slightly frustrated over which direction this case was going. It was going nowhere and it would continue to go nowhere until the body and Tris were out of that damn bedroom. So he focus shifted towards Matthew and held out his hand, indicating that he wanted to talk to Tris to see or rather hear how she was doing with this chaotic mess. Matthew practically froze in fear by the sight of him and almost immediately pushed the phone into his hands. Matthew have always been frighten by his intimidating demeanor, knowing fully well that if he pushed him the wrong way he could easily break him to pieces, even though the chances of him doing so were slim at most since he didn't think badly about the doctor. Just found him to be annoying at best, especially with his small role in this particular situation, but needless to say he gave him a short stare before his attention when to the phone and held it against his ear and said, "Tris?"
The phone went quiet for a moment before a small-relieved voice answered back, "Four."
"Are you okay?" He asked, revealing a small hint of worry in his voice, but it was enough for her to know that he was worried about her and just wanted her back.
"Yeah, I'm fine," She replied reassuring. "Though I wished I was under different circumstances, but I'm doing fine."
He shook his head, relived that she was okay, but surprised how she managed to be funny and amusing at the moment considering that her current company is with a dead person. Then again she had a flat and sarcastic sense of humor, so it wasn't really that surprising when he thought about it.
Once again he shook his head, removing himself from those thoughts were he and Tris would be back at his apartment making jokes like this, and instead focused back on the case and asked, "So tell me about what you are doing in there? Is our crime scene slowly becoming compromised?"
"Nope, well…not technically compromised," Tris answered lightly. "We had to improvise so I'm here gathering evidence and acting as a medical examiner at the same time without cutting the body or compromise it in the process."
"Okay," Four were both confused and concerned about the fact that his girlfriend were suddenly given the task of being CSU tech and a medical examiner since she weren't really taught to do it in the first place. "Tell me what exactly have you found that might be useful to us at the moment?"
Tris hummed for a moment before she said, "Not sure how useful it is, but I found pieces of metal particles or something in the wound track. I bagged so we can analyze it later. And to estimate time of death due to the coloration of the skin he died around six till four hours ago, at least according to Matthew. I was just about to shorten the scope by taking the body temperature."
He wanted to ask if that was such a good idea, but she instantly replied that she took picture before hand and that Matthew would guide her through it should there be any problems. So he stayed quiet and waited for her response as he held out the phone for he and Matthew to listen in on the conversation. Then she told him the body temperature, which Matthew translated and said, "That means that our victim was killed four hours ago."
In other words early this morning, in a room that only our victim had access to, so the question was who was with him that early in the morning?
"What is the cause of death really?" The question had been bothering him since he arrived and no one had been out in the open to tell him. Based on what he had been told the chances were that it was a suicide attempt and other words a complete waste of time. However Tris and Uriah stated they would continue to work on the case and treat is as a homicide until the evidence state different seeing as this is a suspicious death and all.
Either way, it was then he got the idea to ask Tris of a possible scenario, but she had to check for clues in order to confirm it.
"Tris, do you have UV light and glasses in there to check for sexual activity?"
The answer to that question was a definite no, but she said that she could look around for other clues to support his suspicion. So the phone went quiet and he stood there on the other line waiting for her to come back and tell him for her recent findings.
When she imagine out how her day was going to be like, it definitely didn't include being trapped inside a room with a dead body while looking for evidence to nail the murderer who had done this, but then again her life hasn't been like a smooth ride on a roller coaster either. So she looked under the bed and in the trashcans for any evidence of a sexual liaison, though she found it disturbing to that sort of thing in a crapped space, but apparently some women liked the kinky stuff. Her search turned out to be of no use, so she decided take another angle at things. She walked into the bathroom and opened the medicine cabinet, to see both his medication as well what other drugs he might possess, which turned out to be more than she expected to find. The victim had everything from aspirin to anti-depressive pills, which would make sense seeing as the guy was both eccentric and paranoid, why not add depressed on to the list on how to describe their victim?
Anyways it wasn't that had caught her attention, but rather what was in there that definitely didn't belong there. And when she said didn't belong, she meant that it definitely wasn't something our victim would take whatsoever for the obvious reasons. So she called up Four again to inform him and Uriah of her latest findings, "I found something very interesting in our victim's medicine cabinet, other than the millions of pills for everything like anti-depressive and such."
"What did you find?" Four asked, almost jumping on the information. She couldn't help but give away a small chuckle before she answered, "Prevention pills. And I'm pretty sure our victim wasn't using them and also they are prescribed for a miss Abigail Green, so I guess she is the one you could start asking questions to."
Four gave Uriah the information, which her partner responded with that he was on it and then was out the door to find her. Which left her with only Four on the line, Matthew too when she thought about it, but she really didn't take the medical examiner into account regarding the situation. She and Four talked between one another for a while about the case, seeing as the affect of Jerry taking away the main power was starting to make breathing inside the room a lot more difficult as well as very hot that she had to take of her jacket and put her hair that was starting to be soaked in sweat into a messy bun. Four tried to keep her calm and focused, but it wasn't really working.
Anyways she heard his cellphone ring, which he sneered into the phone that was connecting him to her and she said softly that he should take it since it might be something important. Four growled and the line went quiet, so most likely he did what she suggested, until he began swearing exasperated. Obviously whatever that phone call was about it challenged him enough to ask her if she was okay with him leaving to do something. Normally she would have been sort of hurt that he was leaving her, but she understood that he had a case and whatever happened he was needed back. And besides she would rather see him when she was out of the room rather than listing to him through a phone. So she said it was fine, and he apologized immensely for doing it and that he would be back as soon as he could. Then the line went dead and she walked back into the bedroom and stopped in front of the door that was keeping her inside. She turned her back and leaned against the cold wall and allowed her thoughts again to roam away from her reality.
Four wanted to punch his hand to the wall, just to release the exasperation he was currently feeling after getting the phone call from Zeke, who told him that the cases are connected but there is nothing to go on. The trail is dead, with not substantial evidence or suspects the case was literally cold even before it even began. And that made him feel more horrible considering that he couldn't find the anything that could help Tris's grief for her parents to rest was more than a punch to his stomach. He didn't want to disappoint her, even more so after what happened the last time things involved her parents' case, so he decided to take another angle in order to get to the bottom of this. Though he was more than reluctant to do it, if it was for Tris he was willing to face what he had been trying to hide from for so long.
He was walking down the closed-off alleys in Dauntless before he stopped in front of a beggar on the street. However this person were not like those ordinary street beggars, no this person were exactly the only thing that was standing in his way to reach the person of his interest in all of this, and though it killed him to do it he had to get some answered for his questions.
"Take me to your boss," His voice was strong and cold in his demand. When the beggar looked up and tried to deny his demand he almost immediately said, "And don't bother to deny you don't know what I'm talking about, because you and I both know that you do. So let's skip the crap and just do as I tell you to do."
The beggar glared at him with his dark eyes, which was pretty useless to him since the man in front of him didn't strike him as intimidating as the man would wish he was with being dressed in dirty old clothes and dirt covering his skin as well as the smell of something fowl he had been exposed to for a long time. Nonetheless the glare continued, but the man responded, "And who are you to ask for her audience?"
"Tell her that her son, Tobias Eaton is there to see her," Four replied coldly. "I'm sure that should be enough for me to see her, correct?"
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Thanks again for the amazing response I have been receiving, hope you guys like this chapter.
Like I stated in my last author's note, I'm not sure how often or when I will be able to update on the story due to school and such. However I will continue writing on it when I have time to spare and release it when I can. So please be patient and understanding about the matter.
For those of you who cares, Uriah and Tris's murder victim were inspired by CSI NY episode Trapped from season two, which I do not own, but I will try to make the murder with my own personal twist.
And also Four's past is going to be revealed in the next chapters, though not everything because I'm right now saving it for Tris to find out.
Anyways keep giving me reviews, favorite and/or followings, and the next chapter will be out as soon as its done.
xXrebelgirl07Xx