[Thank you everyone for reading my story and leaving me so many kind comments. I'm very sorry for not updating for such a long time but I've been extremely busy nowadays. I promise to try and add new chapters more often from now on. Again, thank you for reading and all the support. :-)]
- 25 -
Alex was sitting on a huge lavish sofa decorated with multiple fluffy pillows. She could feel slowly being swallowed by the soft piece of furniture and it made her uncomfortable. She really did feel like she was drowning. What the hell was she doing there? She was angry at herself for not being able to resist her own temptation, the urge to test her theory, but at the same time she didn't have any other choice. Every good cop had to follow their hunch, right? Even if it could get you fired, Alex? Really?
She huffed, annoyed at herself, and stood up. She heard the other woman preparing their coffees in the kitchen. That would probably be the first time that a professional cook wouldn't be responsible for the beverages and snacks. Alex wondered where all the people had gone. The house was eerily quiet and it caused an unpleasant shiver run down the brunette's spine.
She walked up to the now cold fireplace and looked at all the pictures on the mantelpiece. There was a little boy almost on all of them. Him holding a huge fish, him grinning at the camera together with some red-haired girl, him at a school graduation day, him in a cute black tuxedo. He seemed happy and careless like every child should be. The last photograph on the right presented a pretty handsome teenage boy with dark hair and the body of a sportsman. There was a gold medal hanging from his neck. First place in some swimming competition. He was grinning on that picture, too. He couldn't be older than 15... maybe 16.
"He was still a happy man back then." A soft voice startled Alex. She turned around to face the older woman who was now sitting on the sofa the brunette had felt so uncomfortable on. "After that year everything turned to... shit." She surprised the detective with such a vulgar word. It was not a typical thing the woman would normally say. She had always been a refined person, a lady. In a good way. Kind, warm and friendly but kept her distance at the same time. Alex had always liked her and seeing her at such a state really bothered her. She felt sorry for her.
"I would like to talk to you about George. He told me that..."
"Do you think my son killed all those women?" She suddenly interrupted Alex, looking her straight in the eye. There were no tears in them anymore, just tiredness and worry. Delia Powell was a strong woman but this time the situation might have been too much for her.
"Ms Powell..." Alex cleared her dry throat. "That's what the forensics says." She could see the woman's hope dying. "But I have a feeling that something doesn't add up."
Delia looked up at her in surprise. "What do you mean?"
Alex hesitated for a second before answering. She still wasn't sure whether this idea was a good one but now she had to go with the flow. At least this will help her sleep better at night. She would be able to say that she really did everything to check every lead and hunch.
She sat down next to Delia. "Listen... I'm not saying that your son is innocent. The DNA tests shout out loudly that he was the one who murdered Tricia Miller."
"So what doesn't add up? You can't argue with science." The woman stated calmly, maybe finally accepting that this all was actually happening and her son would spend the rest of his days in prison.
"I don't know why but it doesn't seem like him. Yes, he's fucking annoying asshole. I'm sorry but he is..." Alex took a long breath and looked at the woman in front of her. "He told me he had his arms and hands scratched to the blood because he had been working in your garden. Is that true? Did you tell it to the police?"
"Yes to both of your questions. But I had the feeling that the cop who interviewed me didn't pay to that information too much attention." The woman's anger was visible now. "I think he believed that, as a mother, I would confirm any alibi George would give them. It's not like that, Alex, and you know that." She looked at her with sincerity in her eyes. "If he really did kill all those girls, I don't want him to stay free. I don't want any other person to die or get hurt." She said with quivering voice. "But if he's innocent... God, I don't have any idea what to do anymore." A single tear finally manage to escape down her cheek but she brushed it off immediately.
"Well... I might have one idea." Alex said and Delia looked at her in surprise. "I came here to ask you for your DNA sample. It can be anything... a hair, your saliva..." She took the swab from her bag and showed it to the woman. "I have a friend who can test it for me again."
"Why the secrecy? Shouldn't the police double test everything anyway?"
This was what Alex was afraid of. She knew that the DNA was tested twice, just to make sure, but the problem was that the detective wasn't sure whether she could believe those results. If Tricia had been right, and the killer was a police officer, then he or she could find a way to stall the investigation, even ruin the whole DNA tests. Yes, Mendez was an ex-cop, but what if he wasn't their guy and the true perpetrator was still roaming free and laughing in their faces every day at work? A pure thought of that made Alex's blood boil.
"Yes... and we did test it." Alex was looking for a good way to tell Delia why they needed to do the tests once again but at the same time she didn't want to show that she didn't trust her own colleagues.
"But you think it's a cop... not necessarily my son." The woman simply stated and Alex had no other choice but to nod her head.
"Please, it must stay just between you and me. If it turns out that something went wrong with the DNA test, I'll show it to my boss, but until then I can't bother him with this. He won't listen." The detective finally admitted reluctantly.
Delia hugged Alex suddenly. "Than you." She whispered into her hair. "Thank you, thank you, thank you."
"You'll thank me if I'm right." The detective smiled gently at the woman when she finally let her free from the embrace. "Now, let's take that swab."
XxXxX
Alex left the lab and took a long, long breath. It hadn't taken her long to come up with some stupid excuse about a cousin who needed to confirm whether some kid was his. Emma drank every lie from Alex's lips with ease and the brunette chuckled at the thought of the young lab geek.
Getting the sample from Mendez's file had been a whole different story, though. First of all, the person responsible for the archive that day was an elder nosy lady whom Alex didn't like at all. Of course, the woman was completely resistant to Alex's charm. It had been just pure luck that some other cop messed up with the file he had been reading and the woman got herself busy shouting at the poor young officer. Alex used that moment to get the blood sample quickly and by the time the elder lady came back, the brunette was ready to talk to her about one of her own cases, not rising any suspicion. Or so Alex hoped.
Now she was slowly heading to her small office where she was sure to find Stella. It was still quite early, not even lunch time, and Alex started laughing at herself quietly when she realized that on her way to the room, she subconsciously was avoiding any route where the possibility of meeting Caputo was higher. She really didn't want to be forced to run some stupid errand for the man. He was still coming up with those crazy ideas to keep Alex and Stella busy all days. Didn't he realize that writing god-damn reports was time-consuming enough? This whole thing was slowly making Alex more and more angry because in the end she was very often forced to stay long hours at the station just to finish those god-damn reports.
She dropped by the coffee machine and not time long later entered hers and Stella's little office. And God... how she wished she hadn't done that. The first thing she saw upon stepping in was Stella's pissed face as she heard Caputo's strict voice.
"It's not a request, Carlin, it's an order." The man turned around when he heard the door open. "Same to you. Be ready by 2 o'clock." And at that he left, leaving Alex standing there confused as hell.
"I'm scared to ask what was that all about." She stated humorlessly and Stella just huffed in annoyance.
"Get your ass in your official uniform, Vause." The shorter brunette chuckled tiredly and Alex's eyebrows furrowed.
"What for? Where are we going?" She really didn't like where that was heading. She hated wearing that uniform, actually. It was uncomfortable and made her feel like a soldier, not a cop.
"Remember O'Hannagain?"
"Sure. What about him?" The detective remembered the elder guy who had been working at the other police station. He was a nice and friendly fella and on many occasions helped Alex with her cases when she was just starting her job in the forces.
"He's retiring next week. There's a small official farewell party that apparently we're attending as the representatives of our precinct." Stella groaned but Alex found herself smiling. She really did like the guy and for years now he had been dreaming about having more time to himself. Now it was finally happening and maybe he would go to sunny Florida at last. "Why are you so happy about it?" The younger cop was confused when she looked up at her friend.
"I'm just glad that he will finally use his time as he pleases. He had been in the police... forever."
"I figured that much. He must be 100 years old." Stella chuckled.
"So why did Caputo seem to be pissed at you just a second ago?" Alex laughed.
"Because I may have been whining... I forgot that you're the only one who gets away with being insubordinate here." This earned her a fist to her arm and she scrunched her face in pain. "What? It's true!" She chuckled but stepped away from Alex in fear of receiving another blow. "Don't get me wrong. I like it since you're my partner but sometimes I just forget myself and say a wrong thing and you're not here so he gets pissed."
"Well... He did save our asses quite a few times already." Alex smiled. "But recently he's been such a pain in the neck. We're snowed in with the paper work and still he keeps giving us those stupid tasks. I'm never home." The brunette stated with a resigned voice.
"What? No homey-time with your blond girl?" Stella laughed.
It was Alex's turn no whine which evoked only more laughter from her younger friend. "For the first time ever I actually would like to play home and I can't." She finally admitted. Stella just looked at her, still smiling, and when Alex looked up at her she didn't find any surprise nor mocking in her eyes. Stella seemed genuinely happy for her.
"Tell you what. Since we're not going to be getting any real lunch today because of that whole farewell party, we can get some pizzas and shop up at Piper's office. What do you say?" Stella grinned. "I'm sure the girls will appreciate some hot meal."
"Great idea. I could use some hot meal, too." Alex said as she opened one of the files of their old cases but quickly looked back up in surprise at her friend when she heard her making an 'ewww' sound. "Why did you...?" The detective didn't manage to finish her question. She erupted in laughter. "I didn't meant that, you fucking pervert."
"Sure." Stella continued to laugh at her friend. "You're kinda cute when you're flustered."
"Fuck off." Even Alex throwing some papers at her head didn't stop her chuckling.
XxXxX
"Why not?" Nicky asked. "I bet it would double the number of your clients."
"Because it's fucking illegal?" It was getting harder and harder for Polly to hide her annoyance at the lion-haired girl. True, she had been helping them the whole day but at the same time Nicky was slowly making the brunette tired. Or maybe she was just tired in general and the long hours spent in a small room with both of her friends was finally rubbing her the wrong way.
"It's not illegal in The Netherlands!" Nicky exclaimed excitedly and Polly just turned around to face Piper. Her eyes were pleading with her to calm the other blond down before Polly would bludgeon her to death. Piper just laughed, she knew that Nicky was just pulling her leg, so Polly turned back around to the other girl.
"We won't make weed soap, Nicky. And, please, STOP eating all the berries!" She smacked Nicky's hands but the girl just causally moved to the bowls with sliced peaches and started munching on those. "Nicky!" Polly was boiling.
"What?! I've been working my ass off here for the last ten hours and none of you slave-holders, ever proposed anything to eat. I'm starving and if you don't bring me food soon, I'll..."
The door to the office opened with a thud, making all the three girls turn their heads in its direction. Piper's face broke in a huge grin when she saw Alex and Stella entering, holding big boxes of pizza and two six packs of beers. Yet, it was Nicky who rushed to them first and before Alex managed to say 'hi' the crazy-haired girl bear-hugged her. It was a hilarious view, really. The brunette was trying to hold one of the pizza boxes in one hand and the beers in the other while Nicky squeezed her tight.
"Oh, thank all the fucks for sending you here my dearest savior." Nicky continued to mumble into her neck, still holding strong.
"The fuck is wrong with her? What did you do to her?" Stella laughed out loud as she passed the weird duo on her way to the office. "God, good that it wasn't me who entered first." She chuckled when she put her load of food and drinks onto one of the tables.
"Nicky, unglue yourself from my woman, please." Piper laughed but it was only upon hearing that she wouldn't get any of that pizza if she didn't stop harassing her girlfriend, did Nicky finally let go.
Finally, it was Piper's turn to welcome the brunette and that she did by kissing her fully on the mouth before grabbing the pizza and beers from her.
"What? No hug from you?" Alex chuckled.
"I think I would have a problem with unsticking myself from you." Piper stated as she eyed Alex up and down. "You look so hot in this uniform." She smirked. "How come I haven't seen it on you before?"
"If I had known you would enjoy it so much, I would have worn in everyday." Alex husked into her ear as she hugged Piper from behind when the blonde was putting some pizza on her plate.
"Ugh, you two... Get a room." Polly laughed, making both Stella and Nicky chuckle as well.
"And, please, you two..." Polly continued as she pointed at Alex and Stella. "... explain to that idiot over there..." Here she pointed at Nicky. "... that we can't make weed soap." This got Nicky laughing even more.
"You've got some weed?" Stella asked Nicky casually, making the girl stop giggling all over.
"I'm not sure how to answer that question." Nicky narrowed her eyes at Stella. "Do I need a lawyer?" She asked, evoking a rich laugh from both of the cops.
"Nah, calm your pants down." Stella smiled. "Maybe this weekend we could all grab a beer at my place, just chill... You know. If you've got some, you can bring it along." She grinned.
"Sounds like a great plan, my friend." Nicky hung her arm over Stella's neck and squeezed her lightly.
"God, what did you do to her?" The shorter cop asked, still laughing. "She's too huggy-feely tonight."
"They're evil. They make me work." Nicky whispered in a mock-petrified voice, making everybody laugh even more.
Alex loved their little crowd. Through the months that she had been with Piper, all of them grew really close and now the brunette couldn't imagine a life without them. Not just without the blonde in in, but also her crazy friends. They were getting along really, really well and even on the most stressful days, they could make all the tension dissipate. Like right now. Alex had been going crazy in her head about the whole DNA tests thing. She still had mixed feelings about them but at the same time she knew she had to go through with her plan to put her own mind at ease. Up until this very moment, her day was full of stress and worry. She hadn't realized how nervous she had been until she walked into that office. Now she felt so much better. Just being able to be there and laugh with her friends at silly things, made it all OK. And of course Piper was there. She was her shining star in that little crowd. And the way the blonde kept looking at her from time to time made Alex pretty sure that the two of the would be counting stars that night as well. It made the grin on her face only grow bigger. Yep, she would have to wear that uniform much more often...
XxXxX
At the same time on the other side of the city...
It had been a rough day for him. Much more work than most of the days and he wasn't getting any younger. Those stupid kids kept getting caught with drugs on them and later he had to deal with them. Not directly them, but with their cases. And it made him mad. Furious, even. And now he wasn't able to relief his tension. There was no way he could go out and roam the streets in the search of a new prey.
No, that was impossible now. It would have been extremely stupid of him if he did that again now. He had to wait. Wait a long time before people would forget. Before the police would make themselves sure that the killings were really over. Stupid fucks. It was so easy. So, so easy to play them... That thought calmed his nerves a bit. The wonderful feeling of satisfaction filled his veins.
"Stupid fucks." He muttered to himself as he pushed the button of his PC, making the device slowly spring up to life. He went to the kitchen to grab the food from the microwave. He knew perfectly well that he shouldn't be eating like that, but ever since his wife had left him, he was unable to force himself to cook anything. All the take-out also didn't do the trick. He hated waiting in lines and he didn't want to order anything through the phone. Maybe he should go back to eating at that one dinner down from the station? The food there wasn't half bad. But then he remembered why he had stopped dropping by. The new waitress. That fucking lesbo. Every time he had seen her there, he had been unable to eat anything.
"Fucking dykes. Fucking everywhere. Even fucking here." He whispered angrily as he stirred his chicken noodles. But he got them. This time he had the upper hand. The thought made him smile again. Alex fucking dyke Vause. He chuckled. He had fucked her over the most and he was proud.
He came back to the living room and turned looked at the screen of his computer. He clicked on one of the icons and waited patiently for the program to load. It would take a while since it was connected to the police database. He realized that he had forgotten to take the cutlery so he went back to the kitchen to get some. When he was there, he heard a loud sound coming from his computer speakers and he run back to the living room as fast as he could, the cutlery totally forgotten.
What he saw on the screen made his palms sweat and the blood in his veins run cold at the same time. He couldn't believe it. Yet, it was there. Glaring him in the face. Big, red warning sign.
"Fuck, fuck, fuck..." His anger sky-rocketed. He couldn't control himself anymore. With a fast movement he smashed the keyboard onto the nearby wall, making the keys fall all over the living room floor. His dog started barking like crazy, but he didn't pay attention to it. All of his focus was on one person only. "Alex fucking Vause." He growled louder than his dog. FUCK.