It had taken her nearly three weeks to find where Claire Redfield had moved to but, finally, she had done it. With a heavy sigh, Ada slowly walked up the steps to the apartment complex, referencing the note in her hand. She strolled past the elevators and slipped into the stairwell, feeling far more comfortable being unseen. Her dress was short, cut just a few inches past her knees, and it was quite light, causing her to pull her shawl a little tighter around herself. For whatever reason, the building felt particularly cold. She hated the feeling it gave her, and, every time a draft hit her, she had to resist the urge to whip around in alarm, feeling as if she were being followed. Nevertheless, she made her way up to the tenth floor and stepped out into the hall, referencing the note just one last time. Before she could knock on the door, however, a child of about twelve ran out of the apartment across the hall, nearly knocking her over onto the floor.

"I'm so sorry about that!" A rather hassled looking woman quickly came out of the apartment behind the child, who Ada assumed to be her daughter. "Sherry just hasn't…."

The woman looked her up and down for a few seconds, her eyes going wide in surprise.

"You're Ada Wong," She observed shortly, gently restraining her daughter with one arm and extending the other to shake the actress' hand. Ada obliged with a small, forced smile. "I'm Annette Birkin. My husband is one of the partners at Paramount Pictures, William Birkin."

Ada's eyebrows shot up in surprise. "I've worked with him before," She said flatly. "He tends to work rather closely with Albert Wesker, who typically directs me."

Annette nodded. "You are quite the talented drama actress. I'm not surprised you have met him."

Ada eyed her for a brief moment. "Yes," She agreed. "Sorry to ask, but do you know the woman who recently moved in across from your apartment, Claire Redfield? She used to work for me, and I was hoping to speak with her."

Annette frowned. "She only just moved in a little while ago," She finally said, lowering her voice. "Spends an inordinate amount of time with this woman who managed to get a job with the police department, Rebecca Chambers. I can't imagine what they have to discuss. That aside, she doesn't leave much and seems quiet….though for that I don't blame her. According to William, she was the one who discovered the oddly posed body of Piers Nievan in that lot a month ago."

Ada tensed. "Ah," She let out a light sigh. "Is it safe to presume she's home now, then?"

"I would say so," Annette shook her head upon Sherry tugging on her hands. "Yes, alright, Sherry, we will go shopping now. I did promise you we would."

Ada silently watched the two of them walk off towards the elevator, not moving even a few centimeters until she heard the ding of the elevator. Once she was sure it had begun its descent, she turned back towards the door to Claire's apartment and lightly knocked on the door. It was quiet for awhile, and then, finally, she could hear footsteps quietly approaching the door. When it finally opened, she saw Claire though she looked almost nothing like she had the last time they had seen each other. She was dressed quite finely, though she had noticeable bags under her eyes despite her makeup. It was clear she was either overtired, stressed, or both. Claire hesitantly ushered her in and quickly shut the door behind them, locking it behind them.

"You look terrible," Ada noted, watching Claire in concern. "Have you been alright?"

"For the most part," She replied, a faint yet clear nervous edge to her voice. "Why are you here? Wesker didn't send you to tell me off for quitting so suddenly, did he? Or someone else working at the production studio?"

Ada shook her head. "I wanted to talk to you about what's been happening. Not just the killings of the last few months, either. I want to know how you suddenly came into money."

Claire pressed her lips together in a fine line. "Those two things could very well be related," She said coldly.

Ada crossed her arms. "And?"

"It's just based on a few hunches," Claire said quickly, her hands shaking a little as she drummed her fingers against the counter. "But it all comes back to one thing: I think Wesker is part of the mob."

"Kennedy!" Chris barked, swaggering into the office with another man Leon didn't recognise. "This is Carlos Oli...Ollie something, I don't know. He's going to be working with you and Kill-Jill on the murder cases! Chief Lyons made it official today!"

Jill Valentine, the sociologist who had been working for the department for nearly three years, now, looked up and gave Chris a disdainful look.

"I happen to be a member of STARS as well," She snapped. "And I can shoot just as well as any other man on the squad. I wouldn't forget that if I were you."

Chris rolled his eyes and smacked her harshly in the back while he passed her. Leon grimaced upon seeing the way his boss whipped around, her hands clenching into fists. Whenever his boss got this enraged, he took a few steps back, and that was exactly what he did now. Carlos joined them, sitting down where Leon had stood up and moved across the table from. Jill eyed them both coldly, and pushed several case files towards them, reaching into her purse and pulling out a cigarette, lighting it up and taking a long draw on it. Leon waved the smoke away, his nose curling at the smell. For whatever reason, he hated it. Briefly, he had assumed it merely had to do with his disdain for Wesker, but Leon quickly pushed that thought aside. With a heavy sigh, he began to look over the files, unsurprised by the gruesome details Dr. Chambers had uncovered in her forensic examination of Piers Nievan's death. Carlos flinched a bit when he opened the file.

"It's Carlos Oliveira," He eventually said, a faint accent in his voice as he offered his hand to Jill. She shook it with a restrained smile. "I'm from Chile, but I came here after doing work for your American government during the war."

Jill nodded. "I've met plenty of others who worked through the war," She said, inhaling deeply on her cigarette. "It certainly means a lot that people were so willing to fight with our country during the war. You have to consider how...trying those times were."

"Absolutely," Carlos replied. "I sincerely hope I can do more good work for this department while I'm in the country, though I don't have any immediate plans of returning to Chile."

"Leon here is also new to the area," Jill gestured to Leon and kicked him under the table. "He's from New York City, and the rookie on the force. I assume you've been brought over from another department?"

"Yes," Carlos replied. "I was working in San Francisco before they transferred me here. Your city has been experiencing quite a bit of….quite a bit of murder, hasn't it?"

"Regrettably," Jill said, leaning back a bit against her chair with a frown. "It has been a tumultuous few weeks, I'm afraid. A few months, now, actually. I hate to acknowledge it, but the city has been rather shaken by these events and we haven't many leads."

"Ah," Carlos shook his head. "I heard about this case with this man...Piers was his name, right? It's disgusting, the things so many of these people are willing to do."

"Notoriety is rather enticing for many people," Leon noted, closing the case file with a look of disgust still clear in his face. "Sometimes people will do whatever the hell they want if they know they can get away with it or want the media attention."

Jill blew smoke to the side and stubbed out the remains of her cigarette.

"I would tend to agree with that," She said, a clear note of discomfort to her voice. "Now, of course, I say we all take a cursory look over these files again, and consider the possibility that all of these could be serial crimes. Piers was, after all, a director for Paramount and a public figure, unlike some of the others. It certainly is going to raise more eyebrows than the deaths of those extras, and that one makeup artist."

Carlos frowned. "I don't like the sound of any of that," He said, his brow furrowing. "It's already quite gruesome, the things that have happened."

"Agreed," Leon sighed, his thoughts wandering to Ada for not the first time that day. "I just hope no one else gets hurt...and that we can figure out who did this quickly."