"Sadik Adnan, sixth of January nineteen-eighty-six." He said with ease. Gilbert knew he already knew the drill, but this time it would be a little different.

"Quite hard to find, aren't you? Searched the city top to bottom until we found that car of yours," Sadik didn't reply, instead, he just mocked him with his shit-eating grin. Gilbert sighed, not wanting to do this on a Saturday but knowing that this could be a breakthrough. "Alright, we'll start off with where you were the night of the seventeenth."

"Out." Vague as ever. This is how he got out of most of his charges, always being charged with a lesser crime.

"Out where, exactly?" Gilbert asked more specifically. Sadik didn't shift in the slightest. He was even smiling with his completely comfortable state. Gilbert was just glad that Antonio wasn't in the room right now to get pissed off at that smug face, but he could imagine that face behind the glass seething.

"A bar I can't seem to remember where though. You'd know how it is, I see you around sometimes." All he needed was for him to say which bar. He really didn't want to pull out the immunity – But if he had to just to find out more on the murder cases that was a risk he was willing the take.

"Do you know Lovino Vargas?" He asked straightforwardly. It seemed to take Sadik off guard as he dropped the smirk. His eyes were wide beneath his hood.

"Lovino? I've run into him a couple of times but haven't talked to him in almost four years."

"Is that your answer?" Gilbert prodded. "You haven't talked to him at all, including the night of the seventeenth at a bar called The Backdoor?" Sadik uncrossed his arms, sitting silently for a long period of time. The clock ticked by at an agonizing rate.

"What is this for?" Sadik asked suspiciously.

"I think you already know that."

"I don't. Enlighten me." Gilbert expected that, sitting back.

"What did you talk to him about?"

"Nothing I can remember," He waited, staring at the clock as Sadik groaned. "You're giving me the silent treatment again? Come on, come up with something new."

Tick

Tick

Tick

Tick

Tick

Sadik had reached his breaking point, "Just tell me what this is about."

"Do you know Feliks Łukasiewicz?"

"Did I know?" Sadik sighed. "Yes. But it was inevitable – He was at the places I was dealing. Shitty way to go."

"Tino Väinämöinen?"

"Same story. He wasn't a customer though and I barely knew about him, if he hadn't died I wouldn't even remember him."

"Matthew Williams?"

"I don't remember-" Gilbert held up a hand. Pulling out a picture.

"Him," Gilbert pointed. "You would've seen him, right?"

"I don't know- Maybe." Sadik relented.

"His brother said he didn't mind a bit of recreation, was he a customer?"

"Maybe, I don't remember everyone by name."

"But there's a picture right in front of you of Matthew Williams. You don't need to know his name; I've just told you. What about his face?" Gilbert pressured. "You knew him too, didn't you?"

"Yes, sure, but that doesn't mean anything. Are you saying I killed these people? Are you-" Sadik paused. "Does that mean Lovino is gone too?"

"Is he?"

"I don't know." Sadik said with a noticeable shake in his voice.

"You used to live with him. Liked to throw him around a little, was it because you liked to take your anger out on someone who you knew wouldn't be able to come to us?"

"How do you know tha-"

"Let me finish, you've had a bad track record with the Vargas brothers. Mostly Lovino of course but Feliciano as well?"

"I did but…"

"But he kicked your ass, didn't he?" Sadik shook his head and sighed.

"Yes but no hard feelings." He even chuckled at the memory. Damn, Gilbert thought.

"Are you sure? How did you feel about it then?"

"You can ask him; I didn't even pursue him – I could've but I didn't. I don't hold grudges." Gilbert smirked.

"We've talked to and Hercales Karpusi many times before, they say you hold grudges plenty. Come on, we know each other too well at this point for you to make up things like that."

"They've both screwed me over, okay? The only reason I've ever gotten caught is because of them." Ah, yes. was just doing his job reporting him, Karpusi was most of the reason why Sadik ever ended up in this room.

"And now Feliciano had aired out your dirty laundry, how do you feel about that?" Sadik remained silent but he could see his face twitch ever so slightly at the idea. Of course, it was a lie but to Gilbert, it was enough reason to continue. "You sometimes get violent, don't you? I get it, it's not easy to control your temper, I'm sure Lovino did wrong by you but I need you to tell me what he did to set you off."

"I haven't seen him in over three years how the hell am I supposed to know?"

"We've established you were there in the same place on the same night, talking to him. We know that. What were you talking to him about?"

"I just… I was only asking him if he needed a ride home." He said sheepishly.

"Where did you go?" Sadik shook his head.

"He didn't want it, so I left. He was drunk – Really drunk. He's a lightweight," His hands reached up to rub his face. Sighing deeply into his hands, he saw him swallow a lump in his throat. It was a reaction Gilbert wasn't expecting. But he wondered whether it was genuine or not. "I don't know what happened after that."

"You walked outside together."

"That's it. That's all I did. He said he was getting home by himself."

"I find that hard to believe."

"It's true!" Sadik growled.

"It's true you let him go home by himself, in the dark, drunk?" Gilbert cocked an eyebrow, refusing to back down.

"Yes, it is." His voice was confident. He sighed. The conviction in Sadik's voice was making the chance of some kind of confession slim to none.

"What are we going to find in your car?" He asked but the hope was to find some indication that Lovino or any of the other victims were there. A confession would be better, easier. But Sadik didn't seem the type to just give up and confess, he was slippery.

"Not much to do with this case – I can assure you of that. You're bullshitting and you know it." Sadik crossed his arms. Gilbert tapped his finger against the table, looking to the clock. This could take anything from seven minutes or seven hours long and he was starting to think that it would be the latter.

"It was a question I had to ask," Gilbert tried to calm him down, knowing that it would do little to do anything. "Do you watch the news, Sadik?" He shook his head. "Read the news?"

"I have my own life to focus on, I don't care about that. Sometimes I hear people talking." He shrugged, he was still tense in the shoulders and clearly suspicious of Gilbert's intentions.

"Hearing people talk seems like a nice way to live – Don't need to care so much about strangers." Sadik nodded. He could envy him, Gilbert probably ended up caring too much about other people, what they thought of him, what they said about him, what they were doing. Both nosey and lacking confidence.

"Might have told me about this. Lovino was a friend." Sadik's eyes averted, looking to the ground, refusing to show his face. But his voice was low, saddened. Gilbert almost felt bad for him before remembering that it could still be possible, he knew more. There wasn't much to work off of, but he was the last person to see him.

"What was your relationship with him back in 1982? Rumors got around to me. It seemed like there were some suspicions about your friendship." Sadik groaned.

"I'm not like that, queers are just so easy to sell too around those underground spaces. Even Lovino knew that, but he never did any of that shit around me. He could get along with women just fine. They even liked him more than me," He laughed as Gilbert nodded along, perhaps some of the gossip was just Feliciano's suspicions. "Roommates, friends, whatever you call it." Sadik waved his hand nonchalantly.

"It's clear you were close, despite the… Complications."

Sadik nodded with a bitter frown, "I… I have my regrets from back then. I really screwed things up."

"Did you have anything that you wanted to tell me about?" Sadik sighed. "Even recently?"

"You don't understand, Lovino was fucked up last time I saw him. I've seen him like that before, but he was just real bad, falling all over himself. Seemed like he was having a rough day or something. Maybe just a rough life, I don't know…"

"We've all done things we regret; I've done plenty of things. But even if you didn't intend to do anything you can tell us. We won't judge you; we know how Lovino was. You do know that." Gilbert tried to make a last-ditch effort to elicit anything out of him. Instead, all he got was anger, his face contorting into something so passionate he was sure that it was completely real.

"Just what the fuck are you implying? That Lovino deserved this?" Sadik stood up, Gilbert standing as well with his hands held out.

"Wait a second, man, you need to sit down-"

"No! I didn't do shit to him, the worst thing I did to him was let him leave and now he's gone, and you're blaming him!" Sadik shouted, murder in his eyes. "I knew pigs were bastards but you're the worst of the lot!" No, he was wrong. It wasn't just murder, there were tears. Gilbert shook his head, the guilt eating him up now. "What? What are you going to do now? Are you going to lock me up for this? Because I'm so violent four years ago?! I was just trying to-"

"Lovino isn't dead."

Sadik paused, "What?"

"He isn't dead and… Right now, I can't tell you anything more," Gilbert sighed, turning off the recording. "Take a break. We need it."

"What was that?" Antonio asked as soon as Gilbert entered the small room. "You told him? You took a break? What's gotten into you?"

"I don't think it's him. We haven't got anything on him." He looked through the glass. Now that was a man who had been through hell sitting at that table, he could see it all over Sadik's face.

"Yet, you should've just let him keep talking, angry people confess."

"He'd only confess if we beat it out of him, even then it wouldn't matter." Gilbert pointed out.

"Whatever works." Antonio grumbled. Gilbert swung his chair around, so Antonio was facing him.

"Would you seriously prefer a wrongful confession from an innocent person that from one that came from someone still at large, that could do this again and again? He didn't do it. We have to move on." He decided.

"You don't get to make that kind of call; his investigation isn't over."

"Well, neither do you – But I haven't seen anything that definitively proves anything. Whatever he did four years ago has obviously been buried in the past for him."

"There is no such thing as obviously – There is no obvious anything in this case otherwise this would've been closed years ago!" The frustration was shared by Gilbert. "I can't watch this train wreck." He decided, getting up and moving past Gilbert like he wasn't even there.

"Hey, you have to-"

"Get Francis to sit here – Not like he does anything anyway." He stood, stunned as Antonio walked out the door. The sounds of typing and phone calls echoing through the hallway and into the very room Gilbert had been left in.

Parties weren't something Lovino found much joy participating in. Especially not Feliciano's, they looked like something their grandpa would throw when they were little kids – He could hear his grandfather in his brother's choice of music. Sixties and Seventies hits and drunken laughter was a familiar soundtrack to their childhoods. It didn't matter how old he got in the end, he was always young at heart and that seemed to be the fast lane that Feliciano preferred. Lovino probably fit closer to the ditch on the side of that fast lane.

Oh well, he met Mei. She really was cute; Feliciano was right for once. Avoided everybody else though by sitting in the kitchen. It was a small apartment though, so it was probably hard for him to go unnoticed, everybody probably just decided he wasn't interesting enough to interact with and avoided him equally as much.

A knock at the door also seemed to go unnoticed – The music was so loud Lovino fully expected to have a noise complaint to deal with right now. Rolling his eyes and dragging his feet, he decided to be the one to give whoever was outside a chance to state their case. When he pulled the front door open just enough to see who was outside, he saw a familiar face.

"Hi!" Antonio exclaimed cheerfully. He was in street clothes, none of that suit business. Just… Normal. God does he have an ugly style, Lovino thought. Cosby Show-style sweater that Lovino just wanted to burn, he didn't care how "in" it was. At least his jeans were nice. Not too loose.

"I didn't know you dealt with noise complaints, detective," Lovino frowned. "I'll tell those idiots to turn it down," Antonio slipped his hand in the door as he closed it, trapping it and causing the man on the other end to yelp. "What the fuck, have you got brain damage?"

"I'm not working right now! I'm not working…" Antonio explained before rubbing his hand. "I got a phone call before leaving the office. Your brother invited me." Stunned, Lovino looked behind him before narrowing his eyes at his brother across the apartment. He didn't see him but Lovino wanted to kick his face in. He turned back to Antonio, extremely suspicious.

"Surely this is breaking some kind of code of conduct." The off-duty detective shrugged.

"Probably, but only if anybody finds out." His carefree attitude to such a violation didn't go over well with Lovino. Mostly because this was probably why those kinds of rules existed – It blurred the lines between personal life and active investigation. Lovino didn't think that he could deal with that kind of stress right now.

"I'm not sure that's how that works," A scowl took over Lovino's face. "Besides, he's playing the Bee Gees so might as well leave to save you your ears."

"I loved the Bee Gees in school!" Antonio grinned. Of course, Lovino trusted this idiot to have such a bad taste in music. He expected nothing less, "Can I come in and have a listen? I don't drink much but…" He sighed, looking at those emerald eyes behind a dumb face. A complete idiot for someone who was supposed to solve his crime, the one that left him with those awful nightmares.

"Whatever just don't bother me. Close the door behind you." Lovino left the door ajar for Antonio to come in. He was unhappy with his brother's poor decision – But he was even more unhappy that someone with Antonio's credibility accepted. The last thing he wanted was that fool interrupting his personal life. The only safe space with that regard was his room. At least there he could pretend that this wasn't happening.

But even that wasn't sacred. As soon as he opened his bedroom door he realized that he would have to be doing the laundry – No, he would have burn the sheets because there would be no other explanation for the rustling under the covers to be happening unless there were intruders. He didn't want to investigate any further, so he simply shut the door and leaned against it. A deep and frustrated sigh left his lips as the feeling in the pit of his stomach was making him feel ill. That feeling that he'd just witnessed something that would be permanently etched into his mind.

"Oh, umm." Lovino gave Antonio an intense staredown.

"What do you want?" He kept a keen eye on Antonio's face as he saw the embarrassment grace his features.

"Well, this place isn't exactly that big," Antonio laughed breathlessly. "Sorry."

"Yeah but you had to of followed me to catch up so fast," Lovino pointed out. Antonio held up a bottle of beer, shaking it, "What about it?"

"I got one of these, I couldn't have followed you if I stopped by to pick one up from the cooler. I have an airtight alibi," He chuckled, Lovino only smiled because it caught him off guard. "Haven't seen that before."

"What?"

"Smiling. Grinning if I was being generous…" It was obvious that Lovino didn't agree. "Alright, not generous then… So, what're you doing out here?"

"I live here." He deadpanned.

"No, of course, but in the hallway?" He left a couple of silent beats before he sighed, pointing behind him with his thumb.

"I think there's a nature documentary going on in there. That's my room," Antonio seemed confused. "Fucking." A knowing look came across the detective's face. It made him wonder once again how he became a detective in the first place with his naïve demeanor.

"That's a shame," He looked around. "Want to get out of here then?" Flabbergasted, Lovino had to do a double-take.

"Excuse me?"

Antonio shrugged, "You just seem uncomfortable. That's all… Bored too."

"You just got here. Besides, I'm a whole lot more uncomfortable being around a cop."

"Eh, I could be pretentious and correct you by saying 'detective'." Lovino didn't find it very funny.

"Right, well, I don't think it's appropriate you're even here," He shook his head. "And you are drinking. Piss drink too, Feliciano doesn't even like that shit."

"One bottle never hurt anybody… Badly," Antonio smiled. "It's fine, I'll stay out of your hair. You look like you've had a bad day as well." He wasn't sure if that was an insult or not, his day had been just fine. But it made him feel guilty – He had a tough job. Lovino would be lucky if he could even return to work after temporary leave. He was just lazy at this point, unable to do anything too strenuous while people like Antonio were out there solving murders. It was God's work really, unsung angels.

With a sigh, he relented, "Wait, I'll go... Where to?"

"Oh, I didn't think I'd get this far." He admitted. Lovino fumbled with his words.

"W-Well, you did. So where to? I can use Feliciano's car since it's probably a bad look for a detective to drive with a bottle."

"Oh, my car works perfectly fine." Lovino scoffed.

"You want to go anywhere or not? My brother's car is a piece of shit but it's red so that had to count for something." Antonio shook his head jovially.

"Well, alright then. I suppose it does count for something."

"This is where you wanted to go?" Lovino asked, laying back against the car seat. There was only a streetlight to light the area up. Antonio hummed. "May I ask why? Kind of insensitive to take me of all people to a dimly lit, isolated area." He joked.

"Well, I mean, technically you took me here since you drove." Lovino rolled his eyes.

"Whatever, you still told me where to go." He felt a prod at his arm, turning to see Antonio offering him a drink.

"Last bit left." He shook his head.

"I can't, medication. And I don't feel like drinking that shit…" His first thought was of what Feliciano would say to him if he had so much as an ounce of alcohol on his breath. Antonio shrugged, drinking the last sip and putting the bottle down into the cupholder. "You never answered my question."

"I don't remember it." He responded.

"You're a real goldfish, you know? I asked why you told me to come here? Looks like the kind of place you'd shoot up heroin." Antonio chuckled.

"You know I had a lot of arrests around here when I was younger so that might not be too far from the truth." Lovino became unsettled, locking the car door beside him at that information.

"Real suspicious of you. But an idiot like you wouldn't have it in you to hurt a fly," It was unnerving how silent it got. "What? Am I sitting next to Jack the Ripper or something? Was he a Spaniard?"

"No, no," Antonio smiled, "Just thinking. It's pretty stupid."

"Shoot." It seemed like Antonio hadn't expected that. He struggled to start before laughing awkwardly.

"Oh, it's just – When I was a kid, I had this dog. Curly hair." He waggled his finger in a circle.

"Like yours?"

"Oh, his was much curlier and messier. Cute thing. Couldn't have been any older than a puppy when I got him."

"Did he have a name?" Surprisingly, Antonio shook his head.

"I had just gotten him. I begged my parents for him, so I was so excited I guess I'd forgotten a name… It didn't matter much anyway. He didn't even make it to see the next day." Lovino frowned.

"What?"

"He died. I still feel bad about it, I was, what? Couldn't be more than ten years old… We had this lake near our house. Sometimes I went swimming there. I took him out there and thought dogs just knew how to swim so I brought him with me and…"

"Well, shit, not your fault. You were a stupid kid… I guess it was your fault then, but you know what I mean…" Lovino's half-hearted attempt at reassurance didn't help much. He knew he wasn't so good at that kind of thing, especially for something so dark. Kind of unexpected from someone like Antonio.

"I'd never seen anything die before that. I think I cried, maybe. I was probably just too shocked to see such a helpless thing just go," He frowned. "It was so fast too – I could barely know it had even happened."

"Well, that was a long time ago."

"I still think about it sometimes though. Like I said, it's stupid. I like animals too much I guess."

"Guess we've all got some kind of traumatic memory from childhood," He smiled. "Mine is my grandpa hitting on a whole lot of young ladies. Even then I knew it was a line – They didn't seem to mind though. Always saw them at his little parties…" Antonio snickered. "Seriously! Do you know how weird it is to call a woman who is only ten years older than you 'grandma'? He got around, even in his old age." Antonio was grinning.

"You didn't actually call them grandma though, did you?" Lovino scoffed.

"Of course, I had to! A new Nonna every month. That's what it felt like," Lovino shook his head, dampening his smile. "I don't know, I guess that Feliciano and I just had an odd childhood in general though. You're always the weird kid if your parents are dead. Well, I was, Feliciano did just fine. People just pitied him and doted on him – All that crap. He could probably make any shitty situation better."

"Doesn't feel good, does it?" Antonio posited.

"Yeah, it doesn't – How'd you know?" He smiled at Lovino, it felt warm. "You know, I think I know already. I don't see you making many friends."

"What makes you say that?" He didn't even seem offended; he was just earnest. Lovino thought that had told him everything already.

"A bit of a dope, maybe you could be a class clown or something but otherwise I don't see you being particularly good at anything." Antonio hissed, drawing his attention to the passenger side.

"That's harsh." Lovino shrugged.

"It's true. If you're just average at everything in school, you don't have many opportunities to make friends. Feliciano had his art classes, he had track, he was pretty good at mathematics too. He wasn't bitter like me," Lovino snorted at a memory. "You know, he told me that he was jealous of me one time. Because sometimes he just wanted to blend in. I just wanted the opposite so I just couldn't understand him."

"I guess you always want what you can't have." Lovino hummed in agreement, nodding. When he looked out, he could barely see a thing. The only light wasn't very good at comforting him. The crickets sounding too close to frogs the way they carried on.

"Are you any closer than you were yesterday to finding who did this?" He had to ask; it was just about the only thing that had been on his mind lately.

"We had Sadik in today but… Gilbert doesn't think he did anything."

"What do you think?"

"I can't say – Or maybe I just shouldn't tell you. Either one of those." Lovino huffed. He hated such vague answers.

"I'm going to assume you disagree with Gilbert."

"Why? What do you think?"

He shifted his attention to outside, "I don't know. Feliciano says he's being fair, but I think he's convinced he did something…"

"That's what Feliciano thinks, not you." Antonio pointed out. He sighed.

"I don't think he would've hurt me," He said in one honest breath. "Not after so long."

"Would you have it in you to testify if there was enough evidence against him?" Lovino furrowed his brows at the question. He hadn't thought that far ahead. He didn't think about actually having to confront the person who did this at trial. In a courtroom. Full of people. The thought unsettled him, having to look at someone he remembered having so many good times with.

"I don't know. I wouldn't want to but…" He frowned. "I can't think too much about what I want anymore."

"Families?" Lovino nodded.

"My brother told me to look out for myself. He's only ever been selfish when it comes to me – Maybe because we're all we have."

"That's understandable…" Antonio smiled. "But maybe a little bit of both is good. You don't want to end up having some kind of mental break over thinking about others too much but you also don't want to hurt other people more than they already have been."

"That's easier said than done, it's like every night I have some mental break," He laughed bitterly. "I can't sleep, I get nightmares, wake up all the time… All of that."

"Is it the same kind of nightmares?" Lovino nodded, Antonio seemed to relax – He hadn't noticed how stiff he seemed.

"The exact same one. Nothing changes so I don't know why I get so worked up over it… I hope it goes away soon." He looked to Antonio for some form of comfort. Some idea of when this would all end. But he got nothing. His face was just as blank as his was.

"Let's hope then." Antonio responded, finally. It wasn't enough to just hope, Lovino knew that, but at least it was something uplifting instead of the pessimism that he often clung to in these situations.

"We should go back; Feliciano will be freaking out by now."

Antonio's eyebrows raised, "Oh? You didn't tell him?"

"No, you idiot, I left with you. But he has a keen eye – He'll see I'm not lurking around."

"Well, alright," Antonio smiled. "Let's not keep him too worried. I'll have to apologize for stealing you."

"Tch, don't even worry about it. I'll get my ear chewed off either way." He scoffed. A soft laugh coming from the detective. It was lifted, light, airy, genuine, charming... As he turned on the ignition, he had a terribly inappropriate thought. Attractive.