Never Leave Me
By Kachimoochi
Chapter IX
Equally Reliable Source
RJ was left standing in the center of a dance floor, surrounded by dozens of bodies. He remained still for a period, but he wasn't sulking as he normally did. He was reenergized with purpose, he felt that it was only a matter of time before he found Revin's murderer, who ever he was. The closest lead RJ had was a Turian named Certicus, dressed in shabby clothes, and wore the facial markings similar to that of Revin's: high class.
Revin stood beside him, still glaring at her partner for the impromptu display of affection given to him by his impromptu informant. Still, it seemed that she herself was instilled with vigor as well.
Though she was confused by this new feeling. She didn't know what would happen when she found who killed her. Was it somebody she knew? What would happen to her then? Would RJ relieve himself of the guilt? Would that mean he wouldn't need her anymore?
If that were the case, Revin wished that neither RJ or herself ever found who killed her. An eternity of doubt was worth an eternity with her love, Revin supposed.
Both beings were knocked out of their victorious stupor by a tintinnabulation emanating from RJ's Omni Tool. Already deducing who it was, RJ discreetly made his way through the sea of gyrating bodies until he reached a restroom. He entered the dingy cistern through the automatic door, placing a hacking lock upon the door as he entered.
It would be certain death if anyone knew who he was, and especially who he was talking to.
Not even bothering to inquire who it was, RJ preemptively shouted quietly into the receiver of his tool
"Vikeni you walking carrot! Now is not a good time! This had better be good!"
The comment resulted in a massive eruption of laughter from the other end of the call, no doubt from the dozens of eavesdropping detectives still in the middle of Vikeni's infamously long briefings.
"Don't dare insult your superior officer! Understand!" Vikeni shouted. "I am just about to close the briefing; do you have any newly acquired information from your little jaunt to the strip club?
"Close the briefing?" RJ said surprised, opening a time application on his Omni Tool, "I've been here for almost an hour and a half!"
"What's your point?"
"I imagine the concept of a briefing is to be "brief", what did you do? Give a masterclass on ass-kissing?"
The erupting guffaws following RJ's quit elicited a small smirk from the smug detective, and left Revin's phantom clutching her belly on the floor, unable to control her breathing from uncontrollable laughter.
"Enough! Do you have information or don't you!?" Vikeni finally roared, tired of the constant digs, let alone the "ass-kissing" comment which he was sensitive about.
"As luck would have it, yes I do. I've got a possible suspect in the death of the Asari, I've got a Turian Male, Cyan and Red face markings, and wearing shabby clothes"
"Cyan and-?" Vikeni began before being interrupted.
"I know, like Revin's, but my source is good for it, and I've been told by an equally reliable source that no Turian with those markings would ever wear shabby clothes" RJ finished.
"An equally reliable source?" Vikeni inquired with an accusatory tone.
"Yeah, I'd bet my life on it"
"Do you have any clue how vague that description is?"
"I have a name too: Certicus"
"I'll run it through the database, but for now you are to report back to HQ, your shift is almost over and you have another appointment with the grief counselor tomorrow"
"Aye Aye sir, Clifford over and out" RJ moaned at the news, while disconnecting his Omni Tool.
Vikeni, taken aback by the sudden disconnection, gruffly closed the communication application before turning his attention back to the crowd of detectives he was in the middle of giving orders to.
"What are you all gawking at! Meeting adjourned, I'm putting an APB on a suspect, get out to your cars an I'll upload directions from there! Dismissed!" Vikeni shouted, contorting his voice into a more authoritative form.
"Right away, ass-kisser!" A detective shouted in response, eliciting yet another thundering of laughing and applause from their fellow officers.
Vikeni, with a frozen glare upon his face shooed the detectives out of the briefing room, before returning to the database to search for the possible suspect described by his worst rival, and admittingly finest detective.
RJ, sensing that his job was done for the time being, unlocked the bathroom door and stealthily sauntered to the exit of the Kensetus Club. He was eyed by a dozen Bane members or so, but they were too preoccupied by women of little virtue and decadent substances to pay much attention.
He staggered out of the door, before regaining his footing and jaunting back to his unmarked skycar. The Krogan bouncer didn't appear to pay him much mind either. RJ embarked his vessel and started to steadily rise into the air, and as he entered in the preset path for the CLED HQ, his car joined a seemingly endless line of other cars in the sky, like a group of ants marching one after the other.
As his car began to pilot itself to his chosen destination, RJ repeated the action he had done as he left Milika's apartment. He closed his eyes and imagined the interior of the car, as if he hadn't closed them. He imagined another time, years ago, himself driving, and the love of his life and the scourge of the underworld beside him, no doubt telling a bad joke or complaining about a vid she saw in the cinema the weekend before.
That was usually how RJ and Revin spend their rides to the HQ, after he picked her up. It seemed so valuable now that she was gone, in the moment RJ never thought anything of it, just another ride to work. He never imagined that such a mundane act which he participated in almost 300 days a year would be memories he ingrained into his consciousness; they were more valuable than his next breath.
And when he opened his eyes once more, Revin was in the seat beside him, giving him her signature smirk
"We'll do this forever" RJ thought.
RJ's skycar parked itself in the garage of the HQ, and he and Revin took the elevator to the main offices of the HQ building to report to Vikeni. The HQ wasn't as big and glamourous as C-Sec's, though legally CLED was slightly more than a private security corporation, much like the Pinkerton Agency from RJ's native Earth. Though it was the HQ for the entire agency, it was the smallest of its locations across The Citadel. There were larger offices located on the Lower and Middle Wards, but on the Upper Wards, crime was minimal, so security was minimal.
After some time, the slow elevator which RJ was long since tired of complaining about arrived on the main office near the archives, where RJ hoped to meet Vikeni and finally learn the identity of the Turian whom killed his partner, his love.
As RJ approached Vikeni who was standing behind a data terminal, the Salarian addressed him without even turning,
"I haven't found anything yet before you ask"
"Nice to see you too" RJ snapped back, "What do you mean nothing? I've spent twenty minutes getting here"
"I'm sorry to disappoint you Clifford, but you have given this "Walking Carrot" a very vague description of this "Certicus", I'm left with no choice but to scour the entirety of the flight logs to see if any of the 400,000 Turians who had arrived since last month are our suspect, so excuse me if I am a little short tempered"
RJ lowered his eyes to his feet, amazed that he felt a twinge of guilt towards his jobsworth of a captain. Say what you want about him, he'd work himself into the grave, but he at least hoped he'd get a promotion at his funeral.
"L-look, I'm-" RJ began.
"Yeah yeah, I know. I mean, if this has something to do with Revin, I guess I'd be as stressed out as you are" Vikeni said in a more neutral tone, finally turning to face his detective.
Such a small, miniscule display of comradery was shared between the two men, and the phantom eavesdropping on the entire conversation.
"Still" Vikeni started once more, "I'd rather be in your shoes, I'll have to spend the rest of the night trying to find a match, all you have to do is go to a therapy session with that attractive Asari therapist and go home…must be nice"
RJ turned away, running his finger against a terminal in a way to distract himself. Revin's hearing organs perked up at this, she had never seen a therapy appointment with RJ before. He had told her that he wished to take them privately, and that he didn't want to be distracted when answering her questions.
After all, if it were discovered that a working detective was speaking to the "ghost" of his dead partner, the fallout would be unimaginable.
And wait a moment, did Vikeni say she was attractive?
"I don't know what more I can tell her; I've been with her for more sessions than I can count and it seems like she is just dancing around Revin's death"
"Has she asked about your "phantom"?"
"No, I never let on about it"
"Y'know I am worried about you, I mean I don't know if this ghost is real, of if your going insane, but I'm not so sure that finding who killed Revin is going to stop it happening"
"That's the thing Vikeni" RJ said, as he began to walk out of the archives, "I don't think I want it to stop happening"
6 Hours Later
Dr. Yuibo and RJ sat opposite one another in wicker chairs in a small, white room with artificial sunlight bouncing off of artificial plants, doing their best to create a calming atmosphere. To RJ, they didn't have the desired effect.
"Well Mr. Clifford, how has your week been thus far?" The Asari doctor began.
RJ, eyes drooping a bit from the singular hour of sleep he'd gotten since he left his shift shook his face to attention and prepared to answer.
"Well, same as always I guess, I was following up on a lead that I think may be liked to Revin's murder, but… I guess now its just a matter of time"
The doctor took a moment to type a note into her datapad, before addressing her patient once more.
"I know we've been meeting fairly regularly, so at this point I wish to ask you more about your relationship with Detective Tyuvio, is that alright?"
Unknown to RJ, Revin had made herself appear behind a bookshelf near the two. Though she hated herself for breaking her friend's trust, but she just had to know what the two talked about during their sessions, and to see how attractive she was for herself.
She didn't know how she could exist to witness the session. Perhaps RJ was imagining her there eavesdropping whilst denying to himself that he allowed her to? She didn't pay much mind; she was too hung on the question the doctor had asked.
"Uh… yeah sure"
"So once again, what was your relationship with your partner?"
RJ stared at his shoes as he wondered how to answer the question, doing his best to keep eye contact with the doctor, but not enough for Dr. Yuibo to not notice.
"She was the closest friend I ever had; she meant the world to me"
"Usually we don't see such attachment and depression following a lost partner, forgive my saying, but I have previously given counseling to many CLED officers who had lost their partners, their turnover was much shorter than yours. I just mean to say, did you harbor any special feelings towards Revin?"
RJ didn't know exactly what the doctor was getting at, but he could imagine what it could mean. Could she be closing in on his hidden feelings?
"Well…I mean she was a lot like a sister to me… we were close"
"Was your relationship at all…romantic?"
RJ's heart sank and a black border began to swell around his vision. He had anticipated this question eventually, but it still smacked him in the face when he was asked it. He swallowed loudly and regained eye contact with his therapist.
He cleared his throat, and he answered.
