Yet another long period without updates
I've been quite busy with school and work,
Nursing studies takes up a lot of time I have.
A few of you have sent me some concerned messages,
First I would like to address, I have not forgotten any of my stories
Nor am I planning on discontinuing any of the ones I currently have open for updates
I am still struggling to write anything,
I get brief ideas to include in my chapters
And then I can never continue to write it after starting.
Its unfortunate as I love to write,
And I love being able to provide content for you guys to read and review.
Hope you will continue to support this book as well as my others.
Enjoy!
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"I know that you've been bad-'
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Chapter 10: Rivers Running Dry
~QOoOQ~
Cana's eyes roamed over the two children as they chased her offspring around the bar. Probably not the best place for children to play. She shrugged. No harm done. "So?" She turned to Lucy. "What do you think? They're improving are they not?" They definitely were, she agreed silently. The twins were still struggling, how could they not. However Lucy had been doing a fine job at helping them cope.
"They're adorable."
Lucy nodded cheerily. "They have gone through so much, yet they're able to still smile. Be a kid." She sipped at the coffee Cana had made her.
"Thanks to you." She could feel Cana look at her for a moment before returning her attention to the children in question. "Are you sure you don't want to just continue fostering them?" Lucy shook her head and stared into the dark coloring of her drink.
"It's not safe with me." She would not continue that statement much further even if Cana attempted to pester her about It farther, nobody could get any closer to her and this case than she could help to avoid. The case was beginning to take an ominous turn to it, and she had a feeling in her gut that didn't sit right with her, she had to cut loose the people she cared for. She couldn't put the twins through something like what she had to go through, not if she could prevent it beforehand. This was her fight.
Cana eyed her cousin warily but didn't say anything, she knew her cousin wouldn't say a word, she was exactly like her mother in the sense that she stayed quiet about issues she was having. She continued to wipe the wine glasses, making them shine under the light. "Are you not going to miss them Lucy?" She glanced over at the blonde who stared aimlessly at her glass, a cocktail Cana always made just for her. "Why don't I just take care of them until this all blows over?" Lucy shook her head.
"Its not just about the case Cana." She sighed and stared back at her before taking a large sip of her drink. "I can't take care of them like I should be. I can't take care of the twins as good as you possibly could." Cana laughed, turning to watch the middle child, one of 3, pull on her eldest sons' hair.
"Yeah, I raise them so well." She rolled her eyes and turned back to her friend. "I'm sure you would be a great mother to them Lucy, even if you are a little rough around edges."
"No, I can't Cana." Lucy shook her head and grabbed the brunette's hand. "These children are wonderful, and they've been through a lot in the short amount of time they have been alive. They need lots of love and attention, someone who is around them a lot and able to support them constantly. You can do that Cana. I can't." She shook her head. "I am dedicated to my work and my work sometimes catches up with me at home, as it is now. It is not a situation I can force a child to grow up in, especially a young child who has already been targeted by one of the people their 'Mommy' is dealing with."
Cana understood, but she hated that Lucy was able to do things like this for everyone but herself. She could sacrifice her own chance at a family so that these kids she cares so much for would be able to grow up in a safe house that would care for them as their own. "I can send you money if you need help taking care of the extra expenses with them."
"I may only have bar owned in my name, but my husband still makes pretty damn good amounts of money Lucy, and I aint doing so bad myself." Her husband worked alongside Lucy in the police division working as a forensics scientist investigating crime scene evidence during homicides, kidnapping, assault, etc. It was an amazing job, Cana just could never understand how the two were able to handle all the death surrounding them, she could never handle it. "Keep the money you make Lucy; we will be fine. You may need that money one day so save it for when you really need it."
"Thank you." Lucy glanced over to the twins, watching the joy on their faces as they played with Cana's eldest son and daughter, their youngest daughter giggling as she blows bubbles around them. She was sure the twins would love being here with kids around their age. She was sure it would help them further their road to recovery and reintroduce them to a normal life, not one filled with locked doors and windows and a mother carrying a gun constantly. This is what she should have done in the first place.
"I will have to go back home and grab a few of the things that they have in place, but it isn't much. Just a few toys and blankets. I hadn't really had a chance to buy beds, so they just slept with me." Cana nodded.
"I'm sure it was fine with them as long as you were with them." She turned to look at the kids giggling and laughing out on the patio side of her bar. "Besides, I can just drag Freed to come with us to pick out some beds for them."
"You sure there won't be an argument about sharing rooms?" Cana shook her head and agreed, seemingly confident that her children would not feed angry about the new additions to their already large family and would have no issues with having two new kids join them. "Freed is home?"
"Yes, today is his day off." Cana looked pointedly at her cousin, jokingly saying, "Thanks to somebody he got called in after coming home last night and was out until morning. He's now sleeping." Lucy laughed and apologized, taking another sip of her drink. "When do you have work?"
"In about an hour, so I should be leaving soon actually."
"Should you really be drinking then?"
"Probably not." Lucy laughed, finishing her glass before giving her cousin a quick hug and walking toward the playing children in the patio behind the building. "Gem, Minnie, I have to go to work now. I will be back later tonight with some of your things okay?"
"Do you really have to go though?" Minnie asked her, coming up and clasping her hand. "Why can't we just stay with you still?" Gem finished.
"I already explained it to you guys, didn't I?" Lucy had given them a brief explanation about her not being around enough and worrying that she would eventually make them lonely while she worked her long hours back at headquarters. "Do you not like it here?"
"No," Gem protested, shaking his small head. "We love Cana and its fun being with everyone here."
"Then you should be happy."
"But we will miss you." Lucy held back her saddening thoughts as she pulled the twins close for a hug, she did not want to leave them, she loved having the small children around and liked being able to come back home to the sound of their giggling. However, she had to do this in order to ensure that their being saved was going to be nothing because she was selfish and kept them in a place that would eventually be targeted.
"And I will miss you both, but this is something that needs to be done." She leaned back and pet their heads, "I will still be coming back here to see you guys though okay? I won't be leaving forever, I'll always come and visit."
"Promise?"
"I promise, now go and play." She patted their backs, coaxing them back toward their new family to go and play as she turned to walk out of the bar, nodding at her cousin as she did before fully exiting the building.
…
"We've identified our Jane Doe." Those were the first words she heard when she walked into the first unit's office that afternoon, Natsu presenting her with a manila case file and allowing her to flip through it. "Her name is Flare Corona, eighteen years old. Works at FT bar and attends a university in Fiore." Lucy flipped a page in the file, staring at the red haired beauty. "She has no relatives and was in the Foster Care system for Four years before she was old enough to live on her own. She was living with a roommate at the time she died."
"I see you've thoroughly read her case file." Lucy glanced at her partner, impressed with his memorization of the file she was reading. "Who was her roommate?"
"Minerva Orland." Natsu handed her his notes from their interrogation earlier that morning. "She had a solid alibi, she was with her boyfriend Mard Gear, and his colleague Macbeth Midnight, they were drinking at her boyfriends place and they all ended up staying the night. She texted Flare prior to at 7:45PM and there were no signs of them exiting the building on the security cameras." Natsu shook his head. "I honestly thought they were using fake names but nope they are a s legit as can be."
Lucy would have thought the same if she were the one doing the interrogation. "So then why was she not reported missing earlier? Her body was already decomposing at that point when we found her so there is no way that nobody realized she was gone."
Natsu shrugged. "Apparently Flare disappearing was not a new situation. She often went for hikes and would be out for days, out of range for cell service and this could go on for weeks."
"How was she able to keep a job?"
"She was a social media influencer, her main platform being YouTube videos but apparently she had videos planned out for weeks in advance, so content wasn't inactive."
"Nothing odd about her not posting anything on other social media platforms?"
"No, she apparently was horrible when it came to posting on things lie Twitter or Instagram so she would go days without posting something and it be totally normal." This case was already beginning to be a headache. They barely had anything to start off with other than whenever the medical analysis and forensics labs came back. They didn't have an exact time of death, only a starting point form when the roommate came home the next morning and even then, she could have been somewhere else before going missing.
"Have we got anything else besides the interview from Minerva and Mard?" Natsu shook his head, nothing had apparently come back from the labs yet.
"We could check security cameras surrounding their apartment building and see where she went off to, but we could be looking at days' worth of footage without a starting point.
Lucy thought for a moment. "That may not be such a bad idea, Natsu." She flipped back to the front of the pages, again looking at the picture they had of Flare on it. "Whoever did this obviously knew her schedule, and we assume it to be premeditated so obviously he must have been studying her thoroughly."
"So, you think that this person been watching her schedule."
"Exactly, watching when she comes and goes form her apartment, when her roommate leaves and when she goes on certain trails or drives or stores, he must know these things." Lucy closed the casefile and went back to her desk to pull out her notes from the crime scene. "This is going off the assumption that she died by stab wounds and blood loss, the act of stabbing someone is not easy, it takes time and most of the knife wounds she sustained were not made in any large arteries so bleeding out would have been a slow process."
"Okay but how does that relate to anything? Multiple stabs would take time for her to die, especially where hers were located but that doesn't necessarily mean he studied her schedule."
"Well do you think he would have done it to someone who still lived at home, and always texted her mother before leaving." Natsu shook his head. "No, because the missing persons report would have been filed and everyone would already be searching for Flare. This person knew Flares little contactless trips and knew she didn't always use her phone and it was expected of her to not always answer immediately."
It made sense, Natsu nodded at her theory. "So, did you want me to go and get all the CTV footage around her area and see if we can analyze them and find someone who's been lingering around her area?" Lucy nodded, "A week back or two?"
"Go back two weeks," Lucy instructed, finding Flares address, and sending it to Natsu's phone. "If Flare really was gone a week prior its best to go further back and see how long ago this person had been watching Flare for." It gave Natsu the chills thinking about some psycho stalking and analyzing the young girl, from what her roommate had said Flare was always so observing and would often overlook thinks that were either important or obvious such as misplacing her phone when it was right in front of her. It was not much of a mystery how Flare never would have noticed somebody following her consistently.
"Alright I will go get the footage from CTV." With that Natsu left her at her desk and walked out the second unit office. Her notes were still out from the night prior, unbothered by the bustling movements of her colleagues around her, all busy trying to get their own cases done as well as their newly appointed case from the other day. It was a total mess in the office; however, this was something she strived for.
It was awful for them to have so much to do but she liked being able to keep busy, to have things to work through and work toward an answer with and that was exactly what they were doing in that moment.
Laxus strode up to her and took a seat on the edge of her desk, she made a displeased noise when her papers were moved to the side. "So how did the trade off with Cana go?" Lucy shrugged, moving her papers back toward her and noting some of her thoughts on the most recent case file they had.
"There was some crying and whining but not much excitement." She glanced up at her brother before returning to her notes. "I had a drink that Cana made for me and then I was saying my goodbyes and left for work. I will be dropping off the rest of their stuff tonight after I finish my shift." Laxus shook his head lightly and sighed at his sister.
"Sorry you're being forced to do this Lu." She wasn't. She had decided this path for herself, it was better this way, she knew the twins would be as safe as possible at her cousin's house, having a fellow law-enforcement officer there, even if he did just work in the labs. She knew Freed was capable of keep his family safe, and that family would extend to the twins they had just adopted. Lucy would sign off on the proper paperwork and file for their adoption under Cana and Freed's name.
"It's not like I could keep them with the way everything is now Laxus." She sighed and set her pen down on her desk, turning to look up at him. "I have the money the and the means to take care of them but how am I going to do that if I am not home? I don't have anyone I live with and while they may be old enough to take care of themselves well enough for me to leave them alone for a bit while I work there is nobody in that house to help them if someone were to come target me by using the twins as lure." Lucy looked down, "I could never live with myself if they ever got hurt because of me."
"I know you couldn't Lucy. I just hope this isn't going to affect you." Now he sounded like their father, Jude was always worried that anything she did was going to affect her work. She was sad yes but she wasn't going to go insane, she was able to see them again if she wanted.
"I will be fine Laxus, thanks." He nodded and left her to her work. She had left Flare's case file open on her desk, forgetting to close it when she began talking to her brother again. She paused, eyes moving to one of the autopsy photos they took prior to fully examining the body. It was very faint due to the charred skin of the young girl however she could faintly make out a fresh scar on the girls arm. It was a symbol. She couldn't exactly see what the mark was but the more she stared at it the more a dark feeling began to brew within her.
Something about this case was not right.
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"-shame on you for what you did."
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ALaViola: Am I the only one that thinks Freed suits the Forensics role when It comes to
police work?
So I'm trying to update all my stories as much as I can, I think my writers block
has reduced a lot so I've been bale to write more
and start new stories or bring new perspectives to my stories again.
So far I am still enjoying it, my creativity has reduced plenty over the years
however I still have a little bit left in me to continue stories.
It just means I wont be popping out new story ideas as quickly as I would have prior to this.
While I was writing this I found a "Villain" Playlist on YouTube and I think
that helped me get into the mood for this book.
Hopefully you enjoyed this chapter!
Love it? Hate it? Review!
