10.

It's official. I hate my life. Clarke thought wearily, with her head resting against the hard surface of the counter. Last night ended up just like she predicted it would, with Bellamy finally gathering the nerve to remove her from the crime scene and back to the car to be babysat by an officer until he was finished and drove her home. Once she got back home she was interrogated and reprimanded by Lincoln, who had received a call from Bellamy, after he managed to snatch the number from her cellphone sometime when her phone was alone in his car, about everything that had happened and was seriously pissed at her lack of regard for her safety and wellbeing.

He was so pissed at her that he wouldn't even tell her how his date with Octavia went until Bellamy called and probably ruined it, which she actually felt very guilty of, because her intention when she called Bellamy and not Lincoln to help her was simply to give him the chance of happiness and a personal life beyond her…um…involvement in his life. And look what a fantastic job you did…

So here she was doing paperwork, while Lincoln was off fixing up the mess from last night as well as organizing and setting up the studio so that they could start working on some paintings that they were planning displaying on their opening showcase in a couple of weeks. Being left behind in the gallery was Lincoln's version of punishment, with the basic rules that she was not to leave alone to do some sleuthing on the murders or any other physical labor, but if he thought that she was going to stay there and do boring paperwork all day then he had to be crazy. Even though she reluctantly agreed to follow her friend's rules, knowing that if she tried to do otherwise he might request Bellamy's help to stop her, which was definitely out of the question as far as she was concerned, but she did find a loophole in his rules and she was going to exploit it while she still had the chance.

If Lincoln thinks that I'm going to sit around here all day without doing some PI work then I seriously recommend him to see Bellamy, who knows better than anyone that once I'm on the roll I wouldn't stop. Clarke pulled out her laptop and opened the website that PIs' use in order to obtain background information and such on clients etc. Of course she didn't have any name or any other kind of information on the victims, but the website had records on crimes that might resemble these two murders. And who knows maybe she got lucky, even if the police probably has done the same web search and gotten no hits?

Unfortunately for her, there are many crimes with similar MOs with exception of having her name written on the victims, so she had her work cut out for her and read pages and pages of cases. She was so completely lost in her work and thoughts that she almost didn't realize the door opened before she looked up to see a furious Raven enter.

"To think that I even bothered buying that close sign when I was apparently just wasting my money away." Clarke said casually, even though her voice clearly indicated that she wasn't in the mood for company. Raven slammed the door hard behind her as she stared at her, with a mixture of anger and protective concern. Clarke didn't want to see her friend looking at her like that; especially when she felt so ashamed of herself and what her actions were doing to the people she cared about. Raven, however, purposely ignored the obvious and jumped right into business. "What the hell is wrong with you?!"

"With that kind of question you'll have to expect that the list comes along with the answer is going to very very long, right?"

"I'm not even going to dignify that with a response." Raven said hotly, crossing her arms. "You got shot last night and you didn't even bother to go to the hospital or even call Lincoln or me about it."

Oh, crap. I forgot about that. Lincoln must have managed to make a sometimes ally not only with Bellamy, but also with Raven. God…how is it that despite my messy and broken relationships everyone seems to have these overprotective tendencies when it comes to me?

Clarke sighed heavily, shutting down her laptop, and was preparing herself for what were to come next. Something she had a good feeling was nothing good from her side.

"How did you find out? Was it Lincoln or Bellamy?" Or the town gossip and the local newspaper if I have to guess I'll say it was the latter, because in this town nothing stays secret for long. I should know that, seeing as that's how the whole town learned about my role in the Mt. Weather Massacre.

Raven scoffed. "It was first page news, and that alone should be upsetting to learn that my friend got hurt and didn't even consider telling me or anyone else about it, but what's really insulting about the whole thing is that I find out about it through the news."

Feeling both guilty and defeated, Clarke fidgeted with her fingers and moved her gaze away from Raven. Suddenly finding the floor a lot more interesting to look at than the angry and disappointed Raven.

Unfortunately for her, Raven wasn't going to let her take the cowardly route and immediately walked up to her and placing both her hands on her arms, clutching them like she expected her to vanish in thin air. Clarke wanted to flinch over the painful strength Raven used, but she held her composure and waited for Raven to continue whatever her reason for coming to see her.

"Clarke, what's going on with you?" Raven asked, still angry but with an underlining tone that expressed love and concern. "You disappeared for three years, you keep minimal or no contact with any of us, and then suddenly you come back without any warning. And just less than two days you have already gotten yourself involved with two local murders, pissed off Bellamy and the police department, and successfully avoided seeing your friends without any good explanation. So tell me, Clarke. What's going on?"

This time she flinched, but over hearing Raven's words that pretty much nailed many of her several issues since she got back in town. It was easy to guess that Raven thought that it had something to do with the Mt. Weather incident, and she wasn't wrong, but it wasn't like she could tell her that and explain everything. Not unless she wanted more of her friends dead. I have to protect them, even if I have to hurt and push them away in order to do it.

"Nothing's wrong. I just…need to figure some stuff out." Clarke said defeated. Sure, she wasn't being completely honest, but she wasn't lying either. Just bending the truth a little. "I'm sorry about all of this, but I'm just going to need some time adjusting and figure things out, okay?"

Raven scowled, but she didn't argue with her any further. Instead she pulled her hands back and punched her across the face, not necessary as hard as she knew Raven could punch but still hard enough that it hurt. "Fine. I'll accept your excuses for now, but I wouldn't be so forgiven if these things keep happening."

Clarke nodded her head, with a small smile on her face. "Thanks Raven." Raven nodded back and turned her gaze at her laptop and asked, "So…why don't you tell me about the case you're working on? Who knows, maybe I can help? Come on let me help. It will be just like back in the old days when we helped you with cases in high school."

Clarke couldn't help but chuckle over their crazy high school days, involving solving cases from serial murders to dognapping.

I know I should refuse her, working on this on my own if I want to keep my loved ones safe, but right now I'm picking up straws and nothing getting anywhere. And like she said, maybe she could be helpful.

Once again Clarke nodded her head and together the two of them began searching for clues, just like they had once done back in the day, before the whole mess ever happened.

Blame it on his distrust and resentment, but Bellamy didn't want to take any chances especially regarding Clarke and her role in his cases. Pike had been on his ass when he showed up at his desk this morning and had found out that not only had Clarke been there at the first crime scene, but at literally invited herself to the second one and this time with his permission. Of course then he had to explain to his boss the circumstances for his ex-fiancée's presence and promised that he would double check to make sure that there were no loose ends or any other connection to with Clarke and their two murders besides having her name written on their bodies. But as it turns out completing that task proved to be a lot more difficult than he expected, especially since he had nothing on his two dead victims.

Monty still haven't found anything on either women in his facial recognition program, no one around town seems to know or even recognize either of the victims, the coroner still didn't have a proper cause of death and he was certain that Clarke was also going to be very unhelpful right now especially after his treatment of her last night. And honestly he didn't know whether the attempted murder on Clarke had anything to do with these cases or if it was simply someone shooting her for revenge. So yeah, at this point they had nothing and nothing to go on with neither case.

Seriously? Can this entire case be any more exasperated? Bellamy thought, with his face falling into his hands before they ran through his hair. Then his gaze went back to his desk that was filled with reports, but his eyes were mainly focused on the forensic report on the first murder. He opened the file and read through the contents. When he was done reading through the report, he stood up from his chair and threw the report at the wall in an angry fit. Miller entered the room shortly afterwards and saw the state of the room. "Man, you must really be facing the wall if you take your anger on the wall."

"You're right." Bellamy growled. "We have no witnesses, no id on the victims, no clear cause of death, and no forensic evidence. Our killer left no traces on either body or the bed sheet, which belonged to the victim who we again don't know who she is."

Miller looked unfazed by his angry outburst. "And it doesn't have anything to do with the pressure you got from Pike or your blonde-haired princess? By the way, are you ever going to tell me what's the big deal between you and Clarke?"

Nope. I'm not going to down that path again. Never going down that path again. As far as I am concerned the thing between Clarke and I are done, and for the better of things our past should stay where it is, except for her role in my murder cases.

Apparently his facial expression was enough for Miller to back off once again, and instead redirected direction of the conversation. "How about we take a walk, clear our minds? Maybe it will help us figure out this case from another angle."

Bellamy sighed deeply. Although a part of him was refusing to do what his partner suggested, he knew that if he really thought about it his suggestion was indeed a good idea. They weren't getting anywhere, so why not take a breather? Who knows, maybe it would help? That reminds me on the times when Clarke used to tell me over and over to stop and think before leaping into action. As much as the idea of following her advice is for once I think she might be right about something, even though she also said in the past that she admired me for being a man of action too. Nevertheless it doesn't matter what she thought, and I'm only doing this because Miller suggested it. Not because it was a piece of advice his former paramour used to tell him.

Hours passed and Clarke was starting to think that there were no meanings or pattern between these murders, at least not from in the past anyways. But she was reluctant to give up, being far too headstrong and stubborn to give in to the easiest explanation, and continued to roam through old newspapers and crime records on the computer.

Raven left about an hour ago, after receiving a call from Jasper, who finally realized who was back in town and needed his drinking buddy to calm him down. Obviously her return didn't help the matters, but what could she do? Clarke felt ashamed over how her actions ruined her friend, left him dealing with intense and never-ending anger and grief, and was continuing to spiraling more and more out of control for each day that passed. But as much as she wanted to apologize and ask Jasper for forgiveness, she knew too well that he wouldn't do it and probably never would as long as she lived. Not after he lost the love of his life to the Mt. Weather massacre.

Anyways, despite her determined resolution her eyes was working against her will, threatening to drop and close in order to get some sleep. And it wasn't until her eyes were just about to close and fall into comfortable sleep that something caught her attention in the old crime records.

"What the hell?" According to this old record from eleven years ago, there was a murder that had the similar MOs to Bellamy's two cases. Although there were no writings anywhere on their bodies, they were consistent from the lack of evidence to the unknown cause of death and crime scene. The only finer details that separate the present day cases from the old one even further is the body count and that in the old case the victim had been a prostitute.

Clarke weighted carefully the information she had just reading, just to realize that even though it might be a coincident maybe this tiny piece of information might be enough to at least identify the victims and get a better perspective of whoever killed these two women. But in order to be completely sure that her hunch was right she had to do something everyone including Bellamy would be against her doing and most definitely furious if they caught her doing it, especially if she did it alone without any backup. Oh, well. I have done it several times before, with and without backup, so what would it matter if I did it by myself again? What they don't know wouldn't hurt them, right?

She smiled quietly to herself before she began planning her next move along with the perfect disguise for her genius plan.

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Thank you guys so much for the reviews, favorite and followings, and I'm glad so many of you got interested in my story. So I hope you guys like the this chapter, and the next one will be out next week.

Also I like to add that there are and will be grammar errors in this story, I had forgotten to mention before, and not a perfect writer and I don't have a Beta to fix it for me (which I have no intention on getting anyways), so if people have issues with that then you just have to live with it, okay? I write and release this mainly to entertain you guys as well release some of my creativity.

And for those of you who requested to know about Octavia and Lincoln's date then it will be mentioned in the next chapter. However Clarke and Lincoln interaction will have to wait a few chapters because other stuff has to happen before that.

Review, favorite and/or follow.

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