2.

"Hello Four."

Four flinched by hearing that name. He was surprised that Tris called him by his nickname instead of his true name. Since she was the only person who knew his true name and truly knew who he was, but now she approached him like he was a stranger, merely an acquaintance to her. It felt strange, even cold compared to how they used to be. However he could understand why she wasn't very personal with him, especially after what happened between them.

"Hello Tris," Four said gently. He didn't realize how much he missed her after two years of no contact with each other, but seeing her standing there looking as beautiful as the day she walked away from him brought back certain hidden emotions he had hidden inside.

They didn't say anything to each other for a while, neither one of them was sure how they were going to proceed, but in the end she invited him in to her apartment. Not that she really wanted him to come inside, but it was the polite thing to do. He entered the apartment and followed after Tris to her living room.

The apartment was simple and clean. Her living room consisted a small coffee table made of glass with a gray rug underneath it, black bookshelves stocked with multiple types of books, two brown armchairs and one dark red couch. Four got the impression that there was nothing personal about the room, no personal belongings or photographs that indicated that the apartment was more a place to stay rather than a home, but then again things could have changed.

"Nice place," Four said. "How long have you been living here?"

"I moved to Dauntless, one year ago and this was the only place that rented a apartment for less than three thousand dollars a month," Tris answered quietly and took a seat on the couch. Four sat down on the opposite side of the couch, in order to get a closer look at her as well as listening to what she was saying to him. "So I'm been living here ever since, but I'm certain that is not what you wanted to ask me?"

"You know me far too well," Four smirked and shook his head. "Did you know the victim?"

"Not really, we were neighbors," Tris turned to look at him with a ghostly smile. "We didn't talk much, only once or twice. But your detective asked me this earlier, so I don't see why you needed to talk to me again."

Four could understand her reasoning and she was right, normally he wouldn't be questioning the witnesses twice unless there was a reasonable cause. However he wanted to hear more about her, especially after how things ended between them and she disappeared from the face of the earth. Why would she just leave and not telling anyone where she was going. And what has she been doing this entire time?

"You are a cop, wouldn't you talk to your witness again just to confirm their story?" Four asked, hiding the real reason that he was curious as well as very anxious to why he hadn't seen her before back at the police station. "Witnesses aren't always reliable, you know."

"Yes, I can see your point," Tris replied before she pulls one hand through her hair, using her fingers to pull back her slightly messy hair. "However you are wrong about me being a cop. I quit the force, so I haven't been a cop for some time now."

"What?" Four exclaimed and looked at her face to see if she was really serious. He couldn't be hearing right. There was no way Tris would quit the force. Her whole life was dedicated to solving crimes and she was excellent in doing her work. He couldn't imagine her not working in law enforcement, so what happened to make her quit the one thing she loved and excelled in?

"Why?" Four asks, still shocked over what he was hearing.

Tris rose up and took a few steps away from the couch. Her back was facing him, but he noticed slight shakings like she was either crying or containing her temper. He wasn't sure which of them it was, but he knew that she wouldn't allow him to touch and comfort her.

"You know exactly what happened," Tris replied with a hint of anger in her voice. Four stood up, trying to reach out to her and make her look at him instead avoiding his gaze. However she moved away before he even got the chance to touch her. He sighed and answered wearily, "I had no other choice."

"Of course you had a choice, you just decided to shut down the investigation and close the case!" Tris snapped back at him. She turned around to face him, without really looking straight at him.

"We worked on that case for months without getting anywhere," Four argued. "Besides you were getting too emotional involved working the case. You were losing the perspective and I had to watch you drowning in the mess that followed along. I had no other choice than shutting it down."

"That case was important to me," Tris said angrily. "You had no right to take away the only way to solve my parents murder and put whoever that did it in jail."

Four shook his head. He could understand her motivation to solve the unsolved murder of Andrew and Natalie Prior, especially when she lost her parents when she was sixteen and was the first one to find her parents' dead. However during the time he had worked the case with her, she became inpatient, vengeful and was willing to go extreme measures to find some kind of clues to reveal the killer. While she was gradually losing herself into the case, their partnership and personal relationship was on the rocks. So in last attempt to save both their relationship and herself from the hurt and despair that came along, he closed the case and she reacted badly to his resolution. Meaning she broke things off with him and quit the Abnegation police force and just disappeared without saying so much as a goodbye.

"Obviously we are not getting anywhere talking about this," Four said. He placed a hand on the back of his neck and rubbed it awkwardly, not sure how he was going to continue the conversation.

"No, we are not," Tris agreed, still refusing to look him in the eyes. "I think it is best that you leave."

Four nodded and didn't say anything else. He walked quietly towards the door, but before he left the apartment he said quietly, "I'll be back, because no matter what issues you have with me is irrelevant right now. You are a key witness to what happened. So until this case is solved we are bound to see each other again, whether you like it or not."

He closed the door behind him and let out a big sigh. Several emotions were piercing through him like a knife and he was not sure how he was going to react to everything that had just happened. Even though he did told her that she would see him again because of the case, a part of him had wanted to see her again for a whole different reason. Despite how bad things was between them, he still held on the small hope that they could actually fix the problems in their relationships and maybe it was possible for them to be together again, but it was all up to her.

The next morning Tris woke up even earlier than usual. She barely managed to get some sleep after what had happened last night, though she wasn't sure if it was due to Al's death or if it was because she saw Four again. Neither of those options was very comforting on her part, but she didn't want to think about it especially when she was going to be late for work if she didn't get out of bed some time soon. So she went to the bathroom and took a long shower. When she was done and quickly dried herself with one of her light yellow towels. She leaned to the sink and looked at the mirror that was hanging on the wall. Then she brushed her long blond hair and neatly tied her hair into a ponytail. Unlike most girls, Tris didn't use makeup to cover spots and make her appear prettier. Sure, she wasn't very pretty, but she didn't bother to try pretending that she could be pretty. So instead she focused on her tattoo on her collarbone. Three ravens in flight, each representing the family members she left behind and lost in the process. Not many people knew about her past, about her parents' death or her former occupation, but then again things was better to be left in the past rather digging it up again.

She left the bathroom and put on a pair of underwear, black pants, red top, black leather jacket. When she was done with getting herself dressed, she mentally discussed with herself she was going to have some breakfast or if she should just head out and get an early start on the day. In the end she decided on the latter, so she put on a favorite pair of black combat boots and locked the apartment. Then she was off and walked towards the parking lot.

Of course she didn't own a car since she couldn't afford it. So most of the time she would take the train to get to work and back, but this morning she didn't feel like taking the train filled with noisy, smelly people who would always push her around and getting them all cramped up like a box of sardines. Not exactly what you want to do when you already had a shitty night and was still emotional tired after everything. Luckily for her, she owned a motorcycle she drove sometimes and was perfect to use when she wanted to clear her head. She found her motorcycle, an old standard model, with her helmet hanging on the steering wheel. She grabbed the helmet and placed in over her head. Then she sat down on the seat and started the engine and drove off.

For the next fifteen minutes she drove passed the little traffic on the streets. People was still preparing themselves before they had to start their day with work, something Tris envied that everyone else in the world had someone in their life that separated them from work and they always returned to after work. She had never been very good at making friends and after her parents died she pulled even more back. The only person she had been significantly close to was Four and in the end even that relationship didn't work.

When she arrived to her workplace she noticed that neither Tori, her boss, nor Bud had arrived yet. So she entered the shop and took her time to clean up and prepare everything before she opened the shop. Despite her past being a police detective, she was oddly enough employed at a tattoo shop. She had been working there since she moved to Dauntless and was happy working there. There was no murder scenes, victims or killers, just people that wanted skin art permanently on their body. For once she could create something rather than expose web of lies and blood. Then thoughts about what happened last night entered her mind, remembering Al's dead eyes looking at her, haunting her. Death has never scared her, but she could never forget what death had brought upon her parents and the rest of the victims in her murder cases.

"Tris, what are you doing here?" Tori asked, who had snuck up on her from behind and stopped her train of thoughts. Tris spun around and quickly calmed down when she saw the older Chinese woman with small dark angular eyes and straight black hair streaked with gray. She wore a black blazer like a man's suit and jeans, but what Tris found most intriguing about her was the black-and-white hawk with a red eye on the back of her neck. "You don't normally comes in this early, more or let comes here to clean the place. What's going on?"

Tris smiled at the older woman, who was the closest thing to an aunt she had despite not being blood related to her. Tori were possibly the only person she could trust about her past, but she respected the boundaries Tris set up about her personal life. Unless she talked, then Tori didn't ask about it.

"Um…Last night turned from alright to horrible in a couple of hours, so I thought it was best to get an early start on the day," Tris replied with a ghostly smile. "I found my neighbor dead in his apartment and it appears that he was killed."

"Oh my god," Tori gasped and gently placed a hand on her shoulder. "Are you alright? Do you need a couple of days off? Bud and I can handle the shop."

Tris smiled and appreciated the gesture Tori was trying to do, while normally she would love to take a day off to read a good book and hang out in the park, but today all she wanted was to focus her energy on work and try and forget that last night ever happened.

"No, I will be alright," Tris said softly. She took off her leather jacket and put it on the hanger. "Just want to work and get through the day."

Tori nodded and told her that she could tell her if she needed a break from work. Tris agreed with Tori's suggestion and then went to her station to prepare for her first customer.

Holding a black cup of coffee in one hand and wore a frowning expression on his face, Four took a seat at his desk and stared at the whiteboard that held all the current information they had on the case. Christina was still doing the autopsy and she wouldn't be able to talk to him until she was done, meanwhile Zeke and Shauna were out looking for more information about their victim. So that left him with overlooking the little evidence they had found at the crime scene. The unidentified fingerprint Zeke mentioned last night was going through criminal database right now to see they got a hit on a potential suspect, but nothing seemed to have popped up yet. CSU had found an unknown black fiber in the bathtub that could possibly belong to the killer, but again he needed to get it checked out before he could work an angle on the case.

"Dude, what happened to you?" Zeke exclaimed, when he got sat down at his desk and got a good look at Four's mood. "Did someone cheat out the meat of your sandwich?"

Four rolled his eyes at his best friend's assumption, just like his younger brother Zeke liked to joke around and not be too serious over longer time period. Most of the times it was comforting to have a friend like him, but at work it could be a little annoying.

"Not exactly," Four mumbled. He took a sip of his coffee and continued to stare at the whiteboard. "I didn't get much sleep last night."

"Ooh, you got some last night, didn't you?" Zeke snickered. "Our little Four is finally growing up. I'm so proud."

"Knock it off, Zeke," Four said, but couldn't help laughing with him. Zeke sounded more like a father who was proud his son was getting laid, even though it was far beyond the truth. "Did you found something more about our victim?"

"Nah, the victim was rather shy and didn't go out much other than work and seeing his parents very weekend," Zeke explained, while holding his notes to retell his findings. "Shauna and I asked his parents if there was anyone who disliked or was enemies with Al, but they seemed totally unaware of anything that was going on with their son and denied any knowledge of such."

"How did the parents take the news about their son's death?" Four asked softly, understanding that there were parents and other significant people who mourned over their lost ones. It was their job to catch whoever did this and help them find peace, even though sometimes he thought that they didn't always bring peace whenever they unraveled in order to find the truth.

"They were totally crushed. There was a lot of crying and sobbing, asking us over and over why someone wanted to hurt their son."

"Yeah, I know that is rough," Four comforted his friend. "But it is part of the job."

Zeke nodded and began touching the keyboard on his computer, meanwhile Four heard his cellphone buzzing and answered it. It was Christina, who told him that the autopsy was done and he could come down to the morgue for an update on the case. Four told Zeke where he was going and asked him to keep looking into Al Price history. If there was one thing he had learned since he first began the force, everybody had secrets and some people were willing to kill in order to keep it hidden. So he left the office and took the elevator downstairs and headed straight to the morgue.

"Hey Four," Christina smiled at him while she stood in front of the body on the table, writing the autopsy report. When she saw his facial expression, which for once didn't remain his usual stoic and withdrawn self, which raised many questions in her mind. "What happened to you last night to put you in this charming mood or any mood for that matter?"

"Never mind that," Four answered curtly. His eyes were focused on the body and gave the impression that he didn't want to discuss anything that wasn't related to the case. Christina managed to get the memo, so she coughed embarrassedly before she began explaining her report, "According to my findings I declare this suspicious death a homicide."

"What was the cause of death?" Four asked, taking his eyes of the body for a second to look at her.

"He was poisoned," Christina said bluntly. Four tolerated Christina most of the time, but they weren't friends and most of the time he really couldn't stand how she would be bluntly honest and just blurt out what was going on in her head.

"How could he have been poisoned when we found him in dead in a bathtub filled with ice cold water?" Four exclaimed.

"His lungs weren't filled with water, so that ruled out drowning," Christina replied slightly annoyed. "And then there was foaming on the lungs, which I conclude is from poison, but I won't know what kind of poison it is until we do a toxicology screen on the foam."

Four frowned over the news, because he knew that it might take over two weeks before the results on what really killed the victim. Which meant that he had to work from a different angle if they were going to get a chance to find the killer.

"Is there any way for you to guess what poisoned him?" Four asked. He pinched the bridge of his nose in frustration. His day was heading from bad to horrible because of this case.

"You know I don't guess," Christina argued. "Besides there are millions of possible poisons that could have killed him. I couldn't possibly limit the list based on my guesses, but I can try to limit it based on my findings and push the toxicology results."

Four sighed, apparently it was better than nothing, but it wasn't enough to find out who the killer is.

"That would be great," Four stated. "Call Zeke or me if you find anything else."

"Will do," Christina smiled. "Next time please tell me who's the girl who managed to get you in your wonderful mood."

Four looked at her sourly for a second, grunted and then left the morgue without saying anything else.

After her second customer paid and left the shop, Tris stood by the store window staring at the people that was walking by. They seemed like they knew who they were and knew they belonged in this world. She on the other hand felt like an outsider, an observer on everyone else living their lives. She didn't fit in, not anymore with everything that had happened to her there was no way she could ever consider she belonged. Thinking about bad things only made her sad and depressed, so her focus turned on a young couple across the street, holding each other's hands and kissing gentle and romantically. Normally she found such intimate affections out in the open wrong, people who loved each other and showed their feelings should stay in private, but that couple love each other reminded her of the time she once felt the same way about Tobias.

(Flashback)

"What are you thinking about?" Tobias asked, putting his lips on her neck. It tickled and she let out a small laugh. She loved it when they were alone and affectionate with each other, even though it was more he who was being more affectionate than her.

They were hanging out in his apartment, just standing next to the kitchen counter and gently showed affection for each other.

"Wouldn't you like to know," Tris replied turning around to face him. He grinned at her and she couldn't help smiling back at him. "There is a lot of things I think about, but I have never been one to share my thoughts with anyone."

Tobias brushed away one of her stray hairs by the neck and placed it behind her ear before saying softly, "Some day you will maybe share your thoughts with me and when that day comes I will in return share my thoughts with you. Is that alright by you?"

She thought about it for a second and replied, "It is more than okay with me, Tobias."

Then she stood on her toes and kissed him on the lips, which he replied with the same gentleness and love, she was giving him.

Dismissively, she shook her head by the memory. Those feelings died a long time ago and it was useless thinking about the past. She had learned that the hard way and it was almost incredible that she didn't lose herself completely to the sad past. So when she turned her head away from the window she finally realized that both Tori and Bud was watching her with worried expressions on their faces. Not wanting to worry them any longer she gave them a reassuring smile and headed back to her station and clean up before her next customer would arrive.

"Guys, we got a hit on the fingerprint!" Shauna exclaimed when she entered the office. Both Four and Zeke were excited over finding out who their killer might be, but Four managed to hide his emotions better than Zeke did.

"That's great, babe," Zeke shared his excitement with his girlfriend and partner, while Four only rolled his eyes over their lovey-dovey moment. "So tell us who it is, so we can close this case."

"The thing is that the print didn't hit on the criminal database," Shauna explained when she took her seat on the desk next to Four and Zeke's desks. "I found it strange that the print didn't match anyone in the criminal database, so when the result came in I had to double-check to if we had processed it wrong or something. But it was no mistake. The fingerprint matches someone in the law enforcement database."

Four and Zeke looked at each other with a confused expression plastered on their faces. Was she seriously telling them that the killer was a cop?

"Who is it?" Four asked, starting to grow a little impatient over the whole suspense. It shouldn't really matter if it was a cop or not, but if it was then so be it.

"A detective Prior," Shauna said. "A former Abnegation cop, but quit the force around two years ago."

"W-wait, what?" Zeke stuttered out. He couldn't believe what he was hearing. "You mean to tell us that our witness Tris Prior used to be a cop for the Abnegation Police Force. The same girl called the cops in and got Four here all flustered like a teenage boy."

Four didn't say anything, mostly because he couldn't believe it either. There was no way she would kill anyone, but then again how would he know. Things change in two years, neither one of them was the same people they used to be.

"She told both of us that she didn't know the victim, so would her fingerprint be in the apartment?" Zeke questioned her whereabouts. "It could be possible that her fingerprint was there when she first came and discovered Al's body."

They didn't say anything, just thinking of a possible explanation or a possible motive for a former cop to kill a neighbor.

"It doesn't matter right now if she used to be a former cop or not," Four said determined. "We may not have enough to arrest her for murder, because we don't have a motive or murder weapon. However we do have enough to bring her down her for questioning."

Zeke and Shauna agreed with his notion. He and Zeke stood up from their desk to go and pick her while Shauna informed that she would continue talking with friends and co-workers. When the men headed out to the elevator Zeke looked at Four with concern before he said carefully, "Are you sure you want to do this? I mean I can take Uriah and bring her over. I know that you are interested in her…"

"Look, this case is more important than my personal interest in the witness, possibly suspect in this murder," Four interrupted. Of course the relation between him and Tris was a lot more complicated than cop and witness/suspect, but he was of the sharing kind about his personal life. Zeke is his best friend and he trusted the man like a brother, however there are parts in his life that is just best to remain hidden in the dark. "I can handle it. However maybe you should just bring Uriah along just in case she tries to do something stupid."

Zeke only nodded and pulled out his cellphone to call Uriah, while Four only hoped that Tris would understand and didn't get too pissed.

For the rest of the afternoon things were quiet at the shop, so Tris was sitting in the break room with Bud, talking casually about various subjects. Even though she and Bud didn't really have anything in common with each other, she found it interesting conversing with him.

"One of my customers asked me once to tattoo the timeline of the Bible on his back and by the end of the session I could reside the entire timeline by heart," Bud laughed out loud. Tris laughed along with him and for the first time that day she actually felt relaxed.

"Okay-okay," Tris smiled and put up her hands to keep the laughter down, but she found it hard to do with him. He was like the crazy uncle with his opinions and views and for some might say he was eccentric, but he was soft like a marshmallow. "That can't be the oddest tattoo you have ever made."

"I will tell you about it some day when you are older, kid," Bud grinned like a sneaky cat.

"I'm not a kid," Tris huffed. "I'm twenty-eight years old, so I can hardly say I'm very much as a child unless you count out my height."

Bud only shook his head and gave her a noogie on her head. Tris tried playfully to get out of his grasp, but the attempt was in vain and they fell down on the sofa. It was then Tori came in the break room and had a stiff expression on her face. Tris's face suddenly changed from relaxed to worried and asked what was wrong.

"The police is here," Tori said. "They are here to see you, Tris."

Tris groaned in annoyance and walked out of the break room with Tori and Bud right behind her. Four, Detective Pedrad and another detective was standing there, in the middle of the shop waiting for her. She could understand that they wanted to talk with her further about the case, but didn't they know the invention of a cellphone these days?

"What can I help you with detectives?" Tris said with a snarky tone. Detective Pedrad looked sort of uncomfortable while Four remained as expressionless as ever.

"We need to bring you back to the station for questioning," Four said stoically.

"Why?" Tris asked, not understanding why the police was so interested in her, especially when she told him everything she knew about the murder.

"You are currently suspected for killing Al Price," Four replied and continued staring at her. Tris wasn't sure how to react to this statement, but if they wanted to bring her down then she wasn't going to go down there without a fight.

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Here's the next chapter. So I guess I will be continuing writing this story because most of you requested me to do it, so I hope the rest of you will continue reading this story and actually liking it.

I want to thank you guys for the reviews, favorite and followings and please continue doing so, because it is highly appreciated. Again I have never written a crime/suspense/mystery story, so I don't know if I'm accurate about everything, especially when I'm not an American . However I will try my best and see how it goes.

For those of you who wonders when I update my stories, then I have to disappoint because I don't really have an exact date. I release chapters as soon as I'm done, but it might take some time since I have school and exams to think about. And I have to remind you along with this story I'm writing on my other story, so that I switch back and forth between them in order to keep myself motivated and not get bored writing one story for a long time.

Anyway I like this chapter and I will release the next one as soon as I can, but until then...

xXrebelgirl07Xx