10.
Four, Tris, Zeke and Uriah were sitting in BRIC, a massive computer room where normally the IT techs worked, but thankfully Four had a master degree in computer science so they could continue their work without waiting in line for an available IT tech who had the time to help them out in their cases. Needless to say, he took instant control over the screens and showed the online dating service site on one screen, while on the other showed the computer trace on the IP addresses.
"Our second victim, Raven Ramirez, had been in a lot of contact with different women on this site," Four explained, showing the site activity for the last six months. "And while I'm trying to trace the IP addresses to the women she had established contact with, I discovered that our victim had a specific type of women she was interested in."
"Let me guess," Tris said with attitude. "She likes beautiful women with long blonde hair and brown or blue eyes."
She points at the screen showing the sections of likes and dislikes. Four nodded, while the Pedrad brothers hummed in interest. Although he wasn't sure if those to were thinking about the case or about the beautiful girls on the computer screen, he figured it was best to not comment on it seeing how Tris appeared to be a little annoyed by the whole online dating service thing, especially after seeing Zeke and Uriah's reaction to it. She didn't believe in that sort of thing, and to be honest neither did he, but aside from her personal opinion the online service proved to be a huge headache due to the anonymity the site provided for its users. Which proved to be the issue when it came to tracking down the IP addresses.
"Crap," Four muttered annoyed. He saw the message on the computer how it was not possible to get information about the other users the victim had contact with. "It seems like the dating site has its policy to protect all its users, which means I can't track the IP addresses."
Tris sighed annoyed. Her arms were folded against her chest and were practically glaring at the screen like she was hoping that it would magically change the result to agree with her. Unfortunately the universe wasn't going to change its mind for her sake, so she asked instead, "Okay, we can't get the IP addresses, so how about getting a court order?"
Four shook his head, knowing full well that the court order was useless to obtain the addresses.
"No, the judge would argue that it might not be relevant to the case and unless we can find evidence that can support our theory that our killer might be using the site," Four explained. He leaned back in his chair and grabbed the bridge of his nose for a moment in deep thought before he continued saying, "But we will figure it out, but we might need to look into other leads in the meantime. So I suggest you and Uriah go and check out the flyer that the bartender gave us, while Zeke and I will continue to see if we find any relevant information on the site."
Tris nodded and didn't say anything instead she walked out with Uriah following after her shortly after, leaving him and Zeke alone in the room. His partner turned to look at him with this smirk on his face before he said, "So I guess you have an idea in mind since you chased those two out, care to tell me what you are thinking?"
Four smirked back. He did indeed have an idea in mind, but he was pretty sure Tris would reject to it once she heard about it. However they were limited with evidence along while having an entire pool of subjects, so they needed to work from a different angle in order to shortening their search.
"How about you take a seat and I will explain it to you, you might be able to help me out," Four answered vaguely. Zeke nodded and sat down next to him then the two of them began talking between themselves about this unknown plan.
Apparently this flyer against lesbian relationship and marriages went even further then that. These people were against women and ethnic groups as well, so imagine her and Uriah's surprise when they asked to one of the leaders of this group called the Pure, to come down to the station for an interview and met Mr. Marlowe. Mr. Marlow was a short man, even shorter than herself, with graying blond hair and blue eyes, but was plump and well-dressed in the common blue Erudite suit. At first glance you would assume he was pretty harmless that is until he opened his mouth.
"Thank you for coming in," Tris said politely. "I hope it was no trouble."
She sat down on her chair by the desk while Uriah dragged his chair next to hers, so that he was too involved in the conversation. Big mistake.
"No trouble," Mr. Marlowe stated. "I find it interesting that am being interviewed by a female detective and a black detective regarding the murder of two lesbians."
Both hers and Uriah's brow rose by Mr. Marlowe's statement, unsure if he was being plainly rude or was too stupid to realize what he had just said, but neither of them said anything instead tried to focus back on the flyer.
"So please tell us about this flyer that you were handing out at the bar," Tris said more awkwardly.
"Of course, we are a group of people who is gathering support to remove the rights to same sex-marriages as well as other issues like women and the ethnical people's rights," Mr. Marlowe replied simple. And Tris quickly made the decision that this man was simply both rude and stupid to say stuff like this out loud, even more so in a police station, but she kept her tongue even though she wasn't sure how much longer she was able to keep her temper in check. With the way this man was going either she or Uriah was most likely to punch him in the nose of being insulting regarding their sex and skin color.
"Would you like to see our memberships?" Mr. Marlowe asked. When she and Uriah nodded skeptically, he began retrieving something from his handbag and pulled out thick pile of paper out. Both she and Uriah were surprised to see the large pile and couldn't help wondering how many people were on those lists.
"You have that many members," Tris said taken back. She leaned slightly back, while Uriah looked more like he was ready to explode, which was odd considering him being the easy-going guy.
"We are national," Mr. Marlowe explained, but the explanation didn't reassure Tris one bit. Instead she stared at the pile of paper on her desk and mentally cursed Four for sticking her and Uriah with this job.
"Do you really think it is going to work? I mean it is kind of a stretch," Zeke wondered as he and Four were staring at the computer screen in front of them.
"I know it is a shot in the dark, but if we used the dating site we could arrange a meeting with these women and see if they know something," Four argued calmly. "There is also the possibility that the killer would show up."
"Yeah, I know…but wouldn't Tris be angry once she finds out what you are doing?" Zeke asked carefully. Four shrugged his shoulders lightly like he didn't seem at least concerned what she would do once she find out her involvement in the plan. In their line of work they had to step out of their comfort zones once in a while, and right now Tris was going to step way out of her zone and deal with something she had never done before, but he believed she could do it and stay focused on the case instead of worry about the personal issues involved.
Zeke was about to continued the discussion when Uriah walked in with a tired and more or less an exasperated look on his face.
"Next time both Tris and I decide if we want to interview someone," Uriah exclaimed before he sat down on one of the empty chairs with a huff and crossed his arms against his chest.
"What happened?" Zeke said sort of surprised, his brother had never shown this kind of attitude after interviewing someone, not even bad guys whom have threatened to kill him on more than one occasion.
"We interviewed the guy who had made the flyer and guess what, the hatred towards lesbians proceeded to women and people with ethnic backgrounds as well," Uriah said sourly, glaring at both him and Zeke. "And the guy was plainly rude about Tris's gender and my skin color and there was one point where we just wanted to punch him senselessly."
Both he and Zeke turned to look at each other with a blank face before he asked more serious yet carefully, "You two didn't punch him, right?"
"No," Uriah huffed. "But that didn't mean that we didn't want to. The guy was lucky he was at a police station because otherwise I wouldn't be too sure how we would have handled it."
Four sighed reassured. He was more than aware about Tris's temper once it was ignited, but he was glad that she managed to compose herself to do her job despite the unfortunate encounter.
"Where is Tris anyway?" Four asked instead, hoping to direct the course of the conversation somewhere else. Luckily it seemed to have worked since Uriah calmed down and answered, "Christina called her down to the morgue, and she said something about that she managed to obtain some physical evidence that might be helpful to the case. So what have you two been up to?"
Four turned the computer screen in his direction in order for him to see clearly what they had been working on. And Uriah's eyes widen by the look of their work, but his eyes glimmered of amusement and concern.
"This is awesome," Uriah stated astonished, with a great hint of amusement in his voice. "But you do know that Tris is going to kill you for this, right? Because there is no way she would have voluntarily gone along with this."
Four didn't say anything, but he didn't have to since he was aware that Tris was going to most likely to kill him, in a literally sense, but needless to say she was definitely not going to be happy with him. Hopefully she wouldn't be so angry that she would push him away again, not now that they were starting to get on the right track in their relationship.
Tris walked into the morgue with a tired demeanor. The day had been long and tiresome on several issues and all she wanted to do was to go home and take a long relaxing bath and go to sleep, but unfortunately she still had some work to do and she also had to meet up with Four and have their talk. Neither of those things was appealing to her, but she needed to do this no matter how tired and exhausted she was she owed it to Four to restore their relationship. So she had made a plan in her mind to get the news from Christina, informed the others about the development and then go home. Sounded simple enough as she walked up next to Christina who was sitting by her computer, reviewing the autopsy report when she turned to look at her with sweet smile.
"Good, you got my message," Christina said with a grin. Tris nodded wearily, as she just wanted to get the information and then get out of there as quickly as possible. "I found out what the fiber we found at the second victim was."
Tris waited for her to continue her discovery, but quickly got impatient as Christina just continued grin stupidly like she half-expected her to guess what the fiber was.
Tris sighed annoyed as she said with lighter yet sarcastic tone, "I'm thinking about starting an organization named SAW."
"That's a hostile acronym for an organization," Christina pointed out. "What does it mean?"
"Stuck At Work!" Tris exclaimed. "And I'm going to continued to be stuck at work if you don't get your ass on the move and tell me about this fiber."
"Right, what has got you all worked up?" Christina said wary, obviously been caught off guard with her temper outburst. "Did something happen?"
"No, I'm just tired I guess," Tris said apologetic. "This case is exhausting really, and I just interviewed a guy who is part of an organization that discriminate not only lesbians, but women and people with different skin color as well. And during the entire time I wanted to punch him, but had to force myself not to or else Four would have my hide and Lieutenant Coulter would have my ass."
"Urgh, I can't stand Lieutenant Coulter," Christina exclaimed. "That bastard is seriously deranged and clearly not thinking straight at all."
"Why? Did something happen?" Tris asked, curious as to why her best friend disliked her boss that strongly. Exhaustion flew right out the window over hearing that Christina, who was very much a likeable person, but it was strange to see her detest someone with a strong passion.
"Once before he became lieutenant, we worked a case together," Christina began explaining hotly. "We were sent in the middle of the mountains and as we passed a waterfall I slipped and was dangling from a great height that would with no doubt kill me or drown me due to the current from the waterfall. I was barely holding on to the edge and was begging for him to help me up, but that damn bastard wouldn't let me until I had been holding on for five minutes. Those minutes was the longest in my entire life and I was thankful when Uriah dragged up once the time limit had passed."
"Why in the world would he do that?" Tris wondered. Her arms were folded against her chest and were in deep thought.
"He told me that he was testing me," Christina said sourly. "He wanted to see how brave I was."
Tris stared at her shocked. Putting someone else's life in danger just to test their bravery? That's not about being brave, it's about to push to the limits and nearly kill them in the process.
"Anyways, what was it you were so tired about?" Christina asked, trying to change the subject of the conversation, something Tris was more than happy to do since she didn't want to think about what else her boss had done in order to test them.
"I have been dealing with two cases, both which involve my brother and my boss/ex-partner/possibly boyfriend again, and I still haven't really worked neither of those two things out yet," Tris said wearily. "Our murders have a lot of suspects, but almost none physical evidence. And I have just finished interviewing a guy who is not only against lesbians, but also women in general and people with different colored skin."
"Wow, sounds tough," Christina nodded in an understanding manner. "I wonder why those kind of things never happen down here at the morgue?"
"Probably because it smells like dead bodies down here," Tris said flatly, rolling her eyes. "Besides one I'm off work I need to face Four and work out our relationship."
"Ah, then I shall give you my news," Christina said with a grin. "And afterwards before you leave you will tell me all about you and Four."
"We will see about the last part," Tris answered. "Now tell me what you have found."
"Okay, do you remember the fiber we found at the second victim?" Christina asked as she stood up from her chair and searched through different folders to find the information about that piece of evidence. Tris nodded quietly, waiting impatiently for her to continue her explanation. "Well, based on the analysis the fiber is made out of deer skin, giving more of a rubber appearance and texture. And with that information along injuries on the vaginal area is consistent with a non-biological, phallus shaped object."
Tris's eyebrow rose slightly over the description, there wasn't many things that was made with the precision that Christina described. The only thing she could think of was something she had never once used or seen, but had heard about it.
"You mean a dildo?" Tris said carefully, but with a sarcastic tone to it.
"Yes, I believe that is the popular term for it," Christina replied awkwardly, neither of them were quite comfortable talking about sex and sex toys, more for Tris than Christina, but anyways it might explain a few loose ends.
"That explains why we didn't find any semen," Tris stated, realizing what this evidence truly meant. "The killer used it roughly before he raped and killed her, which means that our killer could be a man or a woman. Well, that doesn't exactly limit the suspect list any further, although it probably gets rid of Mr. Marlowe and his organization because I can't honestly picture them as the killer if they used a sex toy in the process of raping and killing lesbians."
Christina didn't say anything, only confirming that the dildo had been used prior to the murder and it was possible that the bruising on the vaginal area on both victims were due to this instrument, however it would only had been a guess on her side.
"Thanks a lot, Christina," Tris smiled gently to her. "Hopefully this might help us with the case, but now I have to go and inform the others before going home. So see you tomorrow?"
Christina replied that they would see each other in the morning and they both said quick goodbyes and Tris left the morgue and took the elevator up to the office again.
Shortly after Tris came back from the morgue, relaying the recent information Christina had found out for them, the four of them decided it was late and they would continue working in the morning. And just as Tris was about to take the elevator, Four offered to drive her to his place. He had not forgotten the agreement from earlier and he wasn't going to delay the issue any further and from the looks of it neither had Tris, since she accepted and the left the station and headed over to his apartment. During the entire car trip to his place, the tension between them was weird and awkward. It was strange considering they had been fine back at the station and when they had the confrontation/make-out session, but when he thought about the awkward was due to the nervousness because they had a lot to talk about and no matter how prepared they thought they were there were still this part of them that was nervous over how the other one would react. But like Four had told her many times before, be brave and face your fears rather than get afraid and run away from them. He knew that both he and Tris had every intention of facing their fears and move on with their lives.
So once they entered his apartment, they sat down on the couch and neither of them was sure who should start the conversation first, but after a while Tris had grown tired of the silence so she took the leap first.
"When my parents died, Caleb and I didn't have any living relatives who could have taken us in, so we had to fend for our own, but needless to say we grew up to have a even closer sibling relationship after that incident," Tris explained. "But we were angry and mortified that the police couldn't find that bastard who had killed my parents, couldn't give us the closure to move on with our lives. Both of us had different ways of dealing with the loss and restlessness, for Caleb, it was to bury himself into his books and figure out the truth through forensic evidence, while for me it was to solve the mystery behind the murder and put the killer behind bars by joining."
"I can understand that because of how things ended with the original investigation that your brother would be wary of the police, but when I met him he expressed a great disgust towards cops. So my question is what happened and why?" Four asked. He tilted his head slightly to express curiosity and waited for her explanation.
"Caleb have never liked the police and after my parents were killed his dislike only grew and turned into anger and disgust," Tris said simply. "And when I joined the force he and I got in a huge fight about it and he greatly disapproved me being a cop, however he learned to deal with it for a while and we were good. When he learned that I was dating you he disapproved and dislike turned into disgust."
"Okay, so he hated me even though he never met me," Four said sarcastically. "And I guess when we broke up he was jumping up and down in joy."
Tris nodded wearily and said, "He never showed it, but he was pleased when he heard I was no longer with you and had quit the force. He never really knew why I did it, but he was happy. And for a year I lived with him at his place, while trying to figure out what I was going to do with my life since I no longer was a cop. That's was when we started arguing. He wanted me to go to college, get a degree and find a more proper and safe occupation, but I wasn't interested in going to college and besides I couldn't exactly afford it since I didn't make a big income at the time. Anyways we fought back and forth for weeks, but when he began criticize you and my job back at the force that was the last straw for me. So I left and cut my contact with him after that and I had not see or heard from him until I found out his possible involvement in the case."
Her demeanor had changed and she looked heartbroken just thinking about everything that had happened. And although this all had happened after they had broken up and cut contact with each other, he felt guilty that he had not been there for her during this period. She didn't deserve all this pain and hurt she had to go through. He placed a reassuring hand on her shoulder, hoping to at least comfort her because words wouldn't help her. She didn't say anything only placed her own hand over his and gave him a small smile. He smiled back at her before he realized there was another thing he wondered about and Tris had not explained to him.
"You didn't tell Caleb about who I was back then and never introduced us, probably for his sake than for mine, but why didn't you tell me you had a brother?" His voice was strained and convened hurt. "Why did you feel that you had to withhold that information from me? Didn't you trust me?"
Tris looked honestly shocked over his question and at first didn't seem to know how she was suppose to respond to that, but she quickly got her act together and said slightly annoyed, "No, it didn't have anything to with my trust in you. You were my best friend and partner, who always had my back as you had mine, but the relationship thing with Caleb at that time was complicated and I didn't want him to influence our relationship, so I kept him out of the conversation. Besides I never said I didn't have a brother when we first became friends and started dating."
Four nodded, but her reply didn't exactly warm his heart. However he wasn't going to question her motives because it was all in the past and you can't change the past no matter how much you want to.
They continued talking for a while about the time they spent apart and how things lead up to their reunion. Some parts of the conversation were difficult and hard to process, but needless to say they got through it and simply accepted the things they didn't have any control over. And even though they couldn't talk and solve all of their issues in one night, they had resolved some at least and that was a start.
"Will you tell me what you and Zeke were working on today when Uriah and I left to interview Mr. Marlowe?" Tris asked, wanting to change the topic of the conversation from the heavy and heartfelt tension. Four couldn't help but smirk over his idea and he pulled out his personal computer and entered the online dating site to show her what exactly he had done. And what she was definitely not what she was expecting.
"What is this?" Tris asked exasperated. "Did you guys put my picture up on a gay dating website?"
The computer screen showed a picture of her, some bull crap about her personal interests as well as likes and dislikes and personal messages. The person the guys had made-up was the exact opposite of her in every way including her sexual orientation.
"I figured since we can't get a warrant that we might use the old fashioned way and approach these women directly," Four explained with a proud smirk on his face. "And it worked like a charm too, look at this."
He pointed out the many messages her profile had been receiving from several women. Some of the women showed personal interest in seeing her and some told personal interests in what they were looking for in the women of the dreams. The whole thing made her feel very uncomfortable and she seriously didn't like the idea of them stringing along all of this women for nothing.
"What is the point with all of this?" Tris exclaimed. She was furious with Four and the guys for making this and she wasn't who she was going to kill (in a literal sense) first, Four for coming up with this or the Pedrad brothers for going along with this insane idea. "What can we accomplish by getting in contact with these ladies?"
"My plan is that we use this profile to arrange a meeting with all the women Raven Ramirez had contact with, hoping that they can shed some light on the case," Four explained. "There is also the possibility to get in contact with our killer if we are lucky."
"Yeah, good plan, but why are they going to want to talk to me?" Tris said flatly. "I don't even resemble Raven Ramirez, how are you going to get them to meet me?"
"I have already figured that out," Four said, not loosing his cool and calm demeanor an inch. "You are going to arrange a private gathering at the bar, the bartender will corporate with the undercover, and while their talk with each other the women and see if they know something or seem suspicious any way."
"But that doesn't mean they all will show up," Tris argued, hoping seriously that they weren't going to go through with this insane plan.
"That will show us likely suspects at least and then we will track them down another way, but needless to say this is our best option to find it out," Four argued back, leaving no room for her to continue arguing about the matter since he had already made up his mind.
"Fine, I'll go along with this," Tris said reluctantly. "But you guys can't be in there as you know for obvious reasons, so I will need someone in there with me to back me up in case."
Four nodded and agreed with her reasoning, but he explained to her that there weren't any female officers or detectives who were available or had enough training to do undercover and help gather evidence and they didn't have the time to train an officer for that kind of work at the moment. However Tris knew someone who was both available and experienced as well someone she trusted enough to have her back if she needed it.
"How about Christina come along with me?" Tris asked. Four didn't seem to keen on the idea to leave her with only the medical examiner in there, but before he had the chance to argue she glared at him with eyes that looked like she was ready to kill.
"Let me get one thing straight, I'm going along with this plan of yours not because I want to, but because it might work," Her voice was strong and exasperated, and displayed that she wasn't going to let herself be pushed around by him or anyone else. "Either Christina comes along with me or the plan is off, got that?"
Four nodded and was slightly taken back by her temper. She could hear him mumble something along that she was scary when she was angry, but she didn't give a damn about it. She didn't like this plan at all and made her extremely uncomfortable by the thought that she might have to pretend to be lesbian and string along other women for the sake of the case brought her shivers. However she was going to do her job and be professional about it, because she was going to prove once and for all she could do this job, no matter what Four, Lieutenant Coulter or anyone else were throwing at her.
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Thanks for the amazing response and support I have been receiving. First thing I want to point out is about my updates. For the last couple of reviews I have been receiving you all mention I should update quickly, but one of you stood out from the crowd. A guest thought that since I didn't update fast enough I should just delete this story for the sake of it, and though the guest didn't mean to be rude, I take some offense my her comment.
Understand that this story takes time to write, since I have to go over it and remember what I have previously written as well write every long for each chapter. Add that with me being busy with other stories, work and my personal life and then you get little time to spare. I'm going to continue writing this, no matter what anyone says, but I'm doing it when I can and as fast as I can. I can only ask for you understanding and patience as well as your strong support.
Anyways continue giving me reviews, favorite and/or followings, and the next chapter will be out as soon as its done.
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