11.
"What do you think about this?" Christina asked with a pleased grin on her face. She held a black leather dress that would barely cover her butt. "It is sexy and will definitely catch everyone's attention. No man can not resist you while wearing this."
Tris raised her eyebrow in a questioning manner. Not only was it her Abnegation upbringing against the dress, but it was also the fact that the dress looked like something a prostitute would wear. Not exactly what she needed when she was going to a lesbian bar to find a killer.
"What?" Christina said sort of confused. "It's nice."
"Yeah-yeah, sure," Tris stated with mock. "And just let me ask you this, how am I supposed to hide a camera and wire in that dress?"
Christina took another look on the dress, while trying to figure out possible ways to wear cameras and wires undetected in that outfit. However Tris continued her mocking with a huge grin that you would almost mistake her for being Cheshire Cat from Alice in Wonderland and said, "I know. I can hide it in my thong."
Christina only rolled her eyes, huffed insulted by her comment before she laid the dress back on the bed next to where Tris was sitting. They had spent the last two hours in Tris's apartment; discussing what she was going to wear for the undercover gig. Christina had suggested one inappropriate dress to the next, and each time she rejected them with passion.
"You know you are hopeless if you don't even try to act the part," Christina put her hands on her hips, staring her down in order to make her feel guilty about rejecting her suggestions. "You can't go down there looking like…you."
"Thanks for that insult," Tris said with a hint of annoyance. "Look, I get that you are trying to help, but honestly is it necessary for me to wear these slutty dresses when I'm going undercover as a lesbian woman who apparently uses an online dating service to get dates?"
"Appearance is everything," Christina argued. She turned around once again to look through her closet. "You need to look the part in order to play the part. Besides haven't you done these undercover jobs before?"
Tris nodded solemnly as she thought back on the few undercover jobs she had done while working in Abnegation PD, which was as you would expect from that department not many jobs. Although the few times she had done it things normally went without a hitch, the times she had done so it normally went outside her comfort zone and made her feel like a fool in the worst scenario. That is probably why Four had put her up for this, both to give her more experience, but also to get the chance to make fun of her by asking her to do stuff she herself would never have done otherwise.
"Yeah, I have done undercover jobs back in Abnegation," Tris explained. "However none of those jobs required me to act like I prefer women over men in a romantic setting while at the same time look like I'm after a booty call."
"Just because you don't feel comfortable in your new role, doesn't mean you can't look fabulous at the same time," Christina answered lightly. She pulled out a black leather shirt that went above the knees and a cream-colored loose shirt. "How about this then? It is chic and still something you would feel comfortable wearing, and besides you are going to a place were men aren't invited in."
Tris thought about it for a moment before she nodded, agreeing about the outfit, which brought a smile on Christina's face after finally finding something that they both agreed on. Then Christina placed the outfit on the available chair next to the closet and then sat down on the bed next to her before she leaned back and lay down on the bed. Tris followed suit and the two friends were lying next to each other on the bed, staring up at the ceiling.
"So how are things going with you and Four?" Christina asked nonchalantly. Her eyes were closed briefly to look down on her nails before moving her gaze on her. "You mentioned you talked before you got pissed about the undercover job."
"Yeah, well I'm not sure where our relationship stands at the moment," Tris answered unsure. She ran a tired hand through her long blond locks despite knowing that doing so would mess up her appearance more than before. "I mean we both have these strong feelings for each other and want to try once again to rekindle our relationship, but we both still have a lot of baggage on our shoulders and neither one of us are very good in letting the other person in and help."
Christina nodded understandingly and didn't say anything at first, which she was thankful that she did since she wasn't ready to hear reassurance or advice about the matter. It was nice to finally have someone to talk to about personal problems and get support while dealing with it. It was something that she never had when she grew up in Abnegation, where the kids she hung out with was not someone she would share secrets and that sort of things with. Which is why she was grateful to have Christina in her life, a woman who was sweet and honest to a fault, but accepted even the most terrible things about her including the secret about the death of her parents.
"I know that it is not the same thing, but Will and I also had a rough time when he first began doing undercover jobs for the drug unit," Christina admitted sincerely. Tris turned to look at her with a surprised expression on her face. Will and Christina were her closest friends, both madly in love with each other, so she found it hard to believe that those two ever had a hard time in their relationship. But Christina only nodded after seeing her surprised face and continued saying, "It was hard to for both of us when we couldn't be around and contact each other due to maintaining Will's cover. He would be under for months, which put the relationship in a strain. Some times I would want to just give it up and walk away from him, since the pain of not being with him were too much."
"So why didn't you?" Tris asked, wondering why she would stay if it hurt her so much. Although she confessed to Four that she wanted to move on and be happy again, there were still a part of her that remained wary if she should really start up her relationship with him. She was still in love with him, yes, but after everything that happened the last time was she ready to go through it again if her parents' murder case were to be brought up again?
"Despite all the pain with us being separated and unable to talk to one another I loved him," Christina answered. "And I loved him too much to let him go, so I stood by him. Look at us now, we both are happy and in love and all because we loved and worked for our relationship. Anyway, what I'm trying to tell you Tris is that even though there will be times when it gets hard and painful and you just want to give up, but in the end it is worth all the pain to be with the one you truly love."
Tris smiled by her response, realizing that Christina was right and that she shouldn't let her worry and fear stop her from pursuing the wonderful relationship with Four. There was no other man in the entire world she could love more than him, so she should definitely not give up on him due to insecurity and fear. She was better than that and Four had taught her to be brave. And now she was going to prove to herself how brave she really was.
"So do you remember how things are going down tonight?" Tris asked, changing the subject back to the case. She and Four had been discussing how things were going to go down back at the bar. She and Christina, being the only women involved on the case and had the most experience, were assigned different jobs to do while they were inside. She was going to do the talking with the suspects, while Christina was going to work as a waitress and retrieve the drinking glasses in order to gather DNA evidence to when they found the murder weapon or found any other leads to capture the killer. The guys were going to do surveillance and learn what was going on inside with the camera and wire she was going to have on her. That way she also had a security in case something were to happen and they could come and back her up should the situation spin out of control.
"Yeah, I remember what to do," Christina replied. "Let's just hope that the killer shows up."
That was her thoughts exactly because if the killer didn't show it might take even longer to figure out who and why these two women were raped and killed.
Four, Zeke and Uriah was sitting in BRIC, watching and listening to what was happening inside the bar with Tris and Christina. The brief meeting before the girls left had been quick and filled with reassurance about how dangerous it could be and that they would be there should they need it, but also warned that they were not to take any unnecessary risks and not try any heroics. Both girls only rolled their eyes, murmuring something about 'men being big babies' before they went to change clothes and come back with their new roles. It was needless to say; Four was aroused by the sight of Tris's legs underneath the leather shirt and felt sort of possessive about allowing her to go to a bar filled with women and men like Mr. Lewis, who would be working to serve the ladies for the night. However he managed to maintain a collected facial expression and tried to focus on the case and not on Tris's skinny, yet well-muscled and sexy legs that he wanted to have around his waist at that moment.
Thankfully, his thoughts were halted as he focused on the screen in front of him that was showing what was going on at the bar. People were starting to show up and the Pedrad brothers began making notes and compare it to the women on the dating site. Although they couldn't trace the IP addresses, many of the women used their real photo of themselves, which made their job slightly easier to find and eliminate suspects.
"Are you ready, Tris?" Four asked into the microphone. She had an earpiece that made it possible for her to hear what they were saying as well make it possible for them to communicate with her. "The women are arriving now. Stay sharp and alert."
"I know that, Four," Tris replied grumpily. "This is not my first time undercover, alright? Remember our first undercover together, that was fun."
Four remembered that undercover operation very well and not in a good way either. Their job had been to gather evidence and information about a surgeon, who was suspected for being the serial killer of at least five women. The man had used his scalpel to cut up the victims and sent body parts back to their dearly beloved boyfriend/husband. Unfortunately things didn't go the way as planned and Tris had been taken by the killer and was just moments from being cut into tiny little pieces when he and the rest of the squad found her. Tris managed to get out with her whole body and mind in tact, but it still gave him sometimes nightmares remembering how he found her that day. And with her mentioning that operation didn't help the matter either.
"Humor me, and just be careful and alert," Four said instead, not wanting to get into their first undercover job.
"All right," Tris said lightly before she stopped talking and sat down at an empty chair with her own table. Four turned to look at the other screen that showed Christina preparing her serving plate with drinks while putting on a sweet and cheerful demeanor. At least one of them was ready to jump in and talk with these women.
"Christina, are you ready?" Four asked to reassure if she was ready as well, since he didn't want to give Tris the idea that her cover wasn't good enough and that he worried more about her than of Christina. Despite the different roles the two girls had, Tris's job was more dangerous than Christina's seeing as Tris had to be in more direct contact with the women, who could be a rapist-murderer. Christina confirmed quickly before she stepped behind the counter to make sure her evidence bags were stocked and prepared for her to use to gather the empty glasses from the suspects. His attention reverted back to Tris, but it was interrupted when he felt Zeke's grin behind his neck. He tried to ignore it, after all he was pretty used Zeke being nosy and bothersome, but he was already in a grumpy mood due to his concern about Tris's safety during the undercover job so he relented and turned around to listen to whatever Zeke had on his chest.
"It is so sweet," Zeke said with a mocking tone. "Our little Four has finally grown up and become so over-protective and concerned about his girl, but you should know Four that women hates to be treated like children."
Four only rolled his eyes by his best friend and partner's comment. He wasn't going to lie about his concern about Tris, after all he loved her and wouldn't want her to get hurt especially when he wasn't around to help her, but he didn't see or treat her like she was a child. So why would Zeke suggest that he did?
Apparently the question was written on his face, since Zeke only chuckled and shook his head over his oblivious mind. He glared at him and his grumpiness went to the worse, which made him a lot more intimidating, making Zeke squirm back a little and said, "Not to insult you, Four, but the way that you are hovering over her is sort of an annoyance to her. It was your idea to put her there, but now that she is undercover you treat her like she is a child that need to be protected."
Four was about to interrupt and reject his reasoning, but Zeke didn't let him and continued his explanation.
"I know that you are trying to have her, which you do, but you need to trust her and allow her to take the control over the situation. She is a smart girl and can handle it, besides she has Christina in there so she isn't alone in there. Anyways what could go wrong in there?"
Four didn't answer, but he realized that he was right. Tris was more than capable to handle things and was an excellent cop, so he shouldn't worry about her abilities as a cop. The problem lied with him as he was the one who couldn't separate Tris from being the girl he loved and a cop, seeing as he would worry about her safety whether she was a cop at the moment or not. Which is why he decided to give her the distance she needed, not hovering over her like a helicopter, and back her up like he was supposed to do as a fellow cop and partner.
She was fidgeting with her hands as she sat there opposite to the women in front of her. It was one of the possible suspects, which meant she needed to talk and question with each one of these women. Sound simple enough, right? Not really, don't get her wrong she was good at interrogating suspects, but what she had not accounted on was that the suspects flirted and made her feel even more awkward than what she had anticipated.
"After spending months trying to hide it, I finally gathered up my courage to tell my parents. So I called them and told them I was gay before I hung up," the woman said enthusiastic and held her hands up in an excited manner. Tris had her gaze focused on the table, while she tried to act unfazed about the women's story and reassuring, however she knew she was most likely failing since her uncomfortable and awkward demeanor.
"So do did you do it?" the woman asked, giving her a happy smile. Unfortunately it didn't warm or make her any happier. And she had to be honest even if she was an excellent liar there was no way she could come up with a convincing story about how she revealed her sexual orientation to her parents.
"Um…" Tris tried to think of an answer, when she was luckily saved by Christina's appearance as her best friend leaned over and asked, "Do you want more to drink?"
Her cleavage was very apparent in the outfit that she was wearing, even showing off the tattoo on her upper arm and Tris wasn't sure if she was more uncomfortable about the conversation with the potential suspect or the fact that she had stared at Christina's chest for a moment.
"No, I think we are good…I mean it was nice meeting you," Tris said as politely and comfortable as she could, ending a further conversation. Thankfully she took the hint and left the table and Christina took the women's empty glass to preserve the DNA evidence before she left to her spot behind the bar to bag the glass, leaving Tris once again alone although she was certain she wasn't going to be for long. Four and the guys had been talking aimlessly through her earpiece, with Four reprimanding her not so convincible cover and the other pointing and mocking her dates, but she was glad that Four wasn't hovering over her and bothering her too much. She was used to him being the instructor, giving her tips on how to improve her job, so him reprimanding her faults weren't something new or insulting to her. So she allowed him to say his comments, although it wasn't like she could really talk either if she did have something to say about his comments.
The next woman sat down on her table, introducing herself and gave the usual pleasantries, however what made her different from the other women was that this one wasn't enthusiastic and bubbly, but more bold and flirtatious in the way she talked to her.
"You are just my type," the woman said boldly. Then she placed her hand over hers and caressed it. Tris wanted nothing more to pull her hand back and walk away, but she remained seated and gave the woman an awkward smile.
"Okay," Tris only replied, not sure what she was supposed to say when someone was coming to her so strongly. Four had not been bold and open about his advances back in the day, which she was actually thankful for since if he had then she wouldn't be so sure if she had fallen for him at all.
"You are going to break my heart," the woman leaned forward in order to reach her lips, meanwhile Tris pulled her hands out of the woman's grasp and leaned back.
"I'm sorry, but no," Tris said uncomfortable, but strongly. She wasn't going to let herself be kissed by this woman, who was freaking her more out than the others. Christina interrupted once more, gathered the evidence and made the woman leave.
Tris leaned back in her seat, breathing out a relieved breath and raised her arms up in the air to stretch them.
"Next time we have to do undercover ups like this, send someone else next time," Tris murmured to her earpiece. "This is literally killing me, not to mention making me feel awkward and uptight the whole evening."
"I promise next time that you wouldn't have to act that you are gay," Four promised through her earpiece. "Besides I'm planning on be standing next to you next time, not watching and listening through a camera and wire."
His words made her cheeks become suddenly intensely warm and her hands fell immediately to cover her blushing like a teenager. Even though he wasn't a smooth talker he certainly knew how to make her fall for him all over again and make her hot and bothered at the same time.
"If you say so," Tris smiled to herself, although in her mind she was really smiling to Four. Then she prepared herself for the next one to talk to her, hoping that this one had at least some useful information about the murder, but from the looks of how things were going right now she had a very long night ahead of her.
She took a sip of her drink, trying to cool herself down to her next unfortunate suitor. Other than being checked out by lesbians and getting weird looks from the bartender the undercover op was going down the toilet. Everyone she talked to didn't have any useful information about the victim or the murders, and no one appeared to be a suspect either since no one knew about the victim being involved with many women and her gut told her that they all were innocent.
"Maybe we should take our leave?" Uriah suggested through her earpiece. "We have questioned everyone the victim had contact with on the site, all of them were clean, so maybe we were wrong?"
The guys talked between themselves discussing if they should continue the operation or not, meanwhile she only sighed tiredly and hoped that she could leave since she was tired to be around these people and didn't want to stay any longer than necessary. However it was just her luck that another woman sat down on table, but there seemed to be something different about this one since she didn't introduce herself or flirt with her.
"Hello," Tris said politely. "I'm Tris."
The woman smiled for a moment before her expression changed into a more determined and curious expression. Tris took a closer look at her appearance; the woman was beautiful with short red hair and green eyes. And she seemed to be around the same age as the victims, but there was definitely something else that brought her to her table. She waited for the woman to act, but she didn't only observed like a monkey in the zoo.
"Is there something I can do for you?" Tris asked, already tired for all the events from earlier and wasn't really in the mood to be patient anymore.
"Are you here to investigate Geena's murder?" the woman said straightforwardly. Tris was taken back by her question. Although she had not done a magnificent job playing gay she had not given anyone clues that she was a cop. So how did this woman know?
Tris nodded carefully and told her she wanted her name before they could talk more about the case, because it became clear the reason why she had approached her. This was someone who knew one of the victims and could possibly answer some questions regarding their death. The woman told her that her name was Elaine Ryan and was a friend of the first victim, Geena Morris.
"We spoke to her close friends, and according to my colleagues you weren't there, care to explain that to me?" Tris said with her arms folded against her chest.
"It must not come as surprise when I tell you that I was one of her lesbian friends, someone she kept secret because she had only recently discovered her liking for women and hadn't told anyone about it," Elaine said dejected. "She was afraid about her parents and friends reactions about the whole thing. So I helped her out and made her more comfortable with the idea before she settled down and tried going on dates."
"And that's when she met the second victim Raven, right?" Tris pointed out. Elaine nodded sadly before she continued her explanation. "Yes, they met and began their relationship, although they kept it under the wraps."
Tris listened and the first thing that struck her was that Elaine didn't seem very close with Raven or showed to like her very much, which she asked the redhead about and got the expected response from her. Her face frowned by the mere mention of Raven and looked seriously displeased.
"I didn't like Raven before and I didn't like her when she was killed," Elaine replied sourly. "Geena knew she was not being faithful to her, but she didn't care and allowed her to do because she loved her to much to give her up, which I disapproved of. However it wasn't my decision, so I kept quiet."
Tris and the others had assumed that Geena had not been aware about the cheating, but if that was the case then the whole case scenario changed. In other words there was something else that caused these two women to be raped and killed, but what other motive was there if it wasn't jealousy for Raven's affections and Geena was simply being in the way?
She thought about it carefully, the motive wasn't clear at all. These murders were made up of two different crimes. Rape was about control and taking control over the victim, while murder was something more personal. So why would the killer do the murders this way?
"You said that Geena only recently began dating women, did she have a boyfriend before?" Tris asked on hunch. Something was bothering her about the murders; seeing as they thought the objective of the crime were Raven, but what if it was really Geena who was the main target?
"Yes, but I never met him or learned of his name," Elaine answered, slightly taken back by her question. "And I don't think her other friends know about him either. Geena was kind of secretive about him and really didn't talk about him much, so I assumed after she figured out she was gay that they broke up without much trouble."
Tris nodded, thinking it might be worth looking into this mysterious boyfriend, and thanked Elaine for her information. However before she allowed the redhead to leave she asked what her alibi on the night of the rape/murders, only to cover her basis and cross Elaine off as suspect.
"I was working the nightshift, my co-workers can verify my whereabouts," Elaine said before she walked away and left the bar. Tris talked with Four and the others about what they had recently learned and how they were going to precede from there. Four ordered her and Christina back to the station, which Tris didn't disagree on, and the girls left with the huge plastic bag that contained all the bagged evidence.
However the moment they went outside that door she ran into someone and fell down on the ground. Christina immediately came down to her side to make sure she was okay, which she was and reassured her with smile before she looked up to see who she had run into. And the sight that met her was shocking and unexpected to say it mildly, because the man in front of her was in fact her older brother Caleb. The same brother she has not seen or heard from in a year before this case happened, the brother who is also a potential suspect in the case. And by the looks of it he was just as shocked to see her as she was, especially considering where she stepped out.
"Beatrice?" Caleb said shocked. His eyes were wide and surprised as his gaze analyzed every inch of her to confirm it was really her. "Is that you?"
Crap, she thought to herself. She wasn't ready to deal with him and she was certainly not ready explain to him why in the world she was leaving a lesbian bar together with another woman. Sure, it was Christina, but he wouldn't know that she was her best friend and not a hook-up.
"Caleb," Tris said. Christina, who had been looking at her, turned her gaze between her and her brother, trying to find any similarities, and was surprised to meet her estranged brother at the worst time and place.
"Caleb as in your older brother Caleb?" Christina asked. Tris nodded and confirmed her question without her gaze leaving his. What the hell was he doing in Dauntless or more importantly why in the world was he about to enter the bar?
"What are you doing here?" Tris said to Caleb. "Last time I checked you weren't a woman and certainly not gay, so why are you here?"
Her voice was sour and frustrated, but she didn't care and apparently neither did he since he replied the same way.
"I was doing my own investigating for the recent double rape/murder case. What is your excuse?"
He was frustrating, probably even more now than before. Didn't he know that interfering with police business was against the law? And he was supposed to be the smart one, his words not hers.
"I'm here working that case," Tris hissed. "And thank you for confessing that you are working on the case on your own, because that means I'm allowed to bring you down here for questioning and if you refuse then I will simply arrest you for interfering with the case. Let's go."
She grabbed him by the arm and began dragging him back to Christina's car and the three of them drove back to the station in awkward silence. And during the entire car drive back she wondered who was going to be more pissed and frustrated about Caleb's sudden appearance in situation, her or Four? However something told her it was probably going to be Four and not her, since her possibly boyfriend and her brother hated each others guts. Things were going to become a lot more troublesome than what it was worth.
.
.
.
Thanks again for the amazing response I have been receiving, and I hope you will like this chapter because honestly I don't think it is one of my best. But will let you guys be the judge of that. And I'm sorry that there wasn't much Four's POV (point of view) in this chapter, but I promise there will be in the next one. And I'm hoping to close this arc soon and move on to Tris's parents murder, but I can't promise when that will happen. So please don't give up on me yet for those of you who are patiently waiting.
One of my guest reviewers asked me to update this story before the 10th and being the stupid person that I am I did it despite having a lot of things to do. And I'm glad I managed to do that, because it warmed my heart to see how you guys cared and wanted more.
Anyway continue giving me reviews, favorite and/or followings, and the next chapter will be out as soon as its done.
xXrebelgirl07Xx