12.
The sight that met him when Tris and Christina came back to the station wasn't a pleasant one. He had hoped once they had sorted out the day's happenings they could leave the station and early and he could spend some time with Tris, but that plan went down the drain when he saw Tris's older brother Caleb in handcuffs. He wasn't sure whom he was more pissed at, Tris or her older brother Caleb for being stupid enough to get caught and confess to interfering with a police investigation. The latter was a lot easier to deal with, seeing as he detested the guy with great passion, but when Caleb was placed inside the interrogation room he was no longer staying quiet as he and Tris stood out in the hallway discussing how to proceed.
"You are not going in there," Four said with authority in his voice, the same way that told everyone that the matter wasn't up for discussion, but Tris was the only one who weren't willing to do so when she began arguing with him.
"The hell I am," Tris glared and her hands were on her hips. "There is no way he going to talk to you now, especially after he has seen me and knows I'm a cop."
"If you go in there you might be compromise the case," He tried to reason with her, he really did, but Tris was stubborn as a mule when she set her mind to it and wouldn't budge.
"I have tried to do it the right way the first time and that didn't work out," Tris replied softly. Her frustrated and exasperated demeanor changed into a lighter form. "Look, I will allow you to run the show, I'll will just be backing you up. I promise if you think I need an out then throw me out, but at least let us just see how things turn out."
Her eyes dilated and she stared into his eyes, holding a cute and innocent face that they both knew that he could never say no to no matter how much he wanted to. So he grudgingly allowed her in, but made her promise that on his word she would leave if he believed that she couldn't handle it. She smiled at him with her eyes literally glowing in joy before she kissed him lightly on the cheek. Her action took him completely off guard as he placed an absentminded hand on the spot where her lips had been.
"Come on," She giggled so carefree, something that was so unlike her. Ever since he had met her she was a badass and tough as nails with her sweet and innocent moments, but never has he heard her being so free of concern in his presence. It was refreshing to see it and he would be more than happy to see more sides of her like this. "Let's deal with this and then you can drive me home afterwards."
"Drive you home?" Four asked with a playful tone. "Who said I was going to do that?"
"You didn't have to," She tilted her head slightly to the left. "Knowing you there is no way you would allow me to get home without having some kind of reassurance I made it back safely. And the best way to do that is to physically see that I walk through my own door."
She had him there, no doubt about it. He was overprotective of her and he wasn't going to deny that because it showed how much he loved and cared about her and wanted to make sure she was safe. She would sometimes find it exhausting, but she also found this side of him sweet and part of his good traits.
But nonetheless, she played him into following her will as they both entered the interrogation room and sat down on the two chairs across from Caleb, with only a table to separate them for one another. Without any hesitation he began the conversation.
"Tell me something, why is a college professor going out of his way investigating the murder on his student, when he had previously stated that he and the student had a professional relationship?" Four asked with fake politeness, having no intention in being nice with Caleb no matter what Tris said or wanted. Caleb responded by glaring at him and was stubborn enough to ignore his question and focused on Tris instead, much to his annoyance.
"What are you doing here, Beatrice? How long have you been working here?" Caleb's demeanor was tense and more upset than anything else, while Tris managed to maintain a calm and collected expression. Although she did frown by her first name, which he could understand wasn't something she enjoyed to be called, after all Beatrice sounded like a quiet and proper girl, not at all befitting for someone like Tris. It was no wonder she chose to use her nickname than her birth name. It was by then he realized he and Tris had another thing in common seeing as neither of them preferred using their given names, but he was certain that his reasons were totally different from hers.
Tris sighed and answered, "I don't go by that name here, my name is Tris so it would be best if you continue doing so from now on. As for your other questions I believe I answered you earlier when I told you I'm working here and I have officially done so for a few days now. Now will you answer the question my boss is asking you?"
Caleb was taken back by her reply, and honestly didn't know what to think and in some way Four couldn't exactly blame him. Tris was like a closed book and was pretty unrelenting to show her pages, but he was the same with his past and was probably even more unrelenting to share it with anyone, even Tris.
Anyways when Caleb finally got a hold of himself, something had apparently snapped since his silence quickly changed as he exclaimed, "Are you serious! After everything that happened the last time you are willing to throw your life way!" Honestly, little sister, I would have thought that with your brains and talent you would know when it gets too much for you."
Four knew it before it even happened and despite his feelings for the guy, he had tried to warn him, but it was too late because his words had triggered Tris's temper and pushed her over the edge. The calm and collected persona was long gone as she stood up from her chair and slammed her hands hard on the table.
"Don't you dare underestimate me, Caleb Jonathan Prior! Things are not the same as it used to except for the fact that you have definitely not changed since the last time I saw you. You are still the same controlling know-it-all brother, who apparently can't get his crap together and simply answer a question!" Her eyes were literally burning as her gaze was solely on her brother. Four was actually regretting the fact that he brought her along, but then again if it was between him or her losing their temper with Caleb it was probably for the best that it was Tris who lost it. However that didn't really help their situation or the case very much, which meant they were on a stand still point that they really didn't need or have time for at the moment.
But again it seemed like Caleb's reactions surprised him, since he was quiet for a moment before he calmed down and turned his gaze to the table, "My relationship with Geena Morris was indeed professional, so I didn't lie about that. However what I didn't tell you was that we had spent so much time together and along the way become friends."
Tris's demeanor relaxed as she sat down on the table and asked quietly, "So you never dated her then? Did you know anything else about her personal life like her sexual orientation or who she was seeing some time before she was killed?"
"No," Caleb shook his head. "On both accounts. She rarely spoke about her personal life and pretty much private regarding anything else that came close to her relationships. Although there was a short time I noticed she was very agitated, but when I asked her about it she reassured she was fine and that she could handle it on her own. I had no clue that she was a lesbian until tonight when I began hearing rumors around school that she had been frequenting at that bar."
Four nodded his head, thinking carefully what the man was saying before he decided to ask him another question, "What made you decide to do an investigation on your own when you knew that we were on the case?"
Caleb only snorted and folded his arms against his chest, while trying to appear more confident than what he really was at the moment.
"She was my friend and the people who did that to here deserve to be punished for their crimes, so I wanted to help her in every way that I can," Caleb answered with a hint of anger in his voice. "And besides I didn't have much faith in the police solving the case, especially after I met you earlier as well as my past experience with the cops."
Four had to hold back from rolling his eyes over the last comment. Seriously, he found it hard to believe that Caleb and Tris was related, even siblings since they weren't much alike except for the temper maybe.
He turned to look at Tris, who had the same thoughtful expression on her face, and talked between themselves while promptly ignoring Caleb.
"If what he is saying is true then Geena was seeing someone else before she hooked up with Raven," Tris said, while holding her hand up in order to cover up what she was saying despite the fact that Caleb most likely heard every word of it. However needless to say, the two detectives were too engrossed in their thinking and conversation to pay heed to that.
"Yeah, but the question is who," Four replied. "According to Zeke and Uriah they couldn't find anything nor did her friends and family seem to know about it either."
Tris nodded before placing her chin in her hand to support her face as she continued grumbling over possible theories. Then she raised her head again and determined stared at him, "I guess we have to work on it from another angle then. I will go and talk with Christina and see if she found anything else on either body, while Zeke and Uriah goes deeper in to her personal life because everyone has something to hide and now is the time to find it."
Then she stood up from her seat once again and headed towards the door. Confused to why she would leave the room so easily after she had been desperately begging to come, he asked with odd and confused voice, "Um…Tris, aren't you forgetting something?"
She turned around for moment and asked what she had supposedly forgotten. He waved his hands between him and Caleb, indicating that there was still an interrogation going on and he didn't want to be left alone with her brother. Nothing good would come out of it.
"Oh, yeah, right," Tris said like she was having eureka moment before she continued saying. "I think I am going to leave you two here to get to know each other a little, so please don't try and do something stupid or more importantly don't kill each other. I would hate to arrest you both. Okay, bye-bye."
Then she sprinted out the door. And although he yelled her name in a frustrated manner to get her to come back, which she didn't and left him alone to deal with Caleb. His only thought was that she better run because he couldn't promise how he was going to react once he got a hold off her, especially after skipping out on him and leave him to deal with her brother.
Her grin was still on her face when she came down to the morgue, but Tris couldn't help it because it was sort of funny how she had left Four and Caleb in their own company despite the fact that they did not get along. To be honest, she knew that leaving those two alone in a room was a bad idea, but she didn't want to deal with it and was far more interested in solving the case than focusing on her personal life. Whether it was dealing with her bad relationship with her brother or her unsure relationship with Four, both matters were too confusing and exhausting for her, but she had some clue now where she wanted to do with her relationship with Four. The question was just if they both were willing to take a chance on them getting back together, but she was taking a chance and would be brave facing her fears by restarting their former relationship. She couldn't deny her feelings for him and she wasn't about to run and hide from them either. Anyways her personal life could wait right now, since she didn't want to deal with it and there wasn't much she could do about it while she was still stuck at work, working this case that is literally driving her mad.
"What are you grinning about?" Christina asked when she looked up from the computer screen and saw her approaching. "You look like some hillbilly kid, who has just stumbled into daddy's meth lab."
She had already changed out of the clothes from earlier and dressed causal yet stylish, which was typically Christina especially when she wore three-inch heels in the morgue and out on the field. It was needless to say her best friend always looked like she was about to run down fashion runway with the way she dressed, but then again she suited her perfectly.
"Let's just say that neither Four or Caleb is very happy with me at the moment," Tris tilted her head, trying to look innocent even though they both knew that she wasn't, but Christina only shook her head and smiled back at her. "Especially since I left them to enjoy each others company."
Christina's smile changed to snicker on her face, "I'm sure they both love you for doing that, but I guess that is not why you are here unless you are here to hide from Four. But if that is the case then I have to say you should know that this is the worst hiding place if you look aside hiding with the corpses."
"No, that's not it. I hope I'm not ruining your evening more than I already has," Tris shook her head and placed her hands on her hips, "But I was sort of hoping you found something else on the bodies that could help us with the case. Anything at all might be useful."
Christina looked thoughtful for a moment before she walked over to the body freezer boxes and opened the two boxes that contained the bodies of the two victims. Both girls looked oddly enough peaceful lying there despite everything that led them these freezers before they were to be buried or cremated.
"They both have similar injuries and were sexually assaulted," Christina said, looking over her notes. "Both victims were killed by the same weapon, which has a sharp point with a narrow blade, it fits the description of a boning knife. It might not be nothing, but there was something I noticed when I was looking over their wounds."
When Christina said that Tris's interest peaked, seeing as everything she had told her till now was something she already knew, and waited anxiously to hear the rest.
"I noticed there was something else imbedded in the wound track along other than the blood that connected the two victims together at first," Christina said. "I thought at first it was a glitch or something totally irrelevant to the case, but I found traces of lemon and lime juice and peels. Does that mean anything to you?"
Hearing about this new trace evidence actually put the final pieces together. And it must have shown on Tris's face, since her best friend wondered what she was thinking, but Tris was caught in her own theories to comprehend. Even with the whole pool of suspects that they used to have, only one person they had encountered during this entire case that had the opportunity and access to such a weapon on a regular basis. And that was the bartender Mr. Lewis. Everything seemed to fit together, however they didn't know the bartender's motive for doing this and there was no evidence that tied him physically to the murder/rapes and he already had an alibi that was impossible to break unless he confessed or they found any evidence that linked him to it. But how in the world was she going to do that?
She ran a tired hand through her hair. There was no way she could go home now, especially when she finally had something to go on, but just needed to nail that man for his crimes. It might be a good idea to speak with Zeke and Uriah and have them run a background check on the Mr. Lewis and then they might figure out the motive.
"You know what, Chris, you might have given the piece of evidence we needed in order figure out who that piece of crap is," Tris said with motivation. "I need to go and see Zeke and Uriah, but thank you for the clues as well as your help back at the bar. I'll see you later, okay?"
Then she ran out of the morgue, almost crashing into the doors and took the elevator up to the offices. She probably looked like an over-excited nimrod, but she didn't care as she was geared up to finally put this case to rest.
Four growled when he came back to the offices and found it completely forsaken. His dark gaze moved around the room and saw that both Zeke and Uriah were in BRIC, meanwhile Tris was still nowhere to be found. Probably for the best since he had definitely something to say to her after abandoning him with Caleb, just thinking about what happened brought his frustration back. He and Caleb had only glared at each other, while he tried as professional as he could to continue interrogating him and checking out his story. However that proved to be quite difficult since Caleb made rude and rather frustrating comment on just about everything. Whether it was his occupation, his name or the subject that seemed to interest Caleb and annoyed him the most what was going on between him and Tris. Normally he wouldn't care and just ignored the younger man, but the whole overprotective-possessive-older-brother speech was getting on his last nerve. So it had not taken long before the last of his self-control and he lashed out on the guy. Although he never went person or in detail about him and Tris, he was quite clear that he wasn't going to listen to this crap and frankly didn't want to spend more time with him after that. So left Caleb there and allowed a officer deal with him until the alibi he had given was cleared out.
Seeing as he had nothing better to do until he found Tris he went inside BRIC and asked the Pedrad brothers what they were working on, since most people would have left to go and get some sleep.
"It's not like we have anything to do back home," Uriah answered, shrugging his shoulders in a careless manner. Then he turned his gaze back on the computer screen as he continued saying, "Marlene is working the nightshift and it would be a bad idea to show up at work in the morning with a hangover."
Zeke nodded his head, agreeing with his younger brother's statement. He turned to look at him and replied simply, "Same here. Shauna has been working a lot lately and just wanted to go to bed and sleep, which I'm too geared up to do since we finally have something to go on solving this case."
Four's interest was peaked when he heard this and raised his eyebrow in a way that told his partner to explain, which Zeke caught on right away and said more seriously, "According to Christina's recent findings, she found traces of lemon and lime juice and peels in the wound tracks in both victims. Tris figured out that the bartender, Mr. Brandon Lewis, is more likely the killer. The guy has not a solid alibi, since no one really remembered or verified his whereabouts when the murder/rapes happened, and he has access to the supposed murder weapon at the bar, which he uses to cut lemon and limes to make drinks."
Four could see how Tris make to that conclusion, but still that didn't explain the motive to kill and rape these to women. Basically they had nothing tying him to the crimes other than a lousy alibi and being in possession of the possible murder weapon.
Uriah interrupted to answer the unsaid question that was lingering in his mind, "Then Tris asked us to check on Mr. Lewis's background and social media to know more about this guy as well find out a possible motive. And the woman back at the bar, Miss Elaine Ryan, she was right. There was a secret boyfriend involved before the first victim realized her sexual preference and broke up the relationship; Geena Morris had been seeing Mr. Lewis for six months before she ended it, to which Mr. Lewis didn't' take to lightly based on what he posed on social medias. I guess it was a bigger blow for him to find out she broke up with him because of a woman."
"So that means at least Caleb Prior was speaking the truth about not being Geena Morris's boyfriend," Four said almost disappointed. He had wanted to arrest Tris's brother for a crime other than being generally an ass towards him and the police occupation. With his dislike for him pushed aside, with how things were right now there wasn't much they could hold him on and seeing as there wasn't any physical evidence to interfering with the investigation (you can't arrest someone for trying to enter a gay bar). In other words Caleb could actually go, but Four decided to be a little revengeful and let him stay in holding as long as he could or till Caleb realized that he could bail.
Uriah gave him a comforting look, which Four tried to ignore since he didn't want to show his disappointment in front of them. So he tried to focus back on the case and said, "Okay, we believe Mr. Lewis is the killer then the motive for these murder/rapes would be anger towards the ex-girlfriend and her new-girlfriend. He raped them to hurt them in the worst way possible before he stabbed them and left them to die. But how are we going to physically place him there with the murder-weapon? There is no way he is going to confess, considering how he murdered and raped these girls, and we don't have any probable cause to search the bar for the murder weapon than a couple of louse strings. So how do we nail him guys?"
The two of them went quiet and the tension in the room began to rise. Four didn't have to be psychic to realize that something was going on and that something was probably was something he definitely wasn't going to like very much once her heard about it.
"What?" His voice was starting to become frustrated and very impatient over whatever they were trying to hold back. "Something is going on, now tell me. Is it about Tris? And where is she anyway since she isn't here and probably not with Christina?"
Both of the Pedrad brothers looked at each other for a moment, verbally arguing how was going to tell him the truth, and it seemed like Uriah was the unfortunate one since he answered uncomfortably, "She left to gather some physical evidence to link Mr. Lewis to the case."
His eyes dilated in shocked before he said in a strained and angry voice, "She did what?"
Tris didn't know what made her change her mind in the last second. Her first idea was to confront Mr. Lewis back at the bar directly, but somewhere along the way she changed her course and headed toward the holding cells where she knew Caleb would reside until further notice. Besides it might be a very bad idea to confront Mr. Lewis before they had anything to nail him on. And he got the slightest suspicious about their suspicion on him he would bail before they had the chance to arrest him, which would lead to a risk in order for them to arrest him.
So when she reached his cell she prized herself happily that Four wasn't around, knowing fully well how mad he was going to be with her, but she had to focus on the situation at hand before she could even think about Four. Anyways Tris stared at her brother who was leaning against the wall and simply staring at the ceiling before he finally noticed her presence.
"Beatrice?" Caleb inquired confused. Tris felt the urge to roll her eyes by the sound of her first name, which she hated with a passion, but she had far more important things to discuss with him than the fact that he couldn't remember how she preferred to be called by her nickname. She pulled out a photo of Mr. Lewis and showed it to Caleb and asked straightforwardly, "Do you recognize him? Or rather have you seen Geena around this man or anything at all?"
Caleb held a thoughtful expression on his face as he analyzed every trait the man possessed in the picture. Then he shook his head and replied, "No, I don't think so, but then again she was never forth coming about her relationships. She never introduced any of them to her close friends and family, so it is no wonder I wouldn't know who she was dating at the time of her death."
Tris nodded and put the photo back in her pocket. Then she let out a frustrated sigh and really felt the urge to kick something. Her target of frustration became the cell bars as she kicked and stomped her foot against the hard metal, almost frightening Caleb by her sudden action. Once she finally calmed down she turned to look at her brother and apologized for her poor behavior. Caleb stared at her a moment before he asked, "So how is the case going? I assume based on the picture you presented to me this man was a suspect."
Tris was reluctant to talk about the case or anything else for that with her brother, but she was currently at a standstill with the case so she was desperate to catch the real murderer and put him behind bars.
"As you guessed we have a suspect, but we have no physical evidence to tie him to the murder/rapes charges. Although he has a stretchy alibi and motive it is not for a probable cause to arrest him or issue a search warrant for the murder weapon," Tris explained. She frowned over the situation, but didn't voice out her frustration since she had already gotten most of the urge out.
"Any DNA evidence?" Caleb asked, something she responded by shaking her head and explained that the forensic evidence was limited at best and couldn't help give a conclusive decision with what they had. She began giving a further explanation each piece of the evidence they had gathered and once she was done he continued saying, "Then tell me more about that fabric you found."
"It's a piece from a dildo," Tris replied flatly. Sort of annoyed how her brother found interest in the piece of evidence she found most disturbing. Caleb's cheeks became red by the mention of the sex toy before he coughed awkwardly, "Yes, well you told me that you didn't find any fingerprint or DNA samples in the fabric, correct?"
Tris nodded confused and he continued his reasoning, "I have developed a technic that call forth fingerprints from the sweat, so there might be a possibility to tie this man by comparing his fingerprint to the fabric and the potensial murder weapon."
Those news set fireworks in Tris's world as her brother, believe it or not, was for once usual in his knowledge. And she exclaimed in excitement, "Do you think you can do it?"
Caleb nodded confidently. Things were moving forward, but her brother was still in police custody and not written of as a suspect so the rules stated that she couldn't let him out. And if she deliberately broke the rules she might compromise the case more or worse she could lose her badge, she followed the one advice Four always used to give her. She had to follow her gut, so she asked the police officer to release her brother.
Shortly after she escorted her brother to Christina and informed her that her brother was going to help out with the case. Although Christina was unsure if she should really be doing this, Tris promised that should this blow up in their faces she would take the fall. Not that that reassured her anymore, but she did so anyway. And her best friend and her older brother worked together meanwhile Tris waited impatiently for the results. The result turned out to be exactly what they hoped for and more since it was enough to give them a probable cause for a warrant.
Four wasn't sure if he was supposed to be proud or angry over how the whole case turned out. When Tris returned and explained everything that has happened and how they were now able to nail that piece of crap for the murder and rapes on their two victims, he was almost sure he was going to explode. He thought that she understood from the last time how he felt with her working behind her back, but apparently that wasn't the case seeing as she continued to do so.
Anyways he didn't act on neither of his conflicting feelings instead focused on getting the warrant and to arrest Mr. Lewis. So it would seem, when they came down to the bar to arrest him they found the murder weapon in plain sight, even had blood traces left on the blade, so the arrest was quick and simple as it should be even though people should generally not do that sort of thing to one another. Mr. Lewis shouted the entire time back to the station how it was the women's fault and he did the whole world a favor. Everyone just plainly ignored him and placed him in his jail cell, leaving him to work things out with a lawyer and such.
Four took the opportunity to retreat back to his desk and began working out the paperwork, something he hated generally to do like most cops did. He was so lost in his own thoughts that he didn't notice Tris standing by the door entrance with a sad and guilty expression on her face and said, "I'm sorry for everything."
He looked up, bewildered by her sudden apology, but remained perfectly quiet and continued to listen to what she had to say.
"I shouldn't have run off and done things on my own, especially when I promised you before I wouldn't, but there were two reasons to why I did what I did."
He tilted his head in a questioning manner and wondered to himself what possible reason did she have to do things this way, but before he could ask she answered for him quietly, "Lieutenant Coulter and I made a deal that I would solve this case without your help in order to allow me to continue to work here, seeing as I didn't want to be taken for a privileged hire because of my connection with Tori."
That made a lot of sense, especially considering how pissed of Eric was when he found out about her employment behind his back. But still he felt hurt and angry that she didn't confide in him like she used to do back in Abnegation. Was he that untrustworthy to her?
"What was the other reason?" Four asked strained. His gaze was on his desk and refused to see her face.
"My other reason was that I wanted to solve this quickly, so that I could finally tell you that if you still want to we…we can pick up where we left of two years ago," Tris replied shyly and began fidgeting with her jacket. He knew he should feel the hurt and anger towards everything, but hearing those words were enough to pull him out of his angry state as he stood up from his seat and walked a straight line towards her before he leaned in a kissed her on the lips. The kiss was powerful, yet gentle, as he moved his hand to cup her face while she placed her arms on his shoulder and moved to his neck. They continued kissing for a while until they pulled away slightly to catch their breath.
"I don't want to move on too fast," She whispered breathlessly. He didn't answer, since he understood where she was coming from. Jumping into the relationship wouldn't do much good, so taking it slow was fine by him. Besides it was needless to say what their current relationship was as of now, even if neither of them said the words out loud, since they both knew that things between them were finally back to where it should been and this time he wasn't going to let her go. No, he would fight until the day he died just so that she remained by his side.
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Thank you all for the response, hope you like this chapter since this is the end of this arc and now I'm going to start on the Tris's parents murder.
I'm glad that I managed to release the chapter today, since it my second anniversary of my profile here on FF, and to think two years ago I started to write here on this site. Time passes by.
Also one of my guest reviewer asked me to update the story on a certain date, which you can request, but please consider I might not be able to at that date since I'm working on other stories as well.
Review, favorite and/or followings, and the next chapter will be out as soon as its done.
xXrebelgirl07Xx