18.

The more he started digging the more he came to realize that the case might be a lot more than what he or anyone else had ever anticipated. Tris and Caleb might be one of the few who would most definitely be taken back and actually shocked to learn what he had discovered regarding their mother's past, but then again its not every day you learn that the mother who had given birth and raised you for years without living under her real identity.

Four felt the pain in his stomach grow bigger and bigger as he desperately tried to find clues or evidence that could prove that he was wrong and wouldn't have to inform Tris this news that would most definitely break her heart. However no matter how much he searched through both the present and the past records regarding Natalie, everything just led back to what he already knew. Neither Natalie Prior nor Natalie Wright was Tris's mother's real identity and she had been living under a stolen identity for over twenty years or so. Which left him to believe that she might have been killed either because for her secret past or because someone discovered the truth about her secret past. And he didn't know which one of those options was worst.

As he sat there with his arms covering his face, Zeke came back into the room and asked lightly, "What happened to you? Did someone die or something?"

When he didn't respond back Zeke knew that something big had just happened since he pulled out a chair and placed it next to his before the conversation took a turn to the more serious and dreary area.

"This must be huge since you haven't said what is going on," Zeke pointed out while his fingers fidgeted in an anxious manner. "I know you are not the most talkative guy with this kind of stuff, you know the personal and emotional stuff, but whatever you are currently dealing with is literally eating you up. So please just get it off your chest, it might help and who knows maybe I can help you."

Four didn't know what to think. People called him emotional stunted, even those who were close to him but more as a joke than anything else. Still that didn't mean they were completely wrong about it either. No, it was the exact opposite in fact, which pretty much explained his intimidating and almost frightening demeanor towards everyone. At least if you count out his personal issues with his parents as well as his past that is. Either way talking about such things like what was on his mind or what was bothering him didn't come naturally and he was more or less reluctant to share with anyone. The only one he had been the most honest and personal about things like that was Tris and she didn't even know the entire truth yet. However since she wasn't here to talk and comfort him, and also he wasn't sure if he was ready to talk to her about this yet anyways, he might as well find the next best person who happened to be Zeke. Besides his partner was bound to find out about this sooner or later, so he might as well just get the truth out in the open.

He removed the arm from his eyes and sighed heavily a few times before he said with a heavy, "You know how I was just worried about telling Tris about this case."

"Yeah?" Zeke looked at him suspiciously, waiting for the bad news that was literally hanging on the line. "What of it?"

"Things have gotten a lot more complicated, and definitely not in a good way either," He replied before he began explaining what he had found out as well as showing him proof just in case Zeke found the whole story hard to swallow, which he actually did not surprisingly. However after he showed his partner the proof Zeke just shook his head and tried to lighten up the mood again, "You're right this does complicate things, but at least now you have no difficulty figuring out whether you are going to tell her or not."

Four's facial expression became dark as he glared at him and said, "Not funny, Zeke. This is going to break her apart."

"She is not that fragile, Four," Zeke pointed out, slightly annoyed that he wouldn't even state such a thing especially since he was the one who were closest to her. "You tell her and everyone else that she is tough as nails. Sure, hearing how her mother claimed to be someone will hurt her and probably mess her up, but she will figure it out and get on with life. Most likely hearing this might give her even more motivation to figure out the cold case and maybe finally understanding who her parents were."

Giving her more motivation wasn't necessary a good thing as far as he was concerned, Four thought quietly to himself. Tris was a driven individual and like he always told them tough as nails, but what everybody including her seemed to forget was that she was also sensitive. Sure, she wasn't fragile and a crybaby, but still whenever she gets hurt both physically and emotionally she would seriously feel it and it would definitely weight heavy on her shoulders. Normally he would try and ease the pain and the hurt, but his girlfriend wasn't the type of person who would simply allow people close to her and comfort her in her darkest moments. He found it both reasonable and frustrating at the same time, but then again he wasn't one to talk especially since he was the same.

Nonetheless he didn't voice his honest opinion on the matter, instead he responded dejected, "I guess you are right, but that doesn't mean it is any easier or I really like how messed up it all is."

Zeke patted his back before he gave him last reassuring words before the two of them went back to work.

Thirty minutes later the scene around the warehouse were crawling with police officers taping the perimeter and taking statements from witnesses around the area, meanwhile CSU techs were processing the crime scene. Tris and Uriah had taken the 'fun' assignment in contacting the renters of the warehouse and was currently having one of the strangest conversations if you count out that time with the double homicide of the two lesbians a couple of months ago.

"We are sorry for taking your time with this, but we discovered a suspicious scene back at the warehouse that is apparently rented under your name, Mr. Hale, and we were hoping you could clarify a coupe of things," Tris explained as she entered the interrogation room and sat down on the chair across from Mr. Hale.

"Of course," Mr. Hale answered polite and smoothly. "Anything to help the police."

Tris stared at the man in front of her. He was around his late forties, dark hair and dark eyes. He wasn't too thin nor too fat, simply average built. In other words looked pretty much ordinary, not someone you would particular remember if you walked past him on the street. However despite the man's unassuming appearance there was something about the man's demeanor and body language she didn't like or rather made her feel at unease with him. Fortunately she had Uriah there, sitting next to her and keep her calm and reassured just in case she allowed her gut feeling to take control. Still she had a feeling that Uriah too was kind of wary of the man, but unlike her he wasn't very obvious about it. Instead he tilted his head and smiled at the man before he said, "So do you mind telling us what exactly you use that warehouse for? You see both me and Detective Prior came upon the scene while following a clue on a homicide case and we want to know if there is any connection between you, the warehouse and the victim."

Then she pulled out a photo of Mr. Hawkes and handed it over to Mr. Hale, both to see if he knew who he was and also to see if he gained other kinds of reactions by looking at the picture.

"Do you recognize him?"

Mr. Hale graciously took the photo and examined it closely like he was being a judge on a competition before he handed the photo back and replied simply, "Yes, I know him. That's Mr. Jonathan Hawkes. I wasn't aware he was dead. What happened to him?"

Tris once again stared at him before she answered as simple and unassuming as she could, "He was murdered in his home. We traced back old parking tickets to your warehouse and now we want to know how you two knew each other and what is the deal with the whole thing in the basement."

Mr. Hale remained as calm and collected as before, something that actually worried her because most people would at least show emotion or even distraught over someone's death, but then again people did have different coping technics and that necessary didn't make them a killer even though it made him seem a lot more suspicious. What she didn't know was that her suspicion over Mr. Hale was going to increase even more when he began explaining his connection to the victim as well as what the warehouse basement was primary used for.

"I don't know Jonathan that well on a personal level, however I knew him through our group."

"What kind of group is this?" Uriah asked curiously, she was curious too however something told her that the answer was more disturbing than what they both could ever imagine, which is a lot considering it was them as Four and Zeke would say.

"As weird as it may sound, we are a part of a nature cult," Mr. Hale smiled proudly. "We meet and follow rituals in order to bow down and be faithful in our beliefs."

Ignoring the strong urge to shudder, Tris smiled an awkward smile that easily could be mistaken as a fake smile, but there was a limit over how composed she was supposed to be when she was somehow stuck with dealing with weirdos and oddballs.

"Can you please be more…precise what exactly you believe in and how our victim ended up being a part of the cult?" Uriah asked carefully with a hint of awkwardness.

And he did with openness and confidence. Apparently they believed in the greatness and strength of a snake, no specific snake, just simply snakes itself. Go figure. Neither she nor Uriah really understood the whole idea with a group called The Brotherhood of the Snake for several obvious reasons, and honestly they didn't really want to understand the details behind it, but because of the case it seemed like they would have despite that.

After receiving a very uncomfortable and detailed version of how they worked and the blood they found on the scene was simply snake blood used as sacrificial offering. Mr. Hale continued explaining how the victim had gotten involved in a group of weirdos in the first place, "Mr. Hawkes, as you know is very rich and famous despite his paranoid and eccentric personality. Obviously he had a hard time finding a place where he belonged, somewhere he could be himself without being judged and looked at like he was a lunatic. So he found out about us online and asked to join, which we did with open arms."

"Did he have any problems with anyone? Or were you aware him having some kind of trouble at all?"

Mr. Hale shook his head and looked surprised over the question, "No. As far as I know he got along everyone and didn't really say anything about having problems. No, wait he did have a feisty argument with someone a while ago."

That certainly got their full attention as Tris leaned forward and asked, "Who was it?"
Mr. Hale placed one of his fingers on his chin in a thoughtful manner before he replied lightly, "I don't know her name, since she isn't a member of the group, but she had brown hair and hazel eyes. And I had seen her around Jonathan before he died, but she stopped coming a couple of months ago."

Hearing that description only matched one other person that has been brought up during the case, which is why she pulled out another of photo. This time it was a picture of Miss Green and handed it over to Mr. Hale to identify her.

"Yes, that's her," Mr. Hale testified and put the photo on the table. "She was with him a couple of times when he showed up at the gathering, always hung out in the back, but the last time I saw her she was fighting with Jonathan. You should probably talk to her."

"We will," Tris tilted her head and gave him a reassuring smile. "Thank you for coming down here."

Mr. Hale began to stand up from the chair and asked, "How long will you keep the warehouse in police custody? I would like to know since I need to warn other members about this and reschedule our next gathering."

"We need to process it and take the necessary safety measures, but I don't believe it will take too long. However just leave behind your contact information so that we can contact you once we have everything settled."

Mr. Hale nodded and began walking towards the door to leave, but just before he opened the door Uriah interrupted and said, "Oh, this shouldn't come as a warning to you. It is just procedure, don't leave town."

Mr. Hale didn't say or even moved an inch by that last comment and simply walked out and closed the door behind him, leaving Tris and Uriah alone in the interrogation room. Tris leaned back in her seat and crossed her arms, "So it seems that everything leads us back to Abigail Green."

"Yeah," Uriah confirmed. "Odd that she didn't mention to us that she and our victim had a closer relationship than a causal sexual liaison with each other."
"At least now we have an idea of what she was hiding before," Tris leaned forward again. "I guess we have to talk to her again."

"But there is no way she will talk to us without her lawyer and that old blowfish wouldn't allow her to talk even with all the evidence and proof we cook up," Uriah pointed out. Tris shrugged her shoulders and replied, "Still we have to try and besides I'm sure with what we have now might be enough to get her to break and maybe then tell us the truth. Otherwise we are back to square one, which is really bad because Lieutenant Coulter will have our butts if we don't solve this case soon. Who knows that he might consider doing to us?"

Before Uriah had the chance to reply with a witty remark her phone started to vibrate and she pulled out her phone from her pocket to see what was trying to contact her. It was Matthew and he was requesting she and Uriah came down to the morgue/lab. So she informed Uriah of Matthew's page and request. They left the interrogation room shortly afterwards.

He heard her before she even entered the room, and his anxiety jumped up like a rabbit as he lifted his head and saw her enter the office and towards his desk. Four knew that he was the bringer of bad news or rather horrible news right now, but he just had to be honest and gentle about it.

"Hey, is everything okay? You look like you are about to jump out of an airplane in mid-air," Tris said concerned once she was close enough. Four nodded his head and tried the best as he could to give her a reassuring smile and said, "Yeah, I'm good. Listen there is something I need to talk to you about."

Tris tilted her head in a curious manner, "Okay. Can it wait till later? I'm about to head down to the morgue and the lab with Uriah to talk to Matthew. I just came here to give you a quick visit before I went off."

Four knew that she had a job to do and now was probably not the best time telling her, but he feared that if he didn't do it now he might never be able to. So he shook his head and told her that it was best they did it now. Tris was obviously taken back by his sudden seriousness and was worried what exactly he had to tell her, but what she didn't know was that she placed her worry and concern on the wrong person. She moved her gaze away from him, appeared to be thinking over it a couple of minutes before she nodded her head and told him that she just had to give Uriah a message that she would catch up to him later. Then he escorted her out of the office and into an empty observation room and closed the door behind him.

If she didn't know anything better she would have thought that he was trying to break up with her. However she knew that wasn't the case since she had just been away from a couple of hours and they had been good then so it shouldn't really change now. So there had to be something else going on and she had a good feeling what it was about too. When she had turned her gaze away from him back at his desk she noticed the photograph of her mother tugged away inside a folder lying on the desk and it was then she realized he was about to tell her something regarding that old murder case, which makes sense why he would be all serious about it. The thing that she couldn't understand was why he was acting like he was putting on the kid's gloves around her. She was a cop and she could handle whatever got thrown her way, something he knew too well, so why was he being so tentative to her right now unless whatever he was telling her was really bad.

Once the door was closed behind them she stood there while Four had his back leaned against the wall with his arms crossed staring at her. A moment went by before he sighed heavily and said, "What I'm about to tell you is going to hard, very hard for you to take in and understand, but it is something you need to know."

She nodded and waits for him to continue, seeing as she didn't trust her own voice to be calm and collected. He took a deep breath and then began explaining, "The case I was called on this morning was by the border between Abnegation and Amity and we found two victims around the crime scene. Everything about the crime scene to the victim matches the cold case on your parents as well as other murders over the years."

Hearing that coming out from his mouth caused something to break within her. Whether it was her anger, her frustration or her sanity she wasn't completely sure. Probably a mixture of everything above, still whatever it was it seemed to just explode out as she exclaimed angrily, "Why the hell didn't you tell me about this before!"

"I wanted to make sure about it before I began raising your hope and expectations. I didn't want to see you break down if I was wrong."

She knew that it was unfair and unreasonable to shout at him like that, but whatever she had expected him to tell her about her parents' case that had not been one of them. And the hurt and the anger was building up so fast that she could barely get ahold of everything, especially when the hurt and anger had something to do with the fact that he had broken the one promise to her regarding this particular case. It might have seemed like a light promise back when they first reunited and restarted their relationship, but she had held on to that promise and expected him to do the same. However based on how he was acting right now told her that there was more behind his reasons to keep this information from here, which is why she glared at him and gave him a facial expression that told him that she was still waiting for the rest of the explanation and that she didn't buy that as his only reason for not telling her. Four sighed frustrated and ran his hand through his hair before he gave up and said, "Fine. You want to hear my other reason for not coming to you about this before? Okay, it's because I knew how you were going to react and honestly feared that you would end up back where we left off two years ago, with you on a dark and self-destructive path."

She shook her head in disbelief. Her control was diminishing and simply didn't know how to comprehend the information she was given and the fact that he broke the one promise that mattered the most to both of them. Still as she stood there, ready to just scream or punch anything, when Four said quietly, "There is something else you need to know."

She looked up at him, waiting impatiently at him since whatever more he was going to tell couldn't be worse than it already was. Unfortunately she was terribly wrong about that last part.

"The case led me into looking into all the other victims closely and I discovered something about your mother that will definitely take you…off the handle," Four rubbed his neck awkward and uncomfortable. "I did a background check on her and there are some missing holes, more accurately Natalie Wright didn't exist before when she was seventeen."

Her eyes grew wider and she barely could get out, "What do you mean? Are you trying to tell me that my mother wasn't who she claimed to be?"

That didn't make any sense. She remembered her mother as clear as day and not once did she get the feeling that her mother was a horrible or lying person. Her mother was good and fair as well as blunt and unafraid to voice her opinions, which was rare traits for someone living in Abnegation. Of course there were certain things she didn't know about her mother as well as her father, but the whole idea that her mother had been living under a false identity was beyond anything she could ever imagine. Did that mean everything she thought was real about her family was simply a lie?

She almost hoped that he would say something, anything that would deny her accusation and simply tell her that he was wrong or playing a joke on her, but he didn't. Instead he looked at her totally expressionless, however his eyes deceived him and revealed that he wasn't lying to her. It was at that moment her anger was overpowered and simply was pushed away and all that was left was hurt and pain that was suffocating her, making it unbearable to breath let alone being in the same room as him.

Shaking her head once again, she took a step back before she reached the conclusion she needed to get away. Away from this room, away from him and most importantly away from the lies she had once believed was true. So she took a step back, waited a second before she turned around and walked out the door. Four shouted after her, asking her to stay so they could talk about this, but she didn't want to. So she slammed the door hard behind her and ran as far as she could away.

"I guess that conversation didn't end as well as you hoped," Zeke stated the moment he returned to his desk, sat down and covered his face into his hands. "I saw Tris running out of here and she looked pretty heartbroken, so I'm going to ask are you okay?"

What was he supposed to say? That he was fine and that telling his girlfriend and the love of his life that he withheld information and broke her picture of who her parents was. Even if he had been thinking that everyone including him would know that it was a lie, and seeing as he tried as much as he could to be an honest person lying was exactly what would go against that term and more importantly only break his conscience as well as his heart, which he couldn't find himself to bear especially when the memory of Tris's hurt was burned into his brain.

Four removed his hands from his face and moved his gaze towards the ceiling before he finally answered his best friend's question, knowing fully well that he wouldn't let go until he got a response from him. "No. I'm not okay."

Zeke didn't say anything, only nodded his head before he sighed heavily and finally broke the silence, "Did she say or do anything…drastic?"

"No," Four said, though he wasn't as confident as he wished he were. Sure, she had been hurt and angry about everything, but at least she hadn't broken up with him on the spot. However he wasn't sure if that was a good or bad thing at the moment, since he was sure the conversation was going to come back and lord knows how the outcome would turn out. Most likely going to explosive and at the same time filled with incredible hurt and pain that would probably be almost unbearable for the both of them. "But I'm not sure how much I'm going to push my luck regarding her actions on a later encounter."

"I'm sure it wouldn't come to that," Zeke tried to reassure him and patted his back lightly. "She just needs to process and blow off some steam. She wouldn't break up with you; she loves you and would give up your relationship that easily. You are her partner both professionally and personally, something that it very hard to come by and worth a lot more than all the riches and gold that exist."

He sighed and didn't say anything else about the matter, simply because there wasn't much to talk about at the moment as well as he didn't want to add more false reassurance along with the crappy feeling he had about himself. So he did the only thing he would do whenever he was facing something he didn't want to think or deal with. He changed his focus back on work and the case that was pretty much heading towards a dead end anyways. Which left him to poke further into Natalie Prior, hoping to discover her true identity and the reason why she had lived a secret life that not even her own children knew about.

Uriah had point blank asked her what was the matter the moment she stepped into the lab, obviously seeing her hurting facial expression and the leftover tear streaks, but she had simply avoided explaining him and simply jumped right on the case instead. Her partner didn't seem to mind her tactic and let Matthew explain his recent discoveries from the body as well as the forensic evidence. The medical examiner had worked hard along with the crime techs to find out that the murder weapon had been a chainsaw with smooth and even blades, which was really rare kind of chainsaw that was only sold in limited stores in Dauntless. Matthew had only managed to determine that the killer's height was most likely of average built based on the directionality of the injury. In other words they had gotten a lot of useful information that most definitely narrowed their search down and excluded the one suspect that had come-and-gone from their suspect list, Miss Abigail Green.

After that point she and Uriah went to look into all the information that they had and compared it to everything and everyone who had any connection to the victim and only one name popped up. However the bad thing was that they couldn't nail him for it because most of the evidence pointed towards Miss Green as the killer and they also lacked the motive, so unless the real killer decided to confess something she doubted they couldn't arrest him for the murder. Which is why they needed Miss Green to talk and tell them everything she knew about.

It had taken some time, especially since Miss Green had been determined to bring her lawyer along with her even though it was really not necessary, but in the end she showed up and remained perfectly silent like a porcelain doll.

"We know now that you were not involved in the murder of Mr. Hawkes," Tris began explaining, though her tone was hard yet sincere. "In fact we believe that you may have cared for him beyond a casual one-night stand, maybe even loved the man despite everything."

The woman didn't say anything and simply kept her gaze on the table, but her expression revealed how hurt and in grief she really was. Uriah stepped in and continued saying, "We found evidence at his home about your relationship, after we turned everything up-side-down that is, and you two have been together for around six months. And it was around the same time he had gotten involved with the whole nature cult thing, right?"

Miss Green nodded her head ashamed before she finally said quietly, "I didn't care about his fortune or his eccentric and paranoid tendencies. Jonathan was a good man and I loved him, but that group was destroying him turning him into something that he wasn't. He started to grew more and more possess about the whole cult thing that he almost killed himself to sacrifice himself to the Snake god or whatever."

Tris sighed deeply and her eyes narrowed, "That is when you had that fight with him at the warehouse. You tried to salvage the relationship by giving him the choice, you or the group."

She nodded her head again, "It took a while, but in the end he decided to cut his ties with the group. However they didn't appreciate his departure, they believed that he was betraying them and their belief."

"That is why they had him killed," Uriah concluded. His head tilted forward and closed his eyes in defeat. "They must have reached an insane idea that due to his betrayal he deserved to die, correct?"

Miss Green didn't say anything, but she didn't have to because her silence was confirmation enough. The motive was laid on the table now the only thing they had to do was to get the proper alibi and statement from her, which should go without a hitch. Tris folded her hands that was lying on the table and asked, "Will you tell us were you really were at the time of the murder? With that and your statement it should be enough to arrest the killer and get a conviction from the judge."

Then she broke down and revealed she had been at strip club, one of her guilty pleasures, for several hours before she returned home and went to sleep. When Tris asked if anyone could verify that she said that her apartment manager might have seen her, but otherwise no one. But in the end it didn't matter because they had what they needed and now they could finally arrest the killer and put the case to rest.

So that afternoon Mr. Hale along with a couple of subordinates was arrested for murder and conspiracy. All the evidence pointed out Mr. Hale as Mr. Hawkes' killer, which is why he received the heaviest charge and was most likely to spend the rest of his life behind bars. Tris had not problem with that and wanted nothing more now to just go home after dealing with such an excruciating and draining day, however before she had the chance to leave the station for the day Four grabbed her arm when he saw her picking up her things from her desk and was about to leave and said, "Tris. Please don't go…"

Shocked, she stopped and simply stared at him. Her thoughts and feelings were so messed-up and she just honestly didn't know what she was supposed to say or do with the matter at hand. All she knew was that he had tried to keep things hidden from her and in the process broken their promise, so what was she supposed to do? Run or face the ugly truth?

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Thanks again for the amazing response I have been receiving, hope you guys like this chapter.

Like I stated in my previous author's notes, I'm not sure how often or when I will be able to update on the story due to school and such. However I will continue writing on it when I have time to spare and release it when I can. So please be patient and understanding about the matter.

This story is a year old. Time as flown by since I first released this story and I'm happy to see how many of you who loves and enjoys my work. And I finally found the time to finish and release this chapter despite the fact that I have a lot on my plate with an upcoming exam this week.

Also story how the murder case with Tris and Uriah was kind of speedy, but I had sort of grown bored with the plot and decided to move on to the next one as well as continuing the cold case arc.

Anyways keep giving me reviews, favorite and/or followings, and the next chapter will be out as soon as its done.

xXrebelgirl07Xx