19.

This was the last place where she wanted to be. And it wasn't because she really didn't like to go to these gatherings and galas either. Well it was not the only reason at least that she didn't like it and wanted to be anywhere else than spend her evening with a bunch of strangers and talk about what she did for a living and advertise and try and get people to donate to the police department. However it certainly didn't make the situation any better that she was forced by Lieutenant Coulter to attend this gala against her will and having to do it with her boyfriend, who she hasn't spoken to for two days since she learned the truth.

Tris sighed heavily and closed her eyes as she tried to imagine she was on a lonely island somewhere far far away from this place where she literally was like fish out of waters. She had spoken to some people, and pretended that she absolutely loved her job, which she really didn't these last two days, before she had taken upon herself to hide in a corner and simply watch the scene that was happening around her.

"Eric is going to have your hide if he finds you hiding here instead to advertise the Dauntless Police Department," a familiar and friendly voice said, interrupting her weariness thoughts and for once since she arrived at the gala smiled an honest smile.

"He will have your hide too if he learned that you were pretty much doing the same thing," Tris smirked as placed a hand on her hip and stared at the newcomer. "Isn't that right, Will?"

Will chuckled and shook his head, "Well, what he doesn't know wouldn't hurt him."

"Right," Tris responded pleasantly before she walked those few steps to hug him. "What are you doing here anyways? I thought you were still doing undercover work on some drug case and Christina didn't even mention that you were going to be here."

Will was Christina's boyfriend and one of Tris's closest friends beside from Christina and Uriah, who happened to be one of the lead detectives working in the drug and narcotics department in Dauntless PD. Despite the fact that they were working in different departments and Will being gone for a long time period due to his undercover jobs they were still close and good friends even without their common relationship with Christina. Which brought back the question what he was doing at this boring shindig in the first place?

Will leaned against the wall as he looked at her and said confidently, "Just finished my latest case and since Christina was invited I decided to tag along as her date for the evening, especially since I have been gone for so long and I want to catch up with her and everyone else and learn everything that has happen in my absence. And while we are on the subject why are you standing here alone? I thought you and Four would be tied to the hip and try and sneak off as soon as Eric and the higher ups weren't around and paying much attention to you."

When he mentioned Four's name her eyes began searching the room until it fell on her boyfriend, who was standing and talking quietly with a small crowd about what she assumed was about work. She stared at him, mentally taking pictures of his appearance, and as much as she hated to admit it at this very moment Four cleaned up quite good in a black suit. Unlike his usual work attire, he looked handsome and sophisticated in the environment like he was experienced and meant to do these kinds of things on a regular basis, unlike her who was awkward and uncomfortable to the point where she would hide and pray that no one would care or try and approach her.

Nevertheless she sighed heavily once again before she answered quietly, "Four and I…we are taking a little break from each other. Some space to calm down and figure stuff out, you know the usual."

Except it wasn't usual. It has never been a usual thing with them. Always whether it was in the past or now in the present they would confront and talk about whatever was going on and clear the air as soon as possible, not avoid the whole issue for two days and counting. Although she tried to convince herself that it was true and that this was just a phase or a bump on the road it didn't really work. And apparently it didn't work on anyone else since Will just stared at her skeptically and with disbelief. He folded his arms against his chest as he stared at her and jumped right on it and confronted her, "Really? Come on Tris, even if I don't have Christina's insane ability to detect a lie I can tell both by listening and looking at you that there is more to this than you are trying to hide from me. So you might as well just tell me what is going on, and who knows maybe it might help and clear some of those gray clouds that are lingering over you."
She didn't say it, but she was honestly surprised that Will didn't already know the whole story from Christina, who she had also kept a distance from after she learned the truth from Four and learned that she and Zeke had gone along with it and not done anything to tell or at the very least warn her about it before the truth exploded in her face like that, but then again she probably felt guilty about the whole thing and tried to make up for some of it by not blabbing to Will about it. She appreciated the gesture, even though she still wasn't ready to talk to neither Four nor Christina just yet, she was glad that she could at least have the chance to talk about it at her own terms rather than trying to fend of rumors or something that went along that line.

"It's a long story…" She said before she began giving Will the whole story on everything that happened in his absence.

Four moved his gaze away from the people in front of him, who was trying to get his attention, and moved it to the back corner where Tris and Will was talking quietly between themselves. His girlfriend looked beautiful, not that she didn't always look beautiful to him, but this was one of those few times when he actually had the opportunity to see her beauty in this kind of setting. She wore a long black dress with spaghetti straps that fitted her body perfectly around the waist and with split-end on the left side that went up towards her tight. Along with the make-up, high-heels and her slightly curled hair, she looked literally like an angel, a badass angel in a black dress but an angel nevertheless. How he wanted to be around her and keep her under his protective sphere where men could not look or reach her.

Unfortunately at this point he wasn't sure where his and Tris's relationship stood at the moment, seeing as she had pretty much avoided him for two whole days, and so he really didn't have a right to keep men from ogling her besides his own selfish jealously. The only reason he came to the party in the first, except for the fact that Eric would just be a pain in his ass if he didn't do it, was to speak with Jeanine Matthews and his dad about the old cold cases, however with how things were with him and Tris he couldn't seem to concentrate on anything else, which was incredibly frustrating due to the fact that he was torn between confronting her and actually giving her the space she apparently want to deal with the whole issue.

"If you want to talk to her so much why don't you just walk up to her," Christina said, interrupting his thoughts and made him turn his gaze to the woman who had snuck up right next to him without him noticing. Four sighed heavily and ran a hand through his hair, "I could say the same thing about you. You are her best friend, yet you have not even once walked up to her and talked her brains out."

"The difference between you and me is small, but significant," Christina huffed. "She is not happy with me for keeping it a secret and helping you get away with it, but at least I know that we both will eventually get over it. However you were the one she loves and trust the most yet you betrayed her by withholding and hiding the truth from her. What is even worse is that despite everything you wouldn't even tell her who made you look into her mother in the first place."
There was no limit to her blunt honesty. And even though it was helpful and great at times, but at this very moment he really didn't need to be kicked further down than what he already was. However there was no point in denying that he royally screwed up this one and it didn't necessary help that he still couldn't admit to Tris or anyone else for that matter the truth about him and his past. Tris and everyone was his friends, who trusted and were willing to do anything for each other, but his weakness was that he was afraid to face his past with his parents and talk out it. He didn't want pity or sympathy for everything, which is what he feared would be the respond he would get if he admitted the truth.

"Thanks a lot for your input," Four replied sarcastically before his gaze moved back on Tris and Will, who still seemed to be having a very deep conversation between each other. "By the way, what are those two talking about? If Eric discovers them hiding and avoiding this shindig they are going to get an earful."

Christina shrugged her shoulder, "Seeing as she isn't speaking to either of us at the moment, I figured that it was best for her to talk to someone who haven't or isn't directly involved with the case. Hence why Will is probably the only one here she is willing to talk to, get whatever she has off her chest and the accept whatever advice she might get from him."

"Makes sense I guess," He swirled the liquid in his glass before taking a sip. The burning taste of alcohol relaxed him somehow despite knowing that using alcohol to numb everything he was feeling inside wasn't really working. "We should probably keep these people occupied, distracting Eric or any of the higher ups from noticing that those two aren't really doing their 'job' at the moment."

Christina smiled at his resolve and the two began moving away from the scene with each of their respective significant other and once again jumped into the job of advertising their work and make it sound interesting and not at all as horrible as it really was.

The long thin barrel twirled around the edge of the gun until the click sound came and confirmed that it was properly attached to the gun. Then he found a empty plastic bottle and filled it with steel wool, making a good example of a homemade silencer, and tapped the bottle on the longer and thinner barrel.

This was the perfect opportunity to do it. With so any people around there was no way they would be able to figure out what happened before it was too late. Even though there were cops around they wouldn't discover the truth. After all no matter how much they advertised and promoted their work he knew the real truth. Dauntless Police Department wouldn't know what hit them, not even if it was written in plain view. Cops at Dauntless PD were incompetent and rambunctious based on what he had seen and read about them. If they did indeed stumble into his plan then it might as well be a test for them to see if they truly were as good as they claimed to be. This might be a lot more interesting than what he main goal was. So if the police was as good as they said they were, then good luck to them.

Talking to Will proved to be a lot more exhaustion than what Tris had first anticipated once she finally brought herself to talk about everything that she had on the chest. All the hurt and pain she had bottled up inside just exploded and once she was done explaining and talking about it she told him she was going to go out to get some air to clear her head. Fortunately he didn't argue or try and convince her to bring him along. She loved the man like a brother, but she preferred her own company at the moment.

So she went outside by the main entrance and breathed in the fresh air. Although she shivered from the cold and the lack of warmth from her clothing she felt more calm and relaxed for the first time in the last two days. And the wind began sweeping her long blond hair, making it almost dance in the wind that made her oddly enough smile.

"Strange how it is the little things that makes me smile," She mumbled to herself as she caught a long lock of her hair and put it behind her ear. "Yet it is the big things that breaks my heart…"

She sighed heavily and closed her eyes before reopen them a minute later. It was time for her to return or else she was going to get an earful from Eric or worse from Four himself. And honestly she wasn't in the mood to deal with that, and besides being reprimanded by your boyfriend is not exactly a good conversation starter in order to repair the damage that has been done.

However just as she came to the same conclusion was about to head back when she heard something heavy fall down on the ground. Curious, she headed behind the building from where she had heard the sound. When she turned the corner of the building she was shocked to what she found lying on the green grass. It was a body of an elderly man in his late fifties, but the difference from most bodies laying on the ground this one was not breathing. This might be a jump to conclusion situation, but she couldn't imagine any other explanation for it for the lifelessness. So when she leaned over to check the man's pulse it only confirmed what she already suspected. This man was dead. And if that wasn't enough to convince her then there was the whole bullet hole to the chest issue that pretty much stated the same.

"This is bad," Tris said to no one but herself. She turned around to see there was anyone else besides her lurking around, but quickly deduced that she was alone. However she had to do something about this body. Being limited to places where she could actually keep her keys and phone with her, since she didn't like to carry a purse both on regular basis and special occasions like this, she had to be creative to where she could keep her stuff. So she had attached them to a leather belt around her right tight, which was hidden underneath the skirt of her dress. Anyways she removed the phone from the belt and pressed speed dial 1 and waited. Seconds later the one on the other line answered and she went straight to the point, "Before you start saying anything. We have a problem outside. Bring Will and Christina with you. We might need their help with this."

Then she hung up the phone and waited for them to show up and so that they could figure out what exactly happened with this man.

He had been shocked that Tris had called him even though they weren't that far from each other, but he was completely speechless when he, Will and Christina came outside to see why Tris had gathered them in the first place.

"What the hell happened?" Four exclaimed surprised, only to receive an annoyed glare from Tris as she hissed a response, "Will you keep it down? It would be terrible if everyone at the party found out about this and created a huge panicle scene. What is worst it might actually give the supposed killer the opportunity to slip away, making it so much harder to catch him. So do us all a favor and shut your mouth unless you don't have anything intelligent to say."

Taken back by her annoyed answer, Four did what she said and shut his mouth. Despite their personal issues they had a job to do and causing a huge scene about this definitely wasn't going to help them the slightest. Hopefully they would be able to figure out about this quickly before the other guests discovered the news about the dead man outside.

Four turned his gaze on Christina who in turn was leaning over the body, examining it in order to deduce whether this was a homicide or a suicide. The dark-haired woman looked up at the three of them minutes later and said bluntly, "Initial examination is that this man was murdered. Taking him back to the morgue would only give more proof of that when I'm cutting him up. There is no gunshot residue on his hands that would indicate this was a suicide, hence why I'm sticking to homicide until we have evidence that says otherwise."

They all nodded and Tris went down next to her and pointed out, "What is this stuff over his body and on the ground?"

Careful not to touch it, since they didn't have gloves to gather the evidence and it would only compromise it if they took them without gloves, he recognized the texture almost immediately, "It looks like steel wool and that other stuff around him might be plastic."

"From a homemade silencer?" Tris guessed. "Then there was no coincidence that this man was killed like Christina determined. This man was murdered. The only questions now are who and why someone would do something like this?"

Four nodded and turned his gaze to Will and asked, "Do we have an ID on this guy? Was he part of the guest list for the party or was he just a person walking by?"

"This guy must be with the party, just look at how nice he is dressed. That suit must have cost a lot," Christina said, figures that she was the one who would come to that opinion. She was the only one here who seemed to know and care about fashion and etc. And it seems like Will agreed with his girlfriend on that notion, "Makes sense. I will take a picture and ask around the party, someone has to know whom he is. While I'm there I will also notify Eric and the higher ups about this. They would want to know and try to keep this contained as long as possible."

Will took up his phone, took a quick picture before he ran back inside to do what he told them he was doing, leaving the three of them alone with an awkward and uncomfortable tension hanging in the air that could smoother someone to death. Personal issues aside, this tension between him, Tris and Christina was definitely not good. They needed to work together, and actually have a good work-relationship should they have a chance to figure this out; otherwise their relationship problems would be the least of their problems.

"How long will it take for the morgue techs and the CSU to get here?" Four asked in attempt to ignore the underlining issue. Christina gave an estimate time to which he nodded his head and then turned his gaze on Tris, "And do you think that they can somehow keep what is going on quiet?"

Tris thought about it for a second before she shook her head. Exactly what he thought to. No matter how much they would try to keep things under the wraps something this big was bound to blow up somewhere or another. The best thing they could do was to try and do their job as usual, at the same time keep working from their current location. All witnesses, suspects and everything above were here at the scene, so they would just have to work around it somehow. Besides they couldn't afford letting a possible killer slip away under a huge gathering like this with guests who was sponsoring the police department.

He sighed heavily before he folded his arms and reached to a decision, "Okay, Christina you call everybody down here and continue doing what we usually do."

Christina nodded and began making the phone calls; meanwhile Tris stood up and asked directly, "What about you and me?"

"We have a couple of suspects to inform and interrogate about," He smirked before he turned and began heading back to the building. "Also we need to check and make sure no one leaves before we talks to them."
She didn't say anything, but he figured that she agreed to his notion since she was usually quick to argue if she didn't agree to it. It didn't take long before she was walking next to him on their path back to the party. It was then he realized how little clothing she actually had and she was probably cold from standing outside for so long. Without saying anything, he took of his suit jacket and put it over her shoulders. She froze the moment she felt the warm fabric hanging over her shoulders and she looked up at him with a peculiar expression, "What's this for?"

Figuring she was smart enough to understand the sentiment behind his actions he continued to walk without explaining or saying anything else. Tris stood there and looked at him for a while, almost like she was questioning whether she was going to accept his gesture or not, but she must have come to resolution since said quietly, "Thank you."

Then she came up to side once again and they went inside to face the music as the saying went.

If there was one thing Tris was reluctant to admit then it was the fact that Lieutenant Coulter or Eric was one scary demon behind that fancy tailored suit. The man sure could yell and scream like a banshee over the fact that she specifically couldn't let leave things alone and just had to find a dead body during an important event like this that was relevant to the future finances for the police department. So if the man didn't like her before, which he didn't for several reasons, then he most definitely didn't do it now and probably never going to either.

After she and Four spend was seemed like a lifetime alone in a room with Eric, being reprimanded and ordered to keep this things quiet and by keeping quiet he actually meant that we were not to disturb the guests unnecessary and reveal such unpleasant news at this time. In other words we were being limited in the space of our work and that the main priority was to keep the knowledge of the murder tight-lipped until further evidence proves that the killer was among the party guests. So our work became a lot harder. They left to catch up to Will and what exactly he had found out. It didn't take long to find him and they found solitude to talk in the empty hallways away from the main room where the event was taking place.

"What did you find out?" Four jumped right on the gun. Probably anxious to solve this since we were pretty much given or should she rather say pressured a time period to solve the case. Will shrugged and pulled out a few tugged post-it notes from his pocket, "Not much. Our victim was a retired member of the council, Mr. Russell 'Russ' Nakamura. Used to represent and lead the Candor party before the current leader Jack Kang took over."

"Any bad relations between the two?"

Will shook his head, "No, it seems like it was a mutual agreement and continued to have a good relationship after Jack Kang took over his seat."

She remained in the background, listening to the conversation between Four and Will and then did her own thinking over what their next move would be. It was a common knowledge that the spouse did it, so it was obvious to suspect the potential spouse or significant other, which is she asked, "Do we know if the victim was married or in a relationship? And if so is that person here?"

Four and Will looked at her, almost like they had forgotten that she was even there, but it was probably a given things since sometimes boys would just get caught up in their own space and forget everything around them. However that didn't mean she appreciated to be threated as such or would stand by and take it either.

"Yeah, his wife is here. Patti Nakamura," Will replied, in a sort of caught of guard manner. "However I talked around and witnesses confirm that she was seen talking with people representing the local hospital in Erudite. Even though we don't have a estimated time of death, everyone I talked to claimed that she hasn't been left alone or managed to sneak away to possibly kill her husband."

Four nodded while having a facial expression that told her that he was in deep thoughts before he responded rationally, "Still we can't rule out she isn't involved either. She could have hired a hit-man to kill her husband."

Will couldn't disagreed with that, even though he asked straight-forwardly, "I will get a warrant for their financials and try and see if I can't get one for their phone records too. Who knows maybe there is something there that might be worth looking into?"

She and Four agreed and Will was just about to head back to the station and get started on his job on that end when Four remembered something and added, "Oh yeah, Zeke and Uriah should still be on shift so ask them for assistance. We shall try and make an online connection with them as soon we find an available portable pad or a computer so we can communicate through."

"Okay," Will said and began running before he stopped, apparently realizing something important and turned back and continued saying, "Wait…Zeke and Uriah is still at the station. Why? Their usual shift should have been long over by now and be home with Shauna and Marlene. So what gives?"

Four frowned in annoyance, obviously knowing the reason why and was currently embarrassed to be voicing it in the first place. He ran a hand through his hair and said annoyed, "Those two have sort of been at each other's throats the last two days and unfortunately was caught by Eric, who decided that their punishment was to work overtime and do evidence inventory. However I'm sure that jerk will be okay that we pull them away for this, especially since we have to do this and downplay the whole operation, and besides Zeke and Uriah would probably be thanking you for taking them out from doing boring their minds off."
There was no point in explaining why Zeke and Uriah was currently hitting a rough patch with each other, since it was obvious that it had something to do with what happened to days ago with her and Four. Uriah, her loyal partner had taken her side and was furious at both Zeke and Four for hiding the case they were working on from her. Zeke was doing the same for Four, even though he had confessed to her that he agreed with her on that he should have told her before, but didn't see the point in continuing fighting about it since the damage was already done and it was time to move on. She would have agreed with that if things had been that easy, but despite her difficulty moving on Uriah had refused and wouldn't let up on the matter. Normally she would have appreciated the gesture, however she felt bad over how it affected the relationship between the two brothers who were so close and now could barely be in the same room without arguing with each other. Uriah promised that once things got settled with the whole issue he and his brother would forgive and make up and that she shouldn't worry about it. Unfortunately she was worried about it since she didn't want to drag and get more people caught into the whole issue between her and Four.

Nevertheless now wasn't the time to worry about that when they had a murder on their hands. So Will left, leaving her to fend for herself against Four who may or may not be tempted to bring up their relationship issues. Thankfully his phone rang and he answered it simple and direct. He listened for a moment before he turned his attention on her.

"It's Christina. Wait a second…let me put you on speaker," Four pushed the button. "Okay. Go ahead and tell us what you know."

Christina must be already back at the morgue and doing the autopsy since she wouldn't be calling them if she was just outside. Back to the point, Christina began explaining her findings, "Just as I suspected. The victim was murdered by gunshot from a 9 mm bullet, which is consistent to a caliber for a common handgun. And I also estimate time of the death to be around half hour till an hour ago."

"That early?" Four looked shocked. "How can that be?"

Christina sighed, "The bullet wound was still warm from the weapon and the body temperature haven't dropped much."

Tris realized something as she listened and said sort of agitated, "Wait, you said the murder weapon was a handgun. But that can mean that the killer we are looking for might be a cop here at the party, since some of the cops here actually carries their gun on them."

This was bad. This was really bad. It was one thing to look for a killer, but it was a totally different story if the killer happened to be a cop. It wouldn't matter if they were right or wrong about it because the minute to start to look at that angle you will be fighting not only time and a killer, but also the entire police department.

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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.

I have been having some issues with the site up until recently. The view and statistics count seemed to be frozen stiff, so I couldn't see how many people read my stories. As much as it frustrated me it was the only way I knew that you guys loved and cared about this story were if you review, favorite and/or follow.

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

xXrebelgirl07Xx