The next morning Amanda arrived at the precinct. The first thing she wanted to do was find Henry’s office and learn what the forensics managed to discover. She had no desire to see Brian whatsoever. The only thing they did when they were together was trading insults. If (or, rather, when, because it can’t be avoided) she sees him, she will give him the cold shoulder. He deserves it! But on the other hand, it’s such childish behaviour! She should be an adult and make the first step. But she is a woman! True, that moron doesn’t know what courtesy is, but he should know the basic etiquette!
“Well, I guess I will use silent treatment on all his apologies if there are any, and I will be very detached in a conversation. After all, we’re bound to talk about the case. Petty squabbles shouldn’t get in the way”, she thought.
Having made up her mind, she parked and exited the car. As luck would have it, her heel caught in the pothole and she almost twisted her ankle. She should have definitely put on sneakers, not these stupid stilettos!
“Do you need any help?”, a commiserative manly voice appeared behind her back.
Not again! Why is it always like that?!
Amanda sharply wheeled around. Brian was standing in front of her wearing a shy smile.
“He is smiling? At me? I should pick up my jaw off the ground!
“Hey…You know, I think yesterday we both… I went off the deep end and you probably got very offended… I just wanted to tell you that you are not a spoiled brat. You have your faults, but they are not as horrible as I described. And I'm sorry if I made you feel unimportant and useless”.
Amanda couldn’t believe her ears. A sincere apology from Brian! Not cheeky or cliched, but a sincere one! What will come next? Will the hell freeze over?
“Say something! Otherwise, he’ll close off again and turn into a pumpkin!”
“Thank you, Brian. Your words yesterday were indeed very rude but you also opened my eyes to some things. Consider yourself forgiven”, she smiled. Of course, he didn’t open her eyes to anything, she said it to make his apology seem more important to him. Let him think he did her a favor.
Brian nodded. It was part of the plan to get her to trust him more but at the same time, her forgiveness was also important to him. He really messed up yesterday.
“Let’s go to the lab. Experts found something and it will be better if they show it. Chemistry is not my forte. What I can tell you is that now we know how the victims died”.
“Really?! That’s fantastic news!”
Excited, Amanda threw her bag on her shoulder and nudged Brian:
“Lead the way!”
****
Sean and Emma were waiting for Brian and Amanda. That girl was very punctual. She said she would come around 9 am an Brian noticed her car at 8:45.
“He seemed nervous”, Emma thought, “it’s not like him. I wonder if she is the reason for that”, she smiled at her thoughts, “although, maybe it’s because he hates lying but he will have to, according to the order.”
Due to the nature of her job, Brian often visited her lab, so after a certain period of time he became like a son to her. Well, not only him, there’s also Ben from the K9 unit, Leslie from cybercrime… They were almost like relatives at this point. And it filled the void that appeared in her soul after she had learnt that she would never become a mother herself.
“Are you daydreaming, darling?”, her husband appeared out of nowhere.
“Just lost in thoughts”.
“Judging by your eyes, you weren’t thinking about how to build up the new formula”, he chuckled good-naturedly, “are you slacking?”
“You know me too well”.
“Well, we’ve been married for so long…”
“It’s very tactless of you to remind me of my age!”, Emma jokingly slapped his wrist.
“Goodness, I’m so sorry”, Sean pressed his hand to his heart, “what should I do to make it right for you?”
“A chocolate bar and a cappuccino would be a good start…”
“What an angel you are!”
Squatting in front of his wife, he kissed her hands and ran off to the cafeteria. Emma laughed. She loved their silly bickering. However, this one was also practical. They really haven’t eaten a crumb the whole morning.
At this moment, Brian and Amanda came in.
“Oh, hello, good morning!”
“Hello, Mrs. Lloyd, how are you? Brian said you and Mr. Lloyd had made a breakthrough. Oh, and where is he?”
“He went out to get coffee, he’ll be back soon enough. By the way, have you had breakfast?”
“Yes, I have.Why?”
“It’s just I will show you the body, and…”
“Don’t worry, I have a strong stomach”, Amanda laughed.
“Very well, then”, Emma said, giving both of them medical face masks and gloves, “so, here’s the yesterday’s victim, Nigel Malisson. Here you can see the tattoo. But if you look closer”, she gave Amanda her magnifying glass, “you’ll be able to see a small trace of injection. Here, on the phoenix’s tail”.
Amanda examined the tattoo. Indeed, there was a tiny spot on the skin, almost hidden by the layer of paint.
“Wow”, she said, “so this is the secret behind the tattoos. Our killer is not insane after all”.
“I wouldn’t call anyone who kills without reason sane”, Brian remarked, “you rich mafia folks just don’t value human lives much…”, he caught himself having noticed Amanda looking at him, “I’m sorry”.
“Let’s not start pointless debates”, Emma brushed him off, “the main thing is that you can stop searching the mental asylums”.
“Damn, I only had one left”, Brian groaned, “that’s just Murphy’s Law”.
“Mrs Lloyd”, Amanda turned the conversation back to the point, “what is the substance that killed them? Why couldn’t you find it in the blood before?”
“Call me Emma. Unfortunately, the formula is unknown. Neither I nor Sean can read it. Besides, it’s incomplete”.
“Oh, that’s too bad. So, this is the dead end after all?”
“Not exactly”, Brian said, “you gave me an idea with your asylums, Emma”.
“Hey, they’re not mine!”, the woman burst out laughing.
“I’ll go to the archives. Amanda, they are only for the police officers but I could arrange a pass for you. If you would like to join me, that is.”
“Ummm, I think it’s a good idea, I’ll come with you”, Amanda’s eyes shined with interest, “when will it be ready?”
“It will materialize in your hands in 3, 2, 1…”
Just when Brian said “one”, in the doorway appeared Sean holding a tray with coffee, sandwiches and chocolates. Everyone burst out laughing.
“Here’s your pass”, chuckling, Brian pointed at Sean, “ask him nicely and maybe he will grant your wish!”
Amanda giggled. Sean looked around the room blankly.
“What’s going on here?”
“Nothing, we’re already leaving”, Amanda said, tugging at Brian’s arm, “enjoy your meal”.
They left the laboratory.
“What was that? Do I have something on my face?”
“No, that was an inside joke, I’ll tell you some other time”.
“I’ll hold you to that. So, have you told her what you were supposed to?”
“Yes, I have. Then Brian got the brilliant idea to spend the day in the dusty archives and dragged Amanda with him.”
Emma took her coffee.
“Oh, what an aroma! Just what I need right now!”
“It didn’t look that way to me”, Sean said, taking his own cup, “more like she was urging him on to go somewhere.”
“Their relationship is complicated. Kids these days…”
“Yeah, not like us at all.”
“Definitely, we are one of a kind”.
“You know, Sean”, she said after some silence, “I was reminiscing about our service in this precinct, about people we met, about our first cases etc. And I remembered Liz Kelly, Brian’s partner from 2 years ago. She died during one of the arrest operations”.
“Yeah, I remember her, too. That was a confusing and perplexing story, I must say. I think even Henry doesn’t know everything. Brian has never had a partner again. I heard he and Liz were close.”
“Huh, I wonder what happened back then”, Emma muttered thoughtfully.
“Well, let’s stop gossiping like old ladies”, Sean said cheerfully and put his cup on the tray.
“What was that about my age again?”
“Nothing, my queen, just saying that you are very observant and make all the right conclusions about people!”
“That’s better”, Emma smiled and kissed her husband, “let’s get to work, we have a lot to do!”
****
Eighth Wonder nightclub. One of the first Capianos' entreprises. Would be a perfect place to bring another poor soul. But would they be poor? They will die blissfully unaware of their approaching end. Painless death. What could be more beautiful? Throwing the last glance at the dancing people, Nocturnal Phoenix finished his drink and left his booth.
****
Brian led Amanda to Henry’s office.
“Wait here, I have to talk to Captain about you”.
“Alright”, Amanda said before sitting on a chair and taking out her phone, “I need to make some calls anyway, might as well make the most of my time”.
Brian shrugged and entered the office. The same moment Amanda discreetly looked at the glass wall leading to Henry’s office. She was still holding her phone, so even if Brian or Captain turned to look at her, they would think she was busy.
“What is it, Davis? I haven’t called you”, Henry said without turning his head from the computer. He was reading the 50th report for this morning and his head was ready to burst from all the information.
“Captain, I’m going to the archives and I would like to take Amanda with me, so if you could issue a pass…”
“Have you finally lost your mind?!”, Henry shouted, “you want to take a Capiano to the heart of our PD? Do you even remember what we discussed yesterday?!”
“I’ll be watching her, sir, and we only need access to one section…”
“No! No, absolutely not! Go there alone, only our people can enter our archives!”
Henry was actively gesticulating. His body language spoke volumes. She’s out of luck, the trip to the archives is cancelled. No way Brian will go against his boss. He’s too righteous, always follows the rules. A good quality for a cop, sure, but too frustrating at times. Amanda sighed. She would be lying if she said she was surprised. Brian suggestion seemed too good to be true.
The door opened. Brian exited and headed towards her. He sat down next to her.
“Sorry, the boss is against my idea. You’d better go”.
“Well, too bad. Well, I have things to do, anyway. Have fun at the archives.”
She left clicking her heels on the floor. Brian winced. Those sounds were making his head throb. Nevertheless, his plan worked. Maybe it wasn’t nice to make his boss look like a tyrant but now Amanda will think that Brian tried his best and wanted to spend time with her. He knew Henry would flatly refuse to issue a pass for Amanda. So to her he would be a knight in a shining suit anyway. He just got unlucky. At least, Brian hoped Amanda would think that way.
He headed to the ground floor. He will be stuck there for quite a while. As much as he hated to admit, Capianos gave a lot of money on equipment, repairs and renovation. The archive was not a dusty coffin with no air and rows of unlisted cases in cardboard boxes. Now it looked more like a modern library, with computers and e-catalogues. There was a basement, though. For emergencies such as lockdown or electricity issues. All paper versions were kept there. But despite all this convenience, Brian hated the archive. Revising thousands of pages made him physically ill. All those faces, evidence, interrogation reports… But it must have been done. He felt that he would find something crucial there. Something that would set them on the right track. Something that would help catch Nocturnal Phoenix. Something that would get this nightmare to stop. He resolutely pushed the elevator button.11Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2JIvsZKTC9
