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[MARCUS]
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It didn't take any more than five minutes, not a second more, to find her after the show. She was by the rundown liquor store where they met the night before. Once more in the position he had found her. The river was flowing.
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"Cassie." He called out to her.
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She didn't respond. He reached out to her but she suddenly jerked away from him.
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He withdrew his hand and instead went on to lean against the wall of the liquor store. It was pouring lightly.
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"Who would have guessed that you had a bird for a voice?" He cracked open smiled.
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"Stop pestering me and go away." She snapped back at him.
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"I would. If only you had put a little more clothes on." He came round and knelt by her feet in the rain. "Tell you what. If you get out of the rain, I'll stop bothering you."
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She started sniffing and wiping her face against her knees.
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They were at his apartment. He went into his bedroom and got her a dry towel, a black shirt and a grey pair of sweatpants. As soon as he turned to face her she had stripped down to her lingerie, and for the second time that day, Marcus was caught off guard. Her figure was even more defined than he had anticipated.
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"If you need to change, the bathroom's over there." Marcus tried not to stare.
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"Afraid you'll fall in love?" Cassie slowly walked over to him, eyes locked onto his and her movement as graceful as a cat. Her prominent curves swung to either side with every step she took closer to him, like a pendulum displaced sideways from its resting equilibrium position. It was...hypnotic.
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"Something like that." Marcus managed to momentarily break from her spellbinding figure and reply.
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"Well, don't fall in love. Because everything that falls gets broken."
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She got the clothes he was holding and slowly walked passed him towards the bathroom doorway where she briefly stood, tilting her head slightly to the side and turning to give Marcus one last seductive look before closing the door.
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Marcus suddenly realised that he was holding his breath as he slowly began to exhale. He needed some coffee.
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She sat on the chair by the balcony staring out into the drizzling night sky, coffee mug in hand. She had some bruises on her face. He knew he shouldn't have asked.
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"Why do you do what you do?"
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She kept silent for a moment. Still gazing at the rain form the balcony window. "To survive."
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"Well, Riverside is about to go through a metamorphosis. If you want to survive, I'd suggest you leave the first chance you get."
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"And go where?" She turned her head sharply to face him, slowly turning back towards the window. "There is no other place for people like us. Riverside, a city full of money, power, violence, corruption...this...this is the ultimate gathering point for the criminal underworld. You could say that this is a criminal's paradise. But for the rest of us, this city is a nightmare. One wrong misstep and the city will swallow you whole."
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She looked beyond the balcony onto the street below and saw the busy night life as figures walked and ran through the rain leaving splashes and ripples where the water had accumulated. There was much to see. Working girls, dealers dealing, gangs roaming, pubs hosting, the city lights. Ah, the lights. They were a dream within in a dream. They gave off some sort of beauty in all this madness, and maybe, a little bit of hope.
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"So this is what it looks like from a bird's eye view." Cassie motioned for Marcus to come over and have a look. He walked over and leaned on the frame next to her. "Bet you've seen this a thousand times."
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"I've had my fill of it." Marcus replied.
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"Us." Cassie started, leaning in close to Marcus' face side by side both staring into the abyss below. "The little people, trying to find our way in this gutter. There is no solace above or below, only us, small, solitary, striving, perpetually battling one another."
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"You're a philosopher now?" Marcus half cracked a smile.
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"I can be smart when I need to." She teasingly nudged his shoulder with hers. "And this rain, I hate the rain."
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"What's there to hate?" Marcus kept staring into the space. His thoughts began to wonder, briefly reminiscing his own origin in this city.
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Cassie turned to face him, staring deeply at his gaze. "It reminds us of our filth. That we are the rear end of civilization. Nobody knows, nobody cares, no one will come and save us."
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Marcus' eyes slowly lit up, as though finally remembering his true purpose. "Then we'll save ourselves." He turned to face Cassie. Both of their eyes were now locked into each other's gaze.
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She suddenly leaned in and her lips caught his, igniting an innate desire in both to find pleasure and comfort within each other's embrace. The kiss turned into lust, lust turned into hate, hate turned into desire, and desire into passion. The cycle was complete.
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They both ran their hands through each other's clothes seeking intimacy, the bare skin upon the other. Her curves aroused him, his physic seduced her. They were now locked in an endless desire of fantasy, her moans echoing through the walls, his groans steadying pace, and the rain remained constant.
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[LUKA]
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"Morning Luka." Ruth called out to her.
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Ruth was one of the clerks in the station that handled some of the basic financial transactions, preparing calendars, and scheduling appointments including sorting, filing, copying, and distributing citations, police reports, and other documents. She was the blood that flowed in the station's veins.
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Like an ancient mythical sea monster finally awakened from its deep slumber, Luka slowly emerged from the pile of files and documents spread all across her desk. Her eyes were heavy and felt like they were attached to a pair of anchors. Her arms didn't fair any better as they were numb, most likely from the bad posture she had when she had fallen asleep the night before.
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"Hey Ruth, please tell me that you've got coffee?"
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"Right here." She handed her the cup she was holding but Luka did not make any motion to receive it.
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"Uhmmm...just give me a second will ya, my arms are having a bit of a slow reboot."
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"Sure, I'll just leave it..." Ruth scanned through Luka's desk for an opening, "...here." She pushed aside some of the files at the corner of the table to create space.
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"What time is it?"
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"09:15. And you've got a meeting coming up at 09:30 with a Mr. James Rhodes from the NPA."
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"What? Wh-why?"
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"He says its regarding the Chen case."
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"Oh terrific." Luka remarked sarcastically. "And why wasn't I told sooner?"
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"We tried notifying you on your line but couldn't get through."
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Luka turned to her desktop telephone and realised that it was off the hook.
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"Oh." She stared at it a few more seconds daring not to make eye contact with Ruth. "I... must have knocked it over while I was sleep."
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"Detective Quinn?" Just then a voice suddenly came from behind Ruth.
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A man stepped into view and walked over to Luka's desk. He was tall, broad shouldered, dressed in a navy blue suit, white shirt coupled with a diagonally stripped grey and black necktie. The way he held his coat over his right arm gave off a peek into his physic, he definitely worked out.
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"That's me."
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"Hi I'm James, James Rhodes."
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Lord have mercy. He had a perfect jawline too.
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"I believe we have an appointment?"
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"Y-yeah, I believe we do." Luka paused a moment as she assessed the status of her desk. "You know what, why don't I meet you in the conference room." She turned towards Ruth sending her a quick SOS morse code with her eyes. "Ruth, would you please show Mr. Rhodes to the conference room?"
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Ruth read her signal. "Sure, right this way Mr. Rhodes." She began guiding him away.
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"Please, call me James."
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"Sorry about that, I had a bit of a slow morning." Luka entered the conference room to a seated James.
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"Not a problem. I hope you don't mind but I'd rather hit the ground running."
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"Go for it." Luka settled down into her chair.
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"The Director of Public Prosecution has appointed me as the lead attorney in the Chen case, and we're trying to ensure that we build a solid foundation against the culprit.
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"Well from what I've read in the papers it seems like you already got your hands full."
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"You mean Goma?" James scoffed, "He's just a means to an end."
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"Is that how you treat all the accused?"
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"Hey! You bring them in and we clear them out, we are all doing our jobs here." James took a deep breath and settled down whilst gently rubbing his forehead. "I think we're getting a bit off tangent."
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"It's your meeting."
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James summoned all the calm nerves he could muster. "I think we got off on the wrong foot here. I came here because we can help each other out on the Chen case."
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"Oh really?" Luka folded her arms and leaned back into her chair slightly tilting her head to the side. "What did you have in mind?"
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"Well, for starters I can help ensure that your people don't go too far in bending the rules in the course of interrogating potential suspects."
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"With all due respect Mr. Rhodes, I think we know how to do our job."
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"I'm sure you're all doing God's work here, but if we want to be able to ensure that these guys don't walk away, I need to ascertain that there are no breaches of protocol or judges' rules." He leaned forward. "It recently came to my attention that the manner in which the statement made by Vinny Goma was obtained was by means of duress."
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"I wasn't there during the interrogation."
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"Well that's quite comforting." James replied sarcastically, "Let me start by saying that whatever went on during that interrogation has tainted the admissibility of Vinny Goma's statement and may be struck out by the judge come trial date. And right now, we need all the cards in our hands."
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She remained silent.
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"Look, I didn't come here to point fingers. I'm just here to make sure that our case is airtight from the moment suspects are brought in for questioning. Let us save ourselves the time and trouble, we're on the same side."
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Luka unfolded her arms. "I'm guessing you'd want to have a look at the files then?"
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"I'd very much appreciate that." James replied with a smile.
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