When she went through the file, Arielle felt as if this case is going to be a turning point in her life. If she would've known that the turning point she faced was something that destroyed her complete world, she might have reconsidered touching it. Well, that's a lie. Nobody can stop her once she sets her mind on something or when her interest is piqued. This case did both.
The way the murder took place is a mystery of its own while the evidence and suspect list was the main reason she took it. One suspect actually made it all.
Everybody knew Carl Thompson. He was a notorious criminal in L.A and New York and that was four years ago. He disappeared suddenly, throwing the police and detectives working on finding him in a dilemma. Many rumours spread out, both in the normal society and the underworld of Carl being dead or worse, murdered. Some said he fled because he was busted and some fools even tried to justify that Carl was defeated.
The great Carl Thompson, who used his actual name and not some made up one in the underworld and who was considered to be the god of the underworld was defeated? Complete bullshit and Arielle damn well knew it. And hence when she saw the name Carl Thompson on the suspect list, she immediately took up the case. She understood why her parents would worry but her interest was piqued and nobody can do shit about it.
She did not tell her parents when she's coming back and Arielle felt bad about it. Knowing her parents would worry too much if she did not even call, she called to tell them that she reached safely and will let them know when she's coming back. Her parents, who she knew would accept, also told her to stay in California for as long as she wants. She knew it was regarding the case and wanted to know if her mother made any new developments. She also knew that without help from her mother, she cannot solve this case.
The time to let them know about her other self came but Arielle hesitated. 'Things will never be the way they were if I do this' she thought and finally chickened out. At that time she didn't know that her decision would come to bite her back in the future.
She went back to the hotel to make the call to her parents and decided to take some rest before going back to the case the next morning. Though she was tired from the sleepless nights and continuous monitoring of the rest of the suspects, Arielle could not sleep properly. She tossed and turned the whole night, her mind still going through the list of suspects and their routines she observed the past week. After unsuccessfully sleeping for three hours, wide awake, she got up from the hotel bed. Scratching her neck, a habit she has had from childhood whenever she's confused, Arielle went out for a walk after picking up a black jacket with a hood to cover the thin material of her pyjamas. She wore glasses to cover her face up and also had her hood up while walking. She didn't really have an idea as to where she wanted to go. She started walking in the opposite direction of the construction site, well aware that the area around the murder area is filled with people who are considered 'bad' in the society she's from. Although trained in basic self-defence and shooting, she did not have a weapon on her. The gun was back in the hotel room and that was when she realised she made a mistake not taking it out from the secret compartment in her duffle bag.
Arielle walked towards a bar but she knew she would not go in, for she had no proper clothing or any interest to mingle with people, let alone drunk people. She changed directions and started walking into the lane that is two lanes away from the bar, towards a park. Looking at the small wall that could be easily climbed even by a kid, she entered the park and sat on a swing. She remembered how her father took her to parks whenever he was free. She used to swing until she was satisfied and her father used to push the swing for as long as she wanted. A smile formed on her red, not too thin or too thick lips as she remembered her father's laugh and her mother's scowl when they both were back with muddy clothes.
A rustle nearby grabbed her attention and the smile disappeared immediately. She looked around but could not find anything. Thinking that it was an animal but knowing it was not, she made her way out of the park the same way she entered. She retraced her steps back to the hotel, planning on checking out the next morning and going to another hotel near the beach. A whisper of something caught her ears when she finally opened the door of her hotel room. Ignoring the goosebumps on her skin and the hair that stood behind her neck, she continued into the room. After shutting the door and making sure that nothing was missing from her room, she made her way to the bed, only to find a small piece of paper that read 'A' in a red substance, which upon sniffing up, she identified as blood.
She took a cotton swab and dabbed on the note, making sure some of the blood was absorbed and then placed the cotton and the note in two different plastic zip locks. She sent a text to Matt in their code language that they created when they were in college dealing with their first case together, asking him to meet her on the beach to collect samples. As usual, there is no response since giving a response would mean that the information is leaked and they are in danger.
She packed all the necessities and the things she unpacked whilst checking for bugs in the room. After completing the packing, she went back to bed, a little tired from the walk and packing, this time she was out like a light. She was oblivious to the presence of a shadow near the hotel, having a direct view of her balcony, or so they thought.