"So, what made you want to join this corrupted ass force?"
Turning the heat up in his car, Pierre sits back and turns to Kazimir.
"My sister. She was murdered by her boyfriend, but his parents paid the law enforcement of this city to not give him jail time. He died by suicide a couple years back, but I vowed to myself that I'd do something about this judgement system."
Pierre chuckles, pressing on the gas as the light turns green.
"You and what army?"
"Pardon?" Kazimir asks with a raised brow.
"The law system here is so corrupt to the point you wish you had some type of army." Pierre replies, sighing. "But I wish you good luck, it definitely won't be easy."
Pulling into the restaurant's parking lot, the two men step out of the car and enter the fancy looking building.
"What about you? How'd you end up with this job?" Kazimir asks, grabbing a menu from the waitress.
Handing his menu back to the young girl, Pierre turns forward.
"How about you order first and then I'll tell you?"
Ordering something random, the rookie detective thanks the woman, before turning back inside the booth.
"When I was seven, my parents moved from America to France where my dad was originally from. I grew up there, for about 7 years, often getting into trouble." Pierre explains.
Taking his drink from the waitress, he continues.
"At age 14, my friends and I hotwired a car for the fun of it. Rode around, not caring about the speed we were going at, until we crashed. It was, uh, fatal to say the least. Three people died in total, two of my friends that were upfront and the other—my dad who was on his way home from work."
Kazimir slightly raises his brows before quickly lowering them.
"After that, my mom and I moved back to her home country, Colombia, where she remarried. As for me, I started selling cocaine as a way to get fast cash and wouldn't come home some nights due to rivalries with other gangs."
He takes a bite of his food, nodding at how delicious it was.
"This would make my stepdad angry and we often fought, but I was only trying to keep my mom safe. One day, I came home from school, only to see my mom lying face down on the kitchen floor, in a puddle of blood."
Pierre grips his glass and takes a sip of the cool drink.
"He knew how much I loved her and the bastard's excuse was that he put her out of her "own misery" because of me. So out of anger, I simply beat him to death. Went back to France for a short while to clear my head, then came here and joined this pathetic job. Can't say I'm happy with life, but eh, better than nothing."
Kazimir blinks a couple of times before snapping back into reality.
"Sorry to hear all of that."
Pierre shrugs and his phone begins to ring.
"Richano speaking."
Watching from the other side of the table, Kazimir listens as the man talks to whoever was on the other line.
"Really? Alright, alright, I'll be there shortly."
He hangs up and sets the phone in his lap, throwing a wad of cash on the table.
"Alright now, Kazimir. You ready for your first case?"
--- 8:17 P.M. ---
"Damn this place is huge!"
Staring back at the two men was a large house, a place where only the wealthy could afford to live.
Suddenly, a loud voice rings out into the night air.
"Richano, quit goofing around! Over here, there's work to be done!" a man yells.
"Gimme a minute, I'll be right there!" Pierre screams back.
"Uh, I don't mean to interrupt or anything, but I really need to get back to my apartment. It's getting late." Kazimir says, looking up at the house.
Pierre shrugs.
"Yeah, I know. But for now, you got two choices; stay here and help with the case or go wait in the car."
"I don't think waiting is- HEY! DON'T LEAVE NOW!"
"LIKE I SAID, TWO CHOICES!" Pierre yells back.
Groaning, Kazimir walks back to Pierre's car.
"He calls himself a detective, but can't even detect that I need to get home."
Pulling on the passenger door's handle, he raises a brow and groans.
"It's locked? I bet he did this on purpose too, dirty bastard."
Sliding down the car's door and landing on the cold pavement, Kazimir checks his phone.
"Nothing new as usual."
Wasting time on social media, he suddenly hears something rustle in the bushes in front of him.
"Huh? Maybe I should check it out, I don't have much to do anyway."
Crawling over, Kazimir tries to stay as incognito as possible, hoping not to scare whatever it was away.
Upon reaching the bushes, the curious male looks down and frowns.
"Oh. It's just a bird."
He watches as the small animal flies away before looking back down, his eyes widening.
The tall hedges surrounded an open clearing where a little girl sat; her brown skin glowing in the moonlight and her hair put into two buns; almost as if she was a small princess waiting for her forbidden friend to come and have tea with her.
She smiles over at him, causing Kazimir to gasp a little.
"Her smile. It's just like my Camille's."
"Hello Mr.! Would you like a cookie?" the small girl asks.
"Uh, sure. But isn't it a bit dangerous for a girl your age to be out here alone?"
"It might be." She says, sliding over to make room for Kazimir. "It was too noisy in the house for me to stay there any longer. And besides, I'm six, so I'm pretty sure I'm almost grown up to do anything on my own!"
Kazimir chuckles and sighs, taking a bite of the cookie.
"How about you just enjoy your childhood as a little girl should? Trust me, it's pretty stressing once you hit actual adult years."
She smiles.
"Okay! But are you part of all those police people that's in my house right now?"
Kazimir shakes his head.
"Uh, not really. I'm just a volunteer detective, not anything professional."
The girl nods as a response before grabbing another cookie.
"Anyway, my name is Khristina-Bella La'rine, but everyone calls me Khristina or Khrissy for short! What's yours?"
"I'm Kazimir. It's nice to meet you, Khristina."
"There you are!" a voice interrupts.
Looking up, Kazimir and Khristina come face to face with Pierre.
"Damn, kid. We thought we were going to have to put out a rescue team for you."
Smiling, Khristina jumps up and turns to Pierre.
"So how's mama and papa? Are they still asleep?"
Turning to Pierre, Kazimir gives him a questionable look and the dark-haired man makes a motion of himself pretending to cut his throat.
Turning back to the small girl, Pierre smiles and sighs.
"Well, that's what I came to find you for. But first, we have to get back to the station. Ever rode in a sports car before?"
"Nope! Mama says I'm too young and that I have to wait until I'm older." Khristina replies, jumping up and down.
"Ahh, welp, now you can ride in all of the sports cars you please."
--- 2 A.M. ---
"Why would you tell her that?!"
The three were currently stuck in traffic, the once devastated girl now peacefully sleeping in the back of Pierre's car.
"I thought it would make things easier for her. Turning terrible news into light humor usually works for me." Pierre replies, switching through the radio stations.
Kazimir crosses his arms.
"Yeah, that works for you, not her. Besides, couldn't you at least have waited until you arrived at her brother's place?"
"Look man, I know her eldest brother. We go way back, so she's kinda like the little sister I've never had. He wouldn't have cared if I broke the news to her first, anyway."
"I understand, but you're a highly skilled detective. I'm sure you could've handled it in a more professional manner."
"Yep." Pierre responds, looking out of his window and up at the night sky.
Taking his handgun from his coat, he loads a magazine, shooting up at the small device that stared back at him.
Kazimir gives him an angry glance as Pierre points to the ground.
"It's a drone, alright?"
"Shooting in traffic at a drone? The hell is wrong with you?"
"I mean, they've been following me for a while now. I got tired of them and started destroying the things with whatever I can."
"Yes, but it just seems reckless."
"Well I wouldn't have pulled the trigger if I didn't have a good angle."
Sighing, Kazimir looks out of the window as the car moves forward.
A couple minutes later, the car comes to a halt in front of a tall apartment complex.
"Well, here's your stop." Pierre says, unlocking the door for his new co-worker.
Stepping out, the young man begins to walk forward, before stopping and turning back around.
"Uh, could you tell Khristina it was nice to meet her?"
Chuckling, Pierre smiles and nods.
"For such a pessimistic bastard, seems you have a soft spot for the little princess. Anyway, looks like we're going to have one hell of a day tomorrow, so don't be late!"
He rolls up his window, speeding off into the night.
Groaning, the man walks inside and to his apartment room.
"Don't be late, but proceeds to drop me off late. I should really consider buying a car or something."
Opening the door, Kazimir turns on the light, looking up at the clock.
"I guess if I start on my homework now, I'll have a couple of hours to sleep before I have to wake up again."
Showering and changing into warm pajamas, he takes a seat at his small desk, turning on a video that would help him with most of his work.
*BRRRRRINNNNGGG!*
Snapping out of his sleep, Kazimir angrily picks up his phone.
"Listen, I don't know who this is or what you want but it is-
"Look mane (same as man), I'mma be honest wit' you. Two of my homeboys are in the hospital in critical condition and I just found out my folks died. I don't give a fuck about your complaints right now."
Kazimir raises a brow as the deep voice continues to talk.
"I only rang ya line because my little sister wouldn't shut up about meeting some man earlier. Now make yourself useful and tell me if ya name Kazimir or not."
Climbing into bed, the young detective rolls his eyes.
"Yes, my name is Kazimir but how'd you even-
"MR. KAZIMIR! Do you remember me?!"
A little caught off guard at the sudden scream, Kazimir smiles, putting the phone back to his ear.
"Khristina, right?"
"Yes, yes, yes! Also, if Dréy was being mean to you, I wanna apologize for him."
*Dréy? He must be her brother Pierre was talking about.* Kazimir says to himself.
"Oh, uh, it's alright. I understand."
"Anyway, we never got to finish our tea party, so I wanted to see if we could reschedule it for another day!"
A bit confused, Kazimir continues to respond.
"Tea par- Oh! That! Yeah, we can reschedule it. Just tell me when and I'll see what I can do."