"What white stuff?"
Kazimir gives Pierre a confused look, who then bursts out in laughter.
"I knew you wouldn't get the joke!"
The young man raises a brow.
"People are dying and you're joking about it?" he asks.
"Man, chill out. People joke about death all the time." Pierre says. "Listen, if those officers didn't want anybody to laugh over their death, then they shouldn't have died in a public vicinity where others can see their suffering and judge them."
Kazimir gives his co-worker an "are you serious" look.
"How does that even make sense? Who comes up with that kind of logic?"
"Well, they could've saved themselves the shame and went to the bathroom to take their last breath; but to answer your second question, yours truly." Pierre says driving off, waving in the side mirror.
Kazimir watches as the man speeds off into the night, shaking his head.
Unlocking his car, he gently puts Khristina in her car seat, buckling her in.
Entering the driver's side, the young man starts the car and heads back to the apartment complex.
He unlocks his door and enters, sitting Khristina down on the small sofa before waking her up.
The small girl yawns and rubs her eyes.
"Khristina, go wash up so you can go to bed. Did your teacher assign you any homework?"
She shakes her head no before walking to the bathroom to wash.
About 15 minutes later, she returns into the small living room, sitting next to Kazimir.
"Mr. Kazimir?"
"Yes, Khristina?"
"How are babies made? Mama said that they form when two people get married but Prince's parents aren't married and he was still made."
The young man's takes the small earring off of his right ear, placing it on the table next to him.
"Your brothers will explain it to you in about ten more years."
"But that's a long time, Mr. Kazimir! I wanna know now!"
"Well, baking brownies also take a while but you never complain about that."
Khristina shakes her head.
"That's different, though."
"But you still have to be patient." Kazimir replies. "Sometimes, it's better to be patient in life than rush something and end up disappointed because it didn't turn out how you wanted it to turn out."
The little girl nods.
"So if I rush my childhood years, I'll be disappointed?"
The young man nods.
"Take it from someone who had his cut short."
Khristina criss crosses her legs on the sofa and tilts her head in confusion.
"You never had a childhood, Mr. Kazimir?"
"I only had part of it. Well, it's already-
"Who's the picture of the girl up on the shelf?" the small girl asks, pointing up at a picture frame.
Looking up, Kazimir sighs at the sight of his older sister, a bit of melancholy overcoming him.
"That girl is my sister." He says, standing up and taking the frame from the shelf.
He hands it to Khristina and she smiles.
"She's very pretty, Mr. Kazimir. What if she's a real princess?!"
Kazimir chuckles.
"Thank you, Khristina. I'm sure she'd be happy for the compliment."
"Can we go see her?" the small girl asks, looking up at Kazimir.
Taking a deep breath, he looks down at his hands.
"She's dead. She was killed five years ago."
The little girl frowns, hugging the young man.
"I'm sorry, Mr. Kazimir. I bet she's watching you now and smiling from her tall fairy castle, spinning around in the grass and having lots of fun with the birdies and other small animals!"
Kazimir softly chuckles.
"I bet she is. Anyway, it's about time for your bedtime."
Khristina nods, jumping down from the sofa.
She yawns and sleepily smiles, motioning to be carried to her bed.
Picking her up, Kazimir takes her to her room, tucking her in.
"So, what lullaby would you like tonight?"
"It's fine, Mr. Kazimir. I'm too tired for a lullaby."
He watches as she slowly falls asleep and smiles, patting the young girl's shoulder.
"Sleep well, Khristina."
--- the next day; 11:07 A.M. ---
"Move."
Dayne stumbles a bit as Caio shoves him to the side, leaning forward in front of the computer.
"I was using that." Dayne says, pushing his brother back.
"Then hurry up, I don't have all day."
"What the hell do you need to look up anyway? You're on the crime team, all of the evidence is already in front of you."
Dayne walks over to the printer and grabs his papers, reading over them.
"Are you done?" Caio asks, looking at the screen on whatever his brother was researching.
"Yeah."
Looking up from his freshly printed papers, Dayne rolls his eyes as Caio scrolls through a list of private government records of the city's citizens.
"Here we are." Caio mutters. "Stephan Ellison. Works a usual 9-5."
"You can't be serious, Caio."
Dayne walks over to him, looking at the screen.
"Don't you have some fentanyl to examine?" Caio asks, scribbling his crush's husband's name and phone number down.
"You're right, I do. However, I doubt looking for that woman's husband is what your team is currently assigned to."
Dayne watches as his twin stops writing and turns to him. His brows raise as his older brother by five minutes gives him a look that seemed a bit off.
"You interfere in any way and I'll get rid of you myself."
"I don't care to, but really? Leave the girl alone and let her enjoy her marriage." Dayne says.
Slamming the pen down, Caio turns to his brother.
"Leave Nia alone when she's getting abused? She said that bastard of a husband worked late but his schedule clearly states that he works a 9-5, meaning he's probably out cheating while she has to walk home in the cold, dark night and some weirdo could possibly kill her!"
Dayne shrugs.
"As I always say; true love doesn't exist."
"Not while she's married to that clown, it doesn't. Here's the number and address where that bastard works." Caio says, handing a small piece of paper to Dayne. "Call the company and tell them the department received a tip from an anonymous person that suspects someone working there has been potentially hiding marijuana in the building."
With his thumb, Caio points at the computer screen.
"See that name lanyard? As soon as they let you in, ask to go straight to the storage room and see if you can find a box with some of the lanyards in it. I'm 110% sure that they're located there."
"And what do I get out of this?" Dayne asks, looking down at the piece of paper.
Caio smiles, placing a reassuring hand on his brother's shoulder.
"One day you'll get to have a nephew with Dayne as his middle name."
He shuts off the computer and the blonde-haired man shakes his head.
"I'm not doing this for free, Caio."
"How much then?"
"$600,000."
Caio smiles and nods.
"Alright. Just make sure it's complete in the next 72 hours." he says, walking out of the room.
Dayne shakes his head, walking towards the exit, almost crashing into his brother.
"We have another meeting that's starting immediately."
"What's it about this time?"
"The guy who told me seemed really anxious about it, though."
The two brothers walk into the briefing room where all the other detectives sat.
"Where is Pierre?! Can he ever show up on time?!" a frustrated Captain Uzini asks.
"I'm right here, chill."
The nonchalant detective takes his seat next to Kazimir, who held his head in his hand.
"You seem interested." Pierre says, cracking open a soda.
"Very."
Clapping his hands together, the room goes silent as the tired captain steps up to the front.
"As you all may know, yesterday a terrible tragedy ensured upon the law enforcement community."
The clueless group of detectives watch as their captain points to the whiteboard behind him.
"58. 58 officers lost their lives due to suspected food poisoning. However, we don't believe this is related to the current murders of law officials and as of now, we're keeping the two cases separate."
Captain Uzini walks back to the podium, looking at his men.
"Now, starting today, both the police department and the special forces department have decided to give you all special name tags. You are to wear these at all times on this property or when you go off to investigate. Remember, this is just a safety precaution."
Kazimir rolls his eyes, watching as his fellow co-workers go to the front to collect their name tags.
He chuckles, heading down the steps and to the small podium.
He wasn't taking it as a safety precaution; just more of an easier way to complete his end goal.