"Guess that's the last of the surveillance footage."
Cutting the lights back on, Kazimir looks down at the photos he'd taken on his phone from the small slideshow.
"This man's body structure looks familiar. It's gotta be that same person whose car was lit on fire."
Putting the folders in his briefcase, the detective shuts off the lights. It had been a long day for him; going from house to house and asking around for eyewitnesses to rescanning the same information over and over.
Walking out of the building, he heads over to his car before jumping back as bullets pierced through the car next to it.
"You have to be fucking lying!"
Laying flat on the ground, the young detective pulls out his gun from his waistband and begins to fire back.
"He has to be using some sort of night vision."
Using his ears, Kazimir turns into the direction where the gunshots were coming from and begins to fire some more before noticing a pause from the other side.
"HEY!"
Watching as a figure began to run off in the other direction, he continues to fire, hitting the person's shoulder.
*BANG! BANG! BANG!*
Kazimir ducks as the person fires back, hearing tires screech.
Hitting a random parked car with his fist, he loudly groans and begins to walk back over to his own car, the moon slowly coming from out of the clouds.
"Where the fuck were you about a minute ago?"
As he sighs and looks down, the detective notices a small drop of red on the cool pavement and raises a brow.
"Blood?"
Lifting his hands up and checking his lower extremities, Kazimir shakes his head. It wasn't his; he hadn't been shot at all."
Using a napkin from his lunch earlier, he quickly runs toward the most recent blood drops and places the napkin over it.
"I need to see some ID, sir."
Looking up, Kazimir uses an arm to cover his eyes from the night officer's flashlight and shakes his head.
"And where the fuck were you when I was getting shot at? Get that shit from out of my face and let me do my damn job."
The officer grabs Kazimir's arm and shines the light in his face.
"I was doing my nightly patrol in my squad car when I heard gunfire from over here. Now you look here, boy; do not EVER let me catch you talking to me or any other officers in this department like that again. Do you understand?"
Yanking his arm from the man's grip, Kazimir gives him an angry job.
"I call bullshit. Get the hell out of here since you're scared and leave me alone. That's probably why my family died of gun-related asphyxiation because officers like you were too pussy to respond to the call."
"So you're the kid who's family has been making headlines."
Turning the flashlight off, the night patrolman looks down at the concrete and lightly sighs.
"Doesn't matter if you call bull on me or not; I can't force you to believe what you don't want to. What I can do is help you with the new details you have here."
Kazimir shakes his head and begins to walk back over to the department building.
"I came by myself, I'm working by myself, and I'm leaving by myself."
"And you'll be alone by yourself with that type of attitude." the officer says, following Kazimir. "I know you don't want to trust anyone based on what happened to your family, but not everyone is out to get you. I'm sure you have a few more friends or acquaintances that want to see you at your best. So what do you say?"
After a minute of silence, Kazimir turns to the officer.
"Let me feel the hood of your squad car."
—————
"So, what made you wanna be a detective?"
"My older sister turned down a ride from a guy and he murdered her. And since the law enforcement in my city did nothing about it, I realized I had to take over."
After using some Q-tips to swab the blood samples, Kazimir places them in a plastic bag and hands it to the officer.
"How long will this take to get back from the lab? In my city, it's usually about two to four days for just testing small droplets like this."
"Same here." the officer says, placing the plastic bag in a box. "By the way, the responding officers found a little puppy hiding underneath a bed as detectives searched the house. Cute little thing. We were wondering if you'd like to keep her or give her up for adoption."
"Can I see her first?" Kazimir asks, watching as the officer taped the box shut.
"The kennel closes in about an hour, but luckily for us, it's right across the street."
After placing the box in the mailroom, the two men walk over to the large kennel, greeted with hundreds of barks and purring.
"How can I help you today?" the woman at the desk says.
"I believe you have a dog under the name Kasai."
The woman nods and motions for the two to follow her.
"She was shy at first but she's began to grow very playful with the other animals. Nicest puppy I've seen towards kittens, too."
"Arf! Arf! Arf! Arf! Arf!"
Kazimir watches as the familiar puppy happily wags her tail and jumps around.
"Hey, Carabelle. Wanna come home with me?"
The small dog places her paws on the bars and the detective smiles.
"Guess that's a yes."
With a key, the woman unlocks the small cage and Caramel-Strawberry jumps out, landing on Kazimir's shoes.
"Please don't mess up my shoes, Carabelle."
"Seems like you two know each other." the officer says, petting the puppy's back.
"Yeah, she was my mother's dog. Named after my sister's favorite ice cream flavor."
"Ahh, that's sweet. So, where're you from?"
"I'm from Claiza City, Kyrja." Kazimir replies, adjusting the puppy's leash.
"Really? My brother and his family live over there. How about you? You planning on starting a family?"
"Not anytime soon."
Walking back over to his car, Kazimir puts Caramel-Strawberry in before getting in himself.
"I appreciate your assistance in helping with the DNA testing. See you around."
The officer watches as Kazimir pulls out of the parking lot and shakes his head.
"What a project."
————-
"Mr. Pierre?"
Standing in front of the T.V., Khristina puts her hands behind her back and begins to sway from side to side.
"Can I use your phone to call Mr. Kazimir?"
"No, do it in the morning before school." Pierre replies, shooing her away from the T.V.. "Now go back upstairs and get some sleep. It's almost midnight."
The little girl tilts her head and takes a step forward.
"Then why're you still up?"
"'Cause I'm an adult."
"So that means Mr. Kazimir is still up." Khristina says, tapping her foot. "And since I'm still up, I can call him."
Pierre groans and shakes his head.
"No, it doesn't."
"But it's not fair! I hope the Grinch steals all your Christmas presents this year! Meanie Pierre!"
*BRRRIIIINNNNG!*
"Speak of the devil." Pierre mutters as he swipes to answer. "What do you want?"
"I was just making sure you all were alright."
Running over to Pierre, Khristina grabs the phone from his hand and jumps up and down.
"Hi, Mr. Kazimir!"
"Khristina, what're you still doing up this late on a school night?"
"I wanted to talk to you!"
"Okay, how was your day?"
"Good! We learned about dividing today! Did you know that 10 divided by 5 is 2? And we also watched a short video about photosynthesis! Then after school, Mr. Pierre took me and Miracle and Prince to get pretzels and pizza!"
"Sounds fun." Kazimir says, placing a blanket over Caramel-Strawberry. "Now, get some sleep so you can have another fun day tomorrow, alright?"
"Alright!"
"Goodnight, Khristina."
"Night night, Mr. Kazimir!"
Throwing Pierre's phone onto the couch next to him, Khristina happily runs back upstairs and Pierre groans.
"You need to tell that girl not to throw people's shit down so hardly."
"I got blood samples from the guy. I won't know who he is until a few days later."
"He followed you back to Canada?"
Kazimir nods as he turns the lamp off.
"Yeah. The unfortunate thing is that the bastard got away even though I shot him. Whoever he is, he's watching my movements from a distance."
"For all you know, he could be standing right in front of your hotel door getting ready to shoot it down." Pierre says, chuckling.
Noticing a complete yet somewhat annoyed silence from the other line, the older male clears his throat.
"Anyway, Nia called. She said she'd been trying to reach you but couldn't get in contact."
"Yeah, the service where I was at for the majority of the day is trash. I'll call her back in the morning." Kazimir replies, turning on his side.
"What do you two have going on?"
"None of your business, that's what. Night."
"Nigh-
Hearing a dial tone, Pierre shakes his head and turns back to the T.V. show. After pondering for a few minutes, he picks his phone back up to dial Alexei's number.
"Unless this is related to Khristina, I'd advise you to get off this line. I'm already busy."
"Shut the hell up. Hand the phone to Nia, I need to ask her something."
"She's asleep, Colombian brew." the law student replies, removing his reading glasses from his face.
"But you don't really know-
Taking his phone from his ear, Pierre looks down and scowls as he looks at the "call ended" screen.
"Ungrateful ass motherfucker."
Calling back again, he waits for the young man to answer.
"You didn't get to fuck Nyelle, huh?"
"That's not my main goal. Nyelle is a wonderful woman who I'm planning on taking things slow with. Unlike you; sticking your penis in every living female. That desperate for sex. Just bound to catch a disease."
"At least I'm not the one who's letting her go to another ma-
"Actually, she canceled her trip to the States and decided to tag along with Nia and I." Alexei says, sitting down on the side of his bed. "I understand both your biological father and stepfather were nobodies and never showed you how to properly romance a woman. Only thing I can't stand about mine is how he let another man sleep with his bride-to-be as well. I can see if the marriage turned out to be a complete failure like in Nyelle's case, but sharing your wife on the eve of your wedding day with your friend? I'd rather kill myself before I'd let that happen."
Pierre's brows narrow and he begins to grow angry.
"First of all, my real dad taught me how to respect females; I just wanna go my own way. At least I'm a chill man who can properly get women and not try to trap them."
"So you're saying I'm not relaxed enough because I want my lady to actually be a wife and not out clubbing, cheating, and being an outright embarrassment to our relationship? Nyelle will be in perfect hands with me. Both loved and spoiled dearly. Thing is, I don't know if we should wait a few years to give Miracle a little sibling or if we should give her one while she's still a little girl. It's actually a bit relaxing to picture; coming home after a hard day of helping clients and your gorgeous wife is in the kitchen cooking while your children are doing homework and obtaining excellent grades."
"And screaming at them all when they do something you don't like." Pierre says, rolling his eyes. "Now put Nia on the-
Hearing the phone click again, the detective groans and flips the device in his hand.
*BRRRRIIIINNNNGGG!*
"Look who came crawling back!"
"Do you want to speak to Ms. Ellison or not?" Alexei asks, tapping his foot.
"Course I do. What's the catch?"
"I want a favor from you."