Chereads / BlueDiamond / Chapter 11 - Chapter 10

Chapter 11 - Chapter 10

Tan's arm shot out from under the comforter, slapping wildly at someone else's bedside table where he was pretty sure he left his phone the night before. The notification blared again.

"Fuck!" He thrashed around pushing at the man that lay trapping his arm before finally being able to prize himself free.

For fuck's sake this is exactly why he didn't usually stay the night! Groggily he sat on the edge of the bed and swiped his screen. Five AM, an hour before his alarm would go off, what was so crucial that Kram couldn't wait an hour! Tan grumbled under his breath as he got up and found his way into the shower. Ten minutes later he shook the wrinkles out of the shirt he wore yesterday and snuck out of the condo, without so much as a goodbye. Opening his Line account he blocked the guy's number, another one in the graveyard. Swinging his leg over his motorcycle he sped out of the parking garage. 

Xavier dropped a coffee cup shattering it as Tan sauntered disheveled into the office. He had never seen him looking so delicious, or annoyed. 

"What's so important you couldn't wait an hour for me to wake up?" Tan said as he sniffed the cup of coffee that Kram handed him and set it on the table. 

Xavier walked up pressing a cold cup into Tan's hands. "Iced Americano, right?" He smirked. Tan looked at him with questioning eyes. 

"Yeah, thanks?"

"You're welcome, Kram called me in and mentioned he was calling you next, so I thought you could use the coffee."

"I appreciate that but how did you know my coffee order? Do I leave them around the office or something?" Tan asked. 

Xavier laughed. "Wow for a genius you are oblivious! At least three days a week you stop at that small cafe with the plant wall, just past the train tracks in Bang Sue, check your cup" Tan looked down. 

Tan stood there shocked, staring at the logo of his regular coffee shop until Kram snapped his fingers in front of his face. 

"I know that, why do you know that?" Tan mumbled to himself. 

"I called you here" -Kram broke in loudly- "Because Love is on assignment, and you are the only person he will let touch that" Kram gestured vaguely at Love's computer set up. Tan frowned. 

"That" said Tan mimicking Krams voice and gesture "Could have waited an hour, He said with a sigh. What do you need me to find?"

"Last night, eh more like early this morning, Hart's ex-boyfriend was arrested. It turns out He met Hart through his work with victim number two Kisa Boonnak. I need you to go through her files and find what project they worked on together." Kram said. 

"Seriously, what are you five? No, I take that back five-year-old's can operate a computer. What are you a hundred? What's his name? It will take me five minutes to find." Tan took an angry sip of the iced coffee while biting at the straw. 

Kram handed over the file. Tan stalked to Love's setup as soon as he touched the keyboard it lit up. Flopping down in the office chair he kicked up his feet on the edge of the desk sucking the Americano dry as he waited for it to boot up. While he and Love could both connect to the computer with their magic, it recognized him as the creator, but he had built it for Love, so it was meant for Love's magic. Walking over, Noh pushed on the chair forcing Tan to tip back. 

"Rough night? Was the sex bad or something?" Noh asked, smirking. Tan frowned at him. 

"What sex?" Tan snapped, looking away from Noh.

"We are detectives, right? I mean that's what we do here." Noh Scoffed. 

"You wore that shirt yesterday and judging by the wrinkles you didn't even bother to hang it up and that," He leaned closer to Tan and sniffed. "Is not your shampoo. Ergo, you were somewhere else last night." Noh smiled. 

"So, what if I was, are you jealous?" Tan tried to sit up. 

"You are basically my brother, you should know after all these years I am impervious to your charms, Xavier on the other hand…" Noh trailed off, letting Tan sit up a bit he nodded his head to where Xavier was going through files.

"That might be a different situation entirely, I thought you liked him?" Noh said. 

"I'm interested, yes but we haven't even gone out yet. Now, will you please leave my love life alone so I can find these files for Kram?" Tan yawned, shaking the cup of mostly ice and sipping at it anyway, 

"Ok fine, I'm just saying maybe you shouldn't ruin a good thing before you even know if it's a thing yet." Noh ruffled Tan's hair and walked away. 

Tan stretched, rolling his eyes, and groaning in pleasure as all his joints cracked and his back finally relaxed. Sitting up he typed in "Wasapon Sumanpinat" in the search bar and let the files load. A few minutes later all the references to his name were listed on Tan's screen, as expected all of them were photo credits. He searched in those for any that related to Hart's gallery. Tan sent the files to the Liquid crystal board where they were building the timeline. 

"Oi, Kram, get over here!" Tan barked as he walked toward the board. "I found what you are looking for", Tan tapped something on the small crystal board he was carrying, and all the files popped up at once.

"I searched through the files, and it turns out Kisa and Múd have covered artists from Hart's gallery five times together. We should find those artists and see what they know. Maybe one of them is connected to victim number one. Don't worry I printed the files so you can go all voodoo detective on them or whatever you do." Said Tan. 

"It's not voodoo it's my superior mind power, remember I'm strange" Smirking, Kram pointed at himself. Ignoring him Tan flicked the cover of his crystal board closed and walked toward the door. 

"Oi! Just where are you going?" Called Noh. 

"Don't worry about it, I'll be back in two hours," Tan said as he badged out the door.