As the door started to close behind him, I caught it firmly, squeezing my way through the crack left behind. "What a coincidence, I just got back too," I said with a smirk, barely able to keep myself from laughing.
'He's a full grown man, if you pick a fight with him, you do realize we're done for?' Les questioned, making me roll my eyes as I walked into the room and slapped the thick files onto the golden table.
Brett raised an eyebrow, but before he could speak, Detective Nala cut him off. "We met with an informant not far from here." He was making it seem like we had arrived together, but I had already announced we hadn't.
"But I thought- No, I shouldn't ask. Good work, you two!" Brett said excitedly, dropping any chances I had of catching him in the lie without looking strange. Besides, one way or another, he did help me with a cover story.
As Jim, Nala, and Brett sifted through the files, I moved aside the red curtain and stared at the city below.
Lights shined brightly, illuminating miles upon miles of housing. Bright glass buildings were visible in the distance, while the more rural area our house was in was darkened, untouched by even a street lamp.
'Hey, do you think we'll be okay after all of this? I mean, we're going against an entire school district,' Les reminded, making me tighten my lips.
Truthfully, even I wasn't sure, all I knew was this was what was morally right, even if slightly illegal.
'I don't know,' I responded, placing my hand against the freezing glass. I looked behind me through the window, using the reflection to spot Brett staring intently at the same paragraph, rereading it dozens of times.
While my eyes panned over to Jim and the Detective, a chill went up my spine. There was black smoke rolling around above Nala's head, while Jim had black wisps shooting out from all over his body.
I gasped, holding my breath as my chest sank. I could see my wide eyes in the window, which changed as I turned to them, my blood at a standstill as my legs started to shake. 'What the fuck?' I thought, finally finishing my turn to stare at the two.
"Everything alright? You look like you saw a ghost," Detective Nala commented, his yellow eyes piercing into my skull. The black smoke had vanished, with not even a trace left on the pair.
I whipped my head back to the window, yet even the reflection had changed back to normal.
"Y-Yeah, sorry, guess I'm just tired from everything," I replied, trying not to stutter as sweat dripped down my face. Nala shrugged, while Jim looked up at me, smiled, and went back to reviewing the paper.
'Les, please tell me you saw that,' I begged internally, confused whether or not I was going insane.
She shook her head, glancing between the view in front of us and her book. Whatever Liam had been seeing recently, for whatever reason, I was too.
"I'm gonna- I'll be right back," I stuttered out, quickly escaping to the bathroom to splash cold water on my face. 'Never thought what I made Liam do would be the same thing I'm doing,' I commented with a smirk while sweat dripped down my forehead.
I looked at the quartz sink, then the bright pearly lights. The hotel was fancy, abnormally fancy for just a detective to afford, let alone one who worked in this shitty of a town. Les glanced up for a moment as I looked around, taking in the bizarre sight.
I had never been in such a fancy area before, and it took a while, but I noticed how odd it was. 'Hey, Les. Do you think you could afford this working as a detective, even after thirty years?' I questioned, and she shook her head, setting down her book as she stood behind the chair with me.
"It's almost like-" I started to say, right before Brett yelled yes at the top of his lungs. Quickly, I dried my hands and left the bathroom to see him smiling proudly.
He stood up, patted me and the Detective on the back, and finally smiled. "You'll never guess what I found!" He shouted excitedly, showing me the paper he was holding.
As clear as day, over fifty thousand dollars of their budget had gone missing since the new principal and dean had taken over, starting the same year Liam had started attending the school.
"Hell yeah, now let's get rid of them!" Jim cheered, smiling coldly. His eyes glanced into mine for a split second, but I could see an unmistakable urge in his, underneath the faint red glow that quickly disappeared.
The urge I had more than any other, the urge to kill, to brutalize any opponent, to annihilate people from the face of the earth. He had the eyes of a killer.
I slowly backed up, my actions making Detective Nala look at me from the corner of his eyes. Compared to my urges, compared to my anger, what Jim had was stronger.
They weren't just the eyes of someone wanting to kill, they were the eyes of a man who had killed before.
I started sweating as my knees trembled below me, almost as if an indomitable force was trying to bury me. "Hey, are you okay?" Brett asked, but I only stumbled backward more.
'F-Fuck!' I yelled internally, clenching my chest as my breathing slowed. Only a glance into those eyes was enough to make me panic, what the hell did he do? What was he capable of?
As fast as the feeling came, it went away and I was left standing with Brett trying to ask me what was wrong. His eyes looked into mine worriedly, and I snapped back into what was going on as Les slapped the back of my head.
"Yeah, sorry, just got so happy it triggered some memories," I replied, laughing a bit while scratching the side of my head.
He laughed with me, then went into the fridge to hand me a cold bottle of water, which I promptly chugged down.
'What the hell was that?' I asked internally, my heart racing under my shirt as I regained my composure.
"Now all that's left is to meet with a judge and it's essentially over. All we needed was this to avoid a lengthy trial process!" Brett cheered again, handing Nala and Jim a beer.