THREE
"Emma!" Lily jumped from her seat as Emma collapsed, her nursing instincts kicking in immediately.
"Give her some space!" She shouted at the gathering crowd while checking Emma's pulse.
"And someone please call an ambulance!" She yelled at no one in particular.
"Already on it." A waitress called out, with a phone in hand.
"Is she breathing?" Another customer hovering nearby, asked with concern.
"Yes, now please step back," Lily replied firmly, her professional tone brooking no argument.
"And someone get me a cold compress!" She yelled again.
"Here, use this." An elderly man handed over his clean handkerchief soaked in cold water.
"Thank you." Lily nodded, placing it on Emma's forehead.
"Emma, can you hear me?" She asked gently.
Barely a minute later, Emma's eyes fluttered open.
"What... what happened?" Emma inquired, looking surprised.
"You passed out. Stay still, an ambulance is coming." Lily replied her.
"No. No ambulance." Emma pushed herself up despite Lily's protests.
"Are you kidding me? You just collapsed!" Lily was surprised at her behavior.
"I'm fine now. I just got dizzy for a moment." Emma insisted, steadying herself against the table.
"Dizzy? Emma, you went white as a ghost and dropped like a stone! You need to get checked out. Your pulse is racing, and you're clearly not well." Lily said, grabbing her friend's arm.
"What I need is to get back to work. There is something I have to check." Emma pulled away, her voice firm.
"Ma'am, you really should wait for the paramedics." The waitress interjected, looking worried.
"The hell she should!" Lily agreed.
"You are going to the hospital if I have to drag you there myself!" She snapped at Emma.
"Lily, I can't! This case... there's something I'm missing. Something important." Emma's voice rose sharply.
"More important than your health?" Lily raised an eyebrow.
"Yes! No... I don't know, I just have to go now. Now." Emma ran her hands through her hair.
"I will call you later, alright?" She added and turned on her heels.
"Emma Carter, don't you dare—" Lily called after her, but Emma was gone, leaving her friend standing in the middle of the crowded cafeteria.
"Should we still send the ambulance?" The waitress asked uncertainly.
"No, But someone might need to send one for me when I finally strangle her." Lily sighed, slumping back into her chair.
~~~~~~~~~
The office was quiet except for the hum of the computer and the rustling of papers. Emma had been staring at the same file for hours when Ross appeared in her doorway.
"Any progress?" Ross asked, leaning against the door frame.
"Not yet. Still working on it." Emma replied without looking up.
"Carter, you look exhausted. Maybe you should call it a day?" The man pointed out.
"I'm fine, Sergeant." Emma replied firmly.
Ross stepped into the office, his concern evident.
"You know, there's no shame in taking a break. This case isn't going anywhere." He said.
"That is what I'm afraid of," Emma muttered.
"What was that?" Ross was confused.
"Nothing. I just... I need to keep working." She maintained.
"Word around the station is you had some kind of episode at lunch." Ross said carefully.
"Want to talk about that?" He asked.
Emma's head snapped up.
"News travels fast." She stated simply.
"Small station. Big mouths. Your friend Lily called, by the way. She's worried sick." Ross informed her.
"I will call her back later. Thanks." Emma replied.
"Look, I know this case is getting to you, but burning yourself out won't help solve it." Ross said after a sigh.
"I just need a little more time. I will be working overnight." Emma insisted.
"You sure about that? You don't look so..." Ross was saying but got cut short.
"I'm positive." Emma maintained sharply.
"Alright." Ross nodded reluctantly.
"Just... take it easy, okay?" He told her before walking out of the office.
After he left, Emma returned to the files, and as she checked through, her mind kept drifting back to the day she had arrested the victim. The memory was vivid, almost too vivid.
*FLASHBACK*
"You think these cuffs can hold me? You're more naive than you look, Officer Carter." The drug dealer had smirked at her from across the interrogation table.
"Save it for the judge." She had replied, trying to maintain her composure despite the chill running down her spine.
"You don't get it, do you? I've got friends in high places. Very high places." He had leaned forward, still wearing that infuriating smirk.
"Is that supposed to impress me?" Emma snapped.
"They won't let me stay here long. Dead or alive, they will get me out. That's a promise." He had continued as if she hadn't spoken.
"Are you threatening me?" Emma cocked an eyebrow.
"Threatening? No, Officer Carter. I'm educating you. There are things in this world you couldn't begin to understand." He had maintained.
"Try me." She had challenged, but something in his eyes had made her skin crawl.
"Oh, you will understand soon enough. When the time comes, you will wish you hadn't. Some doors, once opened, can never be closed again." His smile had widened then, showing too many teeth.
*END OF FLASHBACK*
Emma snapped back to the present, her hand shaking as she wrote down a name: Mason Wellington. The victim's supposed protector, the one he had been so confident would save him.
"Wellington! It has to be connected. The timing, the way he died..." Emma muttered, staring at the name.
"What am I missing? What didn't I see before?" She shuffled through more papers, her movements growing more frantic.
Her computer screen flickered, casting strange shadows across her desk. The office suddenly felt too large, too empty, too dark.
Then, a flash of movement caught her eye. Through the window, in the darkness of the parking lot, she saw something.
Red eyes, glowing like hot coals in the night.
Her blood turned to ice.
"Those eyes..." She muttered.
The file slipped from her fingers, papers scattering across the floor as she bolted for the door. Her heart pounded in her chest as she ran down the hallway.
"Not again!" She whispered, her voice trembling.