As soon as he saw Charlotte sleeping on Leonid's chest, Daniel remembered yesterday evening and his blood boiled with resentment.
While taking care of the barbershop with his boss, Daniel received a set of photos that Natalia had taken in the club on her personal account.
Dancing poses with Kaiser, making hearts with their index fingers and thumbs with Charlotte, and many more professional photos of them having fun without him.
What made Daniel upset the most was Charlotte going and abandoning him. He still couldn't believe she abandoned him and didn't ask him if he wanted to go with them.
If the idea of going to the club was Charlotte's idea, Daniel would not forgive her even if she pampered him all his life.
"Stop where you are."
Daniel raised his arm and Leonid's path was cut off by him.
"This is you?"
Leonid raised an eyebrow and recognized Daniel, lucky for him he had met the right person at the right time.
"Yes it is me, now why-"
"Take, this is my pet."
Leonid interrupted the conversation with Daniel rudely, reaching out towards Daniel's hand and placing Hunter's collar in his fist.
"Huh? Your pet?"
Daniel was surprised and his eyes widened for a moment as he looked at the husky puppy's collar in his hand and then at Leonid who had already moved to pass him and head towards the gate.
"Wait!"
Daniel stepped in front of Leonid and stopped him again, extending his arm to block his path towards the gate.
"What do you want?"
"Where are you taking Charlotte?"
Leonid listened to Daniel's question and then looked at Charlotte. Her eyelashes were closed and her plump lips were slightly open, her white skin clearly reflected the redness of her cheeks and the sweat on her forehead along with the tears that were sliding down due to the fever.
"To the hospital."
Leonid answered calmly while turning his eyes to Daniel, whose eyes opened wide.
"Why, I mean is she sick?"
Daniel paused for a moment, staring at Leonid, who nodded slightly, then looked at Charlotte.
"That's impossible. Yesterday she was enjoying the company of Kaiser and Natalia at the club."
"Club."
Leonid stood like an idol, staring at Charlotte as well. Could it be that what happened to her was what he thought, Leonid asked. He tightened his grip on her arm and leg and hugged her to his chest.
The six-foot-tall Daniel got a good view of Charlotte with Leonid cradled against his chest, taking in her pale, tired skin and the few tears running down her cheeks.
Her other plump cheek was resting on Leonid's chest like a pillow, along with her right hand clinging to it as she slept deeply.
Just what did she do to get sick when he thought she was enjoying herself without him.
Leonid leaned on his leg and was still waiting for Daniel to move away, when suddenly, without warning, Charlotte opened her dry lips and let out a soft, desperate moan.
"Ah."
After hearing Charlotte's sudden moan, a moment of deathly silence passed between them.
Daniel turned his head and felt as if he heard something he wasn't supposed to hear. Leonid, in return, stared coldly as if he didn't hear anything.
"She's moaning!"
"I know."
Leonid furrowed his eyebrows and felt grateful that the hall around him was empty. The apartment building may seem like a complex with one elevator and one gate, but it is quite the opposite. All floors except the eighth floor share two elevators and one gate.
While on the other hand, the eighth floor has special features, a private elevator and a private gate. If it were not for these rules, Daniel's words would now create a scene and cause unnecessary controversy.
"What are you doing then? Shouldn't you hurry, come on, go quickly, I'll take care of your puppy, just save Charlotte!"
The same escalation of matters and the same stupidity. Was Charlotte the infection virus or was it Daniel?
"Okay I'll go, don't worry."
Leonid reassured Daniel and began walking towards the gate.
"Slow down!"
Daniel shouted again and turned to stare at Leonid's back, who stopped after hearing his voice. After a few moments of hesitation, he opened his lips and said in a loud voice.
"Don't keep her like that. Shut her mouth, okay!"
Daniel continued to scream, while Leonid tried to contain his annoyance.
"Charlotte wouldn't be happy if she knew she was making soft noises like that in public."
"Is that all?"
"Mmm…"
Daniel thought for a moment before answering.
"Well don't pull her to your chest too much, that way you're suffocating her."
Leonid shook his head and then started walking without stopping even for a single step. His steps were wide and fast toward his car in the parking lot.
"This idiot is so ridiculous."
Leonid closed his eyes and took a small breath as he opened his car and placed Charlotte in the passenger seat.
It's normal for Charlotte to make sounds like that since her temperature is high, but why did that tramp's words send tension into Leonid's heart and cause his facial muscles to spasm?
He also didn't have to scream out loud every time he tried to speak.
Leonid fastened his seat belt, straightened Charlotte's head, and then closed the door.
What if Charlotte wakes up because of Daniel's recklessness and excessive screaming all the time? Leonid would never put up with any more complaints from Charlotte again.
He got into his car, fastened his seat belt, closed the door, and started the engine.
It was as if he was talking to Charlotte, but in a male form, which made his stamina drain quickly. He might be able to tolerate Charlotte, but tolerating a male version of her was still difficult.
Or maybe impossible.
Inside the autopsy room, Dmitri obtained a sample of the blood of Sophia, the fourth victim in the serial murder case, and analyzed it while waiting for the reaction of the substances he added to the blood tubes. He also plucked some blonde locks from Sophia's head and analyzed them.
Working in a small laboratory with bright lights and a corpse on the bed brought back some nostalgia for working as a full-time anatomist.
After study and examination, Dmitri confirmed the exact date of Sophia's death.
"10:23"
If the day is added, then Sophia has been dead for almost three days.
Dmitri sighed, then checked the interactive materials again until the strand of hair reacted with the materials he added. When he saw the color of the blood in the group of tubes and the strength and lightness of his concentration, Dmitri narrowed his eyes.
He might have expected this, but he did not expect that a high level of LSD or lysergic acid diethylamide, in the simplest hallucinogen term, would be present in above-normal quantities.
Definition of LSD: It is a powerful substance that acts like a drug on the human body and mind. A small dose of it is sufficient to cause disturbances in vision, mood, and mind.
What the team was facing this time was not just an ordinary killer, and it was not a drug dealer either. They were both simultaneously acting in accordance with his survival instinct.
"Dmitri."
Suddenly, Vasili bursts into the autopsy room and interrupts Dmitri's thoughts.
"What's wrong?"
"Take this, I found these shoes in Apartment 353. Can you analyze the prints on them?"
Dmitri stopped his work and turned to Vasili, taking a look at the heel that Vasili had placed in the clear evidence bag.
"Why was a fingerprint examination conducted on Sophia's heel? Isn't it obvious that the heels only contain her fingerprints? It's not as if we will find the killer's fingerprints in them by chance."
"I can confirm that these heels do not belong to the victim."
"Are you sure?"
Dmitri took off the pair of gloves and threw them in the trash.
"Yes. As you can see, this heel size is 22.5cm…"
"So what?"
"Don't interrupt me."
Vasili moved a few steps and placed the transparent bag on the empty table, then pointed to Sophia's foot under the cover.
"Measure the victim's foot. You will later discover that her foot size will not fit the size of this heel."
"Wait a minute."
Dmitri hurriedly measured Sophia's foot length after exposing her foot.
"24.1cm…? This is impossible. Who owns the heel you have?"
"How would I know? If I had not noticed the collection of heels that the victim had spread out in the living room, I would not have discovered that this heel did not belong to her in the first place."
"Okay, give it to me."
"Take."
Vasili retrieved the clear bag and handed it to Dmitri, and as soon as he took it, Dmitri began working again after putting on another pair of gloves.
Waiting for the fingerprint analysis, Vasili sighed and crossed his arms as he walked around the bed and stared at the victim under the covers.
In fact, Vasili still remembers the victim's body next to the bathtub. He was already sure that he was going to cause a scene by teaming up with Alia, but it all ended once he met the bald security guard.
The security guard was able to control the situation. Vasili is still shocked by the coldness of that guard named Maxim.
"I'm starting to doubt this security guard. What if he's the killer we're looking for?"
"Who are you talking about?"
"Haven't you ever seen the bald, almost aging security guard? I thought you always stayed up late at night with Leonid, but you're nothing more than ignorant about this apartment building."